howell junction: pocket park

The Marietta Street Artery Association received a grant as well as provided match funding to help convert a vacant City-owned parcel at the intersection of West Marietta Street and Brady Avenue into a pocket park. The Upper Westside Community Improvement District (UWCID) helped with the design and management of construction for the project.

UWCID worked with landscape architecture firm MKSK to design the transformation. With the City’s funding, UWCID received bike racks, a bike repair station and a trash receptacle for the park. The project adds functional and aesthetic amenities for pedestrians and cyclists, and directly serves the UWCID’s mission to enhance connectivity, green space, and safety through community partnerships.

WHAT WE LEARNed

Support on-going efforts: While we do our best to be cost-efficient and nimble in our project strategies, small amounts of funding are generally not sufficient for infrastructure improvements. We learned that when funding is limited, we can have the highest impact by supporting existing community-led efforts to improve rather than creating new projects from scratch.