Rose Kennedy Greenway

Does the Greenway Conservancy have a FUCKING PLAN yet on what to do with the parcels they failed to build on?
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The Greenway Conservancy maintains a park. That's it. They don't issue building permits. They don't draft zoning. They don't own land. Your frustration should be directed at the BRA.
 
AmericanFolkLegend said:
The Greenway Conservancy maintains a park. That's it. They don't issue building permits. They don't draft zoning. They don't own land. Your frustration should be directed at the BRA.
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Then why ask for additional 4 million in taxpayers funds per year. The Greenway Conservancy should be working with the BRA then to figure out how to generate tax revenue not increase taxpayerspending.

2 choices.
#1 Outsource the project to a landscaping company and pay a flat fee to maintain the park yearly.
#2 or Selloff the parcels
 
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you really want to turn over park maintenance to the BRA? I think the essential point is that parks be handled by the parks department (or in this case by proxy), and development be handled by the the BRA.
 
whighlander said:
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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We've beaten around this bush many times in this thread. The Greenway's too wide to function effectively as a Comm. Ave. Mall, and needed the ramp parcels closed with buildings to allow the green spaces (which, in an ideal world, would be reduced in side vis-a-vis building parcels even more) to function effectively as a series of broken squares.

They needn't have been starchitectural museums in any sense. Continuity is not something beneficial when we're talking about an open wound in the city.
 
czsz said:
We've beaten around this bush many times in this thread. The Greenway's too wide to function effectively as a Comm. Ave. Mall, and needed the ramp parcels closed with buildings to allow the green spaces (which, in an ideal world, would be reduced in side vis-a-vis building parcels even more) to function effectively as a series of broken squares.

They needn't have been starchitectural museums in any sense. Continuity is not something beneficial when we're talking about an open wound in the city.
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Cz -- just like the folks who didn't like fling in the Mill Pond -- the cut has changed the topology of the that part of the city -- its never going to go back to the now 60 year ago street grid

I agree that something has to be done with the ramp parcels -- but I think what needs to be done now is something temporary to improve the utility of the Greenway as a continuous and as much as possible contiguous pedestrian experience N-S and an effective pedestrian connector E-W

some nice rampy -- pedestrian bridges -- elevated over the ramps with simple but elegant landscaping below would allow pedestrians to get above the Greenway. These would become popular places in their own right -- allowing one to see the big picture (much like the old pedestrian bridges at Leverett Circle and near International Place used to provide to the amateur photographer.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Really, Westie? Untold billions to put a highway underground to reconnect the city and the best we can do with what's left on the surface is acknowledge it's STILL a terrible barrier and build bridges above it??

Fail!
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Shepard said:
Really, Westie? Untold billions to put a highway underground to reconnect the city and the best we can do with what's left on the surface is acknowledge it's STILL a terrible barrier and build bridges above it??

Fail!
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Shep -- its called topology

If you just want to bury a highway and not have any interchanges -- you can put whatever you want above it -- might need a couple of vents

however, it like the artery the goal is to deposit and remove people from downtown -- you need ramps

In the old days of the Green Monster there was an up or down nearly every block -- brutally terrorizing the pedestrians

Now there are far fewer ramps -- but there are still a couple of places with ramps. You've got to let the cars go in; and more importantly come out of the highway, and merge into the city traffic without blocking the highway -- so the cars come out -- faster than is compatible with people crossing -- hence the "off limits" ramp parcels

If you want people to safely walk along and also across the Greenway you need to bridge the areas where the car is king -- and don't tell me of traffic calming (see above) in those places

so you either spend a lot of money to cover the ramps with buildings or you spend a lot less and cover them with bridges -- keeping the option to build on those parcels if the right circumstances present themsleves
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Speaking as a North Ender who crosses the Greenway multiple times a day, you don't need pedestrian bridges. The crossings are fine. Driver speeds are fine (for Boston at least), and they all have lights at the top any way.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Not bridges east-west across the greenway. Bridges north-south along the greenway, crossing the ramp parcels and connecting them to the rest of the greenway.

The ramp parcel near Rowes Wharf is actually quite pleasant, with a winding landscaped walkway that threads between the ramps. The other two ramp parcels, on either side of the North End parks, need a similar treatment.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Still, you don't need pedestrian bridges. There's absolutely no issue there. The absolutely only place in the NE that needs work are the crossings at N Washington St.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Really? Without some sort of bridging pathway, there's no pleasant way to walk from the North End parks south to the rest of the Greenway and to Christopher Columbus Park.

The bridges aren't to cross the surface streets, but to hide and mask and provide a pathway through the ramp parcels.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I don't understand a) how that's not a pretty pleasant walk as is, and b) how a bridge would help? You can walk right down the sidewalk, and the crossing with the ramp is totally safe. Eventually we'll get a building there, so it won't even matter. Building a bridge sounds like a major waste of time/money. So I guess that makes it a perfect project for the Conservancy ZING!
 
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Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

The last 10 or so posts clearly belong in the Greenway thread...van?
 
I agree that it would be wiser to wait for buildings rather than build bridges over the ramps. I'm more concerned with the street crossings. State, Milk, and India streets should all be one or two lanes each crossing the greenway instead of three, and the Pearl crossing should be completely eliminated.
 
Justin7 said:
I agree that it would be wiser to wait for buildings rather than build bridges over the ramps. I'm more concerned with the street crossings. State, Milk, and India streets should all be one or two lanes each crossing the greenway instead of three, and the Pearl crossing should be completely eliminated.
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Justin -- you can't be serious -- some of those streets were cut-off from their brethren for 50 years -- let them at least get reacquainted
 
Just took a trip to the Greenway to check out the food trucks at Dewey Square and my only complaint is that the Greenway needs more benches, at least around that area.
 
Unless they were strictly in Dewey Sq, I saw absolutely none from the Intercontinental up to Christopher Columbus park. This was at 12:45, and I went out solely looking for a food truck (the grilled cheese one mainly).

Nonetheless, the greenway was thriving, and it was awesome being out there. Truly a shining day for Boston.

When were you out there?
 
I went at 12:00 pm and the only food truck available for now is at Dewey. I do not know if they will be expanding further north but I do know that during the warmer months, there are food carts near Columbus Park.

PS, I think the grilled cheese food truck is closed for the season (but at this temperature they will probably re-open soon)
 
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