[ARCHIVED] Harbor Garage Redevelopment | 70 East India Row | Waterfront | Downtown

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I actually have a question for this board?

How can a Non-profit organization that pays no taxes and claims it does humanity work --fund organizations/place people in political roles to stop economic progress in the city that values no merit?
How is this LEGAL? Using non-profit money for an agenda that does not seem like humanity work.

"Boston is well recognized for its historic waterfront and harbor; yet, this public treasure is in jeopardy,” Canales wrote
Canale is talking about a Garage that completely derailed Chap 91 State laws since being inacted 1866
That is not a private developer/Investor's fault that the state/city allowed a garage to be built there in the first place.
Chap91 contradicts itself at this point. The garage is blocking anytype of public interest towards the water. That is my point Stellarfun how did the garage get built if Chap 91 was intact since 1866. They basically ignored the law.

The public best interest is to move forward with Chiofaro plan.
Garage vs Tower
If they had a vote in the state of Mass and what the public would prefer.
The garage or Chiofaro proposals. The public would pick the proposals over the garage.
And letting him build this per his SPECS is the best interest for the PUBLIC and the city of Boston.

Overall situation is Chiofaro/Pru bought the garage to build something in the public's best interest. Not to claim that the garage is a public treasure.
 
Rifleman, its hard to know where to begin with you.

First, non-profits are not restricted to humanitarian efforts. The Boston-based, Conservation Law Foundation is a non-profit, and as one of their objectives is to reduce highway traffic and increase use of public transit, presumably you applaud their actions in that regard.

You don't get to define what 'agendas' a non-profit pursues, Chapter 91 is a long-established law in the Commonwealth. A non-profit is perfectly within its rights to advocate for and support actions that ensure that the requirements of Chapter 91 are met. (Non profits, with certain restrictions, can also seek to have the law changed.)
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With respect to the existing garage and Chapter 91, several days ago, I suggested how the garage could be built and meet the open space requirements of Chapter 91. I said that the garage was built at about the same time as the HT residences, all on land then owned by the BRA. As such, the three buildings (the two towers and the garage) get credit as open space for the purpose of Chapter 91, all that walled-off lawn that exists between the Greenway and the residential towers.
_______________________

Instead of jumping off IP and spoiling Chiofaro's caffe doppio, here's what I'm going to do.

I will pay for a photoengraved ceramic screen similar to the one in the photo below. It can go on whichever side of his tower(s) that Chiofaro wants. At the center will be Chiofaro, and then on either side of him, you and he can choose who among the greatest archboston advocates for his project to include.


SNAG-0081.jpg


The manufacturer is Gresmark in Toledo Spain.

http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/gresmanc/product-63563-1089879.html

http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/gresmanc/product-63563-1089829.html

I'll even fly you to Toledo to discuss size and design (and fly you back).
 
^^That's good stuff. That masonry would look good on the podium of Don's 600' Tower.

Cities build beautiful tall buildings n stuff over ugly shit sometimes. Sometimes it even happens near where it smells like low tide.

90% of Bostonians want that awful garage gone tomorrow. Some Globe readers are even mature enough to grasp the economics of what in fact, that might take... So they view a 600' tower of steel , reinforced concrete and glass that brings a billion dollars worth of investment, jobs and future tax revenue as an acceptable compromise in this 1 particular occasion to correct an obvious past mistake.... This 1 time.

They take an account of the waterfront, see the big picture, and realize there's no cause for alarm: The sky isn't falling and Boston will build a 600' tower on the waterfront.

There are some in Boston who get drunk on political ideology to the point where it runs amok. They should get the hell out of the way and let the grownups get to work.
 
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A Non-profit Agency cannot go after a specific development because of a self-interest in the area?. How is that LEGAL to be a non-profit when you are investing money to slow the process concerning this specific development?
The BRA/City have been doing business this way for the past 20 Years since Menino was elected. Now this non-profit group says it needs to change the process for this one specific development? Really.

The Private Developer/Investor only bought the garage to knock it down for the best interest of the public along with making money.
It's not like the developer/investor owned a parking lot and he proposed to build a 600ft skyscraper that would block the Ocean which would inact Chap 91 law.
The Ocean is already blocked with a concrete wall from the public.
For some reason Chap 91 was ignored concerning Harbor Towers development along with the Garage + Pool area.
Harbor Towers Pool area blocks Access from the Greenway to the Harbor.

Chiofaro/Pru team are trying to rectify this law by doing what is best for the public.
BY Knocking the garage down and building garage underneath for both the public Aquarium and Harbor Tower Residents along with building
THAT IS THE LOGIC HERE.

First off:
"Boston-based, Conservation Law Foundation is a non-profit, and as one of their objectives is to reduce highway traffic and increase use of public transit, presumably you applaud their actions in that regard."

This justifies the max height concerning this location because it's carefully placed on easy transit access to this area. (a Hardrail that would help decrease traffic).

Walsh seems like a sensible man. I hope & believe Walsh/Chiofaro Legacy will be responsible for making the Greenway PRICELESS with this development.

Is this Non-profit agency flexing its muscles by persuading the commonwealth to not let Chiofaro build? Do you really believe that is best for the PUBLIC?
Sounds to me like a serious self-interest agenda going on that affects the public due to the fact of a couple of 1%ers.
 
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I noticed one can sort the threads in a forum by number of replies and number of views. This Aquarium Garage thread is currently in third place on both fronts.

Replies / Views

Millennium Tower 7,635 / 1,481,131
Rose Kennedy Greenway 5,984 / 821,513
Aquarium Garage 3,464 / 499,907

We are a bunch of slackers. Come on, people, third place is a disgrace. We ought to at least be able to catch Rose Kennedy. I mean, she’s dead, fer cryin out loud.
 
Rifleman; good points.

Can i quote you and post it in the BRA article in the Globe?

od
 
West said:
I noticed one can sort the threads in a forum by number of replies and number of views. This Aquarium Garage thread is currently in third place on both fronts.

Replies / Views

Millennium Tower 7,635 / 1,481,131
Rose Kennedy Greenway 5,984 / 821,513
Aquarium Garage 3,464 / 499,907

We are a bunch of slackers. Come on, people, third place is a disgrace. We ought to at least be able to catch Rose Kennedy. I mean, she’s dead, fer cryin out loud.
Click to expand...

The SST thread (the tortoise) and this thread (the hare) started within one day of each other in 2006. This thread has 3.5x the number of posts.

Tortoise pulled away today; hare is gasping for breath. A hare's average life expectancy is ten years, a tortoise, 100 years and longer.

Hare's supporters look to have bet on the wrong animal.
 
stellarfun said:
The SST thread (the tortoise) and this thread (the hare) started within one day of each other in 2006. This thread has 3.5x the number of posts.

Tortoise pulled away today; hare is gasping for breath. A hare's average life expectancy is ten years, a tortoise, 100 years and longer.

Hare's supporters look to have bet on the wrong animal.
Click to expand...

Curious how that can happen, innit? This is why I don't bet on any of them. Crapshoots, every one, in the early stages. You can't even bet on them once construction has started, as I could see out my window at the Filene's site and the crater behind it.
 
Wow lady, the mayor came to talk about the rampant corruption that is going on, and you showed up with that sign?

Congratulations! You just destroyed any tiny bit of remaining NIMBY empathy that may have existed in my subconscious.
 
Apparently that women missed basic finance classes to understand that 200Ft would mean you get the current scenario in economic terms.
The garage with a couple of above condos built on top.
Just an uneducated view in planning and building a city by another LIBERAL IDIOT. "(Must work for the BARR FOUNDATION)"

So we have 400ft Harbor Towers standing Tall for the city of Boston Skyline in this area. What an underwhelming JOKE.
 
Of course; She doing whatever she can to protect her life high up in the palacial concrete slab with her lovely view of the Custom House, Esplanade, Fanuil Hall and Beacon Hill, screaming her hypocritical, "do as i say, not as i do" epithet.
 
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Someone should show up with a: "Do you practice what you preach? Harbor Towers: Built by ZONING VARIANCE" sign.

Someone who doesn't care about getting re-elected needs to overhaul the zoning in this entire city. By all means preserve what needs to be preserved (North End, Beacon Hill, Comm. Ave. Mall, around the common/gardens, South End, etc.) We need to avert another west end disaster. But it is lunacy to have to fight non-sensical, obsolete, rich-protecting-the-rich zoning anytime someone wants to build anything in this town. Boston takes for granted that is is growing, it has national and international interest, it is a tech and biomedical hub, etc. Such interest will not last if we shut everything down.
 
type001 said:
the mayor came to talk about the rampant corruption that is going on
Click to expand...

This was actually a regularly scheduled neighborhood coffee hour with the mayor. The gals from Friends of Christopher Columbus were supposed to be showing off the rose garden while the mayor took a few questions. The press conference happened spontaneously after a ton of media showed up.
 
TheRifleman said:
Apparently that women missed basic finance classes to understand that 200Ft would mean you get the current scenario in economic terms.
The garage with a couple of above condos built on top.
Just an uneducated view in planning and building a city by another LIBERAL IDIOT. "(Must work for the BARR FOUNDATION)"

So we have 400ft Harbor Towers standing Tall for the city of Boston Skyline in this area. What an underwhelming JOKE.
Click to expand...

This may come as a complete shock to you, but Palin-loving-old fart-midieval conservatives are just as dicky about building heights ruining their precious private views as the moonbats are.

But if it eases your pain, keep drinking the koolaid.
 
+1 !!

This building height thing has nothing to do w/ liberal/conservative. It is simply the HAVEs taking advantage of a weak zoning/planning/decision-making system that gives a high probability of victory to the HAVEs.

HAVEs are rewarded for fighting height in this town, so they fight. Simple as that.
 
shmessy said:
This may come as a complete shock to you, but Palin-loving-old fart-midieval conservatives are just as dicky about building heights ruining their precious private views as the moonbats are.

But if it eases your pain, keep drinking the koolaid.
Click to expand...

Really---- I wonder why I'm a libertarian. So keep drinking the kool-aid with your Liberal idiots and Old Fart midieval conservatives 1%ers that are all a bunch of Hypocrites.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Someone should show up with a: "Do you practice what you preach? Harbor Towers: Built by ZONING VARIANCE" sign.

Someone who doesn't care about getting re-elected needs to overhaul the zoning in this entire city. By all means preserve what needs to be preserved (North End, Beacon Hill, Comm. Ave. Mall, around the common/gardens, South End, etc.) We need to avert another west end disaster. But it is lunacy to have to fight non-sensical, obsolete, rich-protecting-the-rich zoning anytime someone wants to build anything in this town. Boston takes for granted that is is growing, it has national and international interest, it is a tech and biomedical hub, etc. Such interest will not last if we shut everything down.
Click to expand...

There are, of course, no more parcels that present any height significance (at least concerning build sites that have any realistic possibility)... We're not going to get Fenway Center as proposed until the city and state have a SERIOUS meeting of minds to get this done.

i'm beginning to accept the realization that THIS LEVEL of problem solving is just too complex for politicians' lazy country club brains to handle... especially when people start getting in their faces. All the 'LET'S ROLL' minds are in New York and Los Angeles.

i see a forward thinking/problem solving culture operating in many of America's cities that does not exist here. The nimby have once again been successful in knocking the shit out of another round of towers. Except now we have no more places to build. Score a big victory to the nimby who have effectlvely stopped Boston from becoming a true Skyscraper City in my lifetime.

Bring the scorn.
 
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odurandina said:
There are, of course, no more parcels that present any height significance (at least concerning build sites that have any realistic possibility)... We're not going to get Fenway Center as proposed until the city and state have a SERIOUS meeting of minds to get this done. i'm beginning to accept the realization that problem solvving is just too complex for politicians brains.

i see a profoundly different culture operating in many of America's cities that simply does not exist in Boston. The nimby have once again been successful in knocking the shit out of another round of towers. Except now we have no more places to build. Score a big victory to the nimby who have effectlvely stopped Boston from becoming a true Skyscraper City in my lifetime.

Bring the scorn.
Click to expand...
Meh, I think that these people have finally met their match with Marty. I don't have any statistical evidence other than the fact that his labor background (the same type of building and trades history that will ultimately bring him down in 2017) has helped push many of these projects through so quickly. Would I like to see Marty lighten up on legal weed and finally address affordability? Obviously. Is he a pro-Hillary shill? There's no doubt about that. But he's been the guy that has been helping to spruce up these neighborhoods.

Granted, I'm probably not adding anything new to what is talked about on the boards, but in the past three years, Boston, under Marty's leadership (as far as new development is concerned) has joined the rest of 21st century america in terms of pushing and advocating these new projects. Under Menino, it was him kowtowing to the NIMBY's like no other. Lomansey Way is a prime example of how the city has finally grown a backbone in dealing with these injits (Simpsons reference. So, apologies for the spelling).


For all the complaining about precast and "lack of curves" and height, and the like, we've also experienced a wee bit of a renaissance under this administration. Let's enjoy the good aspects of the Walsh era, because if he gets indicted, all of these construction sites will go barren.
 
odurandina said:
There are, of course, no more parcels that present any height significance (at least concerning build sites that have any realistic possibility)... We're not going to get Fenway Center as proposed until the city and state have a SERIOUS meeting of minds to get this done. i'm beginning to accept the realization that problem solvving is just too complex for politicians brains.

i see a profoundly different culture operating in many of America's cities that simply does not exist in Boston. The nimby have once again been successful in knocking the shit out of another round of towers. Except now we have no more places to build. Score a big victory to the nimby who have effectlvely stopped Boston from becoming a true Skyscraper City in my lifetime.

Bring the scorn.
Click to expand...

you're a senior member here and no doubt know a lot more than i do, but it seems -- just from dropping by here semi-regularly -- that you frequently bring up how there are "no more places to build" tall and then one of a handful of people reply by pointing out that you are incorrect. this is usually accompanied by any number of pretty colored maps of the city and longwinded exposition.

i take it that their counterarguments to your claim don't convince you.

NIMBY nonsense is not a phenomenon unique to Boston. I hear about it from friends in S.F., Seattle, and even placed I wouldn't expect, like LA and Atlanta. Boston is notoriously parochial, so if this type of issue is prevalent throughout the country, is it terribly surprising that it has a particularly fierce hold here? I agree it's frequently frustrating, but: A) it's not "just Boston" and B) if it really irks you so much, there are other places to live.

they've knocked the shit out of another round of towers? Even if literally none of the many towers being proposed or having already been approved actually get built, this "round" has already brought MT (not "tall" by Manhattan standards, but it's tall for Boston) and 1 Dalton is about to go vertical and will be the second-tallest in the city upon completion.

if, to you, that's the result of "knocking the shit" out this round of towers, then i'd suggest you've never seen anything or anyone knock the shit out of anything.
 
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