Four Seasons Tower @ CSC | 1 Dalton Street | Back Bay

Tosh in the Globe is odurandina here. We get the lists in both places.

Yeah, I know. It's just comical to see them pop up in the midst of people calling One Dalton ugly or complaining about how it's only for the rich.
 
Planners gave in too easy at Tremont Crossing, 1000 Boylston, & 45 Worthington. The lists are in part to draw a connection between irrational concessions–& the net forfeiture of affordable units by applying the the Law of Definite Proportion. City Hall chooses avoidance, keeping a low profile about permitted buildings, and in some cases, keeping actual heights of buildings secret in perpetuity.

i prefer to confront these loons. My cadence doesn't resonate with a number of people, (including a few who generally support construction). But the Globe is getting a larger demographic of online subscribers. As far as nimby's go, who can dent their spirits? No one. They're intractable, persistent, rough and tumble, with ring leaders–like Greg Galer who grandstand and filibuster meetings in a professional capacity.

I can't be sure. But the construction & the physical addition of the buildings (themselves) might inevitably have an effect of....

1. Tacit acceptance: this is how it's going to be. i post lists of proposed & permitted height to enhance the perception of 'doom,' 'resistence is futile,' etc. If i posted all the completed + permitted + proposed for over 200'–*i'd be arrested, gagged, maybe sent to an institution, or worse–not for inciting a riot, but for being a p.i.t.a. :)

2. Maybe Boston's new urbanism isn't the boogieman (after all).

At one point in 2016/18 there were so many proposed low to medium highrises–there wasn't enough goons to bomb the meetings. After the nimby tirade over the approval of the Garden Garage, Board members must have said, "Is this as bad as it...? Got any more for us to approve?":)

Joe Larken was a bit smarter than Chiofaro and (Adam) Weiner. He found friends from the Chinatown and Roxbury communities to take ownership of the benefits package (290 Tremont & Franklin Park), and in so doing, the project sailed through with most of its height intact. Don Chiofaro made nice with the Aquarium away from public scrutiny. It also helped that the loony, Aquarium CEO left. Unfortunately, the neighborhood gatherings for 1000 Boylston and the Harbor Garage were a shytte show, w/ lots of filibustering by fake advisory committees packed with nimby's, and very little balancing influence. Social media also continues to be a stumbling-block to the positive benefit of spot-zoning w/ additional projects getting 'Galered.'


*banal attempt at satire, borrowed from Mr. X, from JFK.
 
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While tosh may sound like a broken record, how many times do we see the same NIMBY's posting the same tired old BS about shadows and other such nonsense. My favorite is the people who post that we should reject new business and send it to Mississippi and places like that because they need the jobs more. :D
 
While tosh may sound like a broken record, how many times do we see the same NIMBY's posting the same tired old BS about shadows and other such nonsense....

I'll tell you, when I was walking around different cities on my recent roadtrip, I absolutely gravitated towards the shadows. However, I called them "shade" instead. It was hot as hell out there! How am I supposed to handle being stuck in the sun, surrounded by asphalt?!

The people who use this argument obviously don't care at all about the fairer-skinned among us. I get burned relatively easily. I overheat relatively easily. Any long stretches without shade are pretty much hell on earth for me to walk through on a Summer day (ie the 5 month stretch of May - September).

Also, for the "early morning shadows on the common" crowd, how bleeping low does the sun have to be in the sky to cause these shadows?! If a new building causes a shadow at this time, it's because it's doing us a favor by blocking the BLINDING SUN! Then the sun gets above the buildings, stops blinding us, and is also hitting the right height to work its magic on growing our trees.

I really appreciated the insane density of Center City, Philadelphia. It was much easier to find shade on at least one side of the street in most areas. I was also jealous because not only do they have by far the bigger set of buildings (7 over 730'), but they have by far the bigger set of OLD buildings! Many of the roads, especially the grand boulevard leading to City Hall, felt like the world's biggest 1930's metropolis. It's really incredible! Boston is so totally lacking in both those areas and it hurts admitting that about a city I defend to the ends of the Earth.

Of course we have far more/superior green space plus the harbor, but what good are these huge parks without any bleeping shade?!?!?!
 
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...And looming over Central Park (and casting shadows) are 2 of the tallest buildings in the world under construction - plus 2 other super-talls.
 
I'll tell you, when I was walking around different cities on my recent roadtrip, I absolutely gravitated towards the shadows. However, I called them "shade" instead. It was hot as hell out there! How am I supposed to handle being stuck in the sun, surrounded by asphalt?!

The people who use this argument obviously don't care at all about the fairer-skinned among us. I get burned relatively easily. I overheat relatively easily. Any long stretches without shade are pretty much hell on earth for me to walk through on a Summer day (ie the 5 month stretch of May - September).

Also, for the "early morning shadows on the common" crowd, how bleeping low does the sun have to be in the sky to cause these shadows?! If a new building causes a shadow at this time, it's because it's doing us a favor by blocking the BLINDING SUN! Then the sun gets above the buildings, stops blinding us, and is also hitting the right height to work its magic on growing our trees.

I really appreciated the insane density of Center City, Philadelphia. It was much easier to find shade on at least one side of the street in most areas. I was also jealous because not only do they have by far the bigger set of buildings (7 over 730'), but they have by far the bigger set of OLD buildings! Many of the roads, especially the grand boulevard leading to City Hall, felt like the world's biggest 1930's metropolis. It's really incredible! Boston is so totally lacking in both those areas and it hurts admitting that about a city I defend to the ends of the Earth.

Of course we have far more/superior green space plus the harbor, but what good are these huge parks without any bleeping shade?!?!?!

There is shade.
 
What is the evidence we have superior green space to Philly?

i haven't seen it.
 
What is the evidence we have superior green space to Philly?

i haven't seen it.

It was pretty evident from the top of the Liberty Place observation deck. Maybe they have nice green space on the outskirts but Center City and the immediate surrounding area didn't seem to have much at all.
 
Agree x1000. It is a gorgeously proportioned building. I too have seen it in person.

Honestly, this is fat?:
https://goo.gl/maps/72NxRHK3PjP7KmHMA

Jeebus, I don’t care how high those buildings climb - as an urbanist, that Google hike was D-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-N-G. Did a neutron bomb hit that almost humanoid free downtown????

Buildings alone don’t make cities. Buildings + Life does. You can’t have a lively city with just one of those elements.
M.
 
Jeebus, I don’t care how high those buildings climb - as an urbanist, that Google hike was D-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-N-G. Did a neutron bomb hit that almost humanoid free downtown????

Buildings alone don’t make cities. Buildings + Life does. You can’t have a lively city with just one of those elements.
M.

Well a lot could depend on when exactly the Google Maps mobile went by. I have been through tons of downtown Boston when it was essentially dead, and other times when the same streets were thriving or even mobbed. Cleveland seems to be doing a lot better in this one, right by Terminal Tower.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.499...4!1smtPMAW94cest99Ivfs2LbQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

With that said, Cleveland absolutely doesn't compare to Boston as an urban realm. Most US cities don't compare to Boston, particularly the non-coastal ones outside of Chicago.
 

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