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Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

City forbids ads on garage plan
Don Chiofaro can?t say project?s on the way
By Thomas Grillo
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - Added 11h ago
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E-mail Print (7) Comments Text size Share Buzz up!Developer Donald Chiofaro can?t win approval for a pair of towers at his Boston Harbor Garage site - and now he can?t even try to build buzz for the project.

Chiofaro, who has filed plans to transform the concrete seven-story garage into a mix of offices and residences, asked a New Jersey advertising agency to create larger-than-life ads proclaiming that new buildings are on the way. One idea depicts a three-story-tall man clinging to the top of the garage with a giant sign saying ?Hang on! It?s coming.? A second one resembles a parking sign and reads ?This parking space reserved for the future.?

But Chiofaro said the sign ideas were rejected by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

John Hynes, partner at Korn Hynes Communications, said Chiofaro asked him to design possible wraps for the garage once the project was approved. ?We presented these ideas because we thought they were cool,? he said.

Theodore Oatis, a Chiofaro partner, said the marketing ideas were just two of more than a dozen that were presented. ?We hoped to run a series of ads on the garage, but we couldn?t get to first base,? he said. ?The BRA said ?Why would we approve this, the project is not even approved.? ?

Chiofaro hopes to replace the Harbor Garage with a 1.5 million-square-foot development that would include a 40-story office tower and a 59-story condominium and hotel skyscraper along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. But last week, the BRA issued zoning guidelines that would limit building height along the Greenway and specifically at the Harbor Garage site to 200 feet or 16 stories.

Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association, said it is unlikely that Chiofaro?s dream for the Harbor Garage will be built as long as Thomas M. Menino is mayor.

?Everyone knows the towers will not be higher than 200 feet under this mayor,? she said. ?And that height would not be worthwhile for Chiofaro to demolish the garage.?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

^^^Looks like the city doesn't want the Little People to know that someone is actually trying to build something.

A failed city. Simple as that.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Isn't that against Freedom of Speech, especially if its his property?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Agree, He owns the property he should be able to advertise whatever he wants.

We need TOBY to clarify the property laws on this city. The BRA is out of control.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

I'm not a tobyjug (but I play one on tv) but I'm fairly certain that local sign ordinances (read: restrictions) have been held up by the courts many times.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

statler said:
I'm not a tobyjug (but I play one on tv) but I'm fairly certain that local sign ordinances (read: restrictions) have been held up by the courts many times.
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So it's okay to have a sign that says Elect Mayor Menino on your building AKA Russia Wharf, but you can't say Hang on it's coming?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

I didn't say I agreed with the decision, but as far I know (which, admittedly isn't much) the city holds the right to restrict signage under certain circumstances and the city seems to think this falls under that criteria. Whether or not it would hold up in court, I dunno, but I doubt the developer is going to spend all the time and money fighting it in court.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Chiofaro should then just use a projector and project the image onto the garage.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Whatever happened to the Unions trying to support a developer? Do they even have power anymore in this city?

It seems the BRA & Menino control everything downtown. Like Vultures looking for their next feeding. Could you even open a bar or club without dealing with these people?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

I would find it funny if Don just trashed the garage and let the rubble sit right next to the Greenway. Or put a poster up slamming the BRA and Menino.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Are we really rooting for people to trash our city just so we can have a few tall buildings?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

I don't think we are rooting for it so we can have a few tall buildings. We are rooting for them because Chiofaro is the only man attempting to defy both the mayor and the BRA and he is doing a better job than all the last mayoral candidates combined.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

If you can't put up a three-story Coca-Cola billboard on your building, then you probably can't put up a "Coming Soon" ad for your development either.

And no, he can't just bulldoze the garage. The Harbor Towers condominium owners own parking spaces in the garage, and their HVAC system also is in the garage.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Ron Newman said:
If you can't put up a three-story Coca-Cola billboard on your building, then you probably can't put up a "Coming Soon" ad for your development either.

And no, he can't just bulldoze the garage. The Harbor Towers condominium owners own parking spaces in the garage, and their HVAC system also is in the garage.
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Can he like add decorations onto the garage that can somehow create a subliminal message with it?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

^^ Then like Rifleman said, you probably shouldn't be able to put up "Menino gets the job done" ads either. I like how Chirafo is trying to bring the general public into this debate.


Also the way Vivien Li worded it, it sounded as if she agreed 200 ft is to small for a property that expensive. Also saying as long as Menino is mayor. So I guess it probably stays a garage until Menino is out.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

I would love to see Chiofaro put up one of those "Menino gets the job done" banners on the garage, for irony / sarcasm. Anyone in the know would recognize it as a F-you to Menino, but what could the BRA do after allowing the same banners all over town?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

PlanBoston said:
I would love to see Chiofaro put up one of those "Menino gets the job done" banners on the garage, for irony / sarcasm. Anyone in the know would recognize it as a F-you to Menino, but what could the BRA do after allowing the same banners all over town?
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This would be a classic. The Mayor is really showing his true colors on this development and I have to laugh at the Harbor Tower Resident who actually think Menino is protecting their interests. I'm starting to believe that this could be the downfall to the Menino Adminstration. Why would you do business in Boston when you have a mob running the city.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Toby has been alternating between napping and cleaning his firearms, but since he has done alot of free speech litigation, and you called, here you go.

Sign ordinances implicate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 16 of the state Constitution. The analysis (greatly simplified) as to the legitimacy of a sign ordinance goes something like this:

1) Is the speech (the sign's message) commercial or non-commercial (e.g. political) in nature?

2) Does the speech create demonstrable public safety problems?

3) In balancing the right and type of speech against harmful consequences, which wins out?

Commercial speech enjoys the lowest level of protection. That is why government can easily regulate billboards, as an example.

Non-commercial speech enjoys the highest level of protection, because that is what the good ole USA is all about. In adopting a restriction on non-commercial speech, you better have a pure heart, clear conscience and lots of documented adverse safety consequences ready to throw into the balancing test when the challenge comes.

The right of free non-commercial speech is not unfettered; the old saw about not being allowed to cry "Fire" in a crowded (non-burning) movie theatre is the example that is most often used.

I can't comment on the specifics without looking at the matter more closely. But I suspect that those justifying that pro-Menino banner flapping over at Russia Wharf before the election would call it political speech. And in contrast, they would deem a Chiafaro banner depicting his project and saying something about "Coming Soon" to be commercial speech subject to restriction.

A mischievious person would create a banner that combined political and commercial speech in a way that would be difficult to unravel, for example:

"The Mayor is an INCOMPETENT POLITICAL HACK who favors only his POLITICAL CRONIES. The Mayor has NO APPARENT AESTHETIC DISCERNMENT and for POLITICAL REASONS won't let me build the beautiful project pictured below, which will be COMING SOON as soon as you THROW THE BUM OUT! (Insert large rendering of project.)"

This is purely hypothetical, of course.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

At this point I think he put up his original 'coming soon' banner and call it parody.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

How many signatures does it take to get this jackass removed from office, and get rid of the BRA too.
 
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