My name is Pamela DiBona, I am the Legislative Director for the Environmental League of Massachusetts. The Environmental League is a citizen-based education and advocacy organization that works to bring about strong and responsible environmental policies in Massachusetts, a mission we have pursued for more than 100 years. We staff and coordinate the Massachusetts Environmental Collaborative, which currently numbers 43 diverse environmental organizations representing over 85,000 households. The Collaborative’s goal is to strengthen the voice of the Commonwealth's environmental community by enhancing our combined research, education, advocacy, and communication capabilities. The Collaborative has identified the conversion of Article 97 land (conservation land, publicly owned, which falls under Article 97 of our Constitution) as a real threat to Massachusetts’ open space, infrastructure, and commitment to environmental justice.

Development of these parcels results in real environmental threats: contaminated runoff which degrades local streams, increased impervious surfaces which cause flooding and prevent replenishment of groundwater, and destroyed or fragmented wildlife habitat. Developing parkland adversely impacts the quality of life for neighbors, decreases property values, and deprives them of recreational space. Further, the issue becomes one of environmental justice, when the most densely developed communities become even more dense with each transaction, and city residents lose what little access to green space they have had.

The proposed conversion of Glendale Park in Everett to a high school facility is an unfortunate example of yet another potential loss of Article 97 land.

According to the Coalition to Save Glendale Park, the City of Everett has not demonstrated that all alternatives – and specifically, renovation of the existing high school – are infeasible. Historic Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts Environmental Collaborative, can supply examples of successful school renovation projects, for example in Salem and Milford, Massachusetts, where a hundred-year-old school was renovated for middle school students. The City should consult with Historic Massachusetts before eliminating renovation as an alternative. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington DC has also expressed concern about the trend to abandon existing school buildings and resulting "school sprawl."

Further, the compensation land offered cannot serve the community as Glendale Park traditionally has. City of Everett boards and commissions in the past have described in glowing terms the tremendous recreational assets of the park, and its importance to the community.

In comparison, the proposed compensatory land is inadequate for several reasons, including:

• The eight acres promised at TeleCom City (a regional redevelopment project) are not owned by Everett, and have not been placed under a conservation restriction.

• These eight acres were already promised as parkland before Glendale Park was slated for development. Therefore this property is being double-counted, and the City would be losing parkland overall.

• The proposed development at TeleCom City has a long timeline (it is in the early stages of the state environmental review process, at a little more than ten percent design), and so the land will not be available for public use for many years.

TeleCom City, unfortunately, seems to be every administrator’s answer to open space needs in this dense region of Massachusetts. The City of Medford has also laid claim to a portion of the land as compensation for its new school projects. As the plans for all of the TeleCom parcels are so preliminary, it is difficult to tell if everyone is claiming the same lawn space as their own compensatory land.

Finally, the degree of opposition to the project from Everett residents indicates that inadequate communication has occurred to develop alternatives for the project. The Draft and Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Reports generated several petitions, letters, and organized opposition from a new coalition to save the Glendale Park. These voices, many from minority and low-income abutters to the park, should be given great weight during the decisionmaking process. Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), another Collaborative member, has expressed their concern about this project in particular, though they could not be here to testify on such short notice.

We urge you to consider carefully the implications of taking Glendale Park from the residents of the City of Everett. The Environmental League does not agree that adequate investigation of alternatives, adequate compensation, and adequate attention to residents’ wishes has been carried out to date.