Rose Kennedy Greenway

There's space for a shop or restaurant between it and the Surface Road...surely some enterprising Chinatown retailer could make do with it.
 
...or it could be torn down to open up the entry some.
 
Why not turn it into something? They need the vent, they could just put some giant video screen up there and have visual artists submit things. This isn't brain surgery people!
 
kennedy said:
...or it could be torn down to open up the entry some.
Click to expand...
The old central artery tunnel had three structures for air intake and venting. The one on the north end was torn down and replaced (its site is now a small plaza at Dewey Square, the one to the west of One Financial remains, as does the one by the Chinatown gate. (If you Google map it, you can see that the two retained buildings have three stacks each.)

So if you tear down the one by the Chinatown gate, would you then have to close the CA/T southbound tunnel because the air quality inside would not meet standards? Possibly.
 
^ So all that carbon monoxide ends up in Chinatown, I guess. Been happening for years.
 
ablarc said:
^ So all that carbon monoxide ends up in Chinatown, I guess. Been happening for years.
Click to expand...
Let's see the higher the floor at Russia Wharf, the better the view of the biggest vent of all. I'm not sure whether the large grills on the south alley side of the Intercontinental are intakes, and if so, whether the air is mixed with tunnel exhaust air before being vented.

Overall, I don't think the CO levels from the stacks are high, because the air within the tunnels is constantly changing. If the fans were to shut down, then its another matter. If I'm not mistaken, they have backup power for the fans.
 
Chinatown Park and Red Brick Structure

I believe that the Red Brick Structure that was referred to above is not the Dainty Dot Building but rather it is the Old Vent Structure of the Old Central Artery South Station Tunnel

It is now connected to the Southbound I-93 Tunnel and can not be removed.

It could be decorated or wrapped with some other structure -- But Unfortunately; no money associated with the BIG DIG was allocated to dealing with the UGLY lack of aesthetics of the Old Vent Structures

The best that can be expected might be a mural by Chinatown artists or in the evening ? perhaps a projected image.

Or, Perhaps ? some bamboo could be planted to screen it.

Westy
 
Fast moving discussion

By the time I replied

Several others had also


Westy
 
Activity in Chinatown Park

On the matter of use or not in the photos. The Old Gate is located near restaurants and activity.

The New Gate and waterfall/fountain currently is located near dead facades of unused buildings {including the Dainty Dot}. There is no natural activity that direction and so-far the New Gate and Waterfall is not by itself enough of a destination. It needs some restaurants and shops near-by. Ultimately, if the proposed redevelopment of the Dainty Dot occurs ? there will be a bunch of people living adjacent to the New Gate to demand for retail and to enliven the New Gate area.

Westy
 
I may have too harsh in my early assessment of the Greenway... today it looked and felt quite appealing - filled with people; kids were even climbing on the light blades (bases). And at one point - in the middle of the curve - as far as I could see both north and south there was greenery. Maybe the name is apropos...
 
My opinion of it may also be too low. I'm sure that 5-10 years from now the Greenway will be a respected part of the city. I suppose that after the immense ugliness and effort of the elevated highway and construction, I would want to see an equally immense "awesomeness" come of it.
 
I can imagine all you people saying of a newly-paved City Hall Plaza "oh just wait until all the cafes spring up and people start sunbathing and there's a festival every two days and it can always be redesigned, right?"

Things don't get done quickly enough in Boston to not lay the best groundwork possible and get it right the first time.
 
Brick is brick. It does not grow. It does not evolve, it does not change. I see complaints about the shade provided by brand-new trees, the lack of benches before construction is completed (followed by complaints about their abundance once the park opened), and the absence of pivot buildings currently being designed to fill some of the space. In thirty years, or even in one, feel free to assess this project in terms of past failures. For now, let it stand on its own.

Just because a gigantic depressing patio was a bad idea doesn't mean the Greenway is.
 
The second half of the North End parks looks finished, but as of yesterday still wasn't open to the public. Hopefully it won't be too long before the low-rise buildings get replaced by a proper streetwall.

NEP_20071020_059.jpg


NEP_20071020_066.jpg
 
Thanks for the great pictures.

The low rise buildings along Cross Street north of the park were built after the original dense row of buildings were torn down in the 1930's to widen Cross Street for access to the Sumner Tunnel.

I'm hoping that some multi-story residential w/retail on the ground floor buildings will get developed, and also that they use up some of the overly wide sidewalk fronting on the north side of Cross Street. The new buildings will hopefully front Cross Street a bit more closely to the curb than do the existing buildings.
 
This picture shows why it would be great for the owners of the TDBN Garden to get off their butts and build on the empty parcels around it to help enclose the massive amount of green space in the middle of the city.
 
The Globe said:
Greenway plan etched in stone
Message bricks sold for $500 apiece will line Mothers' Walk

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 23, 2007
1193144696_4204.jpg

The commemorative bricks will be 6 inches by 6 inches. (Handout Photo)

The group that oversees the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which for months opposed proposals to build memorials on the mile-long corridor of parks, is planning to sell 900 engraved commemorative bricks to the public, at a cost of $500 each.

In mid-November, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy will start selling 6-inch-by-6-inch concrete pavers, which look like granite cobblestones with smooth surfaces, to anyone who wants to honor "a loved one, mother, mentor, coach, or teacher," said Nancy Brennan, the conservancy's executive director.

The engraved pavers, along the edge of a four-block stretch known as the Moth ers' Walk, are also a way "of building community," Brennan said, a goal of the conservancy since its inception three years ago. Details on how the public will purchase the stones are being worked out.

The $450,000 gleaned from the sale of pavers will be added to almost $18 million that has been pledged to the conservancy so far, as part of its effort to raise at least $20 million by year-end to care for the Greenway.

As for the inscriptions on the paving blocks, Brennan said, "Free speech should be honored and celebrated," and "hate speech" avoided.

With that in mind, donors will have to choose from a list of 10 possible phrases, along with the name of the person being honored.

"With love to . . .," "Immigrated to Boston on . . .," "In admiration of . . .," "My inspiration . . .," "We love you . . .," and "Thank you!" are some of the choices.

Asked whether a potentially controversial figure would be allowed to be commemorated, Brennan said that has yet to be resolved.

But the planned sale of commemorative stones along the Mothers' Walk immediately raised questions about whether the Greenway - long seen by groups involved in its design as a place that would be without memorials or plaques - is now changing that focus.

"I do worry about what the precedent is," said David Seeley, a Leather District resident and member of the Mayor's Central Artery Completion Task Force.

"Does it mean other locations will come up for sale?" he asked.

Greenway memorials have been a hot issue for two years, as the Armenian Heritage Foundation and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which built the park system, sought to designate a small block near Faneuil Hall Marketplace to remember the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

Dick Garver, a representative of the Boston Redevelopment Authority on the task force, said the Armenian group's proposed park, which is now being broadened to refer to many or all immigrant groups, would have a plaque on it.

"There will certainly be words here," he said. "They will be worked out in public." Garver said they will convey "universal themes" such as immigration to Boston but cannot "establish a proprietary name for the park."

The antimemorial sentiment, though unwritten, was reflected numerous times over the years at meetings where the Greenway was being shaped.

One comment came long before the Armenian park had been publicly proposed, at a public meeting in March 2003, from Anne Emerson, president of the Boston Museum, which plans to build a history center adjacent to the site of the proposed Armenian park.

Discussing the nature of the Greenway, Emerson said, "It's a canyon of buildings, and something needs to be done to soften it. There should be no logos, memorials, barriers, or billboards."

Mothers' Walk is a winding walkway on the harbor side of the four blocks between Christopher Columbus Park and High Street. It is scheduled to be dedicated in October 2008. Another 100 pavers will be reserved for participants in three city youth programs, including the YMCA of Greater Boston.

"If there's an additional massive demand, we could install additional pavers," said Linda Jonash, the conservancy's director of planning and design. The Mothers' Walk has a total of about 7,800 stones that could be engraved.

Pavers already laid in the Mother's Walk will be removed, engraved with specifically prescribed wording, and replaced in a line along the walk's edge.

"I think actually it's a pretty good idea," said Gary Hack, dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, and chairman of a group of professionals that advised Greenway designers. Although buying bricks for fund-raising has become common, he said. "It's a terrific way people can gain and feel some attachment to the place."

Hack said some places on the Greenway may be appropriate for remembering individuals. "There's a great deal of public pressure to use the public domain as a place to make people's contributions or faiths memorable," he said. "This is a time when people want to memorialize everything."

The Greenway's 30 acres of parks and sites for nonprofit facilities, stretching from Causeway to Kneeland streets, is scheduled to be substantially completed this year, with a formal opening next fall.

The Greenway park in Chinatown officially opened last month. Other blocks, including one of the two park parcels in the North End, are open to the public but have not yet been officially inaugurated.

Brennan said selling the engraved pavers is only one means the conservancy is considering for raising money needed to maintain and organize events for the parks, which have replaced the old elevated interstate highway. The flower beds need support, too.

"We're thinking about 'buy a bulb' for $50 each," Brennan said.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Click to expand...
Link
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top