Rose Kennedy Greenway

"...who could have seen this coming?"

I just came here after reading that on boston.com and I said the same thing to myself as I read it.

A few parts that caught my eye....

"?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.."
Click to expand...

Bingo


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.
Click to expand...


Who is home at noon? :p
 
The RKG is a case study on how not to build a park system. The City doesn't want to pay for things, the State (via the MTA) just wanted to wash their hands of the Big Dig, and the Citizenry, who called for more open space, are nothing more than a mob with no head shouting about shadows and lacking any understanding about what "open space" really means.

They wanted open space, they got just that.
 
In addition, this is expected with the cooler seasons coming. There's nothing there at the RFK Greenway that can provide incentive for people to come when it's cold.
 
Who is home at noon? :p
Click to expand...

First of all, fuck them. "My city is noisy, wah wah." Tear down their shitty towers and give them something real to complain about. I'm tired of your fucking fenced off pool cutting off my access to the harbor, lady.

...noting the unique challenge of a park broken up by 12 cross streets.
Click to expand...

Why, why, why, why, why? Get rid of them. State Street crossing, gone. High Street crossing, gone. Pearl Street crossing, gone. Narrow the rest of the cross streets to two lanes, and most importantly, narrow the streets along each side to one lane each. Do people forget that there is a highway under here? Do we need one on the surface as well?
 
I've said it before - the most derided open space in the city - City Hall Plaza see more activity on a given day than the greenway. People sit on the sides and top of the Govt. Center T stop facing the Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts and watch the crowds. At least there's a place to linger with a cup of coffee and people watch. I know half of em are homeless but at least there is some activity.

The article says they are considering adding food/kiosks. I think that is a step in the right direction, but I am not that hopeful. I envision a lackluster overly planned and controlled implementation.

What I think would work is a bunch of random carts and taco like trucks crammed into one parcel selling all kinds of ethnic foods to downtown workers. I think Portland Oregon and Brooklyn, NY have notable concentrations of these types of food stands.
 
I say put an ice rink. It may compete with the Boston Common (not really) but during the winter time, why would anyone walk through the Greenway in the cold? Whether there's parcel big enough to fit one is the question.
 
Last edited:
I have been calling it the "Failway", but "Emptyway" works just as well. I would have also accepted the "Black Hole Way" or "Rose Kennedy Black Hole".

Fortunately, Atlantic Wharf will look good from whatever it is called.
 
KentXie said:
...why would anyone walk through the Greenway in the cold?
Click to expand...

Exactly! This is the main point that these so-called planning commitees should be forming any idea around. No matter what you put on the Greenway, the outside is going to be barren for over half of the year. Sheesh, even office space on top of most of the parcels would at least bring activity to the outdoors in the winter months even if it's just losers outside taking there routine smoking break. Office space would have provided maximum usability and it just makes the most economic sense. There's enough freakin' open space in this city. Even the Back Bay is pretty damn open for a city.
 
All of the 'lawn parks' built this decade are missing something imo. The Greenway is certainly botched but it was also limited at its inception based on the neighborhood(s) and design. Which is why all this Greenway hoopla is overblown.

This doesn?t have to be the next Millennium Park?full of gizmos and gimmicks?it just needs to use its space a lot better. The Armenian Memorial and the Harbor Island Pavilion should help with this?.

Also the Greenway is more ?sidewalk? than greenery?something needs to be done about that. Parks like the ones shown in the Globe article are nice as civic venues but there is nothing beautiful about them. They are essentially grassy wastelands with venues. The Greenway should be about density and nature?. a la the Public Garden....with maybe one well placed gimmick per parcel and maybe one parcel entirely devoted to indoor/outdoor gatherings so people can still be drawn there in the winter months.
 
I call on that the ice rink that they wish to put on the Greenway to be permanent and be turned into a reflecting pool or pond during the summer. Going by the reflecting pool at the Pru, I saw a few people sailing toy boats, radio controlled and not, on it.

In addition, I think they should consider having a flat screen that allows people to see each other from two different cities, something similar to what they have in NYC-London. Hopefully there won't be hooligans to make inappropriate gestures to each other.
 
In addition, I think they should consider having a flat screen that allows people to see each other from two different cities, something similar to what they have in NYC-London. Hopefully there won't be hooligans to make inappropriate gestures to each other.
Click to expand...

I know a great park in Houston that this would be perfect for!




They should have sold 1 or 2 of the parcels at the minimum and put that money as an endowment for the continued maintenance and development of the remaining parks.

Build the gov center and aquarium garage towers.

and they should have put a beer garden.
 
Sure, the Greenway is not very active, but look at the competition in a city that is fair compact and hardly the size of Houston: The Common, the Public Gardens, Comm. Ave. Mall, Copley Sq., Quincy Mkt., the Waterfront park, the Holocaust Memorial garden, Haymarket, Hanover St., the HarborWalk, the Freedom Trail, Post Office Sq., the Esplanade, the city itself, all within 15 minutes walking distance from the Greenway. There are just so many people to fill up all of these public spaces in order to make them appear "vibrant" with activity 24/7. Given the design of the Greenway, we're just going to have to wait until residential and business development in the general area increases to the point of producing warm bodies who will use the area to it's greatest advantage.
 
Except that those residential and business developments might cause shadows and congestion, so they will, of course, be blocked.
 
I know Statler...that's the downside that I hope could be changed by a new mayor...it's going to take a long time, I'm afraid, for such forward thinking (read "common sense") to prevail!
 
There's no mayor that can push through a change in the general direction of Boston's urban development like that without a massive sea change in the perceptions of the people who live here.

Look, this is the saddest missed opportunity ever for Boston, at least until the Seaport is finished. Houston has surpassed it in urban design. A decade ago, "Houston-by-the-Sea" was the buzzphrase for everything Boston did not want to be.

Who wants to look at this park in Houston of all places, or other recent successes, like Chicago's Millennium Park, and keep crowing "give it time! The trees will grow!"

Time to rip this colossal failure apart.
 
czsz said:
There's no mayor that can push through a change in the general direction of Boston's urban development like that without a massive sea change in the perceptions of the people who live here.
Click to expand...

From now on, instead of coming up with my own thoughts and trying to wrangle (mangle) words together to express them I'm just going to wait for you to post and and then hit the quote button.
 
Padre Mike said:
Sure, the Greenway is not very active, but look at the competition in a city that is fair compact and hardly the size of Houston: The Common, the Public Gardens, Comm. Ave. Mall, Copley Sq., Quincy Mkt., the Waterfront park, the Holocaust Memorial garden, Haymarket, Hanover St., the HarborWalk, the Freedom Trail, Post Office Sq., the Esplanade, the city itself, all within 15 minutes walking distance from the Greenway. There are just so many people to fill up all of these public spaces in order to make them appear "vibrant" with activity 24/7. Given the design of the Greenway, we're just going to have to wait until residential and business development in the general area increases to the point of producing warm bodies who will use the area to it's greatest advantage.
Click to expand...

We know, we know but tell that to the residents who are always crowing for open space. They over saturated it and now they are complaining that not enough activities is going on. They reap what they sow and now we all have to suffer for it. The unfortunate thing is that they don't know that they are the ones at fault and are blaming the politicians for creating dead space.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top