Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Urban Greening topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City presentation: $2.02 million Keep America Beautiful grant to fund MLK Jr. Boulevard corridor improvements
Summary
City staff described a $2,020,000 Keep America Beautiful grant to fund a three-phase beautification of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Clinton Avenue to Court Street): community engagement, tree and planter plantings including fruit trees, and placemaking elements to commemorate Dr. King; administration said it will plant 500+ new trees across sites.
City sustainability staff and partners presented details of a $2,020,000 Keep America Beautiful grant during the Newark Municipal Council’s Dec. 2 pre-meeting, outlining a three-phase effort to beautify Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Clinton Avenue and Court Street.
Nicole Hewitt Cabral, who identified herself as the chief sustainability officer, described Phase 1 as community engagement and the planting of 30 trees (plus ten fruit trees on Court Street) and reported that volunteers and staff planted 30 trees in an initial effort. Phase 2 focuses on beautification through planters, pollinator-friendly plantings and high-school and arts-organization partnerships, while Phase 3 involves placemaking measures to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s presence in Newark on March 27, 1968.
Cabral said the project partnered with local groups including Clinton Hill Community Action, the NAACP, the Newark Public Library and the Newark Museum and that the city has planted fruit trees such as apples, pears and apricots. Council members asked for more detail about future community meetings and requested to be included in engagement events; administration said it would send site lists and follow-up information and noted a broader target of planting more than 500 trees in coming phases.
Council members also raised concerns about stump removal and lawsuits/insurance problems that can arise when tree roots lift sidewalks; staff said they are coordinating stump-removal strategy with the business administrator and tree-superintendent and asked council members to submit specific stump locations for prioritized action.
