Rose Kennedy Greenway

Visual chaos is good IMO, as long as it's not disruptive to pedestrians (for example, the massive amount of bikes parked on the sidewalk in most Chinese cities).
 
I agree. However, some of the other free publications in these boxes are not newspapers by any definition, as they consist totally of advertising (cars, jobs, or real estate). I don't want to get rid of them, but I suspect they enjoy less First Amendment protection than the Phoenix, Dig, Improper, Courant, or even Stuff@Night.
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From a legal POV, no. The city can regulate these boxes based on "time, place, and manner" restrictions (the same idea behind prohibitions on incendiary speech that incites violence...and one that's been abused to prohibit pornography, on the theory that it has negative social externalities), but restrictions must also be "content-neutral", meaning the state can't judge which speech is more important or worthwhile.

Originally Posted by Beton Brut View Post
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles all have some kind of standardized solution. Chicago's is a sidewalk-mounted armature that suspends several newspaper boxes in a line. Black powdercoat finish, built to last, classy.

Why not here?
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Since the criterion courts use to evaluate regulation of the boxes is the extent to which delivery is affected, if I were representing the box owners I would claim that these mechanisms make the papers more anonymous and less likely to attract readers. Same issue for newsstand sales - newsstands aren't nearly as frequent a presence on the street as boxes can be.
 
I think complaining about newspaper boxes in a city is way too extreme. While it may be "clutter" it is part of the city. It's like saying that trash bins, bike racks, parking meters, bus signs are clutter. It would be quite weird to have a city with out them but I won't complain if they can put newspaper into something like a vending machine.
 
czsz said:
From a legal POV, no. The city can regulate these boxes based on "time, place, and manner" restrictions (the same idea behind prohibitions on incendiary speech that incites violence...and one that's been abused to prohibit pornography, on the theory that it has negative social externalities), but restrictions must also be "content-neutral", meaning the state can't judge which speech is more important or worthwhile.
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So, does that mean, some clever pornographer could set up a porno box on the theory that subsequent dollar sales would justify his investment if his first amendment rights stayed intact?

(Btw, all this stuff as described by you sounds like pure lawyer bullshit. Makes one realize why that "profession" is held in such general contempt.)
 
You can thank Justice Scalia for the fact that porn is one of the most regulable forms of speech there is...which is why it's legal for cities to set up "adult entertainment zones" where they stuff all of it.

Amazingly, this represented a significant leap over the "smut is banned, and we know smut when we see it" standard previously adopted by the Supreme Court.

(Btw, all this stuff as described by you sounds like pure lawyer bullshit. Makes one realize why that "profession" is held in such general contempt.)
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It's like cesspit-cleaning: unpleasant job, but someone's got to do it.
 
Boston02124 said:
today @ South Station(Dewey Sq.)
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Bostonbred's vision of Ye Old Boston on the Greenway is one step closer to realization.
 
czsz said:
You can thank Justice Scalia for the fact that porn is one of the most regulable forms of speech there is...which is why it's legal for cities to set up "adult entertainment zones" where they stuff all of it.
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Well... not so much.

It isn't just "legal" to set up an adult entertainment zone. If you want to regulate adult entertainment, you MUST provide zones for it (at least in Mass. because of Article 16 of the state Declaration of Rights.) And because adult entertainment is "protected speech", you'd better be ready to back up your actions with documented consideration of the impact of "adverse secondary effects", to use the words of the trade.

Or so affirmed the U.S. Supreme Court when I had one of these cases get there...
 
Hmm, I guess this is the difference between a real lawyer and a law student. You know state law, they don't teach it where I go to law school. And people tend to substitute econ terminology and theory ("externalities") for doctrine ("adverse secondary effects").
 
Ha! That's ok.

Most of it is federal law actually, which gets used to interpret similar state provisions. Federal Court is a very nice place to practice. Some of these professors might need Mapquest to find it, though.

When you get out, find the best practitioner in the area you want to practice in, and become his/her slave. You will learn more that way. It will be harder to do in a very big firm, but it can be done.

I don't speak to new hires for their first 6 months. (It is painful to fire someone you like.) I then survey the survivors, and choose an apprentice. That apprenticeship lasts 5 years. After that, the apprentice finds his own apprentice, and so on, until the end of time.

It isn't too late to go to art school, you know.
 
I don't speak to new hires for their first 6 months.
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Wow, that's intense.

Anyway, thanks for the advice, but I've always intended to move away from law as quickly as possible. To what, I'm not exactly sure. Anyone know a good art school?
 
Toby, this is unrelated to the thread...but what specific type of law do you practice?
 
Other people talk to them, so I guess they feel loved.

If you stay in law, become friends with the neighborhood bartender so you can list him as a dependent on your tax return.

p.s. SW: I am a trial lawyer, jury trials a preference of mine! Done right, it is better than legalized waterboarding.
 
tobyjug said:
Other people talk to them, so I guess they feel loved.

If you stay in law, become friends with the neighborhood bartender so you can list him as a dependent on your tax return.

p.s. SW: I am a trial lawyer, jury trials a preference of mine! Done right, it is better than legalized waterboarding.
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Free services to archboston members?
 
Yes, I will waterboard any AB member for free. Double helpings for certain people.
 
tobyjug said:
Or so affirmed the U.S. Supreme Court when I had one of these cases get there...
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Did you actually argue the case before them, or was it just a case you had worked on previously?

We should have some sort of competition to see who is the most interesting member IRL.

Right now it's a tight call between Toby and Lurker.
 
Yes, I argued there and won. No big. Very overrated experience. The judges put their pants on the same way in the morning as you and me. (Well except for Ruth and Sonia...but then again...)

Best thing to do is to try to crack a joke. It catches them off guard.

Most interesting? I vote for Lurker. Those were the days!
 
Gee, who could have seen this coming? Certainly no one on this forum.

Boston Globe - October 2, 2009
Call it the Emptyway
Greenway quiet as other cities? parks draw crowds

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | October 2, 2009
HOUSTON - The push for a new park amid the hulking skyscrapers of this muggy city faced a fundamental challenge: Residents here don?t actually like going outside, as demonstrated by a vast web of underground walkways.
But since Discovery Green opened in spring 2008, people have flocked to the 12-acre park, especially on weekends, when downtown streets feel empty enough for tumbleweeds. It boasts a signature restaurant, a caf?, an express branch of the public library, and two dog runs.
The grassy lawns and small stages have hosted some 700 concerts, costume parties, and yoga sessions. Thousands attended an outdoor silent-movie series.
Discovery Green has quickly become everything that Boston?s Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is not: a sought-out destination.
?There?s always something going on down here,?? said Heather Blue 35, a financial analyst who drove 20 minutes from a Houston suburb on a recent dreary day with her husband and two dogs for an event sponsored by the Houston Humane Society. ?It?s a great way to spend a weekend, especially in this economy, because it?s all free.??
Houston?s $122 million playground exemplifies what some cities have done to transform young parks into dynamic civic spaces, from the boldness of Chicago?s $475 million Millennium Park to the ingenuity of Detroit?s $20 million Campus Martius. Many new parks attract people with on-site restaurants, free WiFi, and a steady stream of reasons to stop and sit down. Soaring verandas provide shade while tree branches grow, and innovative design - such as small, movable stages - helps facilitate programming.
Two years after opening, Boston?s Greenway still suffers from the systemic deficiencies of being an afterthought, designed more as the roof of a bloated federal highway project than a park. Built atop the Big Dig, the $40 million Greenway lacks some crucial comforts and subtle touches that could keep people coming back, like portable umbrellas for shade not yet provided by immature trees.
The most verdant stretch, where lushly landscaped hills block the groan of passing traffic, is short on seating. Because no food is sold, the purchase of a sandwich necessitates a trip across three lanes of cars and trucks, off the Greenway.
The absence of even a simple stage, never mind the kind of amphitheater that has been included in other urban parks, can make events prohibitively expensive, forcing organizers to rent all equipment. That leaves day-to-day happenings modest, and tends to make the mile-long crescent of parks more of a walkway than a place to gather.
?I think a lot of people like me don?t see it as a destination,?? Mark Thompson, 43, an insurance underwriter from Norwood, said as he ate a Caesar salad for lunch in Post Office Square. ?It?s kind of a thruway.??
A mishmash of government agencies led by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority created 15 acres of lawns and plazas before formally handing control in February to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. The nonprofit, however, immediately found itself woefully underfunded. The recession took away $1 million in state money and private donations shrunk, making it difficult to add accoutrements such as signs and maps.
In the face of financial hardship and infrastructure oversights, Greenway organizers are trying. Tomorrow brings a seasonal festival, Try Something New, with six hours of live music, face painting, boat tours of Fort Point Channel, and a salsa dance performance. Other draws have included a popular farmers? market, an Earth Day cleanup, a carousel, and a fountain where children splash on hot days.
The conservancy hopes to add temporary shade and more seating by next spring, but the improvements remain in the planning stages and still lack funding. Adding food at kiosks or vendors is another goal. WiFi access is on the radar, but it is being handled by the city, according to the conservancy, and there is no timetable.
?We need to do a better job of inviting people onto the Greenway and making it part of their daily or weekly routines,?? said Peter Meade, conservancy chairman. ?But I was thrilled to hear, for example, that couples have begun posing before the carousel for their wedding pictures.??
The conservancy describes the Greenway as an evolving space that will literally grow on the city as the trees mature, noting the unique challenge of a park broken up by 12 cross streets. Numbers increased steadily this past summer, particularly in the North End, according to the conservancy, and attractions have helped buoy attendance, most notably the carousel that has drawn more than 10,000 people.
?Some people are enjoying it, but it?s not what it could become,?? said Ethan B. Kent, vice president of the New York City-based Project for Public Spaces. ?There are not really regular reasons to be there or new reasons to draw people back.??
In Detroit, Campus Martius has two built-in, fully equipped stages that make it less expensive to host concerts; they recess into the ground when not in use, saving space in the 1.6-acre oval. To help fund an ambitious programming schedule, Discovery Green expects to collect $1.5 million this year in rent from its two privately run restaurants; fees from groups such as the Humane Society that hold events; and income from companies such as Academy Sports + Outdoors, which paid $10,000 to sponsor exercise classes that draw up to 150 participants a session for yoga, Pilates, Zumba, and urban dance.
On the Greenway, events can be expensive, costing $25,000 to erect a tent and rent a speaker system - even before hiring talent to perform. Most events, such as weekly Yo-Chi exercise classes and treasure hunts, have been modest by design, to start slow and not overburden the parks. But that means much of the foot traffic still crosses over the Greenway, lingering only at red lights on the walk from Quincy Market to Christopher Columbus Park or from Rowes Wharf to the Financial District.
?The Greenway is making progress,?? said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, lauding in particular the conservancy?s efforts to keep the parks clean. The fountains and farmers? market have created great buzz, Menino said, but ?the question is, what?s enough activity and what isn?t? It?s a difficult balance.??
?I personally would like to see more concerts on the Greenway,?? Menino said. ?Not U2, but small ones.??
Last month near South Station, the farmers? market did brisk business as a duo with a keyboard played a Jimmy Buffett song. Dressed in a sharp gray suit and running shoes, Karen Yee, 35, clutched a canvas bag brimming with basil, lettuce, and apples as she eyed sunflowers for sale at another stand.
?Everybody from my building comes here,?? said Yee, a business consultant from Quincy who works on State Street. ?It?s great. It draws people out.??
Winter will see a slowdown in scheduled events - a contrast to some urban spaces, which exploit the cold weather. In Chicago, Millennium Park erects a 16,000-square-foot ice rink open from November to March. In Houston, ice season runs only from Thanksgiving through mid-January at Discovery Green, but the rink still drew 42,000 people. The Greenway plans to get in the skating game this fall: Artificial ice will be featured for two days near South Station this weekend for the park?s festival.
This being Boston, a city famous for its provincial obstinance, there are a number of abutters who once lived next to the constant rumble of a busy expressway but who now object to concerts and corporate events in the park. At the conservancy?s annual meeting Sept. 1, a small group of residents from East India Row complained about the noise from a developer-sponsored event that included a lunchtime concert with an oldies group.
In the North End, a few critics blasted a recent outdoor screening of ?Good Will Hunting?? as a disruptive ?failure?? that caused ?excessive noise complaints.?? The outdoor film, on a lawn near Salem Street, almost fizzled. More than 50 people had wrapped themselves in blankets for a 7 p.m. showing on a 24-by-32-foot inflatable screen. But the movie equipment and a popcorn maker tripped a circuit breaker moments before showtime, darkening the projector and deflating the giant screen.
It took 80 minutes for a state worker to come and reset the breaker. When the film finally flickered across the screen, several dozen stalwarts remained. Pedestrian traffic crossing the Greenway slowed and even stopped, lingering long enough to watch the scene in which Matt Damon?s character celebrated having won a woman?s phone number by taunting his rival with the famous line: ?How do you like them apples???
?I love this idea, this theater,?? said Joe Romano, 50, who paused on a walk from his home in Back Bay to the North End. ?They should do this a lot more.??
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