The city’s Parks and Recreation Department has been without a full-time leader since Dorchester’s Ryan Woods left the post last year, and while the search for a permanent chief continues, a familiar face has stepped up to fill the interim role.
Cathy Baker-Eclipse, 50, has 17 years of experience at the Parks Department. A resident of Roslindale, she has become well known in Dorchester for her work on many local projects like Roberts Field and Playground, Rev. Loesch Wainwright Park, the first phases of Harambee Park at Franklin Field, and the soon-to-open Codman Park.
“Having worked on so many parks, it’s nice to be able to come back to the community and see the same people from previous project and build on those relationships,” Baker-Eclipse told The Reporter this week. “There is a good amount of trust already built because I was here and listened and then acted on that input. That allows me to be able to come into the community with that level of trust already built.
“I’m honored to be the interim commissioner,” she continued. “I’ve been here 17 years and know the parks system really well and hope to help make things better where I can and keep things moving in the great direction they are already going.”
Since Woods’s departure, there has been one interim commissioner that served until earlier this year but left for another role. That left Chief Climate Officer Brian Swett, who oversees the Parks Department, handling two jobs while still looking for a permanent commissioner.
He said he was grateful for Baker-Eclipse stepping up.
“I am pleased that Cathy Baker-Eclipse has agreed to serve as our interim commissioner,” said Swett. “With her deep knowledge of our parks system, dedication to Boston’s communities and commitment to open space equity, I’m confident she will guide us through this transition period with vision and care.”
Baker-Eclipse grew up in Baltimore and came to Boston “on a whim” because there were so many landscape architects here and because of the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted throughout the city. A firm believer that Boston’s parks are “everybody’s backyard,” she first went into private practice and then moved to the Parks department in 2008.
She started her role as interim commissioner two weeks ago. The shift from a senior project manager to being responsible for the entire day-to-day operations of the city’s massive park system has come with some surprises.
One of them is the rabbit population that is booming in some parts of the city and trying to find ways to keep them out of prized city gardens and flowerbeds. Meanwhile, the other surprise isn’t so fuzzy – and that’s the rat problem. As a designer, she was aware of efforts to curtail rats in the parks, but as the interim commissioner, she said the problem is front-and-center every day because the city’s rat plan requires all departments to be heavily involved.
“Removing access to food is one major way to control rats and we are part of the rat action plan,” she said. “When it comes to rats, it’s one thing to know it’s an issue, but it takes an all of government approach to control them the best way possible.”
She said they will be rolling out rat-resistant trash barrels in all their new parks, and also adding them to existing parks as well.
A major focus will be on resilient parks.
She said they just finished the city’s first resilient park in the North End, a demonstration project that acts as a recreational open space while also protecting residents from coastal storm surges and sea level rise.
That energy will now shift to Moakley Park on the Dorchester/South Boston line – a massive park with hopes of a first-class recreation space while also acting as the largest protective barrier to flooding and storm surge for residents in South Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Fenway and the South End.
“It is an effort to show how we can create great parks that provide open space recreation needs and also create a park that protects the neighborhood from coastal storm surge and rising sea levels,” she said.
While some federal funding was stripped from the Moakley Park project in recent months, she said they still have a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to design the dual-purpose park.
One of her most visible recent efforts was the multi-phase renovation of Harambee Park at Franklin Field – a tremendous success so far. The park is much larger than most realize, she said, but when they started rebuilding it, it lacked simple things like pathways and healthy grass playing fields.
“Harambee is as big as the Boston Common, but 10 years ago it had no pathways even in it,” she said. “It had one north-south path and if you were trying to get from one part to the other, there was no paved pathway or access. It was basic park conditions…It’s really amazing to see how people are using Harambee now.”
Baker-Eclipse managed the first three phases of the renovation and told The Reporter they are preparing to come to the community for Phase 5, which will be addressing the area along Blue Hill Avenue next to Sportsmen’s Tennis Center. Meanwhile, this Thursday, the Parks Department will be in Harambee with the cricket playing community to cut the ribbon on their new, premier pitch with lighting. Cricket is the longest-running sport to be played there, with photos of cricket games going back to the early 1900s.
Up the street, she said big news is coming soon at Franklin Park and there are plans to announce several items for Olmsted’s Dorchester gem in the coming months. Other updates include:
•Walsh Park on Washington Street is in the final stages of construction on a large, $3 million renovation this summer.
•Codman Park will open in September.
•The Dorchester Park pathways project is wrapping up this fall.
•Clifford Park on the Dorchester/Roxbury line continues in construction.
•The Stephen Odom Serenity Garden on Hopkins Street is close to completion.
•The new Norwell Street Park is in the process of a land transfer to the Parks Department and will soon go out to bid.
