Stoneham Celebrates Installation Of Town Common Bike Racks

STONEHAM, MA — The Stoneham Community Development Corporation and town of Stoneham recntly celebrated the new custom bike racks on the Town Common.

In attendance were several CDC Board Members, including President Joan Lemire,
Vice President Jenny Lecoq, Treasurer Mike Bratina, Jessica Chasse, Justin Taylor and local
residents Filis Warren, who submitted the design that inspired the bike racks, and Jamie
McDermott, who secured a grant for the project from the Martin Richard Foundation after she ran on its MR8 Boston Marathon team.

The town of Stoneham, which played an important role in the project, was represented by Steve Angelo, director of Recreation, and Brett Gonsalves, director of Public Works.

The whimsical multi-colored "townscape" bike racks were produced by Madrax, using a custom design submitted by Filis Warren to the Stoneham CDC’s Bike Rack Community Design contest held in Fall 2018. Warren commented on how proud she is to be part of the efforts going in to making Stoneham a bike-friendly community.

The bike racks were purchased with funds from Complete Streets, donations to the CDC's community fundraising campaign and a grant from the Martin Richard Foundation, in honor of Stoneham resident Jamie McDermott.

McDermott, who sported her yellow MR8 Team singlet, talked about running the Boston Marathon in 2018 in support of the Martin Richard Foundation. Martin Richard was the young boy who tragically lost in life in the Boston Marathon bombings. The foundation funds programs that address social equity in the areas of youth development, community building and adaptive and inclusive efforts. The foundation allocated funds to each runner's community to be used for a project of their choice.

The Stoneham DPW installed the bike racks in early July 2020. You can watch a short video of the dedication which also gives a history of the project at www.stonehamcdc.org.