Rose Kennedy Greenway

[BostonObserver]

I guess in Shirley Kressel's world volunteers and community groups are suckers.

Let someone else clean my neighborhood, I'm stickin' it to the man!

EDIT: Though I did like her rant about unwitting union busters.

I think the point is that taxes keep going up and city services down. Here's a list of 'friends' groups and there's more forming every day.

http://www.conservationandrecreationcampaign.org/visit.php

 

[czsz]

Wasn't the street name supposed to be The Greenway, resulting in street addresses like 70 The Greenway? This goes along with earlier street names such as Fenway, Riverway, Jamaicaway, and Arborway.

I think this was an idea we floated on the forum, not an actual proposal. Would be nice(r), though.

 

[Boston02124]

An old newspaper a co-worker had hanging in his office,I photograph it before digital scanner's were around and now the co-worker is retired,not the best pix!left click on pix to enlarge

 

[ngb_anim8]

Wow! Amazing pic. Anyone who thinks Boston is gritty today should take a look at that! I can't believe the whole area where North Point is currently going in. That was just over 50 years ago. What might the next 50 bring.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Hopefully fewer "suburb-in-the-city" developments.

Boston wasn't as bad in 1954 as the linked photo suggests.

 

[czsz]

Huzzah, progress! Finally, Boston will live up to the promise of the Automobile Century. Sit down, Dallas, America's got a new a new City of the Future!

</1952>

Introductory text of the article: "How soon can we use it?" If Boston wasn't that bad back then, it looks like journalism was. I don't think a Greenway supplement would ever dare be so ebullient.

 

[Patriots_1228]

Is it just me or is there an area the size of a golf course made up of pure rail in that picture?

 

[Riverworks]

North Station doesn't look covered yet. The Green Line looks to be exposed as well.

How about Haymarket? Reminds me of Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn.

 

[Ron Newman]

The Green Line was above ground from just north of Haymarket until 2004. The Orange Line was similarly above ground from there until 1975.

 

[Charlie_mta]

That "Highway In The Skies" photo is not representative of Boston in 1954 at all. At the time, Boston had a vibrant downtown shopping district, healthy working class and middle class neighborhoods throughout the city, a low crime rate, affordable housing, a much higher usage of mass transit and rail service, much less reliance on the automobile than today, and very little suburban sprawl.

I was a child in the 1950's and remember how clean, safe and vibrant the shopping district of downtown was at the time, as well as other parts of the city. The central city obviously didn't look like a suburb as it does now, but rather had an urban excitement originating from the people of the city itself, rather than from suburban visitors. Boston has become prettier is some ways, uglier in others, and has definitely lost a good part of the vibrancy that comes from a healthy, dense fully urban envirinment.

 

[JimboJones]

The coolest part of that photo to me is the old elevated going from North Station across the Charlestown Bridge into City Square, in Charlestown. Now, gone.

 

[belmont square]

Had no idea that parking lot with the gas station at the corner of Friend and Merrimac has been around since before the artery. Could this be the longest running vacant lot in downtown Boston?

 

[tobyjug]

^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Joe_Schmoe]

I love that building. One of my fantasies is to buy that gas station and rebuild that old building. I think Robert Campbell described it as a steam engine barreling down the street.

 

[kz1000ps]

Chinatown

 

[kz1000ps]

Wharf District

I can't wait for infill to go up here and give this area some sense of enclosure

The fountain

wheee!

 

[kz1000ps]

North End

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

Looks good! Except for a part in the Wharf District parks, it looks like the parks are being used quite a lot. The infill on both sides will create a sense of enclosure and a beautiful "outdoor room" in the heart of Boston. For all the pessimisim here, this turned out better than most of us thought. A great addition to the Downtown Boston screetscape! For that Wharf District lawn, they need to rip it up and change it to the rocks and planters in the rest of the Wharf District park. We already have one big lawn (which is actually used quite a lot) in the North End parks, two is excessive and doesn't create a sense of place.

 

[czsz]

Um, the only thing new here is sunshine.

With the exception of the bits where people are moving in a straight line between the city and harbor, Government Center is still more lively than this.

The second to last photo reminds me of the verandah of a golf course in the off season.

 

[Equilibria]

The vast expanses of Wharf District lawn could also be developed as buildings. The pathways and planters are nice, but a whole Greenway of them is a little excessive.

The problem is that this park is too big to use solely "park" elements, like lawns or planted paths, but too small to include "big park" elements like ponds, playing fields, etc. There's an attempt here to be as varied as possible, but there really shouldn't jut be a lawn there.

I could easily see some greenhouse enclosures there, maybe for the Park Service (what an amazing original thought...) or even for gift shops, cafes, or market stalls. Including some T entrances might help too, though I'm not sure where that would be feasible.

The nice thing about lawns is that they're blank slates. Anything could go there, and in the meantime it simply looks awkward, not ugly. Oh, and the whole Greenway is getting used plenty as it is, anyway.