LAST OF A DYING BREED

By Jean Foggs

In the year 1978, the Bay Area Neighborhood Council was formed by a group of young men and women interested in trying to better their neighborhood. Between the years 1978 and the current year, those residents have either expired, become ill, moved away, or just don't have the energy to do the work any longer. As of 1984, with the exception of about two of the older members, a completely new group took over to try to carry on. There are only a handful that remain.

We are strictly a senior neighborhood council. We have tried asking for new members and we get, "Haven't got time." "You're not doing anything," etc. Just a few of the things that we, the handful of seniors, have accomplished are: refurbishing Hennessey Park with lights after going through the red tape of getting the city to give permission for Western Massachusetts Electric Company to install a light on the Kenyon Street side and one on the Oak Grove Avenue side and getting running water installed, through the help of Ken McFadden of the Park Department who also gave us large planters for flowers and helped to implant the bronze plaque in the huge rock situated in the middle of the park with the name of James Hennessey, for whom the park is named.

When we were getting money from the city, we had to pledge to do a special project each year in order to get funded. Some of the projects we did were newsletters, reporting abandoned houses, empty lots, cars parked in areas illegally, just to name a few. Newsletters have been put out in the neighborhood as far back as 1983 when we weren't even funded. At the end of each newsletter, there was always a form asking for residents to fill it out and send it in to the office or send it to the council's mailbox if any of the residents was interested in joining the council.

A year ago, we used the mail and sent a letter to every registered voter in our neighborhood. This we did for the whole year. From that effort, we got only one member. He was a Hispanic young man and, thank God, he was willing to become the council president. His name was Joe Rives and he lived in the Bay area. However, his involvement was short-lived because his family moved out of town. From 1983 to the present, we have gotten numerous members, but, for some reason, they have passed on.

We have grown old and tired and would like to let go, but we do care what happens to our neighborhood. How much longer we can continue remains to be seen; however, we are always hopeful that some of our younger residents will want to carry on where we cannot. Won't you join us? Please call Earnestine Johnson, President, at 737-0321 if you are interested. n