Rose Kennedy Greenway

No one stumbles on anything in or on the Greenway serendipitously; that's why they're putting ridiculous attractions on it - to draw people.
 
Nobody has been able to explain to me why the memorial drive median park gets a free pass and yet the greenway gets complaints every day.

Lets count people.

greenway1.jpg

greenway2.jpg
 
jass said:
Nobody has been able to explain to me why the memorial drive median park gets a free pass and yet the greenway gets complaints every day.

Lets count people.

greenway1.jpg

greenway2.jpg
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Because it is in Cambridge, it didn't replace a highway, nobody meant it to be the centerpiece, and it wasn't meant to mend a city back together. Regardless, it is still a travesty.
 
One is acknowledged as a median strip, the other is in pathetic denial.

(Regardless, the Memorial Drive strip should be narrowed and the bulk of the greenspace made into an undivided riverside park.)
 
Ron Newman said:
These temporary 'gimmicks' are things that both locals and tourists may stumble upon serendipitously, and therefore are good to have in a city.
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I have mixed feelings about the dumpster pools on Park Ave. It was inventive last year when it was a few spots in Brooklyn, but now it just seems so terribly played, kind of like what fedoras were last summer and Ugg boots five years ago.

That said, as played and derivative as it may be, it's way better than anything this city typically pulls together. I'm sure someone in Boston is devising the next painted cow statue parade.
 
Nobody has been able to explain to me why the memorial drive median park gets a free pass and yet the greenway gets complaints every day.
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Good call. I've never understood why the EB lanes of Mem drive weren't moved north in order to connect the median with the esplanade.
 
I recall reading in the Globe months ago that the state plans on moving the traffic lanes over to create a larger park by the river.
 
czsz said:
One is acknowledged as a median strip, the other is in pathetic denial.

(Regardless, the Memorial Drive strip should be narrowed and the bulk of the greenspace made into an undivided riverside park.)
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I think Memorial Drive is great. You make a good point that the east bound side should be moved over so there is more space along the river.

In any event, Memorial drive was not replaced by a major highway (as mentioned), is not taking up massive amounts of prime real estate and it is right next the river.
 
choo said:
I still dont understand the overwhelming desire to attract tourists. When I go on vacations and to markets in other cities, I don't grocery shop. I go to restaurants to eat. I understand the foot traffic argument, but I'd feel its more important to get regular business from neighborhood residents.

The spot is appropriate enough, i just don't like their rationale behind it.
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My understanding is that the real interest in locating at Parcel 7 is a) proximity to residential neighborhoods such as the North End/Waterfront, Beacon Hill, North Station and Charlestown; b) proximity to office buildings, and c) onsite parking. If tourists show, even better. The other challenge is to develop a network of buyers among area restaurants, schools, etc who want access to fresh, local foods. Seems like the reporter took the story in the "tourist" direction.

Last year, the building was put out to bid and there were two applicants, Winn Development, which hasn't had a great relationship with the state (South End project that collapsed) and a hotel chain from Pennsylvania.
Even before that, the building has been vacant for years.

The best thing the state can do now is to quickly put the first floor out for bid for market uses, and let the Boston Public Market bid, along with anyone else interested, and may the best team (and the city) win!
 
czsz said:
One is acknowledged as a median strip, the other is in pathetic denial.

(Regardless, the Memorial Drive strip should be narrowed and the bulk of the greenspace made into an undivided riverside park.)
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Here is some info from the master plan. I think there have been improvements since this plan:

Alternative A would narrow both Memorial Drive and its median to
establish a broad esplanade. It would eliminate one eastbound travel
lane and shift the eastbound half of Memorial Drive into the existing
median space, aligning the eastbound lane with the existing underpass.
The riverfront parkland would thus be widened from twenty-seven to
sixty-five feet, a substantial increase that would permit revitalization of
the Cambridge Esplanade. The median would remain sufficiently wide
to support a double row of trees, a character-defining feature of
Memorial Drive. The formal layout of four lines of parkway trees
spaced close together and close to the curb would be reestablished.
Over time, the branches would overhang the parkway and the park,
creating a unified canopy.

To take advantage of this new esplanade a parallel system of
pathways would be established?a twelve-foot-wide pedestrian path at
the seawall and a ten-foot-wide bike lane running between the path
and the parkway. This designated bike path would merge with a multiuse
path at both ends of the Cambridge Esplanade. Parking would be
provided on the river side of Memorial Drive in short intermittent
bays. Signage and enforcement would reserve the parking supply for
people using the reservation, and reducing the amount of parking
would decrease the need for a third lane to accommodate parallel parking.
Fewer parked cars on the river side would open views of the
Charles River. The main view corridors from the MIT campus would
be kept clear of parked cars. Alternative A maximizes the benefit to
both pedestrians and bicyclists while preserving the historic character
of Memorial Drive.

Alternative B would narrow the roadway but not the median. It would
eliminate the parking lane and convert one travel lane to intermittent
parking bays. In contrast to the previous scheme, the eastbound lanes
of Memorial Drive would not be realigned. This scheme would allow
for the widening of the riverfront zone from twenty-seven to forty-five
feet. The existing width of the median would be retained and replanted.
Within the widened riverfront zone, the MDC would establish a twentyfoot-
wide multiuse path at the seawall?sixteen feet for a footpath and
four feet to accommodate granite coping. Use different pavement
treatments to demarcate separate lanes for foot and wheeled traffic.
Other parkway alignments were considered. One would have
eliminated the median and double row of trees. The loss of the historic
formal landscape character in front of MIT and the adverse traffic
implications (greater difficulty in crossing a wider parkway) led to this
scheme?s rejection. Memorial Drive is a contributing resource in the
National Register district. While there is some flexibility in applying
preservation criteria, the historic value of this cultural landscape would
be entirely lost under this alternative.

Another alternative would have eliminated the underpass at
Massachusetts Avenue, forcing traffic to stop at a Massachusetts
Avenue traffic light. This would slow traffic but would also result in
traffic queues worse than those at the JFK Street/Memorial Drive intersection.
Analysis indicates that traffic would back up across the length
of Harvard Bridge into Boston. The recommended pedestrian-activated
crossing lights are sufficient to calm traffic. All pedestrian-activated
crossing lights within the Basin should have a feature that counts
down the time remaining to cross safely.
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http://www.thecharles.org/masterplan/pdf.cgi/707_CambEsplanade.pdf
 
Headway on the Greenway
By Ren?e Loth
August 7, 2010

LIKE THE Rose Kennedy Greenway itself, the Boston Redevelopment Authority?s big Greenway District planning study has been a long time in coming. First announced by Mayor Thomas Menino in 2008, the study is only now being presented to the BRA board for approval. As expected after all that work, the proposed guidelines for development abutting the mile-long Greenway are comprehensive. But they are not complete.

Much of the drama surrounding the guidelines has focused on developer Don Chiofaro?s skyscrapers, proposed for the site of his harbor garage next to the New England Aquarium. But the study makes recommendations on at least 15 other critical sites, from James Hook lobster (destroyed in a 2008 fire) to the US Coast Guard building on Atlantic Avenue to the Government Center garage. What happens on all these sites will help determine whether the Greenway becomes a lively connecting space and heals the scars left by the Central Artery ? or just replaces one green barrier with another.

There is much to like about the guidelines, which the BRA board is expected to vote on Aug. 17. They include a focus on public access to the harbor; re-knitting fractured neighborhoods; a requirement that any large new developments include public spaces on the ground floor; several suggested sites for boutique hotels or housing to create more of a 24-hour city; and a tilt toward outdoor cafes, public art, and other uses to reverse the orientation of buildings that currently turn their backs to the Greenway.

But the study is missing one obvious element: the mile-long park itself. The BRA?s purview only extends to the frame around the park?s edges, not the 30 acres of space inside, which the state Department of Transportation owns. This prevents city planners from taking a more holistic view of the district, and it alarms some who fear the BRA has lost interest in several stalled projects on Greenway parcels that are designated for development.

Much of the drama surrounding the guidelines has focused on developer Don Chiofaro?s skyscrapers, proposed for the site of his harbor garage next to the New England Aquarium. But the study makes recommendations on at least 15 other critical sites, from James Hook lobster (destroyed in a 2008 fire) to the US Coast Guard building on Atlantic Avenue to the Government Center garage. What happens on all these sites will help determine whether the Greenway becomes a lively connecting space and heals the scars left by the Central Artery ? or just replaces one green barrier with another.

There is much to like about the guidelines, which the BRA board is expected to vote on Aug. 17. They include a focus on public access to the harbor; re-knitting fractured neighborhoods; a requirement that any large new developments include public spaces on the ground floor; several suggested sites for boutique hotels or housing to create more of a 24-hour city; and a tilt toward outdoor cafes, public art, and other uses to reverse the orientation of buildings that currently turn their backs to the Greenway.

But the study is missing one obvious element: the mile-long park itself. The BRA?s purview only extends to the frame around the park?s edges, not the 30 acres of space inside, which the state Department of Transportation owns. This prevents city planners from taking a more holistic view of the district, and it alarms some who fear the BRA has lost interest in several stalled projects on Greenway parcels that are designated for development.

But the study is missing one obvious element: the mile-long park itself. The BRA?s purview only extends to the frame around the park?s edges, not the 30 acres of space inside, which the state Department of Transportation owns. This prevents city planners from taking a more holistic view of the district, and it alarms some who fear the BRA has lost interest in several stalled projects on Greenway parcels that are designated for development.

?By no means can we say the Greenway is done,?? said Mike Davis, head of public policy for the Boston Society of Architects. ?The idea that maybe it?s OK if the Greenway is just a green ribbon ? we?re adamantly opposed to that thinking.??

Davis wants to see more activity on the Greenway, and believes that buildings or commercial uses ? something close to blasphemy for open space advocates ? are the way to get it. For Davis, the Greenway is less a linear park than a series of outdoor rooms, with a few low-rise buildings acting as guideposts to link the Financial District or Government Center to the Harbor. ?Connectivity is the founding principle of this whole exercise,?? he said.

Kairos Shen, the BRA?s chief city planner, explains that the guidelines are just the first step toward adopting new zoning rules for the district, which have greater legal force and should offer developers more certainty. When that happens, roughly within a year, the Greenway will be included. ?The primary goal is to think about the parks and the frame all in one,?? he said.

As for buildings on the Greenway proper, Shen is looking for a middle way. He thinks of the vent stacks near Dewey Square, or the highway ramps the state has pledged to cover, as fixed geological features ? like a big rock in the middle of your garden. A good landscape architect can acknowledge that and work it in to the garden?s design. ?Not everything has to be a lawn,?? he said. But he wouldn?t support buildings that interrupt a sense of visual continuity.

When it comes to developing the Greenway district, Shen counsels patience. Unlike the larger South Boston waterfront, for example, every decision on the Greenway is magnified. ?If you screw up, it?s much more apparent,?? Shen said.

The latest piece of good news for the Greenway District is the Patrick administration?s commitment of $10 million to help build a public market in an abandoned building on Hanover Street owned by the state. No one has a discouraging word about this exciting project. Still, it says something about the sluggish pace of Greenway development that Menino, the market?s biggest advocate, quickly abandoned his requirement that the market be located on a Greenway development parcel when another site opened up.

Even the mayor, it seems, can lose patience with the Greenway.
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http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/e.../articles/2010/08/07/headway_on_the_greenway/

Davis seems to have a better grasp on things than Shen. Ramps as "fixed geological features"? Good lord, that's some uncreative, anti-urban thinking. Is this guy a NIMBY plant in City Hall?
 
?By no means can we say the Greenway is done,?? said Mike Davis, head of public policy for the Boston Society of Architects. ?The idea that maybe it?s OK if the Greenway is just a green ribbon ? we?re adamantly opposed to that thinking.??
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The BSA had the right plan 20 years ago with 70/30 buildings/open space. Too bad it will probably take another 20 years for the powers the be to realize this.
 
As for buildings on the Greenway proper, Shen is looking for a middle way. He thinks of the vent stacks near Dewey Square, or the highway ramps the state has pledged to cover, as fixed geological features ? like a big rock in the middle of your garden. A good landscape architect can acknowledge that and work it in to the garden?s design. ?Not everything has to be a lawn,?? he said. But he wouldn?t support buildings that interrupt a sense of visual continuity
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Is this guy for real?
 
He seems to be on a one-man mission to suburbanize Boston.

And he has the power to succeed.
 
Shen is clearly using bullshit excuse to cover up things that were never up to par. He is trying to convince the city that the park's shortcomings are better than a Greenway that had everything it was planned to have. Shen, you're a shame to your family, culture, and people. Please, change your name. IM Pei would be disgusted.

Somebody needs to openly criticize Shen.
 
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It's a shame there's no architectural extremists who kidnap people like Shen out of pure intolerance for their antics.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
It's a shame there's no architectural extremists who kidnap people like Shen out of pure intolerance for their antics.
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Shen and Palmeri are just Menino's little bitches.

It's a disgrace what is going on with that Glorified Median Strip. At least everybody's true colors are really showing now. All Menino is doing is bringing down Shen and Palmeri.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
It's a shame there's no architectural extremists who kidnap people like Shen out of pure intolerance for their antics.
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It's because people would actually believe in his bullshit since they don't know any better and believe that he knows best. Remember, saying a lie over and over again doesn't make it a fact, but it does make it sound more true.
 
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