Hey, there! Log in / Register

Decaying old Hyde Park rec center could go to the dogs

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation has agreed to put up money to study how to turn the long closed Thompson Center on the Hyde Park side of Stony Brook Reservation into a dog park large enough to have separate play areas for large and small dogs and walking trails for pet owners who want to get in a bit of exercise.

At nine acres, the proposed dog park would dwarf similar facilities in the rest of the city.

The Dog Park Association of Southwest Boston reports DCR has agreed to kick in $20,000 for a formal design study - if the group can pitch in another $10,000. The association hopes to raise the money by the end of March - it's currently up to $2,620.

The Thompson Center opened in 1977 as a recreational facility for kids with disabilities, but it was allowed to fall apart and was shut permanently in 2002. It sits within Stony Brook Reservation, Boston's only forest, to which DCR has tried to limit access in recent years by closing off several of the parking lots within its borders.

H/t Cori Stott.

Neighborhoods: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

I'd be more excited about this if I thought it would do anything to improve the ridiculous unleashed dog problem in the rest of the stony brook reservation. Unfortunately the self-entitlement of dog owners seems to know no bounds.

up
Voting closed 0

The irony is that the non-dog owning public is wholeheartedly supporting this so that hopefully we will be able to go places where off-leash dogs are prohibited (Millennium Park and the Arboretum to name a few spots) without being overrun by off-leashed dogs.

up
Voting closed 0

Or dog owners could opt to own them in more suburban settings, where there is more open space. That way they don't have to keep them in small apartments all day, then take them out for short walks on concrete.

up
Voting closed 0

To start, we're talking about a part of Boston that's as close to suburban, rural even, as you can get and still be in Boston. You're not going to mistake the area where West Roxbury, Roslindale and Hyde Park meet for the South End.

There are streets down there that aren't even paved and streets that have had to be posted with deer-crossing and no-hunting signs.

I readily admit that, if it were up to me, I'd rather let the land just return to the forestland that makes up most of the rest of the reservation, but, those nine acres are currently a sort of no man's land that nobody goes near now (darn ne'er-do-wells!). This proposal would restore it to some sort of recreational use by actual taxpayers and which would benefit not only dog owners, but as somebody else mentioned, non-dog-owners who are getting just a bit tired of having huge dogs bound up on them around curves on paths at, say, Millennium Park.

up
Voting closed 0

citizens are also happy about this as it's not fair we pay taxes in the city and can't bring our dogs anywhere off leash! I don't have kids and my taxes are used for schools which I am 100% fine with - I just want a place my dog can run off leash. And bigger than an 8x8 square!

up
Voting closed 0

It sounds like schools and dog parks are of about equal importance to you. You also seem to think that merely paying taxes means every place you move to should modify shared public resources to accommodate you.

up
Voting closed 0

Pretty good graffiti in there these days.

up
Voting closed 0

Adam, can you elaborate on this, please?

It sits within Stony Brook Reservation, Boston's only forest, to which DCR has tried to limit access in recent years by closing off several of the parking lots within its borders.

I know that the Thompson Center parking lot is now fenced off, but I'm not aware of any other parking areas within the Stony Brook closing. Of course, I've only been frequenting it for about five years.

up
Voting closed 0

Drive up towards West Roxbury from the four-way stop. Just past the pond, on your left, there's a grassy field behind boulders that used to be a parking lot (they did leave enough space between the road and the boulders for a couple of cars to park). Further up, on your right, is an even larger lot that they now use for storing mulch and stuff.

If you head towards Dedham from the four-way stop, there are some guardrails on your right that block off what used to be, well, maybe not a full-fledged parking lot, but a pull off where you could fit three or four cars.

Fortunately, for people who still like walking around the woods (which really are quite amazing, even aside from the fact that you're in the middle of the largest city in New England), there's still the small lot next to one of the entrances to the forest, and the larger one across the road at the ballfield.

up
Voting closed 0

Not sure why, but I never feel safe in those woods. Maybe it's all the graffiti on the bike path (it's old, since some refers to WCOZ) or just the general lack of upkeep.

I agree that this is an underused gem of a place and the DCR making it harder to park isn't helping matters. I bet they closed off that parking to keep out the lovers lane parkers, but you'd think they could find a way to encourage people to visit without putting up fences.

up
Voting closed 0

... parking lots were being used for making drug deals and the state police did not want to waste time patrolling these.

up
Voting closed 0

There is a fair amount of "cruising" (if that's still what it's called) around the lots by Smith Field, but I've never encountered drug deals.

up
Voting closed 0

But except for the one that's used for mulch/dirt/rebar storage, they all still allow parking. And the remaining parking areas are never full, except right at Turtle Pond on a hot summer afternoon. I don't know, I guess I never saw lack of parking as an issue in the Stony Brook, but I don't have experience with the old parking lots to compare. When the days are a little longer, I'm usually over there three or four evenings per week. As it is, I almost never encounter anyone in there, especially away from the larger lot by Smith Field.

up
Voting closed 0

Gets a fair amount of use in the summer - currently, people mostly park along the parkway. Probably safer than being in the old parking lot, because it's a horrible place to cross the road, but I suspect that's not the reason DCR blocked off the lot that used to be there.

I wonder, is there anything like a Friends of Stony Brook?

up
Voting closed 0

... called "Friends of Stony Brook reservation" - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Stony-Brook-Reservation-Boston...

up
Voting closed 0

A lot of us own dogs and there is a shortage of suitable legal spaces for us to go. We chipped in as soon as we heard about this. Hope the publicity here helps push them to the goal. We'll be there most weekends if it happens.

up
Voting closed 0

Cities tend to have a shortage of open space for animals. Why is this news to people with dogs? That is why it's more responsible to own them in places where there is more open space for them to get exercise and walk.

up
Voting closed 0

If there's any part of the city where there is more open space for dogs to get exercise and walk, it's here.

up
Voting closed 0

City people can own dogs and have them be perfectly happy and well adjusted. You don't need to live in the boonies to own a pet.

City people that don't own dogs and want others dogs to be well adjusted, etc need to realize that open spaces (that our taxes also pay for) can be used for this purpose. People that take dogs to places that others seem dangerous actually do non dog owners a favor as we usually help to make dangerous places safer. We help keep some riff raff out. It's a win-win.

up
Voting closed 0

So you are arguing that your dogs gentrify parks? What?

up
Voting closed 0

Making it safe doesn't mean pushing people out. I'm not sure how you can even get to that conclusion.

up
Voting closed 0

Perhaps a sign rather than a cause.

You see, we assume the worse, and as there is dog poop on the sidewalk on my property now (too cold to pick it up and thankfully off to the side) I think it is well founded. Your kids want to play a pickup game of baseball or softball? Too bad, all the dogs have "slipped off their leash" so they will be chasing you around the fields. And even if they dogs go away, oh, they leave "memories" behind (which I don't fault the dogs for, but the owners should know better.)

The next step is to turn the park, which was used by kids for generations, officially into a dog park. Now, the case in front of us is different, which is why I support this 100% But they dog park on the Southwest Corridor Park in the South End was once a basketball court. Not that the presence of the park has kept dogs on leash, but that is a different issue.

Sometimes it seems like kids are going away and dogs are taking over. I am sure that is the anon's conclusion.

up
Voting closed 0

This seems win-win, really. An unused and decaying place gets redone into something unique and useful for the community. Less unleashed dogs in leashed parks. I hope they're able to raise the funds.

up
Voting closed 0

You've lived in the area long enough that you probably remember the announcement at the time --- can you dig it out?

up
Voting closed 0

Well, Thompson Center was originally a handicapped accessible park and day camp for special needs kids. These days, people expect regular parks to be accessible, rather than creating "separate but equal" facilities.

up
Voting closed 0

I was curious too.. especially a facility built in 1977 to be all but abandoned by now.

Seems to me, from what I read, it just closed because the vandals in the 1980s had just taken over. It became just to costly to fix, more so than what it was to run it, so it closed.

up
Voting closed 0

That's awful even by government standards.

up
Voting closed 0

What's the story on that unfinished boardwalk near the Thompson Center?

Looks like it could have been a wonderful facility for hikers and birdwatchers

up
Voting closed 0