Rose Kennedy Greenway

It's cool, I like it, and if it is a Muslim, there is nothing wrong with that. Looks like it's maybe a sweater around his head (I see a sleeve hanging down his neck), so maybe it's one of those technical gotchas, but if you paint an image to really look like a Muslim headscarf then just own it for what it is. And what it is perfectly fine. That being said Boston is way more European, Latin, African American, Haitian, and Asian than it is Muslim so it is kind of a random piece of art for this city.
 
My feeling is that the scarf seems closer to the aesthetic of those used by anarchist protesters / street artists trying to remain anonymous than Islam.
 
czsz said:
My feeling is that the scarf seems closer to the aesthetic of those used by anarchist protesters / street artists trying to remain anonymous than Islam.
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Same here, with a favela/brazilian flair
 
I went to the Os Gemeos show at the ICA today, and honestly the two major shows up right now are two of the best shows I have ever seen at the ICA I suggest everyone goes and sees them. While I was there looking at the other paintings by "the Twins," the greenway mural's subject matter kinda hit me. The image of a person with a jacket over their face is used through out their work to represent the modern young urban revolutionary. These revolutionaries in Brazil are one thing, but in America they are most noticeably a large percentage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Occupy Boston camp used the wall the mural is now on as the back of their make-shift stage as well as a message board and bulletin board. This character appears to be both sitting there waiting for the Occupiers to come back to join their cause, while at the same time watching the masses of people coming in and out of South Station reminding them, much like a homeless man in a door way, how fragile society is.

I could be completely reading it wrong, but it sure as hell makes sense to me.
 
found5dollar said:
I went to the Os Gemeos show at the ICA today, and honestly the two major shows up right now are two of the best shows I have ever seen at the ICA I suggest everyone goes and sees them. While I was there looking at the other paintings by "the Twins," the greenway mural's subject matter kinda hit me. The image of a person with a jacket over their face is used through out their work to represent the modern young urban revolutionary. These revolutionaries in Brazil are one thing, but in America they are most noticeably a large percentage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Occupy Boston camp used the wall the mural is now on as the back of their make-shift stage as well as a message board and bulletin board. This character appears to be both sitting there waiting for the Occupiers to come back to join their cause, while at the same time watching the masses of people coming in and out of South Station reminding them, much like a homeless man in a door way, how fragile society is.

I could be completely reading it wrong, but it sure as hell makes sense to me.
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The beautiful thing about art is you can interpret it any way you'd like to. Interesting thoughts.

I'd love to see more of this around the city...when I visited Philly a couple of summers ago I noticed some beautiful murals downtown and it really adds character. There's some beautiful graffiti here in São Paulo, and think it would be great to see it in Boston too.
 
The most astonishing aspect of the last photo above, aside from the throngs of people, is the sight of people sitting on benches in the shade! Imagine, shade on the Greenway!
 
The sun was brutal on the RKG yesterday. Huge difference between shady and sunny areas.

I'm not willing to call the RKG a success until it attracts people even when there's no events. Most of the RKG is still deserted on any given nice day -- other than Christopher Columbus Park, which is successful. By comparison, I was in Montreal last month and I could see hundreds of people enjoying their waterfront linear park, and there was no special event. Of course, Montreal didn't bracket that park with a 6 lane highway either. That might have something to do with it.
 
Meadowhawk said:
The most astonishing aspect of the last photo above, aside from the throngs of people, is the sight of people sitting on benches in the shade! Imagine, shade on the Greenway!
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Yup, four-ish years after it's opened and the trees have started to fill out. I also thought this while looking at boston02124's nice set of pics from a few days back. There is hope yet!!
 
I think its evolving very nicely....... but overall something really needs to be done with Harbor Garage.

The city or the RFK should also take Harbor Towers ground floor--- front & back entrances around the two towers by eminent domain for the best interst of the public and make them access routes towards the Harbor & Greenway..

Why should Harbor Tower residents enjoy a pool sided gated area right on the 20 Billion dollar taxpayers money pit.
 
Matthew said:
I'm not willing to call the RKG a success until it attracts people even when there's no events. Most of the RKG is still deserted on any given nice day -- other than Christopher Columbus Park, which is successful.
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Not true in my experience--I am having to do business downtown mid-week/weekend/midafternoon/dusk quite frequently these days, and even when the weather is only halfway decent, it seems to really attract a large number of people. People reading on the grass, kids playing in the fountains, couples making goo-goo eyes... It's nice. My concern is that this is a summer/tourist season phenomenon and that for half the year it will be pretty deserted.
 
Tombstoner said:
Not true in my experience--I am having to do business downtown mid-week/weekend/midafternoon/dusk quite frequently these days, and even when the weather is only halfway decent, it seems to really attract a large number of people. People reading on the grass, kids playing in the fountains, couples making goo-goo eyes... It's nice. My concern is that this is a summer/tourist season phenomenon and that for half the year it will be pretty deserted.
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Well maybe I'm an exception, but I use the Greenway year round (save for the snowiest winter days). I had a co-op job by Govt. Center last fall and spent at least two days a week picking up lunch near Haymarket or State Street and eating it out on the Greenway. Save for some ominous weather, the Greenway always had other people out on it during the weekdays. Was it always the most crowded of places? No, but that added to its appeal.

Actually, I've found there's a big disconnect between the business community that fills in downtown during weekdays vs. the locals and tourists that populate downtown in droves on weekends. Even though the RFKG gets some action during the week, the busiest place I've found (and my personal favorite park in the city) is Post Office Square. I don't think there's a single other park in the city that sees as many people on a weekdays square-foot for square-foot, except possibly for Copley.

But do we really want/need RFKG to be as crowded as Copley or POS?
 
Maybe I get a different perspective because I'm down there pretty much only on late afternoons, evenings, and also weekends. Post Office Square is a deserted wasteland in the middle of deserted district. The southern half (and the part close to North Station) of the RKG is largely empty except when there's an event. Sometimes there's a few bums lying around in Dewey Square.
 
To me, unless your a young kid who lives near by on a hot day, it's not a destination, but a place in-between destinations. Where as parks like the Common, Esplanade, Castle Island, and Charles River in Allston are.
 
The RKG was built for a Boston of 2020, 2030 and beyond.

To a degree, judging the RKG today is like criticizing the Silver Line for being underutilized or conversely praising the Silver Line for being so delightfully roomy.

Let's get some residents in the Seaport and density along RKG's downtown edges. It'll be just fine.
 
tmac9wr said:
The beautiful thing about art is you can interpret it any way you'd like to. Interesting thoughts.

I'd love to see more of this around the city...when I visited Philly a couple of summers ago I noticed some beautiful murals downtown and it really adds character. There's some beautiful graffiti here in São Paulo, and think it would be great to see it in Boston too.
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Agreed -- I'm really enjoying this discussion. It's an interesting side point you raise, too. Downtown Boston is definitely lacking in murals, though sculpture is quite prominent. This is a sharp contrast with many of the outlying neighborhoods where murals form a significant part of the street scape. There are dozens of murals in JP, Rozzie, and West Roxbury, for example. Some replicate street scenes or reflect something about the built environment (a mural of famous Redsox players opposite the ball fields at Healy Field, for example), or preserve a bit of history (the Curley mural in West Roxbury). But some are more abstract. Downtown could use more of this. Providence Place could really use a mural!
 
No, the RKG was built because they didn't know what else to do with the land between the 6 lanes of traffic. Claiming that it's for "2020, 2030" is just an excuse for failing now. Same goes for the Silver Line, btw. I presume you mean the Waterfront branch. The Washington branch is quite intensely used.
 
Matthew said:
Same goes for the Silver Line, btw. I presume you mean the Waterfront branch. The Washington branch is quite intensely used.
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So, a sewer pipe that is not bursting at the seams, or an interstate that is not already jammed with cars is a failure? The Silverline (like any piece of good infrastructure) was built to accept a logical amount of future growth. It would be so obviously stupid to design something like that for its current need.

As far as the RKG ... I am ambivalent. Truthfully I think it WILL continue to be underutilized not out of bad design, but because the sins of the Expressway were just to big and costly to wash away. It will be a reminder of bad planning of the 1950s. In the end, it is an urban improvement, but not the "perfect" moment we can all hope and dream about.

cca
 
Matthew said:
No, the RKG was built because they didn't know what else to do with the land between the 6 lanes of traffic. Claiming that it's for "2020, 2030" is just an excuse for failing now. Same goes for the Silver Line, btw. I presume you mean the Waterfront branch. The Washington branch is quite intensely used.
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Conceptually, considering the potential for future growth and density of downtown and Seaport/ID, the Greenway makes complete sense. I suspect that planners of CA/Tunnel did have some sense it would evolve nicely.

I don't visit Boston Common and count the number of picnickers to determine if it is a success. Success may be best determined by the success of neighborhoods surrounding a park, not by counting park users.
 
Well, I don't want to get too far on this [off-]topic, but there's a lot of room to grow between current SL-Waterfront and "bursting at the seams" (which may describe SL-Washington). Together, the SL1 and SL2 ridership combined approximate an above average bus route (but less than the 1,23,28,39,57,66,111 key routes). But they are advertised as "rapid transit." The cost of building the system was $624 million, and the Courthouse station alone was $110 million. Simply ridiculous. And a lot of people won't use it because it's inconvenient; requiring at least two transfers. And it's competing with two massive superhighways and loads of parking lots.

As for the RKG, it IS the surrounding neighborhoods which make me worry. The Financial District is legendary for its deadness. The planners of the CA/T stipulated that "75%" of the RKG must be "Green Space." That's a pretty arbitrary number, and ties everyone's hands. As a result, we get "Green Space" in the form of landscaped tunnel ramps and leftover bits of grass between curbs. Then there's the whole issue of the "Conservancy" and their continuing rip off of the public.
 
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