OK......I've been reading this board for years but never posted much. I decided to be more active this year since I'm so frustrated with the current sorry state of development. I'm an architect and get just about every development related paper you can imagine.
Here's the article typed in. (My coming out gift to you all!)
After making the list of best cities for health and lifestyle, singles, telecommuting and even having a baby, Boston has been named to the "Hall of Shame" for those with the world's worst waterfront development. "There are no must-see waterfront destinations in Boston, " said Frederick Kent, president of the Project for Public Spaces, a New York-based nonprofit group dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that posted the list on its Web site. "Boston has so many opportuniities to get to the water from Beacon Hill, City Hall and Faneuil Hall, but there's nothing to do there."
The seven-city list put Boston fourth behind New York, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Hong Kong and just ahead of Tokyo, Seattle and Paris. Boston has never lived up to its potential as a city by the bay, according to the report. Despite a handful of new developments in the city's Seaport District - including the InterContinental Boston Hotel, with its waterfront park - the study found that most new oceanside developments lack quality public spaces.
Boston's inclusion on the controversial list brought swift reaction from city officials and nonprofit agencies. Vivian Li, executive director of The Boston Harbor Association, an advocacy group whose mission is to promote a clean and accessible harbor, said Boston does not deserve the designation.
"I'm just shocked," she said. "Their criticism is unfair. I don't think they've walked some of these areas lately. Eighty percent of our waterfront is accessible and most is Americans with Disabilities (Act) compliant. There are signs directing people to waterfront areas and we are working on getting more amenities: public art, free concerts and events."
But the report said unlike the Swedish city of Stockholm - which provides opportunities for pedestrians and cyclists to enjoy its waterfront without traffic along the water - Boston is severely congested. An improved water-taxi system could yield major benefits, the study found. In addition, new construction along the water does little to enhance the public's access, it said.
"Unfortunately, most new developments on the water strive for an iconic, sculptural look, rather than seizing the potential of their sites to enhance the quality of public spaces." Kent said. "As more undeveloped stretches of the waterfront attract attention and investment, Boston must guard against the mistakes made by Vancouver and other cities, which have allowed the construction of high-rise residential towers to limit public activity along the waterfront."
Peter Shelley, director of the Conservation Law Foundation's Massachusetts Advocacy Center, said he was stunned to see Boston had made the list. "I was surprised because when you compare Boston's waterfront today to how crappy the harbor was 25 years ago, it's much better, " he said. "The public uses the waterfront much more than anyone imagined possible in the 1980's."
Still, Shelley said other waterfront communities such as Austin, Texas and Vancouver have activated their waterfronts more successfully. "Boston pales in comparison," he noted. "It does not surprise me that Boston came up short. We're still ambivalent about this waterfront-activation business."
The InterContinental opened last fall on Atlantic Avenue with a small waterfront park and a dozen park benches. A recent visit on a sunny morning by a Banker & Tradesman reporter found the space empty and no signs directing pedestrians to the location.
Shelley noted that the empty green space in front of the InterContinental is symptomatic of the problem. "The waterfront development community, by and large, still sees public access very begrudgingly," he said. "It's something they had to do to get permitted, not something they think enhances their business. As a result, you get unidentified spaces that might meet the letter of the Chapter 91 requirement but not much else." (Chapter 91, a state law, requires a developer to create parks and open space in return for being allowed to build a private development on waterfront parcels.)
For example, Shelley said, at Independence Wharf - next to the InterContinental - the landlord installed its public space on the top floor, but the public would never know it. There's a small, hard-to-find sign directing pedestrians to the building, he noted.
"There's a passive aggressiveness about public-space activation that's holding Boston back from being recognized as a major waterfront destination, " Shelley said. "There is sailing, recreational fishing, swimming, the New England Aquarium and water taxis, but creating public space is viewed as a nuisance by developers and therefore it is at best tolerated and minimized to the extent possible.
Richard McGuinness, the Boston Redevelopment Authority's deputy director for waterfront planning, said the description of Boston as one of the world's worst waterfront cities appears to be written by someone who had a bad experience int he Hub. he disagreed that developers are reluctant to provide the public access.
"In the past, some developers were suspicious of it, thinking that it's their land, " he said. "But now they get it. The Rowes Wharf developers in the '80's were miserable because they had to provide the Harbor Walk and public bathrooms, but now the love it"
McGuiness said the Project for Public Spaces report failed to consider Boston's HarborWalk, which offers 47 miles of green and open space through the city's waterfront neighborhoods from the downtown area to the Neponset River, through East Boston, Charlestown, the North End, South Boston and Dorchester.
While some waterfront locations have limited public access to protect public safety and marine industry operations, McGuiness said, there are connections to a network of trails including the Emerald Necklace, the Charles River Esplanade and the Rose Kennedy Greeenway.
In the future, he noted, Boston will offer new access to Boston Harbor on foot or bicycle. The trail will extend from the MBTA's Ruggles station and wind its way through lower Roxbury, the South End, and Chinatown to reach the HarborWalk at the Fort Point Channel.
McGuinness acknowledged that the InterContinental, Russia Wharf and 470 Atlantic Avenue have not installed HarborWalk signs. But he said the park just opened late last year and will become popular.
"I worked on the InterContinental for the last 10 years and lots of people are surprised it's there. This project is not on people's radar yet," he said. "But Boston Harbor's renaissance is based on the mayor's directive to make the waterfront accessible to everyone in the city. I like to say that you don't have to drive to the Cape - you can do most things that you can do on the Cape in Boston Harbor."
But Kent said a HarborWalk is not enough. "We're talking about places to go," he said. "You can have a HarborWalk as many cities do, but there have to be major destinations. If you look at Finland's Helsinki, there are waterfront locations with weekly events. In Australia's Sydney there are 120 places to go in the harbor on multiple levels. In Stockholm you can take a boat to almost anywhere. It's not just a bunch of buildings with little parks. We require a higher standard than just a suburban lawn along the water. That's what Boston is doing."
It's not the first time Boston has made a worst list. The city holds a perennial spot on Bicycling Magazine's list of the nation's worst cities for cycling. Last year, for the third time, Boston ranked one of the worst places in the country to ride a bike.
Thomas Grillo may be reached at
tgrillo@thewarrengroup.com
