General Boston Discussion

Sorry to bump up this thread to ask a question, but does anyone know the history of why Summer St is elevated through the Seaport? The bridge over A Street appears to be quite old, so I'm guessing it predated the recent developments there.
 
Hubman said:
Sorry to bump up this thread to ask a question, but does anyone know the history of why Summer St is elevated through the Seaport? The bridge over A Street appears to be quite old, so I'm guessing it predated the recent developments there.
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Train tracks ran under it. It was a giant rail yard.
 
meddlepal said:
Train tracks ran under it. It was a giant rail yard.
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Summer Street on far left
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Here is a 2018 article, Boston magazine top 100 Bldgs in Boston. Let the debate begin. I don't necessarily agree with # 1, but it is the most controversial. Also, 10 listed are in Cambridge so really top 90. Not 1 seaport Bldg in this list, a lot has changed.
 
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dhawkins said:
Here is a 2018 article, Boston magazine top 100 Bldgs in Boston. Let the debate begin. I don't necessarily agree with # 1, but it is the most controversial. Also, 10 listed are in Cambridge so really top 90. Not 1 seaport Bldg in this list, a lot has changed.
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Amazing how few skyscrapers there are on the list- I guess we don't have much to choose from in terms of architectural merit. Anyways, I wouldn't say it's fair to rank such a widely-despised building at no. 1 (or to stick 500 Boylston at 24 either), but a very interesting list nonetheless.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
We found Zombie John Silber's pen name!
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Dear sweet Jesus... after reading that, yep, I'm gonna go there:

"Thesis submitted by A. Hitler in partial fulfillment of the requirement for a degree in architecture, Vienna Academy of Design, 1913."

I can only conclude, after absorbing that precious little diatribe, that Silber wasn't merely quasi-fascist in his mentality--he was a stone-cold fascist. Why didn't he just drop the pretenses and label it "degenerate modern architecture"?

Bill Weld may have been an entitled Brahmin princeling--but praise be to the amber-hued liquid aficionado for having prevented Silber occupying the corner office.
 
Food for the noggin. An Opinion article in Cambridge Day that questions the benefits of development in Cambridge (and Boston area in general) over livability, sustainability and pushing existing infrastructure and services. The comments section continues the conversation with pros and cons.
 
dhawkins said:
Food for the noggin. An Opinion article in Cambridge Day that questions the benefits of development in Cambridge (and Boston area in general) over livability, sustainability and pushing existing infrastructure and services. The comments section continues the conversation with pros and cons.
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"Anyone who had lived near a restaurant or bar learned that zoning restrictions protect residents." Bwahaha!

"This isn’t 'exclusionary' – it’s setting aside some areas with different characteristics and protecting all residents regardless of their economic status." Is this person claiming that redlining is a myth, or am I misreading?

"It’s like a Ponzi scheme in which we need to rebuild infrastructure because our population is increasing because we want more development to pay for more infrastructure". Ah yes, infrastructure never needs to be replaced in areas with no growth. Metal only rusts in cities that grow faster than 5% per year.

In all seriousness, though, I'm sure there are examples of desirable cities and towns around the country that have gentrified as much or harder than Cambridge. And as quick as they are to write off the "1M people would love to live hear" line, they really pull that "max capacity is 120,000" out of thin air.
 
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Lol, and of course this author was with the Sierra Club for two decades. Nothing says environmental stewardship like pushing all growth to the exurbs.
 
dhawkins said:
Food for the noggin. An Opinion article in Cambridge Day that questions the benefits of development in Cambridge (and Boston area in general) over livability, sustainability and pushing existing infrastructure and services. The comments section continues the conversation with pros and cons.
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I grew up in Cambridge and I can't get over how Cambridge still pictures itself as a small town. Cambridge can sustain a lot more growth, including some supertalls, even with the infrastructure it currently has, and could accommodate additional huge amounts of growth with some transit expansion, including Union to Porter GLX, an LRV Urban Ring along the Grand Junction RR, and a Green Line Branch from the BU area to Harvard Square via West Station. Cambridge is no longer a quaint, provincial little town,, and the sooner the leadership there realizes it, the better,
 
dhawkins said:
Food for the noggin. An Opinion article in Cambridge Day that questions the benefits of development in Cambridge (and Boston area in general) over livability, sustainability and pushing existing infrastructure and services. The comments section continues the conversation with pros and cons.
Click to expand...

anyone that terms them the "green and red subway lines," lowercase, as this otherwise obviously highly-literate, non-ESL author did (para 6) is exposing themselves as fundamentally clueless and does not need to be taken seriously... really, who does that?!?
 
What bugged me the most about that article was: "This isn’t Manhattan. It’s the Cambridge skyline..,.", complaining about the cluster of low to mid-rise office buildings around Kendall Square. What century does this guy live in?
 
So many infuriating points in that article I don't know where to begin. I think his conclusion sums it up though when he asks: When will it be enough? How many people should we have?

Why don't we start with Cambridge's historical peak 70 years ago of 120,000? It can't be overstated how most of these no growth sentiments in homeowners and city leadership comes from people who were here when Boston/Cambridge were losing population through the 70s and 80s. They truly can't conceive of a growing area.
 
^Don't blame the locals for this limosine liberal ego trip. I doubt most are from here. Cambridge is transient by nature. I have met 5 people in my life that are actually from Cambridge and one of them posts here
 
Has this statement from the article been vetted yet? "What’s driving the market is outside investors and real estate investment trusts, yet the trusts don’t even need to rent out the properties they buy or build; just owning them yields a handsome return on investment." There have been similar comments on ArchBoston about residential tower windows are dark at night and AirBnB empty units. Google has the Seaports population around 10,000. I was down there last week and a lot of the windows had lights on.
 
Boston to eliminate parking requirements to spur below-market residential development
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“The city of Boston is eliminating minimum parking requirements for some affordable housing developments in a move the mayor there says will make it easier for developers to build below-market housing in the mass-transit-rich, affordable-homes-poor metropolis.”

“This action will help take down barriers to the creation of new affordable housing across the city,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “We need every tool in our toolbox to address our city’s housing crisis. Eliminating parking minimums removes an outdated standard from our zoning code and will spur new housing to make it easier for Bostonians to live and stay in our city….”


https://news.google.com/articles/CB...2ZWxvcG1lbnQvYW1wLw?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
 
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