Copley Square Revamp | Back Bay

DBM said:
Post Office Square also is a privately-owned, privately-maintained park, and thus has been cleaned vigorously and expertly by a professional, salaried staff, since its inception. Thus I definitely would not use it as a comp here...
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Maybe it's not a fair comparison, but shouldn't it be? Historically, Boston has very much been a city committed to and justly proud about public civic amenities. Copley Square is a jewel and should be treated with the same level of care as Post Office Square.

I do think it fails as a comparison for other reasons, though, primarily because the two squares serve a very different purpose. Post Office Square is not a place for large gatherings, festivals, markets, etc. It doesn't need to serve as a plaza, so it works well as a grassy park. But Copley Square absolutely needs a lot of paved surface area.
 
HenryAlan said:
Copley Square is a jewel and should be treated with the same level of care as Post Office Square.
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I am not sure that our millionaires and billionaires want to pay the amount of taxes required to have two (or more) public spaces that are treated as well as Post Office Square private park.
 
as02143 said:
I am not sure that our millionaires and billionaires want to pay the amount of taxes required to have two (or more) public spaces that are treated as well as Post Office Square private park.
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What an absolutely ridiculous statement. Who do you think maintains all the private parks in Boston? In New York City, where the most notable parks in Manhattan are run by private foundations?

If funding parks well led to a notable increase in taxes, we'd be in a serious hole of financial mismanagement. As it is, even the 40M redo of Copley square amounts to....50$ per resident.
 
We saw our local billionaires and millionaires get a state elected to try to conduct a political hit on our mayor for daring to increase the commercial rates to prevent worse residential tax hikes.
 
Right, because breaking the state limit for how hard you can tax commercial property *during a commercial property downturn* is good public finance for a city. And pray tell, why should residents get a property tax break? Last I checked property owners are pretty well off?

No matter one's political views, sound public finance should be a given. The ignorance with which it's treated on the right and left does no one any good. The sewer socialists understood this in the '20s. I don't see any reason we cannot today.
 
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In person this is kinda not bad but I can see the criticisms for sure. I think a fix would be to have a harvard style underpass to connect the library and the plaza without a 4 lane road
 
Longfellow said:
I think a fix would be to have a harvard style underpass to connect the library and the plaza without a 4 lane road
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I'm pretty sure an underpass would be impossible, given the proximity to the Boylston subway tunnel on one side, and the Turnpike on the other. No need for a road there at all, in my opinion.
 
HenryAlan said:
I'm pretty sure an underpass would be impossible, given the proximity to the Boylston subway tunnel on one side, and the Turnpike on the other. No need for a road there at all, in my opinion.
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Yup, could be an excellent civic space without that road.
As it is, they can rejigger it all they want but it'll still end up the same.
 
It's nice to dream that Copley could magically become Bryant Park, but would the permanent closure of Dartmouth Street for one block really make this area so much more appealing or useful? The atmosphere outside of the library isn't exactly inviting.

The city also wouldn't do this without economic incentive, so unless they can plop a Tatte or a Shake Shack onto this new civic space, it's hard to imagine them considering this. And there's no benevolent corporate abutter to foot the bill either.

This would have been a great idea as part of a true revamp for the area, involving a much-needed modernization of Copley Station with new entrances integrated into new revenue-generating buildings on the periphery of a big new park. But what's done is done, and the strong economy needed for such investments is now on hiatus.

The pedestrianization of Newbury Street seems like a more worthwhile and realistic pursuit for now.

Copley Square serves its purpose, even if we're still bored with it and don't enjoy crossing Dartmouth Street.
 
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