“We want to be a stakeholder, not the stakeholder,” Lucey says.

From 2000 to 2004, the committee hammered out its plans for beautification and improvement. In 2005, it handed over the reins to the city government, which then spent the following year soliciting feedback from community members.

The series of public meetings concluded with the creation of a document known as the Harvard Square Initiative.

“I’ve been pleased and impressed with the diligence and the detail that was put in those four-plus years of meetings,” says DiGiovanni, who has played a major role in the beautification process since its inception.

“We need to treat it, in my opinion, as good stewards, as the historic, urban, authentic center that it is,” he adds.

BRICK BY BRICK

Thus far, the beautification process has consisted of three phases of construction.

The first phase, in 2006, made the most-needed improvements: the repavement of several busy streets and the creation of a brick plaza in front of the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine.

“Before, that was wide and open. There was no easy access to cross. By adding that island, it helped pedestrian improvement and improved the aesthetics of area,” says Katherine F. Watkins, supervising engineer at the Cambridge Department of Public Works.

Harvard contributed $1.3 million to help jump-start the beautification process.

University leaders felt especially compelled to fund the project during this phase since it significantly affected students’ safety, Lucey says.

After the first phase was completed in the fall of 2007, the second part of the improvement process—the construction of a “super crosswalk” across JFK Street in the heart of Harvard Square—commenced shortly thereafter.

Once the crosswalk was completed in 2008, the city took a step back to consider its next move.

After much internal consulting, according to Watkins, the city launched the most recent phase of construction in 2010.

This third phase, which will be completed in the next few weeks, included the repaving of Plympton, Linden, Dunster and portions of JFK Street. It also features the relaying of the brick sidewalks and updating of street lamps along those streets.