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By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Staff
The grand opening of Needham’s Bay Colony Rail Trail (BCRT) went swimmingly on Sunday, May 1. The ribbon-cutting, which occurred on a section of the trail between Charles River Street and Fisher Street, was attended by a large handful of Needham residents and dignitaries who had braved light spitting rain to attend.
State Representative Denise Garlick (D) addressed the assembled.
“I do want to say, I think it’s kind of appropriate that the rain’s coming, because this was not a fair-weather project,” said State Representative Denise Garlick (D) said to the assembled. “This took a lot of people working hard, continuing the process, and doing what they could to make it happen. This is such a success for everyone.”
The BCRT, a multi-use trail open to the public, follows the path of a former MBTA rail line that had been in disuse since 2008. The idea for its conversion had its genesis shortly thereafter, and involved years of community collaboration in funding and planning.
While the trail was an overwhelming testament to the hard work and diligence of Needham at large, it seemed the man of the hour was Tad Staley, Co-founder and President of the Bay Colony Rail Trail Association. Every speaker who addressed the crowd had effusive praise for Mr. Staley and his dedication in spearheading the seven-year process from concept to completion.
“When he embarked on this vision nearly a decade ago, he was warned that it would take up a good part of his life. And it has. Eight years, in fact,” BCRT Association member Kathleen Phelps told the crowd.
She then turned to Staley.
“As a token of our thanks for your vision, perseverance, inspiration, commitment, patience, judgement, grace, kindness and humility, your personal leadership, passion, and deft political skills, in engaging the entire town in an effort that has built not only a beautiful community trail, but a deeper sense of community for all of us involved… Tad Staley, we thank you, and we present to you this token of our appreciation.”
Phelps then presented an emotional Mr. Staley with a book on the trail that had been signed by the assembled.
“The idea’s the easy part. It was easy to have this idea. And as I look around, everyone did something,” he said. “This was an amazing community project.”
Reminded later that the rail trail would perhaps be seen as part of his own personal legacy, Staley took a deep breath and looked up a moment to gather his thoughts.
“It’s really important for me that this becomes a town resource - to me it will be a success if I’m forgotten. I’m not doing this for a legacy, I’m doing this for the town.”
