By Michael Coughlin Jr.
The Community Alliance of Mission Hill (CAMH) hosted Luisa Harris, who discussed an initiative to “reopen and activate the sports and recreational BCYF (Boston Centers for Youth and Families) Hennigan” and supported it at its March meeting.
A petition supplied in advance of last month’s CAMH meeting, which the Friends of BCYF Hennigan crafted, calls for reopening the “sports and recreational BCYF Hennigan with quality programming and extended hours of operations, as soon as possible.”
The petition claims that the BCYF Hennigan, located on Heath Street in Jamaica Plain, is structurally sound and has a “wonderful 5-lane swimming pool that has been closed since COVID and was inconsistently open before that.” It adds that its indoor basketball court is used infrequently and Jefferson Playground is underused.
“The inactivity of this BCYF facility has had a significant and harmful impact on all residents of Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, Roxbury, and surrounding neighborhoods.”
Harris provided some background on the advocacy surrounding the BCYF Hennigan, indicating that over the years, she and others have been trying to get the city and the manager to “take care of the facility,” but have been unsuccessful.
Moreover, she talked about past work with former City Councilor Matt O’Malley, who helped redo the stairs from Hayden to Heath Street.
Harris said O’Malley listened and got involved but added, “We were making some progress, and then of course he decided not to run again, then COVID happened.”
In 2023, Harris explained that conversations had been had with City Councilor Ben Weber, who was campaigning at the time, and that he was interested in the initiative. In the fall of last year, she indicated that other stakeholders, such as the Hyde Square Task Force, had been brought into the advocacy.
Now, there are plans for a community meeting on April 10th at the BCYF Hennigan at 6:00 p.m. with various elected officials and BCYF Commissioner Marta Rivera.
“What we’re trying to do is to help them see that actually the community wants this center operational—not at the minimum level they’ve done so far, at least with the sports court and the couple of other activities,” said Harris.
“The pool has been closed for over four years…and they have not paid attention to the pool nor to the community that could use it.”
Harris mentioned they propose pool activities for seniors, adults, and families, such as lifeguard training, aqua aerobics, and wheelchair sports at the indoor sports center.
Eventually, Harris requested that those at the CAMH meeting attend the April 10th meeting and make their voices heard.
“The next step then will be to put it on the docket for the councilors to really pass all that’s necessary to make it happen,” she said.
Following the brief presentation, attendees asked questions about the pool and complimented the initiative and Harris’ advocacy.
“I think it would be awesome to have a pool. Kids could learn how to be lifeguards, learn how to swim,” said one attendee.
Another attendee said, “Luisa (Harris), I appreciate your advocacy, taking the lead and pushing on it, and I think it is a good thing because community benefits and community staples do slowly dwindle down as the city deals with other things.”
As the conversation continued, other topics were discussed, such as mobilizing residents and getting them to the meeting. Harris also shared the aforementioned petition.
Toward the end of the discussion, a motion was brought to the table for CAMH to write a letter supporting the initiative that could be brought to and used at the upcoming community meeting, and was unanimously supported.
To view the petition regarding the BCYF Hennigan initiative, visit https://chng.it/PHyBdvrr56.
For more information about CAMH, visit https://www.camh.boston/. According to its website, the next CAMH meeting is scheduled for April 16th.
A city spokesperson responded to an inquiry from the Mission Hill Gazette regarding the petition and the recent advocacy tied to the facility.
“City staff are looking forward to a productive discussion about best ways to utilize the BCYF Hennigan space, and programming that would best benefit the community in the future. The City is working with urgency to renovate city pools in need of repair, and is on track to have more pools open this summer than last year,” they said.
“The Hennigan School pool has been closed for needed maintenance, with work done last summer including improvements to the main drain, pool liner replacement, deck retiling, acid wash, anchors, and ladders.”
They added, “As part of the continued efforts to keep pools operable and proactively update mechanical components, BPS put out a bid for a maintenance contract which will be utilized in all our school-based pools. This contract entered into effect recently and has since been working on a comprehensive assessment of all BPS pools and mechanical systems. BPS Facilities will utilize this information to schedule work for the mechanical components of the pool, such as the filtration systems, which need to be addressed before the pool can reopen.”