Rose Kennedy Greenway

^ I'll be here all week. Make sure to tip your waitress. Try the veal.
 
Look at the sexy, sexy... um... architecture.

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Cuts gut staff of Horticultural Society involved in Greenway

June 16, 2008 12:21 PM

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, once expected to play a prominent role in building parkland over the Big Dig, cut more than half of its staff last week, a spokesman said today.

The cuts, announced to society members Friday, will reduce the number of paid staff at the non-profit organization from 30 to 12, said spokesman Joe Ganley. The society?s executive director also resigned his post May 14, following a board inquiry into his candor regarding financial difficulties in his previous business career, Ganley said.

In explaining the staff cuts, board chairman William McDonough cited ?ongoing financial challenges,? in a statement released to the Globe. He declined to be interviewed. Ganley would not say how much money would be saved by trimming staff or detail the latest problems.

?I don?t think they want to discuss the nature of the financial difficulties, other than to say it?s a difficult time right now for all nonprofit organizations,? Ganley said.

The society has long been plagued by financial and management problems. In 2002, budget problems forced it to sell a $5.45 million rare-books collection.

During the planning for the Big Dig, the society was designated to develop three prime blocks of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in downtown. The group planned an elaborate ?Garden Under Glass? near South Station.

But the plans never got off the ground and the society was reduced to taking on a supporting role. The society paid for a design and has been assisting in planting for the past few months, while primary responsibility was turned over to a conservancy formed to oversee the Greenway.

?We don?t believe that [job cuts] would adversely affect those three parcels because that [assisting] is all they?re doing right now,? said Rob Tuchmann, co-chair of Mayor Thomas M. Menino?s completion task force for the Greenway.

Peter Meade, chairman of the conservancy, said the society has done a good job in its current role.

?I expect that there will be some more planting as the year goes on,? he said. ?It looks quite nice.?

Ganley said the society has begun a search for a new executive director following the resignation of Bob Feige.

Feige, hired as full-time executive director in September after getting the job on an interim basis in April, could not be reached for comment Sunday or today.

In January, the Globe reported that Feige had been jailed in 2007 when he failed to pay $66,190 in back wages owed to dozens of former employees at a design company he once owned. The payment obligation was part of a deal with the attorney general?s office.

nbierman@globe.com
 
I'm wondering why the big circular fountain is not on?? Is it operating only on weekends?
 
you know jimbo, youve got a point. maybe such a public space shouldnt, and it certainly would take away from the architecture. but what about the projections on the side of the garden during the finals, we liked those. but youre right, advertisements can make or brake and area (times square or some stupid japanese copy)
 
Grabbed a slice today at Haymarket Pizza, strolled over to the N. End parcel park, parked myself on a granite bench and enjoyed watching the sickly looking fountains spew water. They still haven't got the fountains working properly in this section. Also I spied some killer size weeds peeking out beyond the fairly manicured looking boxwood bushes.

As far as other people using the park, it was very lightly occupied compared to P.O. Sq. or the Common (no surprises here) - there were a few passing tourists sitting around checking maps and a sprinkling of workers enjoying lunch in the park, but the scene is quite subdued at midday.
 
Wow, you are really picking nits here.... a couple of weeds? After a week of thunderstorms followed by searing heat? For shame!!! Tear the sucker down!

And what about the fountains is sickly? They seem to be operating fine to me, with one on the far end of the supply feed being a mere bubbling. But the rest have pressure, and are an absolute joy for me at any time of the day or night. Are you thinking they are supposed to shoot 30' in the air like the state street fountain or something?
 
Pierce said:
And what about the fountains is sickly?... Are you thinking they are supposed to shoot 30' in the air like the state street fountain or something?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a treatment of Flowmax ought to clear things up.
 
Well I had the opportunity to go to the wharf district parks twice during the heat wave, once on monday and once on wednesday. My feelings on the parks are a little mixed right now.

I think the parcel between Fanuel hall and Columbus park is pretty weak. It desperately needs that building for the harbor park pavilion, or whatever it was called, and a lot more trees. Right now the parcel is getting zero shade and that parcel is just unpleasant to be on, but it does get a lot of foot traffic.

I really enjoyed the parcel with the fountain. Half of if was really well shaded and my friend and I decided to lie down in the grass and it was quite relaxing. There were a couple of families playing in the fountain, and lots of teenagers hanging out on the lawn and even a few people sun bathing on the awkward elevated pavilion thingy by the fountain. All the benches were occupied by people reading books or people watching and there were some people playing catch on the lawn too. I didn't find the traffic noise to be a problem at all and we ended up staying in the parcel for a good hour.

I think the rest of the parcels are lacking a lot of shade, but hopefully that will change as the trees grow, but both days I was in the area I saw a lot of people utilizing the parks and it didn't seem like Columbus park was suffering either.

So I'm remaining optimistic about the parks and plan on visiting them again as soon as I can.
 
Pierce said:
And what about the fountains is sickly? They seem to be operating fine to me, with one on the far end of the supply feed being a mere bubbling. But the rest have pressure, and are an absolute joy for me at any time of the day or night. Are you thinking they are supposed to shoot 30' in the air like the state street fountain or something?
Click to expand...

The fountains in the North End parcels have not worked properly since they were turned on this year. They are supposed to squirt perpendicular to the ground (as they did when first installed last fall) and not arc in a dozen different directions. If the fountain gnomes can't get these right in the first full year of operation, I fear they will never get them right. It's a matter of aesthetics, and I fully agree support commuter guy's comments.
 
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