In Brief

More Small Business Grants Distributed

Many small businesses throughout the City of Boston have received debt free grants through the Boston Business Relief Fund, federal and private resources.

Funding was awarded to industries most impacted by closure, policies or general loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy and they provide residents with the services they depend on every day,” Mayor Martin Walsh said.

“Funding will help businesses stay open, pay employees and strengthen our local business district,” he added.

FOCCP Tree Planting and Care Exceptional

A common question heard from those who walk past Christopher Columbus Park on Atlantic Avenue is “What is that fragrance?” according to Friends of Columbus Park.

“The fleetingly fragrance experience of honey, vanilla and citrus is from the blooms of the Little Leaf Linden tree,” FOCCP noted.

There are five Little Lindens in the park of which three bordering Atlantic Avenue. Near the Rose Garden there are two more that filled the air with fragrance.

“These trees in Columbus Park provide wonderful shade on a hot summer day and we care for them every year,” FOCCP President Joanne Hayes-Rines explained.

“This year for example we’ll have a landscaping company prune and fertilize more than 20 trees including the large oaks along the Trellis, the birch trees near the shed will get soil injections to treat a blight that is causing the tree to lose the leaves,” she added.

“FOCCP spends an average of $7,000 a year on planting new trees and caring for existing ones,” she noted.

Columbus Park Security Lighting Enhanced

Lighting is critically important for security and all public places according to Friends of Christopher Columbus Park (FOCCP), that have added three additional floodlights in two areas.

Two new lights on a timer have been added to the north trellis, illuminating the Crescent Garden.

A solar powered floodlight has been placed at the shed to light up the path to the playground which has been a dark space.

The new lighting cost was $2668.

In addition, FOCCP is planning to have more security lighting installed under the horizontal beams of the Trellis.

A couple of years ago, FOCCP replaced the decades old lighting. It was determined to replace them to enhance the park’s lighting.