Charles River Esplanade Given Landmark Status

[vanshnookenraggen]

I've combined the two threads.

 

[statler]

While I would love to see something large, bold and unexpected built somewhere in Boston...

...a Ferris Wheel on the Esplanade ain't it.

Edit: Thanks Van.

 

[Pierce]

Ferris Wheel, no thanks.

Yes: Beer garden, informal performance areas (think berklee students), climbing "mountain, swimming, urban surfing (google "Eisbach"), giant tree swings, ice skating, cross country skiing.

I'm excited that there are people with dreams for this park.

 

[MBTAddict]

What about something like the Keller Fountain Park in Portland? It could be something that started on land and then spills (literally and figuratively) into the river.

This wouldn't be instead of a cafe/beergarden/restaurant/performance spaces, but in addition to.

 

[mass88]

Re: Giant Ferris Wheel on Esplanade

The ferris wheel in London is a disgrace. Putting a mini skirt on a dowager. How far the English have fallen from Victorian ambition...Parliament put in the shadow of an amusement park ride.

Yes, let us follow that degenerate example. Out do it with bungee jumping from the Custom House tower. Perhaps a spinning teacup ride and a dragon roller coaster rail link between North and South Stations too.

I don't think the London Eye should be viewed as an amusement ride. Rather a unique way to see the city. I have ridden in it a couple of times and was amazed. You really get a full view of the entire city that nothing else can match. It's a legitimate tourists attraction that has been done well.

 

[Bubbybu]

What about something like the Keller Fountain Park in Portland? It could be something that started on land and then spills (literally and figuratively) into the river.

This wouldn't be instead of a cafe/beergarden/restaurant/performance spaces, but in addition to.

It's amazing something like that could be public...I think Mayor Menino would have a heart attack

 

[czsz]

The Portland city legal department must have a collective heart attack about that thing every day. It's like a liability jungle...

 

[statler]

Screw a Ferris Wheel, I want a Falkirk Wheel

 

[czsz]

Or...

1. Hold a competition among MIT students to design some kind of wheel / tower / attraction designed to illustrate some bizarre mathematical principle / formula

2. Build the thing in Boston

3. Declare it "the only example of ___ anywhere in the world"

4. ???

5. PROFIT!

 

[MBTAddict]

Or...

1. Hold a competition among MIT students to design some kind of wheel / tower / attraction designed to illustrate some bizarre mathematical principle / formula

2. Build the thing in Boston

3. Declare it "the only example of ___ anywhere in the world"

4. ???

5. PROFIT!

I can't tell if you are being serious or not, but I actually like the idea of at least some type of competition for a project like this. Why don't we see this more in Boston?

 

[statler]

^^ Exactly. My problem with the Ferris Wheel idea is that it is too big or tacky, just that it has been done before (and most likely better).

The thing that makes the Eiffel Tower (or the St Louis Arch) so great is that they are so unique.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Lazy river raft ride on a cleaned up Muddy River.

Tropical themed destination in the middle of the Charles.

Tropical themed destination in the middle of Pleasure Bay.


Just brainstorming.

PS: Anyone know the last time the Charles was drained for low tide? Why don't they flush it out anymore.

 

[Bubbybu]

yea im not too hot on the ferris wheel unless you design one totally unique like in London...I think the esplanade is fine as is really...you start adding all these sterile items and it take away from what makes it so nice. all this gimmicky stuff needs to be concentrated on the waterfront

 

[statler]

Assuming we are never going to get a real neighborhood on the waterfront (a safe assumption if ever the was one) I agree.

 

[Equilibria]

PS: Anyone know the last time the Charles was drained for low tide? Why don't they flush it out anymore.

I believe this is because they don't want to disturb the polluted sediment on the bottom of the river. The Charles is clean enough to swim in... unless you touch the bottom.

 

[Ron Newman]

I like the idea of a boardwalk over the water near the Bowker interchange, but I'd rather just remove the Bowker overpasses entirely, and have any remaining traffic enter westbound Storrow from the left side instead of the right. Since this is not an Interstate highway it should not be expected to conform to any modern highway standard.

A couple of years ago, there was a temporary boardwalk in this area, detouring around some Bowker construction. I liked it and it may have inspired the current proposal.

 

[Lurker]

I don't understand why the outer lagoon landmasses aren't simply extended past the Harvard Bridge down to the BU area. That would provide plenty of useable space along the narrow stretch at the Bowker and possibly provide enough real estate for a pedestrian connector from the Charlesgate if the Bowker is required to remain.

 

[BostonObserver]

This is a non starter, the museum is not giving up property.

 

[Meadowhawk]

What about something like the Keller Fountain Park in Portland? It could be something that started on land and then spills (literally and figuratively)

This wouldn't be instead of a cafe/beergarden/restaurant/performance spaces, but in addition to.

great fountain, but looks very dangerous for kids.

 

[Ron Newman]

I'm not sure the museum owns that property -- they likely just lease it from the DCR