Rose Kennedy Greenway

Thank you for those courageous statements Jimbo. It's well overdue that someone stands up to the menace of waterfountain frolicking. I wholeheartedly agree, only easter egg hunts and birthday parties are as unseemly.
 
^I agree with Jimbo. Maybe I wouldn't use the word "repugnant," but I do find it to be trashy.

I've always considered fountains visual candy, and when I see people in them, it bothers me a bit. This fountain seems to be designed to allow for this type of use (though not specifically for it), but I still find it a shame. If you want water, find a pool, wading pool, your backyard sprinkler, a fire hydrant to open, a beach, etc (there are plenty of each in E. Mass.); you don't need to splash around in public art. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world, I've just never been a fan.

Also, Welcome, citydave. I'm assuming you're comment was sarcastic (though I don't have any previous posts from you to measure it against), which is a way of life on this forum, but maybe take it easier on the forum vets with your first post? Thanks, and again, welcome aboard.
 
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Wow look at all these people frolicking and having a good time!

I guess we were all wrong about City Hall Plaza! It is well designed, functional urban space.
 
"Wow look at all these people frolicking and having a good time!
I guess we were all wrong about City Hall Plaza! It is well designed, functional urban space."

*Looks closely at the pictured event*
Well if that's one's lifestyle and it brings life to a barren plaza, whatever floats the boat....

/not meant to be serious
 
Ok, a little something for the jocks too:

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European jocks too!
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Clearly pictures don't lie. City Hall Plaza is smashing success!

Come to think of it when was the last time you saw anyone frolicking on Joy St or playing in fountains on Marlboro St? Must be too many buildings.
 
Don't kid yourself, this plaza would be better. The people aren't there or having fun because of the space, but because of what is going on in this space. That's not a permanent draw, which is what a well designed space would be.
 
Lrfox said:
This fountain seems to be designed to allow for this type of use (though not specifically for it), .
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Please, this fountain, and the north end ones are specifically designed for people to be in them. Theyre no different than the wading pool by the hatch shell. If they wanted shooitng water with no people in it, theyd make it like a mall fountain and surround it with seating areas.

If the fountains were only for looks, theyd be like the (non working) commonwealth ave fountains.

The Christopher Columbus fountain is debatable.
 
JimboJones said:
I find the sight of children playing in fountains repugnant. It's disgusting and trashy. (No sarcasm.)
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While people may differ on whether the sight of children playing in fountains is repugnant. Often it is indeed very filthy. Here some food for thought - your much more likely to get water borne infections from frolicking in spray pools than regular swimming pools. In many fountains the water is continually recycled without chlorination. Very young kids stand in the spray pool with poopy diapers, water washes poop residue into drain, water then is recycled along with new additives. That being said, I have heard some new fountains do chlorinate and/or do not recycle water. Not sure about the fountains in the Greenway.
 
jass said:
Please, this [State Street] fountain, and the north end ones are specifically designed for people to be in them.
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As is the one in the Christian Science plaza. I've heard that they added it specifically so that people would not try to splash around in the adjacent reflecting pool.

If a fountain has pavement under it, the designer intends for people to walk through it.
 
^^I agree. Do people seriously think that people would not walk past and onto a fountain that is part of a path? There are many reasons for the fountains, it's not only for aesthetic purposes. I recently did a case-study on designing a humanitarian park for Boston for school. Almost everything has a purpose other than just eye-candy. The water fountain can be used to cool people off during the summer month when temperature can become unbearably hot.
 
Lrfox said:
If you want water, find .. a fire hydrant to open
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No, please don't. One reason for public fountains and spray pools is to provide an alternative to this potentially dangerous activity. Your fire department thanks you.
 
commuter guy said:
While people may differ on whether the sight of children playing in fountains is repugnant. Often it is indeed very filthy. Here some food for thought - your much more likely to get water borne infections from frolicking in spray pools than regular swimming pools. In many fountains the water is continually recycled without chlorination. Very young kids stand in the spray pool with poopy diapers, water washes poop residue into drain, water then is recycled along with new additives. That being said, I have heard some new fountains do chlorinate and/or do not recycle water. Not sure about the fountains in the Greenway.
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All of the water in the Greenway fountains [Chinatown, Wharf District, North End] are brominated and ozonated (via UV light). So you can have your cake and play in the water too.
 
Id forgotten about the Chinatown park. Ive seen kids playing in it, but that one does seem designed to encourage people to NOT go inside, based on the seating.

Im not sure what the original intention was for that one.
 
Ron Newman - thanks for the sarcasm detector...it arrived last night. Oh-ya...this thing is Real useful.

Anyway, This particular fountain is definitely chlorinated. You could smell it upon approach. You'll notice in the pictures that my daughter isn't actually in the water.... I didn't want her skin to melt off. Still, that said she loved the sights and sounds.

One thing...this fountain is designed as a destination and with the exception of the southern boarder, which opens to the road (there is a small concrete barrier/lip...but not much), it is pretty well designed. I'd never compare it to City Hall Plaza...which is not a destination except for sports rallies (gotta love the "jumbletrons") or for food-festivals, neither of which are regular happenings. The people at the fountain weren't gathered because there was an "event' taking place. You really can't compare the two.
 
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Mike - I guess that's kind of my point.^^ Given the fact that the space isn't much wider than the glorified median strip, the N-End parks and this fountain do a nice job of drawing people. The Greenway as a whole certainly has it's shortcomings.
 
right I was being sarcastic.

It's great that it's drawing so many people this early on.


And FWIW, I've noticed a lot of pics of the Greenway showing up on flickr, too.
 
ngb_anim8 said:
One thing...this fountain is designed as a destination and with the exception of the southern boarder, which opens to the road (there is a small concrete barrier/lip...but not much), it is pretty well designed. I'd never compare it to City Hall Plaza...which is not a destination except for sports rallies (gotta love the "jumbletrons") or for food-festivals, neither of which are regular happenings. The people at the fountain weren't gathered because there was an "event' taking place. You really can't compare the two.
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^^Unless you consider a warm sunny day in Boston an 'event'. Which it kinda is.
 
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^These days! Seriously... It's only rained 8 out of the last 10 days. How about some more hail? That's always fun.
 
bostoncitywalk said:
However, I do find it pretty darn odd to have a fountain right in the middle of what is basically an intersection. That can't be totally safe with kids running around and whatnot. There has to be some way to enclose that a little...
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Name these little ammonia pools "Darwin Fountains".
 
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