North End Greenway parks dedicated

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Governor Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, House Speaker Sal DiMasi, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman Bernard Cohen, and other officials, more than you could keep track of, joined several hundred North End residents yesterday to declare two blocks of parks on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway open.

"A long-anticipated and historic event," Cohen said, that demonstrates "the continued vibrancy of the North End."

Children from St. John School and John Eliot School welcomed the sun-drenched crowd in song as new fountains gurgled. Kennedy called it an especially meaningful day for his family and recalled his mother, for whom the Greenway is named, and his grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, once a member of Congress and mayor of Boston. Both were born in the neighborhood.

The two of them used to talk about how "there was never any grass" in the neighborhood, Kennedy said. Now, "There's going to be grass, so the children from the North End can come here and picnic and enjoy the magnificent fountains."

Speeches were brief and to the point -- Conservancy board chairman Peter Meade just quoted Kennedy's brother, Robert, and the Irish author George Bernard Saw -- except for one by North End community leader Nancy Caruso, who, several pols said, had driven them "crazy" by pushing on behalf of her neighborhood.

After they credited her with leading the way for new parks, Caruso reintroduced the speakers, related anecdotes, and recounted years of meetings -- reading and ad-libbing for 21 minutes, until the wide ribbon that required cutting was virtually unrolled in front of her.

"If they put up with me, they've earned their salary," Caruso said. "It is truly a day we never thought would come."

US Representative Michael Capuano, eyeing the pergola above the eastern edge of the block, wondered, "Which end are the red grapes going to be on, and which end are the white grapes going to be on?"

The North End parks are the second on the Greenway to be formally opened. Chinatown's park opened in September, and the four Wharf District blocks, with a large circular fountain that has already been switched on, will open soon, turnpike officials said.
(By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe staff)