đź”· Open Thread

BostonUrbEx said:
Does anyone know if that black guy who's always on the Red Line who is "HIV positive" is legit? I see him all the time. ALL THE TIME. So it makes me think so. But then again, I see Spare Change Guy all the time and he's not even homeless.

I gave him a 2-dollar-bill one time for the lols. I'm wondering if it actually went to an AIDS fund or not.
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He's always hanging out on the far end of the RL platform at South Station. I see him every time I ride the RL.
 
Does anyone know where rainwater from Boston's rooftops goes to? Dry wells? Storm drain system? Sewer system? Taking the Hancock or Pru for example.


I was watching some videos on homemade rain barrels, and it caught my attention. I suppose it doesn't matter quite as much in a city though, since collection would be rather pointless.
 
So...anyone want to explain why this board has all but kicked the bucket?

Is it because there's really nothing going on in Boston? Or is it because less and less is being reported on by local papers, cutting off our main source material for discussion? Given that local reporting has been the sacrificial lamb of the dying newspaper business, it wouldn't surprise me if the cause were a bit of both.

And no, I don't buy into the fad of "hyperlocal" "news" as a sign that local news isn't dead. From what I've seen of the various Patches, "hyperlocal" basically means hiring someone to tweet about Farmer's Markets and crime stats.
 
^I'll tell you why I don't post/visit as much as I used to. The primary reason is that it seems a few posters turn every Boston development thread into political rants. I LOVE to read (and occasionally contribute) about new projects, existing projects and the architectural/ planning aspects of them. I don't want to hear an armchair political critic rant about how our "taxpayer dollars" are being wasted and every politician is a corrupt thief who's only goal is to murder us in our sleep while he/she rapes our bank accounts. It's frustrating to weed through pages of politics drivel to find a comment or two regarding design and planning. The lack of projects in the pipeline doesn't help, but it's still pretty bad. I think it'll get a little better when (if?) some larger scale private investments come about. Until then, it's probably going continue to be painful to read some of these threads.

It's not just AB. It's the entire internet. I can't read an article about the Sox without seeing some political rant in the comments section. I've found myself looking at the absolute cheesiest sites for entertainment. Literally, Cheeseburger network has been my go-to. I've regressed 10 years.
 
Forums in general are dying lately for some reason. People don't seem to want to have a serious, drawn-out discussion anymore. They'd rather tweet what they had for breakfast in under 140 characters.

The lack of actual architectural discussion is what is really upsetting me about this community. All the Greenway whining gets really annoying too.

Finally, the political atmosphere in this country is in a very dangerous state right now in general. It's seeping into any discussion about anything on the internet. While I do recognize politics go hand-in-hand with building/planning, it gets tiring. I know that I've made a couple comments about politics, but they were in regards to a lack of proper funding for essential agencies and projects.
 
If development kicks up again, I think we'll see more activity. What's going on now? Nothing, really. We only have Hayward and Kensington to look forward to at the moment, with no shovels on site yet, and the only big construction going on seems to be by Liberty Mutual.
 
Less news = less discussion. It's not really that complicated. Other forums I frequent such as SSC and several Chinese-language ones are as vibrant as ever; with more news than ever and a big off-topic section they don't seem to be in any danger of dying.
 
Lrfox said:
^I'll tell you why I don't post/visit as much as I used to. The primary reason is that it seems a few posters turn every Boston development thread into political rants. I LOVE to read (and occasionally contribute) about new projects, existing projects and the architectural/ planning aspects of them. I don't want to hear an armchair political critic rant about how our "taxpayer dollars" are being wasted and every politician is a corrupt thief who's only goal is to murder us in our sleep while he/she rapes our bank accounts. It's frustrating to weed through pages of politics drivel to find a comment or two regarding design and planning. The lack of projects in the pipeline doesn't help, but it's still pretty bad. I think it'll get a little better when (if?) some larger scale private investments come about. Until then, it's probably going continue to be painful to read some of these threads.

It's not just AB. It's the entire internet. I can't read an article about the Sox without seeing some political rant in the comments section.
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So much this.
 
Lrfox said:
^I'll tell you why I don't post/visit as much as I used to. The primary reason is that it seems a few posters turn every Boston development thread into political rants. I LOVE to read (and occasionally contribute) about new projects, existing projects and the architectural/ planning aspects of them. I don't want to hear an armchair political critic rant about how our "taxpayer dollars" are being wasted and every politician is a corrupt thief who's only goal is to murder us in our sleep while he/she rapes our bank accounts. It's frustrating to weed through pages of politics drivel to find a comment or two regarding design and planning. The lack of projects in the pipeline doesn't help, but it's still pretty bad. I think it'll get a little better when (if?) some larger scale private investments come about. Until then, it's probably going continue to be painful to read some of these threads.
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Mostly this.

Personally, it's quite difficult to pay attention to Boston planning while I'm halfway across the country studying other stuff. Especially when there is hardly anything being built or even proposed.
 
^ For me, being 3000 miles away is precisely the reason I like to come here, at least when there's activity. But when it's dead, the distance becomes a problem: it's not like I can contribute pics or anything myself.

Anyway, you guys might have a point with the political nonsense. Between that and Ned it's like the life force has been slowly sucked out of this place. I'm less convinced that the actual lack of projects in Boston is a major cause, since there hasn't much development here for years (relative to other cities) yet people managed to find a lot to discuss.
 
I don't think there is any more or less political discussion than usual, it just seems like it because there's less news and the political stuff tends to takeover in the vacuum. We should probably be better at sifting it out of the regular threads.

Now that the weather is getting better hopefully we'll have more photos to get the discussions going. General photo tours/ essays like this, this or this used to be common parts of the site, but they just sort of stopped all of a sudden. I'd like to see them return again. I plan on trying my hand at a few in the near future. I think these can really help keep things going in the absence of any substantial new developments.
 
Without photos, project updates, or new proposals, it's hard to have activity here. The political bickering is symptomatic of boredom. When's there's nothing left to discuss the default is the deadly sea of politics, religion, sports, and those damn hipsters. Unless we really want to discus Boston weather?
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Does anyone know where rainwater from Boston's rooftops goes to? Dry wells? Storm drain system? Sewer system? Taking the Hancock or Pru for example.

I was watching some videos on homemade rain barrels, and it caught my attention. I suppose it doesn't matter quite as much in a city though, since collection would be rather pointless.
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This is a good question and worthy of a lot of attention but I think it's probably covered very well on other websites - perhaps the Boston Water & Sewer Commission's or MWRA's.

Obviously, there is a lot of attention paid to "groundwater" in the South End and Back Bay.

Did you mean those neighborhoods or something else?
 
briv said:
I don't think there is any more or less political discussion than usual, it just seems like it because there's less news and the political stuff tends to takeover in the vacuum. We should probably be better at sifting it out of the regular threads.

Now that the weather is getting better hopefully we'll have more photos to get the discussions going. General photo tours/ essays like this, this or this used to be common parts of the site, but they just sort of stopped all of a sudden. I'd like to see them return again. I plan on trying my hand at a few in the near future. I think these can really help keep things going in the absence of any substantial new developments.
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Woah, cool threads of Boston's past! Virgin Megastore and 815 Boylston St pre-Apple Store!
 
Um...why is the Archive so much prettier? Lighter colors, fewer links, mirrored logo...

Someone bring back photo essays? I'd do them but I doubt anyone is very interested in midwestern college town planning.
 
kennedy said:
Um...why is the Archive so much prettier? Lighter colors, fewer links...
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That's the default phpBB skin. Also, it was a great call shortening the name from architecturalBoston to archBoston. It's edgy.
 
JohnAKeith said:
This is a good question and worthy of a lot of attention but I think it's probably covered very well on other websites - perhaps the Boston Water & Sewer Commission's or MWRA's.

Obviously, there is a lot of attention paid to "groundwater" in the South End and Back Bay.

Did you mean those neighborhoods or something else?
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I meant anywhere in general, but I did think of the South End/Back Bay and I remember they were going to be tapping something (a water main or a stream conduit (Stony Brook?) or something) to pipe water into the ground southeast of Back Bay Station. Since water infiltration seems to be a big topic, I'm going to assume that most water which is channeled off of roofs is directed into the storm drains either by empty on the sidewalk (smaller buildings), or through a connection underground (denser areas and large towers). Perhaps we should have it diffuse into the ground but have a provision so that if water starts backing up the downspout it will flow out the side of a "T" junction and down to a storm drain connection.

I have no idea how it works at present, maybe I'll shoot a question to the MWRA or BWSC tomorrow.
 
I know in many older houses in the city, the downspouts pipe directly into the sewer drains. Boston Water & Sewer offers, free of charge, to remove the sewer connection and instead redirect the downspouts to discharge onto the property. I assume they offer this because any water that enters the sewage system has to be treated, which costs money. That's why people are charged not only for water usage, but also a separate fee to dispose of it. Water that enters the system through downspouts isn't metered so no one pays for its disposal. That said though, when the water is going into the sewer it's not wreaking havoc on your 150 year-old foundation.
 
^ my old home, which was a single family had downspouts turning into the house and then flowing into the sanitary sewer pipes. Boston Water and Sewer came by and changed the downspouts to run off into the yard. This was mandatory. I was told that during heavy rains, the amount of runoff water entering the sanitary sewer system can overwhelm the sewage treatment plants which forces the plants to discharge untreated sewage into the harbor.
 
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