By Stephen Tait
Staff Writer
May 14, 2008 12:41 am NEWBURYPORT — Perhaps they'll call it Charles Nichols Park someday. For the past eight years, Nichols, a resident at Merrimack Landing downtown, has pushed mayoral administrations, city councilors and other city leaders to transform a muddy, unkempt and highly visible plot of land on the river side of the Green Street parking lot into a manicured space. He has presented drawings, pictures and concept ideas to them without success. "It is a shame that people have to walk and see this when they come to Newburyport," he said. "This shouldn't be their first impression. "I just felt that we could do better." Nichols is finally fulfilling that quest this year, thanks mainly to cash from a local bank and materials from the city. Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank is donating about $7,000 to help pay for a landscape company to improve the space and to improve the area around the information booth across the street. "The place could use some work," said Richie Eaton, president of the bank, adding that they had already planned to install bricks around the information booth and "it seemed like we could do both at the same time." Eaton said the board got together after hearing from Nichols and said, "Let's make it look good." The city will provide bricks for a sidewalk, a curb cut for wheelchair accessibility, a bench and some dirt. "It is a great thing," Mayor John Moak said. "Everybody cuts through that area, and it gets muddy and it's horrible. It is not a very good entrance to our city's main parking lot." The land, just west of the Merrimack Landing building — which is home to a record store, children's clothing store and other retail shops, with townhouses on the top floors — is one of the first landscapes visitors see when getting out of their vehicles at the Green Street lot and heading toward the waterfront. A dirt path, beaten down from thousands of footsteps, cuts diagonally across the small space. The grass grows only in patches, and when it rains, mud covers most of the area. In the new park, a brick sidewalk will run across the area where the dirt path is now. On one side of that walkway will be mulch and on the other side grass. The walkway will meet up with the crosswalk across Merrimac Street, making it a natural place for pedestrians to travel. The park will also include shrubs and a bench. Nichols, who retired to Newburyport 11 years ago after 30 years at Polaroid, said he has pushed for so many years because the area is like his front yard. He said he also manages Market Landing Park across the street for the Waterfront Trust. He once was a member of that group. "I figure that there had to be something better than this," he said pointing the park yesterday afternoon. "It took eight years to get to this, but it's worth it. It will be nice to see something here."
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Photos
Charles Nichols has finally realized his dream of creating a small park at the east side of the Merrimac Street entrance to the Green Street Municipal Lot. Staff photo