Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

ablarc said:
I think it's time to restore Washington Street to its natural condition: unrestricted traffic, asphalt roadway, concrete sidewalks with curbs, drop the idiotic "Downtown Crossing" moniker, lose the loitering police vehicles, build on the parking lots. Finally, make Macy's replace its building with one that respects its context with vertical articulation instead of horizontality.
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Wasn't there a plan like 4 years ago where they thought about build a pair of 30 story towers over Lafayette?
 
If Hancock just got auctioned off for 660million whats the sense in building Filenes now. Does the numbers even make any sense at this point for the developer. Might need a govt fixed rate loan for 3% to get this project down.
 
In the short term, no. It makes no sense at all.

What Filene's needs is a developer/lender combination who is willing to take a short-to-mid-term bath in order to realize a much longer term gain.

A tough order to fill. :(
 
statler said:
In the short term, no. It makes no sense at all.

What Filene's needs is a developer/lender combination who is willing to take a short-to-mid-term bath in order to realize a much longer term gain.

A tough order to fill. :(
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Any Developers that are leveraged in this current downturn might end up getting their equity cleaned out. Tough times.........
 
I don't understand why people are getting fixated on the lack of automobile traffic. The pedestrianization of DC has little or nothing to do with its current mediocrity and bringing back traffic, on its own, won't do a damn thing. That said, the city should decide once and for all whether it wants DC to be a REAL pedestrian area -- with high-quality single grade paving, street furniture, and programming (besides pushcarts selling crap) -- or maintain its current in-between state. Pedestrian malls absolutely can work when done right.

(And I don't think Jane Jacobs would diagnose DC's ills as a lack of cars.)
 
When I was walking to the DTX subway station this morning, there was a boatload of police cars and emergency vehicles with their sirens going...anyone know what was going on down there?
 
Agree. So many cities in Europe have charming pedestrian streets. Best example I can think of is Copenhagen.

aws129 said:
I don't understand why people are getting fixated on the lack of automobile traffic. The pedestrianization of DC has little or nothing to do with its current mediocrity and bringing back traffic, on its own, won't do a damn thing. That said, the city should decide once and for all whether it wants DC to be a REAL pedestrian area -- with high-quality single grade paving, street furniture, and programming (besides pushcarts selling crap) -- or maintain its current in-between state. Pedestrian malls absolutely can work when done right.

(And I don't think Jane Jacobs would diagnose DC's ills as a lack of cars.)
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The continuous police presence down there creates a mood of imminent disaster.
 
^^
Boston.com
1 injured in electrical mishap in Downtown Crossing
April 1, 2009 09:01 AM Email| Comments (1)| Text size ? +

By Globe Staff

A spark in a battery room released a cloud of smoke this morning at Macy's in Downtown Crossing, injuring one person, a fire official said.

Firefighters responded with a hazardous materials team to what was originally described as a battery explosion on the fourth floor, according to Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department. Officials vented fourth, fifth, and sixth floors to release the smoke created by the spark. The situation was under control within 90 minutes.

One person took himself to Massachusetts General Hospital. Macy's was not open at the time.
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Boston Herald said:
MacDonald said the worker who was injured took the MBTA to Massachusetts General Hospital. MacDonald did not immediately have information on the extent of his injuries.
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Couldn't wait around for the ambulance to arrive?

All those police couldn't take him?

Great police department.
 
ablarc said:
The continuous police presence down there creates a mood of imminent disaster.
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Given the state of the Filenes' building, perhaps "imminent" isn't the right word. Post-disaster is perhaps better.
 
I don't understand why people are getting fixated on the lack of automobile traffic.
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It reeks of desperation. It frightens me because I remember the same arguments being made in Buffalo 15 years ago. "The cars will save us...the vitality of humanity is cars!"

These arguments revealed a flawed inferiority compex toward the suburbs and their culture that would be embarrassing today - and is, for people who think restoring de jure traffic to DTC (as if it's never choked with emergency vehicles and taxis) would have an impact.
 
"Jane Jacobs' arguments reveal a flawed inferiority compex toward the suburbs and their culture that would be embarrassing today - and is, for people who think restoring de jure traffic to DTC (as if it's never choked with emergency vehicles and taxis) would have an impact."

I'm not trying to be a Jacobian zealot on this topic, but I just want to point out that there are plenty of Urban Planners that archboston seems to generally hold in high regard who have made good arguments about why pedestrian malls are a bad idea. Personally, I agree with them, and I don't think that their arguments have anything at all to do with an inferiority complex towards the suburbs and I don't think it's embarrassing at all. If a good city street's supposed to have as many eyes as possible on it, why exclude a certain category of eyes just because we don't like those eyes' personal transportation choices?
 
There is also the fact that no one is arguing that cars are the fix for DTX, just part of a solution to the problem.

Also the suburban jealousy argument is nonsense. Nobody is recommending reconfiguring Washington St to accommodate more cars (widening to accommodate extra lanes, parking lots). Just restore it back to its original configuration.
Think Hanover St in the N.End. The cars aren't the reason for it's vibrancy, but they help add to it.
 
I lived in Santa Monica for five years, and their Third Street pedestrian mall is a smashing success. It's about the same size as Downtown Crossing's. The one in Burlington, VT looked pretty good when I visited it, too.
 
Ron,

Refresh my memory, all the perpendicular side streets cut through the Santa Monica ped mall right? Downtown Crossing, on the other hand, really changes a lot of auto transportation patterns resulting in diminished vitality. Also the demographics of the neighborhood are a bit different. Santa Monica is a pretty wealthy enclave relative to middle of the road Downtown Crossing.

I also wonder if the success of the mall in Santa Monica is partially attributable to its relative uniquess as a walkable commericial district within the L.A. area. Central Boston has many walkable areas so the ped zone within Downtown Crossing may not be viewed with the same level of affection as in L.A.
 
Yes, at least when I was there, two perpendicular streets (Santa Monica Blvd. and Arizona Ave.) crossed the mall and were open to traffic. Santa Monica may be somewhat above average in income, but it's no South Pasadena or Beverly Hills.
 
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