Rose Kennedy Greenway

Don't let the city get away with out any blame. Boston has contributed nothing to this.
 
Ron Newman said:
Is the Greenway Conservancy responsible for developing these parcels? If not, why are you blaming them for this failure? Is the (former) Turnpike Authority responsible for the failure of Columbus Center?
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The city & state presented a vision for the park. The Greenway Conservancy needed to implement that vision working with city govt, state govt and private sectors.

This is how you realize how affective people are in the workplace. This comes down to why are we funding the Greenway Conservancy for planting trees and schrubs when you can cut your costs probably by millions and outsource this to a landscaping company. This is wasted taxpayers dollars unless the Greenway Conservancy realized how to make the Greenway Vibrant. You need to get the private sector involved BOTTOM LINE. THEY HAVE THE MONEY.
 
But is the Greenway Conservancy responsible for the parcels that are supposed to be developed? I thought they were strictly in charge of the parks, nothing else.
 
PaulC said:
Don't let the city get away with out any blame. Boston has contributed nothing to this.
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Hmmm... I wonder what Don Chiofaro is up to? Oh right, he want's to build next to this urban skid mark, contribute a hefty new amount of property taxes to the city. Yet the mayor continues to battle the shadows and wax his ego.
 
Ron Newman said:
But is the Greenway Conservancy responsible for the parcels that are supposed to be developed? I thought they were strictly in charge of the parks, nothing else.
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Even if thats the case, that is a one person 60K a year job. Can't help but think its as easy as: 1. Make a contract w/ a landscaping company and 2. Organize events to happen on the greenway. Maybe that person would also need a 35k secretary. (Ofcourse post grads got to join the planning party, so we often pay them large sums of money to conduct studys that usually conclude w/ common sense findings.) There cannot be that much more to maintiaing this underperformer. It would be one thing to say "We know it needs improvemnt, but the money isn't there". It's another to say (while getting paid 6 digit salary) "This is great, just need to plant a few more trees."
 
Ron Newman said:
Is the Greenway Conservancy responsible for developing these parcels? If not, why are you blaming them for this failure? Is the (former) Turnpike Authority responsible for the failure of Columbus Center?
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We're not blaming the conservancy for their failure. We're blaming them for sucking up millions of public fund to do absolutely nothing but pay their workers to show up and sleep!

The public fund could be used for something else, like actually starting something on the Greenway.
 
ablarc said:
?The question now is, how do we make sure there are enough activities on or around the Greenway to bring more people down there??? --Kairos Shen

A: strip joints, pool parlors, sailors dives, a small cannabis district, cafes, commercial gyms --all tucked away on small lots behind walls, and nicely policeable.

A short streetcar line to link it to each station.

Small scale, no fuss; and for heaven's sake, no architecture. The actual physical form could resemble some of those alley mazes just off the Main Street in Gatlinburg.
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I like this idea quite a bit. Re-cast the greenway as an organic warren of vibrant urban activity. The buildings on the inner side of the Greenway keep their view, and there will quickly spring up dozens, perhaps hundreds of reasons to spend time in the district.
 
Ron Newman said:
But is the Greenway Conservancy responsible for the parcels that are supposed to be developed? I thought they were strictly in charge of the parks, nothing else.
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Correct. The Conservancy is not responsible for securing funding for development of (multiple, failed) proposals to cap the tunnel sections.

But the Boston Magazine article from 2006 is illuminating.

The Conservancy has a "10-member board?appointed by the Turnpike Authority (five members), Governor Romney and Mayor Tom Menino (two each), and Senator Kennedy (one)?is a Rolodex of what?s left of Boston?s corporate base. The board is chaired by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts executive vice president Peter Meade and includes current or former CEOs of Harvard Pilgrim, Raytheon, and Sun Express, a division of Sun Microsystems."

Was it really too much to expect the Conservancy to spearhead, or at least lend assistance to, the public/private financing required to complete at least one of the numerous significant projects on the Greenway?

With its multi-million dollar annual budget, a $50 million endowment goal, a full staff and board from Boston's public and private sector, the Conservancy should be held accountable for more than hiring jugglers and the seeding of the tundra.
 
To repeat, Menino wanted nothing to do with the upkeep of the Greenway. He made that perfectly clear, and did so at a time when he was whacking the Boston Parks Dept budget (which, even at that time, some people thought to be greatly underfunded).

So the Conservancy was established, because after Menino said 'No', the state also showed little/no enthusiasm to be the caretaker either.

The Hort got first dibs on the best available parcel from a building standpoint, and way early in the CA/T project too. (Wasn't Ray Flynn mayor when the Hort got chosen?) But the Hort turned out to be financially and managerially incompetent. Seems also to have seriously suffered from delusions of grandeur.

I suspect Bernie Madoff may have been more responsible than anyone for doing in one of the proposed museums.

Assuming Chiofaro's $50 million offer was legit (that's a VERY big assumption) he played the wrong card. Should have offered to build the YMCA as part of getting approval for the Harbor Garage towers.
 
HenryAlan said:
... there will quickly spring up dozens, perhaps hundreds of reasons to spend time in the district.
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... as it was in the early Sixties. You should have seen it when the Russian or French fleets were in.
 
Boston.com - 20 reader suggestions for the Greenway

Mostly what you would expect with a few reasonable suggestions thrown in as well.

Edit: I love that they show this picture:

1895-1900-Washington-st-boston__1297968989_0897.jpg


Is the suggestion -"Let's build the Greenway like this!"? No. It's let's build a museum for remembering when the Greenway was built like this.

*sigh*
 
While I like the idea of "Boston's own 'High Line'", that should have been considered before demolishing all of the old artery.

Some of the other ideas are fanciful (a soccer stadium simply won't fit in the allotted space), but many of them are simple and practical things that would attract activity: bike path, marketplace, ice rink, off-leash dog park, music tent, community gardens.
 
I'm sure these ideas have been discussed before on this thread, but has anyone read Whyte, designing "Small Urban Spaces" (forget the author's first name)? It has some very simple ideas that seem to be overlooked when urban public spaces and plazas/parks are designed. It stems from a study commissioned by the NYC planning Dept decades ago to examine why some public plazas (the Seagram building's) work, and others don't. Some of the ideas were mentioned in the article from today's Globe (which I just bought tonight), like including more vendors, art exhibitions, etc.

Anyway, this topic was coincidentally discussed in my urban design class this evening, and I noticed later that it was in the Globe. Thought I would mention the Whyte piece for anyone interested, although it may have been mentioned on here before (admittedly I haven't followed this thread in a few years).

Edit: http://www.amazon.com/Social-Life-Small-Urban-Spaces/dp/097063241X

and here is a snippet from the video produced with the written work, what some have labeled an instant classic (oxymoron?):
http://vimeo.com/6821934
 
I just heard that WBZ covered the story and ridiculed how useless the RFKG and then joked that the contractors forgot that it gets cold here in Boston during the winter.

Welcome to Boston's punching bag.
 
Many readers suggested that the Greenway be landscaped and furnished to be a park similar to Central Park in New York City, seen here or Grant Park in Chicago. Jim from Boston said that by converting the already-green Greenway into a city park, it "would enhance a seriously needed natural space within the metropolitan area."
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Turn the park into a park!? WTF!!!!???

And "developing the area into a park or garden" is actually the leading choice in the poll at the end!

The rest of the ideas are only marginally "better", since they more or less involve doing something that's already been done. Sculptures? Check. Marketplace? There's Haymarket and the Boston City Market coming nearby, as well as the farmer's market in Dewey Square - and you can't seriously blanket the whole thing with market stalls. Ramblas? I'm sure he's basically asking the Greenway to continue being what it is - with more paving - since the emphasis is all on "street performers" rather than small scale building attached to the walkway. Sports museum? Exists. Botanical garden / history museum? The whole purpose of the exercise was to figure out what to do as a consequence of these very proposals failing to materialize! More parking? Some people need to have their Mass. residency stripped and forcibly relocated to Houston so they can enjoy the fruits of like-minded stupidity. High Line? Yes, let's reconstruct the elevated thing we just spent billions of dollars knocking down.
 
There is always need for more parking in a city full of commuters and residents, and converting an open space such as the Greenway would ease the stress of finding parking. Kevin from East Boston suggests making half of it a parking lot, in order to still conserve the open space but still make room for cars.
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This is seriously fucking funny. But then you start to think...somebody at the Globe actually thought it was worth the time spent finding an appropriate (and, admittedly, funny) picture to publish this?
 
Ron Newman said:
simple and practical things that would attract activity: bike path, marketplace, ice rink, off-leash dog park, music tent, community gardens.
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Kid stuff and bark chips.

Every city has them.

Boston could be different.
 
I said it before, batting cages! Get your cuts in down at the RKG. It could even have a Red Sox logo.
 
I did my part and voted, but "more buildings" is only at 8.5%, whereas converting a park into a park is at 40%. If nothing else, this result speaks to the absolute failure of the Greenway as a park. It fails so completely that people don't even realize it is a park.
 
HenryAlan said:
I did my part and voted, but "more buildings" is only at 8.5%, whereas converting a park into a park is at 40%. If nothing else, this result speaks to the absolute failure of the Greenway as a park. It fails so completely that people don't even realize it is a park.
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I personally don't even know how to describe the Rose Kennedy Greenway. After checking it out twice last year both times I ended up walking to the Boston Common to relax.
For those who want to put a Monorail around the Greenway are complete morons. Boston is probably the most walkable city in the country. We rip down the Green Monster and the thought of putting up a Monorail makes me sick.
Our public officials don't care about the park it's quite obvious at this point. They are just seeing how much they can swindle out of the private sector and taxpayers pockets. The Greenway Conservancy IMO is complete SCAM.

Does anybody know the scoop of the case of Bechtel/Parsons and how Martha Coakley settled the case on the leaking Big Dig Tunnels?

stellarfun said:
To repeat, Menino wanted nothing to do with the upkeep of the Greenway. He made that perfectly clear, and did so at a time when he was whacking the Boston Parks Dept budget (which, even at that time, some people thought to be greatly underfunded).

So the Conservancy was established, because after Menino said 'No', the state also showed little/no enthusiasm to be the caretaker either.
Assuming Chiofaro's $50 million offer was legit (that's a VERY big assumption) he played the wrong card. Should have offered to build the YMCA as part of getting approval for the Harbor Garage towers.
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It's funny how Menino wants nothing to do with the Park but continues to not work with the private sector and claim that Chiofaro's building will cast shadows and ruin the park. What I'm seeing and reading into is what is really going on. I believe Chiofaro has better intentions than the city officials to make the Rose Kennedy Greenway as successful as possible. I believe his development would improve the Rose Kennedy Greenway by almost 50% and make it a possible destination spot especially promoting world class Aquarium. I also believe that if he got the financing to build, that Congress St would gain some serious momentum. Menino claims to have nothing to do with the park as he continues his support of the Greenway Conservancy is nothing more than political favors. As hard working people have trouble feeding their famalies I have to stomach this clown who suffocates anytype of positive development for the city based on his ego. I think Menino has overstayed by just one too many terms of being an elected official at this point. His Legacy in Boston is heading in slope of downward trend very fast.

Remember Boston has so many advantages over other cities, especially the colleges and Hospitals, Biotechs.......and the history, Boston should be the #1city in this country and possibly ranked in top 20 in the world.
We have become the stumps and box buildings of a great city with ugly Architecture. Sorry for the rant. I just have trouble seeing a city kept down because of political connections and people that get jealous over success.
 
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