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MONDAY, DECEM BER
Greenway pledges reach $5.3m
Project exceeds
its goal for the year
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr.
GLOBE SEASt
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Green-
way Conservancy has won pledges of $5.3 million toward an endowment fund for future care of the corridor of parks now taking shape where the Central Artery highway once cast its shadow
At a press conference this afternoon, Greenway conservancy board chairman Peter G. Meade, Mayor Thomas M. Meninx, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
chairman Matthew J. Amorello, and US Senator Edward M. Kennedy are sehed uled to announce the plialges.
The total raised amounts to about 10 percent of the conservancy's long-term
goal of $50 million, and is $300,000
more than the conservancy, under its bylaws, was obligated to raise by the end of
the year.
Kennedy is also expected to announce how touch the Kennedy family's contribution will be to the endowment fund. 'Die Greenway is nanaxi after Rose Kennedy, the senator's mother and the
grandmother of Caroline, who is the
daughter of the late President John F.
Kennedy. Caroline's husband, Edwin Schlossberg, is a member of the hoard of
the conservancy.
"We're at $5.3 million right now, and we expect to be at $6.5 million by the end of the year," said Meade, who has had a
major role in raising the funds.
The pledgesinclude three corporate contributions of $1 million each, from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Raytheon Co., and State Street Corp. Boston 2004, the group that raised
money for the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, has also pledged
to give $1 million.
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Pledges for Greenway project at $5.3m
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Bank of America Corp. has pledged $500,000 and more in the future, Meade said. All 10 members of the Greenway conservancy
board also have contributed,
Meade said, including William E Weld, the former Massachusetts governor who has not been active in board meetings or activities. Weld now lives in New York and is running for governor there.
The amount of the planned Kennedy family contribution could not he learned.
About $2.5 million is in hand, and the rest of the pledges will be fulfilled by the end of 2007, Meade said. Meade is executive vice president of Blue Cross-Blue Shield.
The conservancy, a private nonprofit group whose hoard members were chosen by the mayor, Turnpike chairman, Governor Mitt Romney, and the Kennedy family, was required under its bylaws to raise $5 million this year. That is to be matched by a $5 million contribution from the Turnpike Authority.
By the end of 2007, the conservancy must raise $10 million more, for a total of $20 million, to
establish itself as the Greenway's chief steward. The conservancy will oversee maintenance and operations, work with the city to plan events, and be responsible for the long-term success of the 30
acres of parks from Causeway to Kneeland streets.
Meade has said that $50 million is a more realistic figure for an
endowment that would generate enough revenue to keep the Greenway in first-rate condition, and last week he reiterated that is the conservancy's goal.
Meade acknowledged that when he started he thought raising $5 million in one year was "a daunting challenge."
But Menino said he was confident. "I knew we had people in the city who cared what the Greenway would look like and would step up to the plate and be generous," lac said.
Turnpike chairman Amorello said he was pleased with the conservancy's progress. "After the efforts they put in for the last 18 months, we're starting to see the
fruits we were all expecting," he
said.
The Turnpike Authority, which managed construction of the Big Dig, has committed a total of $2 million over four years to fund the conservancy in its early years, before it gets on its feet financially. That means the conservancy will have to spend almost none of the money it is raising until after 2007.
The Turnpike also has promised to continue to pay for upkeep
and maintenance for five years after that.
Asked why the city has not contributed other than agreeing to use money left. over -from the convention, Menino said, "Why isn't the state? My budget's so tight:'
Menino said the city would provide street maintenance and police presence along the eight blocks of parks; "not direct beautification and upkeep. If our financial situation changes, of course we would."
The parks are scheduled to be substantially complete in late 2006, with final plantings taking place in early 2007. Amorello said the transition of control of the Greenway from 'turnpike to conservancy is evolving. "As the parks get built and we start to see it as a finished project, the conservancy would naturally take more," lie
said.
The conservancy has two paid employees, including executive director Nancy Brennan. Its office space at Russia Wharf is being donated by Equity Office Properties, which owns and manages buildings nationwide. Maryann Gilligan Suydam, senior vice president of Equity Office Properties in Boston, is a member of the conservancy board.
In addition to the companies that gave $1 million each, Equity Office was among five firms that have made substantial but public-
ly unspecified pledges to the Greenway this year. They also in-
elude Corcoran Jennison Cos., Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc., Starbucks Corp., arid The Beal Cos. Charles D. Baiter, chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim, also serves on
the conservancy's board.
"People responded favorably to what is a dream opportunity for our community," Meade said. "If this is going to be compared to Millennium Park in Chicago and the Champs Elysees, then it will not simply be the government that does it. It's got to be a partnership with the government and the broader community:
Meade credited the Kennedy family, including retired Louisiana. judge Edmund Reggie, father of the senator's wife, Victoria, for much of the success of the fundraising effort. "One of the most fortunate things that happened was the Greenway was named for Rose Kennedy," Meade said. "We wouldn't be at square one if it wasn't forliAl Kennedy?"
He noted that Kennedy's grandfather, John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, for whom the old Central Artery was named, took office as mayor in Boston 100 years ago next month. His daughter, Rose Fitzgerald, was born in 1890 in the North End, where the first two blocks of parks are taking shape.
She died in 1995.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be
readied at tpalmer@globe.com.
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