Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

I don't see what would be usefully accomplished by putting car traffic back on these streets. Would you bring it back to North Market and South Market streets too? (These are former streets on each side of the Quincy Market building.)
 
today
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^Ron Newman

Police Barrier
Location: Washington Street
Quantity: 2*
Color: Blue with White Lettering
Font: Stencil
Description: Looks like crap.

* The second sawhorse was stuck in the snow, not operational this evening.

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They really should use bollards, of the kind used to keep vehicles off bike paths in Somerville, Cambridge, Lexington, etc.
 
Something like that. Classy would be nice, even it had to be two bollards and a decent looking chain.

The sawhorse makes it looked like a cordoned-off crime scene.
 
The walkways at Faneuil Hall get foot traffic whereas the DTX street does not, mainly because 1) people think it's an actual road; and, 2) there's always a cab or a truck or a police car coming up your ass so you have to move to the sidewalk.

It should be one or another.
 
What if they had those reflective stand-up sticks they use when exits peel off of highways sometimes? They bend over on a hinge where they are adhered to the ground, in case any dumbasses go into them. So emergency vehicles go could just drive over them (at a reduced speed). But there's no need to stop, remove any temp bike-path-like bollard, just to proceed.
 
Boston02124 - Great pics, thanks!

For Washington Street (as well as Winter Street also), Winthrop Street in Harvard Square might be a model for "shared space" - that street was completely reconstructed to be an unabiguous pedestrian corridor during the day, and open to cars at night. I don't even think there are barriers - just a different paving (I think stone or brick?) and a different grade from the surrounding streets. It works, and it's classy.

In its current state, Washington Street looks like a street that nobody wants to drive down - a deserted corner of downtown that's a perpetual crime scene.

Are these things that the BID is going to address?
 
So the proposal for reopening Washington St is mainly for crime and convenience purposes? I, like Ron, couldn't see any useful accomplishment as far as the survival of DTX here.
 
Data - opening Washington to traffic at off-peak times would need to be accompanied by a change in streetscape and grade to work well as a true "shared space." Streetview isn't updated with the new Winthrop Street by Harvard Sq yet, but if you get a chance to go down there it would be worth thinking about that as a potential model.

Edit: I always for get about Bing - their streetview has it. But I don't know how to construct a direct link. Plop down on the corner of JFK and Winthrop. Notice the different grade to JFK, the use of pavers, the flexible use of space by opening up to cars at off-peak times (in the picture there are some temporary barriers, but I don't think those are typically there).
 
^Shepard

Great example. Cars turning onto Winthrop do so with caution because of the calming.

I agree with a "one or the other" approach -- daytime 100% pedestrian, dusk-dawn on M-F open to all traffic, and perhaps midnight-dawn on Sat/Sun open to all traffic.

Ultimately, signage might suffice in place of bollards, etc.
 
JohnAKeith said:
I think the city's leadership should focus on that side and stop talking about destroying the integrity of the Common by putting a restaurant on it (and burn the carousel, while they're at it).
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You are against a tastefully (pun intended) done restaurant on the Common? Really? Do you walk in that area often after 7PM in months other than June-September? I walk through 3-5 times a week. It is a ghost town. A destination restaurant is EXACTLY what the Common needs to bring some vitality to the area once the throngs of downtown workers are gone for the day. Plus, a restaurant serving well into the night might lower the crime in the Common a bit during those times when the restaurant is bustling. I just cannot understand how anyone could be against ANY kind of restaurant on that dormant site in an public space that is woefully underused a good portion of the evening.
 
Let's start with it's "The Boston Common" and work from there.

But, this has been rehashed again and again. So I have nothing more to add.
 
BosDevelop said:
You are against a tastefully (pun intended) done restaurant on the Common? Really? Do you walk in that area often after 7PM in months other than June-September? I walk through 3-5 times a week. It is a ghost town. A destination restaurant is EXACTLY what the Common needs to bring some vitality to the area once the throngs of downtown workers are gone for the day. Plus, a restaurant serving well into the night might lower the crime in the Common a bit during those times when the restaurant is bustling. I just cannot understand how anyone could be against ANY kind of restaurant on that dormant site in an public space that is woefully underused a good portion of the evening.
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shake shack please!
 
I stumbled across the southern side of dtx tonight....the college area looks alive and fabulous!! I love the lighting!!!!
 
Soooo, celebrating for my girlfriend's birthday tonight... Went to DTX after a bit, and I know it's cold... but it's dead. DEAD. The girls wanted to go check out some of the stores. Unfortunately there's nothing nice where Filene's was, that could have been nice. They went in H&M at 8. 8:20 we come out, half the places are closed and H&M closes at 8:30. We could walk down to Macy's... but... "yeahhhh, nothing's down there but Macy's". So we run across to Wendys. About the only place open from the looks of it, and seemed to have the biggest crowd in the whole area.

It's fucking Saturday night. Fuck you DTX. Fuck. You.

I can only hope it's more lively when it's warm.

Also, why can't some places from Newbury Street be transplanted to DTX? Why is it even the premier choice for stores? It's a long ass stretch of road with a shitty trolley serving it a block to the south.


EDIT: Oh, and the only thing worth noting was the fabulous theater signs down the road. But I didn't see a single soul coming in or out down there.
 
Today seemed unnaturally quiet in downtown. We went out for a walk down the Greenway and into Faneuil Hall and things were quiet. You'd think with a long weekend for many that there'd be a lot of tourists, visitors, etc., but I think the weather, etc., kept people inside.

We had a couple-three $1 drafts at Sissy K's and a snack. Worth visiting if you're down that way. The Hong Kong next door has $1 beers, too.

Red Auerbach was keeping warm.

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JohnAKeith said:
Today seemed unnaturally quiet in downtown. We went out for a walk down the Greenway and into Faneuil Hall and things were quiet. You'd think with a long weekend for many that there'd be a lot of tourists, visitors, etc., but I think the weather, etc., kept people inside.

We had a couple-three $1 drafts at Sissy K's and a snack. Worth visiting if you're down that way. The Hong Kong next door has $1 beers, too.

Red Auerbach was keeping warm.

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I'm thinking this is in the wrong thread, but it's the unbelievably slow season at Faneuil Hall now. I've worked at the AE in Marketplace Center for over a year. Business gets brutal. In the summer, we do $2000-$4000 hours, but in the winter, we're lucky to make $2000 in a weekday ($5000 weekend).
 
JohnAKeith said:
Today seemed unnaturally quiet in downtown. We went out for a walk down the Greenway and into Faneuil Hall and things were quiet. You'd think with a long weekend for many that there'd be a lot of tourists, visitors, etc., but I think the weather, etc., kept people inside.

We had a couple-three $1 drafts at Sissy K's and a snack. Worth visiting if you're down that way. The Hong Kong next door has $1 beers, too.

Red Auerbach was keeping warm.
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not to mention the $1 chicken teriyakies.
 
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