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Troy Beautification Council by Janette Kaddo Marino Over the past several months we have seen the initiatives and hard work of several of our members brighten up our city. Christine O'Connell has been working for many years on improving the corridor from the bottom of Campbell's Avenue to Burden Pond. This Holiday season it looked exceptionally beautiful with the red bows on the bushes and the wreaths on the polls. Christine has organized clean-ups and has contributed much personal time and money to make a difference in this part of Troy. The Canadian Geese have actually returned back to the pond because it's such a nice place to be. Thank you Christine for your hard work and dedication to making Troy a better place. Peter and Jane Stewart have done it again. For the 3rd year in a row, Peter and Jane have organized the wreath program in downtown Troy. It's almost February now and the wreaths still add timeless decor and a pride in ownership to our downtown streets. Peter and Jane along with their family, personally tied every ribbon on the wreaths while the city workforce hung them just in time for the Victorian Stroll. Thank you both for your commitment to Troy. Peter D. Grimm, another member of TBC also purchased some of the wreaths for his street so that the wreaths could be hung south of the Troy Public Library on Second Street. Peter is also extensively involved in "Friends of Prospect Park". There are many wonderful and exciting things happening there that I hope we will here about in next months newsletter. Thank you Peter for your energy and wonderful optimism. Last Spring and Summer, I organized two "prototype" clean-ups. One was for the little park on the corner of Third and Canal a.k.a., Kiddy Land Park and the other was for the Menands Bridge. Both of these two initiatives are continuing to be improved through other citizen participation and a partnering with our city government. Kiddy Land Park has already had several diseased and unsafe trees removed. The hope for this park is that it receives all new working playground equipment, new landing platforms, a repaired fence, more lighting and more attractive landscaping. We hope that this newly renovated park will bring a new sense of pride and care to the neighborhood so that families with young children will have a place to walk to and enjoy. Maybe we can even recruit our neighbor firehouse (just across the street) to adopt this park and be it's guardian angel as well as hold educational fire safety sessions for the neighborhood children. This would be a great place to have our police officers come by and meet with the neighborhood children as well during the summer months. Look for more information in the coming months on what you can do to help this or other parks get back into tip top shape. There are many other little pocket parks in Troy that could also use this type of attention. The Menands Bridge was quite the task to take on but Troy Beautification Council felt that this was the bridge that they should take on to "set into motion" the overall idea of improving Troy's entryways. It was one of the hottest days of the summer last year but we were able to make such a dent, that we are now fully committed to revitalizing that entryway. Mayor Mark Pattison has also seen the importance of our entryways and has given $20,000 of CDBG funds to Community Gardens to work on ideas on how to improve the entryways. We are all very excited about this and look forward to the plans and changes yet to come. What's most important here is the partnership that has been made between everyday citizens and our government. We know that the city does not have all the money and resources to do all of this by itself, we know we don't have all the money and resources to do this by ourselves, but togetheràlook outà Keep watching for more details on how and when you may be able to lend a helping hand in getting your city back on it's feet. There are many other entryways and many other parks that could use some help. Troy Beautification Council will work with any group that wants to take the initiative and improve any of them. The city cannot do it without you and we cannot do it without the cooperation of the Mayor and his staff. For more information on how you or a neighbor can get more involved in making a difference in our city call Janette Kaddo Marino 271-1276. In cooperation with Troy United Ink Corp., a not-for-profit corporation 
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