Townsend Park Turnaround: Workshop creates plans to improve neighborhood park

Townsend Park is at a crossroads, literally and figuratively. Not only is the little triangular park located at a fork in two busy roads, it is now at an important turning point. The city of Albany and the Central Business Improvement District are working with concerned citizens and nearby business owners to try to reclaim the park, and make it a more attractive place for the community.

The park has long been a destination for vagrants, and frequent drunk and disorderly conduct citations are given out there, said Anthony Capece, Executive Director for the Central Business Improvement District. This group wants to turn that around, and make the park less attractive for undesirable activities, and more attractive for shoppers, after-dinner crowds from the adjacent restaurants & Lark Street, Capece said.

The community group met in late winter, and then again in early spring to discuss their plans. At the recent meeting, held at the Townsend Park Bakery, Barton & Loguidice Consulting, an engineering firm, introduced some modifications that could help change the park’s personality, Capece said. The engineering firm made suggestions about maintenance, lighting, trees, and plantings, all with an eye towards making the park more useful for the public. Then, the panel discussed ideas and made some suggestions of their own.

Other concerns that the groups have brought up:

    1) The age & safety of the overgrowth of the trees and the lack of quality grass

    2) The appearance of the parking lane on Central Avenue near the meters

    3) The lack of any kind of "feature" like a fountain or light display

    4) the landscaping and long term control of the ammenities (benches, trash cans, statues etc)

Now, the next step is for the consulting firm to digest that information, and create some design plans for the park. Then, another meeting will be held to review those plans, and make some decisions about how to proceed, Capece said.

“We want to take the whole park and make it better,” Capece said. “We want to say, ‘What functions here, and what doesn’t,’ and then make changes.”