Rose Kennedy Greenway

Wow! This is going to be something when it's complete.

nightshot-from-the-harbor.jpg
 
It does look amazing. Too bad it's temporary--Boston could use some iconic public art and the Greenway provides a unique spatial context for that.
 
Bubbybu said:
These guys are on their A game.
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Agreed. It's an impressive presentation and it's clear how passionate they are about their Greenway. The improvements are promising, especially the landscaping around the pergola & boxwood gardens.
 
datadyne007 said:
Agreed. It's an impressive presentation and it's clear how passionate they are about their Greenway. The improvements are promising, especially the landscaping around the pergola & boxwood gardens.
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I fully agree. The Greenway is becoming really successful, and unlike most parks, instead of being created and then slowly decaying through neglect, it is clearly improving with each passing year. One comment--while I like the new benches, without the center armrest of the existing benches, they're more likely to attract people who need a place to sleep.

I wish the next $100-200 million museum fundraiser, instead of going to further improve the MFA or PEM, would create a world class Boston history museum on the northern ramp parcel. I think it's remarkable that there really isn't a museum with this specific focus, and it seems it could really tie together the Freedom Trail experience and create a landmark on the Greenway. We need a Paul Allen to just dream the thing into existence.
 
chumbolly said:
One comment--while I like the new benches, without the center armrest of the existing benches, they're more likely to attract people who need a place to sleep.
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Anti-homeless furniture/features are a huge pet peeve of mine & becoming increasingly popular in US cities. I have to disagree.

I wish the next $100-200 million museum fundraiser, instead of going to further improve the MFA or PEM, would create a world class Boston history museum on the northern ramp parcel. I think it's remarkable that there really isn't a museum with this specific focus, and it seems it could really tie together the Freedom Trail experience and create a landmark on the Greenway. We need a Paul Allen to just dream the thing into existence.
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Agreed on making the Boston Museum a reality.
 
While it's great maintenance seems to be a priority it's a little unsettling that after only a few years so much needs to already be repaired/replaced.

And the last thing needed is to expand (1.3 acres) an already too-large, expensive to maintain Greenway. Parcel 2 should be a small building not more open space.
 
Maintenance is always necessary for any form of infrastructure; I am glad they actually seem to realize it in this case and do the unglamorous but necessary work.
 
Brad Plaid said:
And the last thing needed is to expand (1.3 acres) an already too-large, expensive to maintain Greenway. Parcel 2 should be a small building not more open space.
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Getting back to the Greenway, as I think that the homelessness debate will probably not resolve itself thanks to archBoston.org:

Is this collection of small parcels (coming in at a total of 1.3 acres) being added to the Greenway something the Greenway Conservancy has been in the habit of doing? Have they been adding little stray parklets, street trees, and medians to their budget and purview every year? I think it's pretty cool of them to do, as it might mean that we start to see both a cogent landscape design language for the whole RFKG area and maybe better funding for small parcels.
 
Sorry, yeah looks like I did miss one. Should be cleaned up now.

(For the record, I didn't remove all the comments that mention homelessness, just the ones that didn't mention/focus on the Greenway. It can get tricky on where to draw the line.)
 
Are you aware of the previous attempt to get a Boston Museum built? (Serious question, not being pissy.)

chumbolly said:
I fully agree. The Greenway is becoming really successful, and unlike most parks, instead of being created and then slowly decaying through neglect, it is clearly improving with each passing year. One comment--while I like the new benches, without the center armrest of the existing benches, they're more likely to attract people who need a place to sleep.

I wish the next $100-200 million museum fundraiser, instead of going to further improve the MFA or PEM, would create a world class Boston history museum on the northern ramp parcel. I think it's remarkable that there really isn't a museum with this specific focus, and it seems it could really tie together the Freedom Trail experience and create a landmark on the Greenway. We need a Paul Allen to just dream the thing into existence.
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Whoops, didn't mean to start a flame war on homelessness. Glad I missed out on that fun. For what it's worth, I also don't care for benches designed to prevent laying down. I was only making the observation on the design. I'm also well aware of the prior museum proposal. I think there were a lot of big dreams early on (this and the garden under glass) that failed for a variety of reasons, but I hope the museum idea is resurrected.
 
datadyne007 said:
Anti-homeless furniture/features are a huge pet peeve of mine & becoming increasingly popular in US cities. I have to disagree.


Agreed on making the Boston Museum a reality.
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Data -- you need more than a nice glass box to have a museum

You need committed leadership circle with not just $ but things to exhibit

So what part of Boston History are you aiming at exhibiting -- if you are talking the Rev -- the good stuff is already in public collections who are unlikely to make it available to a "potential competitor"

If you are talking other periods or multi-time-period themes -- you need a well developed plan to put together something that will draw the requisite public interest -- several have been tried and didn't have the cache needed

While there are literally dozens of specialized collections / small-museums whose collections could be combined in one place -- the challenge of commingling the boards and possibly the endowments would be daunting

Anyway you look at it -- a new Boston Museum will be very hard to define in such a way as to be able to attract paying customers and members
 
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