Grant money used to beautify downtown

After many meetings, it was decided we would do a massive planting using old and new planters along Merrick and Grand.”

Marguerite Keller  vice president, Baldwin Civic Association

New trees and plants will be blooming in the spring, after the Baldwin Civic Association refilled old planters in the community, thanks to a $10,000 grant from PSEG Long Island last summer.

From October to December, landscaper Tom Owens worked with the civic association to plant trees and cabbages in planters on Merrick Road and Grand Avenue. The funds were allocated for the association to explore ways to help beautify downtown Baldwin.

“After many meetings, it was decided we would do a massive planting using old and new planters along Merrick and Grand,” Marguerite Keller, the association’s vice president, said. “Two new concrete planters were purchased and installed on the corners of Merrick and Grand.”

Keller was put in touch with Owens, who works at Evergreen Landscaping in Roosevelt. According to Keller, Owens planted hydrangea trees in the middle of the existing large planters, and then filled them in, along with the new planters with bulbs and decorative red cabbage.

The red cabbages and other flowers were planted to ensure that the boxes have color throughout the winter months. Beneath the dirt are daffodil bulbs that will bloom bright yellow in the spring. Keller said that Owens would continue to work on the planters using the remainder of the funding.

“Tom’s name was given to me by Rita Kavanaugh,” Keller said, referring to the association’s former president. “He helped so much with the Baldwin Community Garden” — a beautification project that added greenery to the hamlet’s streets a decade ago.

In a Facebook post, Keller said, “I have to give an extra shout out to Tom Owens. He is one of the best, who has spent years doing beautification projects around Baldwin with the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce.”

In 2013, Kavanaugh, then the association’s president, suggested creating a green space downtown, and the Community Garden, 1980 Grand Ave., opened on June 21, 2014. Owens has helped with its upkeep in the years since, along with other green projects in the community.

“String lights were purchased, and the Baldwin Fire Department will be hanging those up from the new posts,” Keller said of the newest additions. “If they look good, I have more money in the budget for additional lights.”

The timing of this project lines up with the completion of the Complete Streets project, which addressed a 1.4-mile stretch of the Grand Avenue corridor, between Stanton Avenue and Merrick Road, and was finished last month. Sections of the roadway have been reduced from four lanes to two, with a center left-turn lane added, and it has been repaved and its traffic signals have been reconfigured.

“This was all done while the Complete Streets was finishing up in that area,” Keller said of the new project. “So come next spring and summer, we should be seeing the new trees planted in that area, blooming along with flowers in the planters.”

The goal, Keller explained, was to make the downtown more attractive to residents as well as those driving through the community. She said she hoped the greenery would draw more people to local businesses. 

“As a Baldwin resident, it’s appealing to the eye,” Keller said of the planters. “I’m excited to do any improvement to Baldwin, and the downtown area is close to my house, so I now obsessively drive by the planters just to look at them.”

The civic association, she said, will continue to look for more grant projects, and she added that the organization is open to suggestions from the community.