Rose Kennedy Greenway

HenryAlan said:
I loved the way the old artery threaded itself through a twisting canyon of urban vistas. Looking out of the car to see buildings just a few feet away, and knowing there was more to the building lower down was really cool. It made Boston seem much larger. I agree, an elevated park would have been amazing.
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Boston does seem smaller. The removal of its layers (the Artery, the elevated subways) is making the paucity of its horizontal geography more apparent by opening up vistas that weren't there before. Boston drew so much of its charm from its labyrinthine qualities - not just twisting 17th century streets, but those vertical 19th and 20th century occlusions as well.

It's amazing how Tokyo has eliminated any sense of gloom under its elevated expressways (it helps that they're usually much narrower than the artery was, and have very limited on and offramps). New York is working on employing similar materials and lighting to make the FDR Drive less of a barrier to the East River. It could have been done here.
 
I've got to ask - prior to seeing the High Line, did anyone actually think keeping the highway up was a good idea? I sure as hell didn't, even though I can see the potential now.
 
I actually don't like the High Line. It's full of gimmicky distractions and, with its limited access points and distance from the city below, it feels artificial, like some temporary exhibition or amusement park ride. It does nothing to increase the city's sense of mystery of layering like the Central Artery did, since it's much more narrow and sits even closer to a waterfront. Another important difference (and reason why it stayed) is that there wouldn't have been much value added in demolishing it, which is much more arguable with the Artery.

In fact, I still think the highway should have been torn down - but completely torn down, and not buried underground, and replaced with city (or at least a series of squares), rather than parks. If anything, the things I appreciate about the Artery would have been lost by turning it into an elevated park: it would have been much less of a busy, utilitarian intrusion into an otherwise wealthy/touristy/bucolic part of the city. There's a reason downtown feels so suburban now - it's not just the green, it's the lack of the sense of confinement and rush that came with all that traffic. We could have done a lot with the existing highway, and it's probably a financial and (in hindsight) aesthetic shame that we didn't even think about it.
 
I never wanted the whole highway to stay up, but even before it was taken down I thought it would have been a good idea to save a block or two of it, and convert it into a sort of viewing platform, accessed by stairs from the ground. Show people what used to be here, with plenty of interpretive panels and photos of the area before and during the Artery's lifetime.
 
I would have left the southbound side of the old Artery standing. The three lane width could have accomodated a two track light rail line plus a walkway on the harbor side for the best views.

With all the on/off ramps gone, the three lane elevated would be a fairly narrow structure. And of course, commercial development could have occured below.
 
^ Elevated light rail would have been cool, especially if it were driverless and you could sit at the front, seeing the same view as a driver would when taking a car through the Artery.
 
Removing the ramps would have reduced its footprint some, but then you'd have to add back the stairways and elevators that passengers need to reach the elevated stations. These were pretty substantial at the old elevated North Station.
 
Now that sound like a much cooler idea than the High Line.
 
Charlie_mta said:
I would have left the southbound side of the old Artery standing. The three lane width could have accomodated a two track light rail line plus a walkway on the harbor side for the best views.

With all the on/off ramps gone, the three lane elevated would be a fairly narrow structure. And of course, commercial development could have occured below.
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A cool idea, but that would have been expensive. But I suppose when you've spent $15B, another hundred million or so wouldn't have been that big a deal.
 
Boston.com - June 19, 2010
Greenway gets Wi-Fi
July 19, 2010 10:06 AM

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway today is debuting wireless Internet service that will allow visitors to log on from any point along the downtown park system.

The new network, built by Anaptyx LLC of Watertown, will be accessible from laptops, iPhones, BlackBerries, and other mobile devices, creating one of the largest Wi-Fi hotspots in Massachusetts.

Managers of the park system said the new service is part of a broader effort to increase visitation to the Greenway by introducing an array of user-friendly services, including new food vendors, cafe-style tables, and shaded seating areas.

"It is our job to think about ways we can enhance the visitor experience of the Greenway, and we?re confident this will be an amenity that park users will truly appreciate,? said Nancy Brennan, executive director of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy.

The Wi-Fi service is being provided through the City of Boston's fiber optic network, by tapping access points at City Hall and the fire station near Pearl Street. The conservancy paid Anaptyx $100,000 to install the system, which consists of 15 radios installed along the Greenway from the North End to Chinatown. The firm donated some of the equipment and a year of network maintenance, and will be paid $7,000 to $15,000 a year to maintain the network in future years.
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There's already public wi-fi at Christopher Columbus Park and Quincy Market -- is this an extension of that system?
 
^^ My guess is that it's completely independent, as neither of those (more successful) public spaces falls under the Greenway Conservancy's jurisdiction.
 
but the Greenway is hooking into a City of Boston network, and the city operates the Wi-fi at Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Columbus Park.
 
Oh, bingo! They'll be coming in droves to use their laptops in the glaring, searing sun.
 
it really betrays a complete lack of understanding on the part of the Conservancy. It's bullet-point management at its worst (best?).

Provide a list of features to wave in front of the faces of potential users without actually working on addressing the glaring issues with the product as a whole. Which is in this case, the fact the Greenway is a kludge of a park, and has the appearance of being produced as an afterthought during the construction of a surface highway.

I wouldn't even be able to see my screen out there on a sunny day, as there is no shade. And even if I could sit out there and make use of the service, I wouldn't want to sit smushed between six lanes of traffic, highway onramps in the middle of some grass while the sun beats down on me.

$100,000 could have bought some nice trees for the interior. Maybe a construction crew to rip up a needless cross street.

But that doesn't sound sexy in a press release.

WiFi is like painting the interior of a house before you consider building a roof. I can't wait to see what the next attention-grabbing, and pointless expenditure will be.
 
And in the chillier months, your laptop battery is a handy heat source.
 
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Oh, christ. WiFi is a good thing with no downside. The Greenway is a mess, but can we actually complain about the things that are wrong with it and not the improvements?
 
The complaining is about the order in which it is done. Why bring WiFi to the Greenway when you have no shade? They're going for everything but the shade, and it's maddening. Free WiFi is not going to bring the masses to the RKG if they're going to end up frying in the sun.
 
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