On Tuesday, November 10, 2015, the East Side Partnership held its last meeting for 2015. The meeting was held at Chelsea Piers CT. The attendees included East Side Partnership board members, community representatives, residents and business owners. Jim Grunberger, our Chairman, gave the opening remarks and welcomed the group. He thanked our previous Executive Director, Eva Weller, for her time and commitment to the East Side Partnership. Jim introduced Katie Travia as the new Executive Director for the East Side Partnership. Katie has been a resident of the East Side of Stamford for over 7 years and brings enthusiasm to her new role.
Katie provided an update on the projects the East Side Partnership has been involved since the last meeting in April. The projects included helping the city and Charter Oak Communities with the McKeithen Park Revitalization Project, coordinating the Harvey School Volunteer Day, rebranding the East Side Partnership’s website and marketing materials, planning a free sewing workshop for Stamford residents and organizing a petition for the Board of Representatives requesting a parking solution for businesses that lost on street parking as a result of the Urban Transitway Project.
Eileen Heaphy, the East Side Partnership’s Vice Chairman and a member of the Board of Representatives, gave an update on the upcoming construction projects on the East Side, which include projects on Courtland Avenue, the 95 bridge and the Urban Transitway Project. Captain Brian McElligott gave a police report on the East Side of Stamford as well as Stamford. He provided advice to the audience on street safety and indicated that the city will be launching a new camera systems across some of our parks between 2015 – 2016.
Erin McKenna, Associate Planner from Stamford’s Land Use Bureau, served as our keynote speaker providing an overview of the McKeithen Park Revitalization Project. The project started in the fall of 2014 with planning and design work. Charter Oak Communities collaborated with the City of Stamford on the project, which included a build day on August 28, 2015 with over 200 volunteers from the community. The result is a new playground for the residents of Lawn Hill Terrace and surrounding areas. Further renovations are scheduled for 2016 for the park including a basketball court, splash pad and community garden. Erin’s presentation is included below.
The East Side Partnership also provided an update from the Department of Engineering on the construction project on East Main Street for the Urban Transitway Project.