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Kennedy Greenway A Glorified Median Strip
Greenway Only Took 20 Years; Why Hurry Now?
By Ted Reinstein ,
Chronicle Reporter
POSTED: 1:25 pm EDT March 19, 2010
UPDATED: 7:07 pm EDT March 19, 2010
Email Print
Comments (6)
BOSTON -- In 1985, the Big Dig -- the biggest public works project in history -- was estimated to cost $2.8 billion
As of today, with $7 billion of interest added, the total cost is closer to $22 billion.
Taxpayers can now marvel that, in today?s dollars, they could have built three Panama Canals.
Maybe we should have.
In addition to carrying traffic more effectively through the city, the other principal payoff for the public was the 1.5 mile-long ribbon of open space created by burying the city?s Central Artery underground.
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway opened in October, 2008. Speakers gushed about a new ?gem? for the city, the most ?valuable public park? in America.
The greenway is instead the most glorified median strip in America.
You might have thought that more than 15 years and over $15 billion would have been enough time and money to have had a plan in place for the project?s big payoff.
Surprise.
Just this week the Boston Redevelopment Authority held a public meeting to discuss its guidelines for development along the greenway.
This week. More than two decades after planning for the Big Dig began.
Um, was that not enough time? Do you people need an extension? Did this open space thing come as a last-minute surprise?
Some experts opine that the greenway will, and must, evolve over time. Decades, even. According to this thinking, things will develop organically. Be patient.
Be real.
Imagine this:
You just spent 15 years and went in hock up to your eyeballs to renovate your house. The disruption and chaos of construction made your life a living hell. You will be deeply in debt the rest of your life. In packing up his truck and driving off, the contractor blithely tells you, ?Don?t worry about how we sort of left things un-built in there -- I?m sure things will take shape in the next 20 years or so. Enjoy!?
To be fair, there is now some actual green on the greenway.
Walk from south to north, and you will find (in summer) grasses and flowers just north of South Station. On the greenway?s biggest parcel, opposite the New England Aquarium, there are fountains for kids to play in.
(OK, they broke down last year, but I have seen them working and it?s fun to watch. Not worth billions of dollars, but what fountain is?)
Beyond that, there is a big grassy plot with tables and chairs at the North End parcel.
Overall, is this new 27-acre swath an improvement over the rusting, hulking artery that once towered above it? Of course it is.
But that?s not how the greenway was sold to the public -- ?Hey, whatever we come up with, it?s better than the crap that was here before.?
It was sold as something visionary.
And it is.
It?s still something you have to envision.
For long stretches on the Greenway, you?ll have to envision a place to sit down. And you?ll have to envision the shade that was supposed to be provided in summer by colorful umbrellas and more-mature trees.
You?ll have to envision some of the proposed cultural events and institutions that were to be built on the Greenway to draw visitors. Alas, with little money, more and more of them keep going from the drawing board to the dust bin . And should you feel hungry or thirsty on the Greenway, you?ll have to envision relief.
But wait. Just this week the Greenway Conservancy announced it was seeking proposals for four ?self-contained? food vendors to begin business in the park by June 1. (?Self-contained? means a food cart.)
It?s a start.
But not just anyone will do, according to the conservancy. They are insisting on certain types of healthy, wholesome foods.
?You can imagine high-end grilled cheese sandwiches with local cheese as the centerpiece of really good bread,? Conservancy Executive Director Nancy Brennan told the Globe.
How about an actual, real hot dog as the centerpiece of a whatever-bun?
More planning More envisioning. The search for the Greenway-worthy grilled cheese is on.
I suspect there is a city full of eager entrepreneurs who would have taken up shop on the greenway long before now. Even in winter. But then, these things take time. They have to happen organically.
Just like the imaginary organic tomato in your imaginary grilled cheese sandwich.
But when you stop imagining and step off the greenway to get some shade or a bite nearby, be careful -- you?ll be stepping into several lanes of traffic.
And unlike the imaginary world of the greenway, those cars are real.
Greenway Only Took 20 Years; Why Hurry Now?
By Ted Reinstein ,
Chronicle Reporter
POSTED: 1:25 pm EDT March 19, 2010
UPDATED: 7:07 pm EDT March 19, 2010
Email Print
Comments (6)
BOSTON -- In 1985, the Big Dig -- the biggest public works project in history -- was estimated to cost $2.8 billion
As of today, with $7 billion of interest added, the total cost is closer to $22 billion.
Taxpayers can now marvel that, in today?s dollars, they could have built three Panama Canals.
Maybe we should have.
In addition to carrying traffic more effectively through the city, the other principal payoff for the public was the 1.5 mile-long ribbon of open space created by burying the city?s Central Artery underground.
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway opened in October, 2008. Speakers gushed about a new ?gem? for the city, the most ?valuable public park? in America.
The greenway is instead the most glorified median strip in America.
You might have thought that more than 15 years and over $15 billion would have been enough time and money to have had a plan in place for the project?s big payoff.
Surprise.
Just this week the Boston Redevelopment Authority held a public meeting to discuss its guidelines for development along the greenway.
This week. More than two decades after planning for the Big Dig began.
Um, was that not enough time? Do you people need an extension? Did this open space thing come as a last-minute surprise?
Some experts opine that the greenway will, and must, evolve over time. Decades, even. According to this thinking, things will develop organically. Be patient.
Be real.
Imagine this:
You just spent 15 years and went in hock up to your eyeballs to renovate your house. The disruption and chaos of construction made your life a living hell. You will be deeply in debt the rest of your life. In packing up his truck and driving off, the contractor blithely tells you, ?Don?t worry about how we sort of left things un-built in there -- I?m sure things will take shape in the next 20 years or so. Enjoy!?
To be fair, there is now some actual green on the greenway.
Walk from south to north, and you will find (in summer) grasses and flowers just north of South Station. On the greenway?s biggest parcel, opposite the New England Aquarium, there are fountains for kids to play in.
(OK, they broke down last year, but I have seen them working and it?s fun to watch. Not worth billions of dollars, but what fountain is?)
Beyond that, there is a big grassy plot with tables and chairs at the North End parcel.
Overall, is this new 27-acre swath an improvement over the rusting, hulking artery that once towered above it? Of course it is.
But that?s not how the greenway was sold to the public -- ?Hey, whatever we come up with, it?s better than the crap that was here before.?
It was sold as something visionary.
And it is.
It?s still something you have to envision.
For long stretches on the Greenway, you?ll have to envision a place to sit down. And you?ll have to envision the shade that was supposed to be provided in summer by colorful umbrellas and more-mature trees.
You?ll have to envision some of the proposed cultural events and institutions that were to be built on the Greenway to draw visitors. Alas, with little money, more and more of them keep going from the drawing board to the dust bin . And should you feel hungry or thirsty on the Greenway, you?ll have to envision relief.
But wait. Just this week the Greenway Conservancy announced it was seeking proposals for four ?self-contained? food vendors to begin business in the park by June 1. (?Self-contained? means a food cart.)
It?s a start.
But not just anyone will do, according to the conservancy. They are insisting on certain types of healthy, wholesome foods.
?You can imagine high-end grilled cheese sandwiches with local cheese as the centerpiece of really good bread,? Conservancy Executive Director Nancy Brennan told the Globe.
How about an actual, real hot dog as the centerpiece of a whatever-bun?
More planning More envisioning. The search for the Greenway-worthy grilled cheese is on.
I suspect there is a city full of eager entrepreneurs who would have taken up shop on the greenway long before now. Even in winter. But then, these things take time. They have to happen organically.
Just like the imaginary organic tomato in your imaginary grilled cheese sandwich.
But when you stop imagining and step off the greenway to get some shade or a bite nearby, be careful -- you?ll be stepping into several lanes of traffic.
And unlike the imaginary world of the greenway, those cars are real.
