After years as an eyesore, downtown Fall River park is finally ready for renovations

FALL RIVER — It’s been a fenced-in eyesore on South Main Street for years, but the renovation of the tiny, but very visible, Jerry Lawton Memorial Plaza pocket park on South Main Street across from the Fall River Justice Center could finally see its much-needed renovation soon.

“The contract has been awarded to Century Paving. We have had some fits and starts with trying to get the bids,” said assistant planner Christopher Parayno on Thursday.

Mayor Paul Coogan earmarked $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money to upgrade the park, which is noted in the city’s downtown redevelopment plan.

Parayno, who oversees the project, said the city has gone out for three different bids on the project.

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“The first one was not responsive, the second one we did not have the budget for,” said Parayno, adding that the bid was double the budget.

So the city went out for a third bid quote and got more responses, and the third time was the charm.

“In the interim, between bids two and three, the city did some work. The trees came down, the fence went up and some of the bricks were removed,” said Parayno.

“We finally have a contractor, and we are working on finalizing the schedule when they can get over there, and it's looking like sometime in July when they’ll start,” said Parayno. “We were hoping we’d get this done a lot sooner, but I think a lot of contractors are very busy. There are a lot of public and private projects going on. So it took a while to find a contractor to do it, and do it financially responsibly for the city.”

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Who was Jerry Lawton?

A Fall River native, Gerald "Jerry" Lawton was a humanitarian and advocate for the homeless who founded and operated Jerry’s Lodgings on North Main Street for 20 years. The plaque and the little more than 3,200 square-foot park were installed in his honor in 1993, a year after his death.

In 2013, The Herald News reported that benches and other park features were demolished following public complaints. A member of the Karam family, whose First Bristol Corp. had recently purchased the Travelers Insurance building at 99 S. Main St., told then-Mayor Will Flanagan that criminal activity was taking place at the park, including drug use and sales, and harassment.

At the time, Flanagan said the Karam family would contribute to transforming the park; that did not develop.

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What are the plans for the pocket park?

What won’t be returning to the little park will be public seating areas.

“We are looking at it as rather a flex space,” said Parayno.

The park will be an open plaza with planting beds, and a majority of the space will be leveled for Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, “which was poor in the former park. And there will be a stage in the rear of the plaza,” said Parayno.

He said the idea is to offer the space to a local business or organization to rent the space for local pop-up events, small concerts or food truck events.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: ARPA-funded renovations happening at downtown Fall River pocket park