Rose Kennedy Greenway

I'm saying between the Harbor Tower dopes, and the greedy politicians I would sit on the development parcel until the city was begging me to build something in that location their are a lack of union jobs in the city.
Their is no reason to deal with these morons when you really don't have to.
 
^ That is exactly the attitude that Frank McCourt had with his Seaport Square parking lot parcels.

He left them parking lots rather than fight with the inept mayor and his half-tarded cronies. He made incredible returns on his parking lots, and parlayed them into ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers! Good for him. Rather than playing Menino's game, he stuck the city with parking lots that still stand today. Instead of getting millions in tax revenue for our schools, Menino gets to beat his chest about how he somehow "stood up to" a real estate developer.

If I was Chiafaro or Raymond, I'd drop the ego that is driving them to build a sky-scraper, lock up my garage up in a long-term financial trust, rename it the "The Mayor Menino Parking Garage"and retire on the income.

A boy can dream can't he?
 
*hi everyone, longtime reader first time poster :)


you need to have staying power

if a garage was purchased based solely on the economics of the development potential and the garage cash flow can't cover the debt service, than one wouldn't necessarily be able to hold out

i don't now the equity arrangement between the owners either but there could be a majority of the ownership equity contributed from institutional sources that do not want to see either a pissing match between the managing partner/developer and city hall or kept as a garage cash flow - especially if there's a time restriction on the investment
 
The value for parking in Boston is for real. very small supply vs very high demand.

Debt vs Equity is always a problem in everything you buy. It probably depends on the deal and what the long-term goals are for both investors.
The City Hall pissing contest was probably already factor into this situation.
 
TheRifleman said:
I'm saying between the Harbor Tower dopes, and the greedy politicians I would sit on the development parcel until the city was begging me to build something in that location their are a lack of union jobs in the city.
Their is no reason to deal with these morons when you really don't have to.
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Aha! The Rifleman is outed! His real name is Frank Sawyer. (Insert emoticon wink here.)
 
Fountain info from http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/about-the-conservancy/update-greenway-fountains-060509.htm:

Park Update: Greenway Fountains Status
June 4, 2009

We know that many people are disappointed that some of the Greenway fountains are not yet on and wanted to provide an explanation to those of you who want to know why. Here are the technical details and what we and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) are doing to solve the problems.

Planning for fountain commissioning (start up) began in February as the lease that transferred operating responsibility for the Greenway from the MTA was completed. The Conservancy entered into agreements with several specialty vendors for water quality and electrical/mechanical consulting.


In May the MTA and Conservancy began commissioning the fountains for the 2009 summer season so that the water features would be fully operational for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. However, several problems cropped up that the Conservancy Park Operations team is addressing with the assistance of the MTA.

Chinatown Park Fountain
The Chinatown Park Fountain was commissioned on May 19th. The startup was routine except for two items. The black beach stones that cover the return grates needed replenishing and the up-lights under the waterfalls did not work.

Replacement stones are on the way. Subsequent investigation of the lights revealed that the submerged light fixtures leak slightly, causing corrosion of the terminal connectors. We are working with the MTA to resolve the cause. We are also working with vendors to design ways to keep this from happening again. We anticipate the lights will be operational soon.

Wharf District Parks
A vehicle, or vehicles, drove on the Rings Fountain basin pavers sometime over the winter. This caused many of the adjustable jacks that support the basin pavers to fail. The MTA was aware of the damage and ordered replacement jacks before the lease was signed to support repair in the spring. In mid-April the Conservancy?s Park Operations staff and the MTA discovered that many more supports had failed. The Conservancy consulted with the jack manufacturer and distributer and decided to switch to a more substantial jack. This new jack has a higher minimum height which will deliver greater strength and less downtime for future adjustments and repairs.

The Conservancy has 100 of these replacement jacks, and we are in the process of restoring the fountain basin. Once this is complete, we will fill the basin with water and commission the feature for the summer. We anticipate full operation by June 19th.

The ?Harbor Fog? water feature near Rowes Wharf is currently operating as planned.

North End Parks
The fountains in the North End Parks are designed to suggest the former Mill Stream which was in this location in the 18th century. The fountain is actually two completely separate fountain systems. The Parcel 8 fountain is the northernmost one, and the Parcel 10 fountain is the southernmost one.

Parcel 8: The Parcel 8 (northern) fountain is operational. However, a problem between the pump motor controller and the operating system has been causing the pump to cut out sporadically. The MTA has been working with the Conservancy to solve this glitch.

Parcel 10: On May 19th when the MTA and the Park Operations staff opened the vault hatch to the fountain, they discovered that several feet of water had entered the vault during the off-season. The MTA provided labor and equipment to pump the vault out and it was immediately apparent that the fountain controls, pumps and appurtenances were a total loss. Cause for the flood has not been determined. The Conservancy?s insurance carrier is currently analyzing the event. The MTA continues to support the clean-up effort and has supplied skilled labor to provide temporary power so that the vault room can be dried out and repairs can begin. We are assessing ways that the fountain can be made operable this spring. A complete rebuild may not be possible for some time, possibly not until next winter.
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Go to the link to see photos provided with the update.
 
Just a Spring update. I could not help but notice the abysmal condition of most of the planting beds at the Bulfinch Triangle Park and the North End parks regarding out-of-control weeds. If anyone from the Conservancy is reading this blog, I hope someone will take note. Also, need I mention again the condition of the North End fountains and the failed (as I predicted) vines not growing up the trellis structures? On the other hand, the Mass. Hort. parcels look wonderful and are coming into their own this year.
 
It's pathetic that fountains this new have already had massive failures.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Substitute "tunnels" for "fountains" and in a nutshell, is the Big Dig project. Does no one take pride in their work anymore? Is shoddy workmanship and cutting corners to make an extra buck the norm today? Don't get me wrong, I love the dig...the tunnels...but damn, it is depressing. As for fountains on the RKG, it's not surprising, Boston seems to be plagued with fountain problems. So many fountains in this town, for whatever reason...climate, poor workmanship, etc. don't work!
 
atlantaden said:
So many fountains in this town, for whatever reason...climate, poor workmanship, etc. don't work!
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Sometimes, that's due to the non-circulating water problem:

Taxpayer dollars flowing from city's majestic fountains
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | July 5, 2007

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, working on a reputation as a conservation-minded mayor, offers tips to city residents for saving water -- like installing low-flow showerheads and fixing leaky faucets to stop the needless waste of gallons that can go down the drain . But there's another no-no that might be included on the list: city fountains that send massive amounts of water every day directly into the sewer.

The majestic sprays of Boston's decorative fountains may be visions to behold, but few people realize that nine of 24 fountains in the city do not circulate water, meaning turning them on is like opening a faucet and letting it run.

City officials say they are not sure exactly how much water is draining away. But they estimate the waste could be costing taxpayers thousands of dollars each year. The Parks Department, which maintains the fountains, says replacing the plumbing to circulate runoff would cost as much as $1.6 million for all nine fountains.

"It's a grand idea," department spokeswoman Mary Hines said. "It's just getting up the money to do it."

Conservation advocates were flabbergasted that such blatant waste has gone unaddressed . They say the expense of fixing the fountains would be worth the water it saved -- and could be paid back in water-bill savings.

"It doesn't make any sense," said David Kaplan, water resources specialist at the Charles River Watershed Association. "It's just an irresponsible thing."

Most of Boston's non circulating fountains date to the mid-1800s, when water conservation was virtually unheard of.

Then, fashionable couples strolled through the city's new public parks and squares seeking respite from an increasingly crowded city, according to Boston College historian Thomas H. O'Connor.

In the Public Garden, Triton Babies is one of four non circulating fountains whose granite basins and plumbing were installed in 1861, parks officials say.

The Boy and the Bird, Small Child, Bagherra, and the Triton Babies spout water into large pools on each side of Garden entrances on Charles and Arlington streets.

In the South End, noncirculating fountains were installed in Blackstone and Franklin squares in 1849. The majestic cast-iron founts shoot water more than 3 feet into the air over wide basins in the center of the squares at Washington and Brookline streets.

In the Back Bay Fens, a noncirculating fountain was installed in the Rose Garden in 1931. Parks officials say it is turned on only for special occasions such as the mayor's annual garden party. There are plans to retrofit the fountain, along with the massive Brewer Fountain on Boston Common, which dates to 1868, in the near future. Parks officials say they have raised about $400,000 from private sources and still need about another $450,000 to complete the projects.

One noncirculating fountain, at Thompson Square in Charlestown, was built in 1992 and includes a timer to shut off water flow at night and in the winter. Parks officials say the granite art piece -- "a water element invoking Charlestown's link to the ocean" -- uses only a trickle of water.

Retrofitting the city's fountains to recycle water would involve delicate removal of the statues and artwork to install pipes, recirculating pumps, and filtering systems, officials say. "It has to be done by people who know what they're doing," Hines said.

The city has retrofitted several fountains, but only with private donors' help, she said. In the South End, friends groups raised money to renovate fountains in Union Park and Worcester Square, and in the Public Garden, a friends group and medical professional associations raised $600,000 to overhaul the Ether Monument, a tribute to the discovery of ether as an anesthetic.

Hines said the city hopes more friends groups will step forward to help retrofit the other fountains .

Menino, a self-described "nut for fountains," said through a spokeswoman yesterday that the city is "working on it."

"Our priority for the summer is to make sure they're working properly and turned on for residents and visitors alike," he said, according to spokeswoman Dot Joyce.

In the meantime, the city continues to spend taxpayer dollars on water. Hines said the fountains are not metered so officials cannot tell how much water they use. The city's water bill, which includes water used to irrigate playing fields and parks and supply drinking-water fountains, totaled $395,000 in fiscal 2006.

At the Public Garden, many admirers this week said they were surprised the fountains do not re use water.

"They don't recycle it?" asked Donna Francis, a visibly stunned visitor from North Carolina admiring Bagherra on Monday.

"That's a no-brainer," said Tony Molica, a New Hampshire resident standing nearby.

There were some, though, who understood the challenge.

"I could see why it's not being done immediately," said Nell Peiken, sitting with her husband Monday afternoon on a bench next to The Boy and the Bird .

"It's a lot easier to keep the status quo."

"Really?" her husband answered , noting that she is a stickler about his turning off the water when brushing his teeth.

"I guess compared to the fountains, it seems less wasteful," Peiken replied.

"But only marginally."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
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Link
 
In place of rusting girders and blaring horns, a quiet Greenway
Some yearn for more active park

By Vivian Nereim, Globe Correspondent | June 19, 2009

Buyers jostled for position in front of ripe strawberries across from South Station yesterday, when the Boston Public Market reopened for the summer. Yet the clamor of activity dissolved into silence along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway parks to the north, where the only people in sight were gardeners cultivating plants beside empty paths.

Not an unusual scene for a cloudy day, perhaps, but some say the Greenway is not much livelier when the sun is shining.

As Daniel Sullivan bought freshly baked bread at the market, he mused about the good it will do, but said the rest of the Greenway is underutilized. ?I think down further that way,?? the Cambridge resident said, pointing north, ?it feels a little like there?s nothing there.??

The Greenway, which formally opened in October, is a 13.2-acre swath of open space in downtown Boston, where the elevated Central Artery once sliced the city in two. The series of parks is the parting gift of the troublesome Big Dig, but many believe it has yet to come into its own.

?One of the reasons why they wanted us here is because there?s not enough activity on the Greenway,?? said Virginia Stein, a member of the Boston Public Market Association Board, which runs the summer market on Tuesdays and Thursdays to highlight efforts to establish a year-round public market.

?I think there could be more stuff like this,?? said Jocelyn Johnson of Weymouth. ?There are so many people looking to do things at lunch.??

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who welcomed the market enthusiastically yesterday, said developing the Greenway is not an easy task.

?I think there?s always a dispute,?? he said, of accusations that the Greenway is underused. ?If we put too much, they say it?s overuse; if we don?t put enough, it?s underuse.??

Last weekend, a carousel opened on the Greenway across from Quincy Market, said Nancy Brennan, executive director of the park?s steward organization, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. Brennan also said that the beloved Rings Fountain, which has been under repair, is on schedule to begin operating again, with lights, this weekend.

Peter Meade, chairman of the Greenway Conservancy, said there are many plans for the Greenway, citing ideas such as collaborations with museums or performances by students at the Berklee School of Music. He declined to give a timeline until specific events are finalized.

?You know we just got control of this place, right??? he asked, pleading for patience. The conservancy took over the Greenway from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority in February.

Not everyone is willing to wait. Alison Layton of Chinatown lauded the market, saying, ?It?s great to see the space being used in a way that isn?t a huge pile of construction.?? But she said that, in general, ?Boston is really conservative.??

?If you had a space like this in Montreal or Buenos Aires,?? she said, ?there would be people performing and people hanging out.??

Layton uses the Greenway to bike but says there is not enough space to sit down. ?There?s really nothing encouraging people to stop,?? she said.

Sullivan suggested: ?Just adding more trees would make it a more accessible place. You could grab a little piece of shade and read a book.??

Alexandra Holbrook of Andover suggested events at night for families.

Many others suggested concerts or fairs. Geoffrey Simonds of southern Maine, said he would like to see ?more green and less brick,?? though he said the Greenway is headed in the right direction.

Testing a plump tomato, Maria Maia of Milton, said she has already warmed to the Greenway. ?I am so happy to have it,?? she said. ?A meandering walk through the plants is pleasant.?? In fact, she said, gesturing with distaste toward the bricks under foot, ?the only place I don?t like is this place here.??

Vivian Nereim can be reached at vnereim@globe.com.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...g_girders_and_blaring_horns_a_quiet_greenway/

What this place lacks is ground retails and density. The carousel is a nice idea but the majority of the customers are young children who must be watched carefully due to the traffic on both side of the Greenway. The disadvantage of the Greenway is that currently, it cannot hold any outdoor cafe which brings in a lot of pedestrian activities. The market is a good start though. The parks at North End however are incredibly crappy, not so much in quality of the land, but the design. Even if they did build the two residential towers+NSR at North Station who would use the raise park at the entrance of the Zakim Bridge?
 
KentXie said:
What this place lacks is ground retails and density. The carousel is a nice idea but the majority of the customers are young children who must be watched carefully due to the traffic on both side of the Greenway. The disadvantage of the Greenway is that currently, it cannot hold any outdoor cafe which brings in a lot of pedestrian activities. The market is a good start though. The parks at North End however are incredibly crappy, not so much in quality of the land, but the design. Even if they did build the two residential towers+NSR at North Station who would use the raise park at the entrance of the Zakim Bridge?
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What do you think is crappy about the design of the N End park parcels?

Clearly they're not perfect, but in my opinion, they are the best designed pieces of the RKG. The bermed-up planted area to the west does a nice job of screening the traffic, and the fountains are fine. The trellis is a bit underwhelming, but in general the idea of a 'porch' for the North End works well. These parks are full of tourists, and more importantly locals when the weather is nice.

Just wondering what the criticism is, other than 'crappy' and wondering if you could point to some park design that you think is better.
 
el raval said:
What do you think is crappy about the design of the N End park parcels?

Clearly they're not perfect, but in my opinion, they are the best designed pieces of the RKG. The bermed-up planted area to the west does a nice job of screening the traffic, and the fountains are fine. The trellis is a bit underwhelming, but in general the idea of a 'porch' for the North End works well. These parks are full of tourists, and more importantly locals when the weather is nice.

Just wondering what the criticism is, other than 'crappy' and wondering if you could point to some park design that you think is better.
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Sorry not the North End Parks, I'm talking about the parks right at next to the Zakim Bridge, adjacent to the Garden. Are they called the Bullfinch Parks?
 
KentXie said:
Sorry not the North End Parks, I'm talking about the parks right at next to the Zakim Bridge, adjacent to the Garden. Are they called the Bullfinch Parks?
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The only Greenway park is the small park north of Causeway St. at the portal to the tunnel. The other 'parks' on the south side of Causeway are to be building sites.
 
stellarfun said:
The only Greenway park is the small park north of Causeway St. at the portal to the tunnel. The other 'parks' on the south side of Causeway are to be building sites.
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He's referring to Portal Park - managed by the MTA. It's really meant to be a viewing area for the Zakim.

FWIW: The Rings Fountain is back up and running as of today.
 
Waldorf said:
He's referring to Portal Park - managed by the MTA. It's really meant to be a viewing area for the Zakim.

FWIW: The Rings Fountain is back up and running as of today.
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I'm surprised there isn't someone with a sandwich board sign parading at Portal Park warning visitors that staying more than a minute there could be dangerous to their health. Course prolonged exposure would be dangerous to whomever was toting the sandwich board, so maybe that's why there is no warning.
 
stellarfun said:
I'm surprised there isn't someone with a sandwich board sign parading at Portal Park warning visitors that staying more than a minute there could be dangerous to their health. Course prolonged exposure would be dangerous to whomever was toting the sandwich board, so maybe that's why there is no warning.
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LOL! The government should warn us that doing anything near anything is hazardous to our health. Yipes.
 
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