Back in 2009, the residents of Greenfield decided that the twenty-year-old welcome sign near the Greenfield Bridge was too dilapidated to represent the city neighborhood any longer. They began fundraising in November of that year.
Nearly three years later, the community finally raised the $68,000 needed to put up the new "portal," a large steel structure in the center circle of the Alger Street and Beechwood Boulevard intersection. The sign was unveiled on Sunday.
"It's a fairly heavily traveled intersection, and serves as a major entry point into the neighborhood," explained Patrick Hassett, Vice President of the Greenfield Community Association. "We thought it was appropriate to place a more welcoming sign in that location to better identify the neighborhood and attract people's attention to the presence of Greenfield."
Hassett credited Greenfield residents for the success of the new portal sign, calling it a "community-driven project."
"A third of [the money] came from the community in the form of cash donations and pro bono services," said Hasset.
Hassett said the Laurel Foundation threw in $10,000 for the project, the Ravenstahl administration gave $11,600, and $24,100 came from the office of Greenfield's City Councilman, Corey O'Connor.
Situated between Schenley Park to the north and Hazelwood to the south, Greenfield is no longer a little-known community, according to Hassett. He said a recent influx of young people has boosted the neighborhood's popularity. According to Census data, the community is steadily losing population, but at a slower rate than the city as a whole.
