Congress Square, at the corner of Congress and High St., largely fails as a park. Apart from vagrants who find it a convenient place to drink and fight, not much goes on there. Tomorrow night there will be a forum to discuss
options for its future (May 12 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Eastland Park Hotel, 157 High St.)
The Forecaster:
"There are a number of things that can be done with that area," said Penny Littell, the city's director of Planning and Urban Development. "We can redesign it with a building or a park."
While Littell cautioned that a decision about the park is far from being made, one option is to sell part or all of the property, which totals about a third of an acre.
Until the 1940s, residential buildings with storefronts filled the space. Those buildings were cleared and replaced with a commercial block that for a time was occupied by a Walgreens pharmacy and later a Dunkin' Donuts shop.
In 1979, the Dunkin' Donuts building was demolished the city took ownership of the parcel, and turned it into the park that exists today.
