Boston Common Overhaul

Reminds me of the campaign slogan I always wanted to use:

"John For President. We can do better."
 
There is an article in this week's Courant on the dog runs (yes, runS) being proposed for the Common.This is the map that was published along with it showing the locations of the proposal:

proposed_common_dog_run.jpg


The gall of this group is impressive.
 
Over my dead body.

Having said that, Area A seems like a good location. It's bad only because of its distance from the Hill. The spot up on top of the hill next to the monument would be my second choice.

All other locations are too important/prominent to be made available only for the privileged few.
 
Area C is already a defacto off-leash dog run.....Every morning its like a "boys club" with the same guys playing fetch with their dogs
 
http://www.bhcivic.org/bbs/zboard.php?id=spotlight&no=126
Public Meeting on Boston Common

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
7:30 p.m.
74 Joy Street

The public is invited to attend a meeting to discuss the Report of the Special Committee on the Boston Common. City Council President Michael Ross, who served as Chair of the Special Committee, will give a formal presentation on the report, which addresses issues concerning the park?s physical appearance, public safety, homelessness, park rangers and proposed future usage, such as the addition of a restaurant. The report makes recommendations on ways to make the Boston Common an even more central part of our city and includes proposed funding vehicles. The complete report is available on www.bhcivic.org. Also present at the meeting will be City Councilor Sal LaMattina, Friends of the Public Garden President Henry Lee and other concerned stakeholders.
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Boston Globe - June 12, 2009
A fountain fallen from grace
141-year-old fixture to undergo repairs - with a hefty price tag

By David Abel, Globe Staff | June 12, 2009

For years, the chiseled sea nymphs and other Parisian-styled gods have existed in an ignominious purgatory in which their glory has been relegated to a perch for pigeons.

The only time the bronze statues have water sluicing through their pipes is when it rains.

The inglorious fate of the 141-year-old Brewer Fountain has long irked city officials and others who have admired its bygone grace near the northeast edge of the Boston Common, in the shadows of the State House.

Now, after years of effort to raise money since it ran dry in 2003, the city's oldest fountain is about to undergo a major restoration.

But the work comes at a steep cost for a city in financial straits. The budget for the project now stands at more than $630,000, which could rise depending on what contractors find when they examine the fountain more closely. About half of that money will come from city coffers, the rest from the federal government and private donors.

"The renovation of Boston Common is very important, and we see this as a first step, bringing back a wonderful attraction and amenity to that edge of the park," said Antonia Pollak, commissioner of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.

The Brewer Fountain, the only known surviving copy of the original featured at the 1855 Paris World Fair, was imported from Switzerland by Gardner Brewer, a wealthy merchant, and assembled on the Common in 1868.

The first effort to repair the 22-foot-tall fountain began nearly a decade ago, when workers discovered extensive damage to the pipes and determined that the project would require much more money than anticipated. The fountain burbled until 2003, when its pump died.

Since then, private donors have raised money, and officials have sought matching grants from the federal government, but the city has treated the fountain like a sculpture and sought to spruce it up with plants, flowers, and other ornaments.

The City Council appropriated the money several years ago, city officials said, but it had to come up with tens of thousands of additional dollars this year, because the cost has increased. Despite the expense, the project is backed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, as well as the City Council.

"It's the right thing to do," Menino said in an interview this week. "The fountains beautify our city. It makes our city alive. It's amazing how many people ask about fountains."

Councilor Michael P. Ross, who represents the Back Bay, said the project is part of a larger effort to improve the section of the Common along Tremont Street, an increasingly dingy area of the park that on many days looks like a homeless encampment.

"We need more positive activity in the area," Ross said.

Menino's challengers, Councilors at Large Sam Yoon and Michael F. Flaherty, both said they support the project.

The city maintains 21 fountains, park officials said, and the Brewer is one of four not working. The other fountains are in Coppens Square in Dorchester, in Statler Office Park near The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, and the White Memorial fountain in the Public Garden.

Margaret Dyson, the city's director of historical parks and the manager of the Brewer project, said the plan is to restore the bronze sculptures and the cast-iron central armature, to install a new mechanical pump and filtration system, to update surrounding light fixtures, and to repair the granite plinths and concrete basin. She said there are holes in several sculptures, which represent Neptune, Amphitrite (Neptune's wife), and Acis and Galatea, a couple from Greek mythology.

"As we lose more of the bronze and the structural element, the fountain could collapse," Dyson said. "That's why we can't defer the maintenance. We could cross our fingers and hope for the best, or we can do it now."

The city has recently cordoned off the fountain. Over the next few weeks, contractors will carefully clean it, inspect the piping, and take detailed pictures of every crevice. Then, they will dismantle it into about 14 pieces and ship it to Watertown, where a team of architects, engineers, electricians, plumbers, and conservators will spend several months trying to restore its luster.

The work should be finished and the fountain reassembled by November, said Clifford Craine, the art conservator in charge of the project for Daedalus Inc. in Watertown.

Michael Levenson of the Globe staff contributed to this report. David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.
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The work should be finished and the fountain reassembled by November
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jesusfacepalmtv7.jpg
 
The cure for this fountain's woes is to enlist a corporate sponsor who will overtake its repair and upkeep, similar to Wollman Rink in NYC. The city is utterly feckless when it comes to keeping it up and operating it and its future will always be subject to budgetary shortfalls and city employee lethargy. My pedestrian commute used to being me by this fountain for several years and it NEVER worked.

Get the Berkowitz Brothers or Au Bon Pain to sponsor it and give them a 20 year lease on a concession stand on its perimeter (but NOT a Legal Seafoods or cookie cutter ABP -- it would have to be a small sandwich shop/cafe by day, and a wine bar by evening). Let them sell coffee and bagels in the morning, light lunches in the afternoon. If possible, I'd love it if they could also have a limited liquor license (beer and wine only) until 9 pm (and only in the summer months). We'd have a working outdoor fountain and an attractive small cafe with outdoor seating nearby. Talk about a draw that will help clean up that entire side of the Common.
 
Perhaps too much sense. That sounds like a great idea.
 
Good idea aquaman. I don't think the fountain should be reassembled in November. It should wait for the Spring. Otherwise, something is bound to happen to it during the winter, it will be disassembled again, we'll wait months for parts and go another year without it running....sound familiar, Greenway Fountain?
 
Padre Mike said:
I don't think the fountain should be reassembled in November. It should wait for the Spring. Otherwise, something is bound to happen to it during the winter, it will be disassembled again, we'll wait months for parts and go another year without it running...
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Exactly!

(BTW, sorry if my image offends)
 
Some news:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090630restaurant_on_the_common_park_could_be_place_for_posh_repasts/srvc=home&position=4

A vacant stretch on Boston Common could soon be bustling again with a ?world class? outdoor cafe while a rundown concrete slab could also soon morph into a high-end eatery, the Herald has learned.

City parks officials expect to start taking bids early next year from prospective restaurateurs vying to take over the so-called ?pink palace? - a vacant cement building near the Common tennis courts that for years served as a men?s comfort station.

?We?ve received commitments from our parks commissioner to have a public bidding process for the ?pink palace? by January,? City Council President Michael Ross told the Herald. ?It?s a wonderful opportunity. You could get a restaurant, a cafe or even some other small business in there.?

Several chefs of ?high-end? Hub eateries have expressed interest in the location, including KO Prime/Clio/Toro owner Ken Oringer and B & G Oysters/Eastern Standard owner Garrett Harker, both of whom attended a recent City Hall hearing on the ?pink palace,? Ross said.

Meanwhile, Ross says an outdoor cafe near Emerson College is poised for a valiant return as park officials are working with potential operators and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, which owns the rights to the operation. Emerson had been running the cafe but shut down it down for financial reasons.

?I would like to see a world-class restaurant operator out there,? Ross said. ?In the next couple weeks, you?ll see a new restaurant out there.?

Officials estimate renovating the pink palace would cost $1 million and envision a classy restaurant similar to Tavern on the Green in New York City?s Central Park. Councilors are also pushing to allow the winning bidder an 8-year deal, rather than the 1-year lease under current law.

?There?s an interest in this. My point is to move away from the status quo and to some more forward-thinking concepts,? Ross said.

Past efforts to open restaurants on the Common have failed, most recently in 2001. Mayor Thomas M. Menino has rejected efforts to allow liquor licenses on the Common, which would likely be a sticking point for potential investors
 
I can't picture this 'pink palace'.

Is not this building, is it?

576529727_ee2f1233e3.jpg


Because that would be really small for a cafe.
 
Mayor Thomas M. Menino has rejected efforts to allow liquor licenses on the Common, which would likely be a sticking point for potential investors
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What IN THE HELL is Menino's problem anyway?
 
MassHighTech.com -August 3.2009
Awesome Foundation goes low tech with first grant

The Awesome Foundation, a newly founded Cambridge-based non-profit making micro-grants to fund extraordinary projects, has selected its first fellow.

Rhode Island School of Design assistant professor Hansy Better Barraza will receive $1,000 toward installing a giant hammock on Boston Common, the foundation announced Saturday. The public will be invited to hang out in the oversized hammock free of charge, according to an announcement posted on Facebook.

The announcement also invited the public to attend an awards ceremony this Friday, 8 p.m., at the Harvard University Berkman Center?s Church Street satellite office, Berkman Squared, at which Barraza is expected to explain her project.

?We had a lot of really good ideas,? said co-founder Tim Hwang. ?Some of them cleaved on the more technical side. We felt at least for our first grant it made sense to open up with something everybody could participate in.?

Founded by a group of Boston-area tech employees and entrepreneurs, the Awesome Foundation wanted its first grant to counter the expectation that it would fund only IT-related projects, Hwang said.

Barraza could not be reached this morning, but Hwang said she envisions designing and fabricating the hammock in six to eight weeks.

However, questions remain as to whether installing a group hammock will be feasible on Boston?s historic common. City Parks and Recreation Department director of event development Suzanne Taylor said the hammock idea will have to go through the same permitting process as any special event.

The parks department has in the past worked with the Institute of Contemporary Art on art installations on the common, but has not yet received a permit application for the hammock idea, she said.

With the selection of its August fellow, the Awesome Foundation opened applications for its September fellowship program. The deadline, according to the organization?s website, is August 14.
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By the time they get thru the permitting process they will be able to install it in November, just in time to coincide with the reopening of the Brewer Fountain.
 
The sanitary was referred to as the pink palace, partly on the interior paint scheme, more likely lewdly based on the nature of the male anatomy and the illicit activity which would occur there. Think of it as the Fens, before the Muddy River was overgrown with invasive reeds.

The hammock is a crazy idea, which will have quite the novelty for a good five minutes, before hundreds of homeless people sleep and deposit fleas, lice, bedbugs, ticks, fluids, into the fibers.
 
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