The Boston City Council met Monday to discuss the allotment of over $1 million from the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund for seven projects dedicated to new designs within the city.
An ordinance regarding funding for the projects was sponsored by the mayor and referred to the Committee of Parks, Recreation and Transportation on Nov. 1.
Among the projects are a memorial for the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, public art commemorating the contributions of African-American veterans as well as a memorial at South Station celebrating women in the transportation industry, Richard DePiano, the second assistant collector-treasurer, said.
Robert Sherman, 69, of Dorchester, said he approved of the money going toward these projects.
“It sounds like a good variety of places it’s going to,” Sherman, who was in attendance at the meeting, said.
The proposed projects include the restoration of the William Lloyd Garrison statue on Commonwealth Avenue, landscaping improvements at Copley Square, a construction grant for park space and public art commemorating several inspiring citizens from Brighton, DePiano said.
Chief Diversity Officer Danielson Tavares said the current funds allotted for the Boston Marathon bombing memorial are to be set aside on Boylston Street, where the first blasts went off, as possible locations for the project.
Tavares said this is part of a two-step process to build multiple memorials in commemoration of the bombing and its victims. The focus is to create a city-wide memorial in an effort to involve the community affected by the bombings, Tavares said.
“The conversation started on a city-wide memorial when we realized that there’s so many more survivors in the community that want to have a say in the process … [so] we decided a city-wide memorial would be more appropriate,” Tavares said.
Construction and subsurface work for the project have already begun with the use of private fundraising, but further funding will be needed to keep the project going. So far, the bulk of the preparatory work on the memorials have been focused on clearing two spaces on Boylston that are marked for construction, Tavares said.
“It’s technically for the five families who actually lost loved ones,” DePiano said. “But again, it’s a piece of the entire city-wide memorial.”
The bombing memorial grant would cost $350,000 — part of the $750,000 annual dispersion of the Browne Fund, valued at a total of $15 million, DePiano said.
DePiano said projects that did not make the cut for this year could be funded next year.
“Because of the size of the Browne Fund and because it only has $750,000 to spend each year, we try to spread it out as best we can,” DePiano said.
DePiano said projects which want more funding must apply by March 15 and the committee will consider them over the summer.
“If the project is seeking some additional source funding, they need to do substantial fundraising,” DePiano said. “The committee would ask the applicant to come back before the Browne Fund when their goal is at the very least halfway met to use this money as leverage for additional fundraising.”
