From the Metrowest Daily News
By Jonathan Dame, Metrowest Daily News Staff
Jan 14, 2018 - On the first Saturday after the Fourth of July in 2013, Judy Grove visited Pelham Apartments to learn for herself: Where do the children living in the subsidized housing complex go to play?
During her visit, she suggested a few possibilites, including nearby Mary Dennison Park.“Where’s Mary Dennison Park?” Grove recalled one the kids asking.
She told them the park was a half-mile away from where they lived in South Framingham, and that it had a few softball fields and basketball courts, and a playground for toddlers.
“Oh, it has a name?” the kids said, according to Grove. “Oh, we don’t go there.”
This was Judy Grove’s first foray into Framingham politics. Town Meeting had just rejected several citizens petitions for community and recreational programs in South Framingham. So she and others set their sights on redesigning Mary Dennison
The group eventually collected hundreds of signatures to improve the park, proposing picnic tables and a paved walking path, skateboarding ramps and a playground for older kids. They had momentum.
Then the town discovered the park’s soil was contaminated with lead. The tot lot was temporarily shuttered, its dirty soil hauled away and replaced, but most of the 17 acres were considered safe enough to keep using.