Rose Kennedy Greenway

Ron Newman said:
Thanks. Are there similar plans to replace the Meridian Street bridge? That thing is scary on a bicycle.
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The sidewalk on the upriver side of the bridge is the way to go. There is pedestrian traffic, but most of the time you can cross it without a conflict. I try to avoid riding on sidewalks at all costs, but this is one place where its crazy not to.
 
kz1000ps said:
Yesterday:


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Excellent pics of construction site for "Little Armenia on Boston Harbor"

I think this privately financed public spot on the Greenway is the wave of the future -- I'm hoping it will open during the 2012 season
 
I was walking around Fisherman's Wharf yesterday in SF and it was bustling full of people and I was thinking how great it would be if we could incorporate the Greenway and other parts of the waterfront and develop a similar tract of land but then I realized that Faneuil Hall is really our equivalent to the Wharf and that depressed me because it shows how limited we probably are in developing that land into something so dense, fun and commercial.
 
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Bubbybu said:
I was walking around Fisherman's Wharf yesterday in SF and it was bustling full of people and I was thinking how great it would be if we could incorporate the Greenway and other parts of the waterfront and develop a similar tract of land but then I realized that Faneuil Hall is really our equivalent to the Wharf and that depressed me because it shows how limited we probably are in developing that land into something so dense, fun and commercial.
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Bubby -- a lot more people visit Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market than any site in SF

neither the Greenway nor the DTX should try to be a recreation of FH/QM -- they both need to be complementary -- supplying things (physical and perhaps spiritual) that the bustling of FH/QM doesn't and can not supply
 
whighlander said:
Bubby -- a lot more people visit Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market than any site in SF

neither the Greenway nor the DTX should try to be a recreation of FH/QM -- they both need to be complementary -- supplying things (physical and perhaps spiritual) that the bustling of FH/QM doesn't and can not supply
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yea that's definetely ideal...I just have a hard time seeing how we can increase the density/foot traffic of the parcels without strong commercial involvement or a lot of private/public money to fund some very unique draws...more grand than the Armenian Memorial...which should be nice but lets get real it's like asking your entire high school class to the prom and getting rejected by all of the girls except the fat chick you ask last.

And I'm skeptical we could ever draw enough commercial interest due to the size of the parcels...and competition from FH/QM.
 
Greenway backed by PR muscle
Group represented by trio of publicists
By Erin Smith
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - Updated 4 minutes ago

The taxpayer-funded Rose Kennedy Greenway pays three separate outside publicists to burnish the image of the nonprofit charged with overseeing the 15-acre downtown park — the equivalent of one flack for every five acres.

Lisa Quackenbush of Bedford-based CuePR manages “public awareness ... and trying to get good stories written about the Greenway,” the nonprofit’s chairwoman Georgia Murray explained yesterday in a wide-ranging interview with Herald editors and reporters.

Pam McDermott of Hub-based McDermott Ventures develops strategy for the proposal to get businesses along the Greenway to fund the nonprofit. And Tom Palmer, a former Boston Globe reporter who previously covered the Greenway and the Big Dig, helps with that strategy, according to Murray.

Murray, a managing partner of the real-estate investment firm MMI LLC, vowed to reveal how much the nonprofit pays its publicists today. But Quackenbush balked at the Herald’s request yesterday, saying, “I don’t really see why ... it’s relevant. Again, I don’t get paid out of state money.”

“It’s a complex organization,” Palmer told the Herald at a Greenway public meeting yesterday morning. “I try to translate for reporters,” added Palmer, who also declined to reveal his Greenway pay.

McDermott could not immediately be reached for comment last night.

The Greenway, which spent more than $2 million in state transportation funds last year, hired its team of media consultants long before the tiny nonprofit came under scrutiny after Herald stories spotlighting the six-figure salaries doled out to five top staffers, including executive director Nancy Brennan.

In its sitdown with the Herald, Murray, Brennan, Quackenbush and Greenway board member Robert Gore sought to stress the nonprofit’s new efforts toward greater openness.

“We do understand we are a public park and we embrace that,” Murray said. “We want a culture of transparency.”

Yet the Greenway — under fire from state officials for its attempts to withhold Brennan’s $185,000 salary from the Herald — dug in its heels yesterday and refused to release contracts with outside vendors as well as the identities of staffers on its payroll, citing privacy issues.

Asked about possible public concerns over whether the Greenway had made patronage hires, Murray said, “It doesn’t concern me because I know we’re not doing it.”

But at the agency’s public meeting yesterday morning, Christian Scorzoni, a member of the Greenway’s advisory board, raised his own concerns about the nonprofit’s new transparency policy.

“I think it’s a great start,” Scorzoni said. “I wonder whether it’s a enough.”

Meanwhile, state Transportation Secretary Richard Davey is urging the nonprofit to wean itself off public funding, but Murray insisted yesterday, “That is not a goal of the Greenway.”

Indeed, she boasted that the conservancy spends less money running the park than the state would. Said Murray: “We are a bargain.
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http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1402081

They are missing the entire point. Instead of trying to create more taxes for the small businesses in the area with the Greenway tax and continue to be a thorn for the taxpayers they need to take this organization private if they feel like they do not need to be transparent with the public taxpayer then they need to be disband.
BOTTOM LINE.
 
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TheRifleman said:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1402081

They are missing the entire point. Instead of trying to create more taxes for the small businesses in the area with the Greenway tax and continue to be a thorn for the taxpayers they need to take this organization private if they feel like they do not need to be transparent with the public taxpayer then they need to be disband.
BOTTOM LINE.
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Riff -- Sal Dimasi is supposed to be testafying to a Federal Grand Jury -- I wonder if any questions wil connect to the Greenway?
 
Dem sees green for Conservancy

Pol calls for more $ as others seek to ‘cut off’ group

By Erin Smith
Friday, March 2, 2012 - Updated 8 hours ago

A Boston politician is pushing ahead with his plan to continue pouring millions in state funds into the embattled Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, ignoring calls from the state transportation chief to end public funding for the nonprofit that oversees the 15-acre downtown park.

The Greenway funding bill, sponsored by state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz (D-Boston) and slated for a Transportation Committee hearing March 12, would open Greenway board meetings to the public but also award the nonprofit up to $4 million in state funds annually through 2017.

“I have serious reservations about funding this conservancy with public money,” said state Rep. Peter Durant (R-Spencer), a Transportation Committee member. “The funding should be cut off within this administration.”

State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey also has said the Greenway should wean itself off state funds.

“(Davey) gave a very extreme response to the conservancy, and I don’t know if I would fully support that,” Michlewitz said. “I think the public-private partnership is something we should continue to support.”

A Herald review revealed Greenway Executive Director Nancy Brennan received $160,000 in bonuses since 2006 and a $20,000 raise last year to bump her base salary to $185,000. The Greenway, which spent more than $2 million in state funds last year, pays six-figure salaries to four employees and racked up thousands of dollars in restaurant meals and travel expenses in 2009, according to the limited records publicly available.

Davey hasn’t determined how much the Greenway will receive next year, said his spokeswoman Cyndi Roy, who confirmed state toll money finances the nonprofit.

The Greenway originally was designed to function without public funds, but in 2008, legislators passed a law to finance the Greenway’s budget up to $5.5 million annually. The funding mandate expires June 30.

-— erin.smith@bostonherald.com
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RICH: The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy could grab an addition $4 million annually, thanks to a new bill.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1407580
 
Yet another slap in the face to the taxpayers. How this is not made a bigger issue by the local media is puzzling to me.
 
mass88 said:
Yet another slap in the face to the taxpayers. How this is not made a bigger issue by the local media is puzzling to me.
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Mass -- its anoying sure -- but compared to the waste and corruption associated with other holes in the taxpayers pockets -- small change.

For every penny lost from our pockets due to the Greenway authority -- there are a couple of Sakageweas dropping out and rolling accross the sidewalk and down the sewer due to the T
 
I like how Davey is pissed that the world's most expensive median strip is potentially siphoning funds away from real transit. If he were a hack they'd be some bullshit explanation of how this was really for the best.
 
The one development I will continue to talk politics is the Greenway Development which has become EPIC FAILURE for this Glorified Median Strip.

Does the Greenway Conservancy have a FUCKING PLAN yet on what to do with the parcels they failed to build on? This includes the BRA for 3-4-5 with their so called planning for this area.

#1 A VISION
#2 How to make the area Vibrant?
#3 HARBOR GARAGE is a disgrace (what is going on)
#4 Congress Street Garage (what is going on)
#5 Harbor Towers Front streetscape needs to become public. Sorry guys but having a pool is not best for the public for access towards the Greenway. The BRA might take that by Emiment Domain.

What is going on here. They want 4 more million in taxdollars to do what?
Do these agencies plan on helping development around the area or are they going to continue to siphon through taxpayer dollars instead of creating Tax revenue for the city.

WHAT IS THE PLAN Nancy Brennan?
 
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The Greenway Conservancy doesn't own or control any of the property that you listed here.
 
^^^^
The BRA is our planning agency. Wouldn't it make sense for the Greenway Conservancy the BRA, private developers and NIMBYS to get together and figure out a plan for the Median Strip before asking the Taxpayers for additional 4 million dollars?

I'm not sure if that is common sense or not.

You want 4 million dollars which will be compounded over the next 10 years. So thats 60 million in taxpayers dollars in 10 years.

Thats alot of money for 14 acre park which is half cemet.

What does the taxpayer get?
 
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With the utmost respect for everyone who contributes to this forum,

Any jackass can tear down a barn; it takes a carpenter to build one.
 
JohnAKeith said:
With the utmost respect for everyone who contributes to this forum,

Any jackass can tear down a barn; it takes a carpenter to build one.
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Actually -- I think that at this stage of development the Greenway is working out quite well

I never thought that it made sense for those $tarchitect structures to dominate what should stay basically a big version of the Comm Ave Mall

Put the museums, etc. on the sides -- especially where the nasty garages and the even nastier municipal lot are currently located.

Then after the Greenway has appropriate "Street Walls" -- we can come back and tweak the Greenway itself
 
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