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First off, I never advocated pastoralism in anything I've said. I think the NIMBY pursuit of "open space" is not fitting in a city that is fairly low rise and which already has plenty of acreage dedicated to parks. (I do advocate safe, small parks and playgrounds and other outdoor spaces for...

Re: Rose Kennedy Greenway I don't think there is a single case where you can say the city has set out to make something family friendly at the expense of others in the city. And don't kid yourself about other cities' not developing areas with families and kids in mind. I remember Times...

Re: Rose Kennedy Greenway The thing is, the city ought to be a place for everyone's use, including the blonde suburban soccer moms and their bratty kids. Boston would have a much poorer and, frankly, uglier, grittier and dying inner city if it did not have many of the family friendly areas...

What I love about Boston is that it seems to understand scale and proportion. It does intimate, human scale very well. I love Comm Ave on a spring day with the flowering magnolias and dogwoods. I love the South End, West Canton Street, Union Park. I love the graceful beauty of the swan boats...

I find the opposite is true about drivers here. I think they are either utterly clueless and dismissive of other drivers' presence or ruthlessly mean-spirited about road courtesy. Case in point: people here DO NOT know how to take left hand turns. Rather than shimmying slightly to the left of...

Nailed it. I would add a couple of things that REALLY bugs me about Bostonians: 1) selfishness (bad drivers who refuse to obey traffic laws and use turn signals, and self-centered pedestrians who feel it's their birthright to walk in front of a car, trapping it in an intersection); and, 2) a...

Re: Mandarin Oriental Can't be a green line entrance -- that would have been in the news (and there's that minor obstacle called the Pike that would make a tunnel -- unless deeply dug -- impossible from that side of Boylston. Besides, the sidewalk is way too narrow in that location for the...

Agreed. Any of those miles of rail that would be needed to reach out to towns like Lynn or Needham or Belmont would be much better spent connecting the spokes of the T's wheel in town.

I think the Pike could definitely use a HOV lane similar to that used on 93. The outbound Pike is relatively empty in the morning as is the inbound in the evening. My fear in making the Pike even more efficient, though, is that it would encourage more drivers and fewer T users. As far as...

Aside from the scale of the building, I think part of the reason people like the DTC Borders because the glass is literally transparent and its function is figuratively transparent. It's a retail building so unlike its brethren (e.g., City Hall), it is literally open to anyone passing by...

Re: Russia Wharf NIMBY!!:p

Converting Rte 9 into anything less express than it already is is simply not feasible. It is way too important an inbound/outbound highway for those who live inside 128. Rerouting that traffic to other roads like the Pike would mean cutting through Newton or Brookline just to access the...

That entire row of Tremont from East Berkeley up to just below the Theatre District is an utter travesty.

My understanding is that "The Vault" (I think you may be right about that name) has not really been meeting like they did in the 70's and 80's. They were local old money guys (Chad Gifford, for example) whose power and influence have been displaced by that of real estate speculators, nightclub...

Re: 888 Boylston Street Opposition to this building seems ridiculous, if you ask me. Opposition to height is almost always based on the "shadow menace". I lived on Comm Ave in Back Bay for years and never experienced these dreaded shadow casters. Part of the appeal of living in a city is to...

I like the BAC building, but primarily because it provides such a strong contrast to the traditional Newbury Street style. (I can't say anything about the merits of the building's interior as I've only ever been to exhibits in the lobby.) I would hate to see more buildings on Newbury like it...

I hate to sound dismissive, but I don't think an Armenian memorial, by itself, will ever make the Greenway a destination. The Greenway needs some things that will make day trippers and nearby residents seek out its use year round. The plan should be to build *at least* one frivolous thing on...

I am a fan of building height, but think the urban model Boston should emulate is not NYC's but London's. London is incredibly densely populated, but it has a decent public transportation system and is, generally, lower rise (compared to NYC). Boston should absolutely have high rises (50+...

Man, I've got to check my negativity... why do I think this will only serve to act like lobby space for the Hancock? I suppose if it is done right it could be a nice spot for white yuppies in the neighboring offices to get lunch Monday through Friday, but I have a sense that the ultimate design...

Re: Fan Pier Wood would also knit together the project and the harbor walk as well as the water-side of the ICA.