Rose Kennedy Greenway

The triangular parcel is fenced off - the vendors use the street next to it. This parcel was supposed to have been for a new public market / housing, or at least that's what I heard from a friend on mine who works at the BRA.
 
I'll take another look when I walk by it, but the Globe photo shows what looks like pushcart stuff on part of the parcel.

Why not build the tunnel caps as part of the original Big Dig? I'm speculating here, but it's possible that they can't be designed independently of the buildings they are intended to support.
 
The Legislature has provided $31 million in assistance to the three groups to help with the construction challenges, at least $16 million of which is earmarked for the YMCA of Greater Boston.[/QOUTE]
Why does the YMCA get more that half the money. I have a problem with this because in some parts of the country the YMCA is going back to it' s Christian roots.
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Why does the YMCA get half the money?? Because King DiMasi decreed it so. This is the North End, his constituents get what they want from the state.

Because of the votes of under 10,000 people in the North End, Sal DiMasi is the Emperor of all of Massachusetts - crazy, huh?
 
Why do the Haymarket vendors (there's nothing "pushcart" about them) get to store their stuff behind chain link fences next to the "Jewel" of the Greenway?

The proposed parcel, even closer to Quincy Market and the Blackstone Block, makes a lot of sense for the program of this museum. Cambridge Seven will produce a rather uninspiring design that has a good chance of actually being constructed. I was never a fan of Safdie's design for this project. Ostentatious in the wrong ways. Even with further delay/reneging on development of the ramp parcel (there are worse highway-induced gaps in the city elsewhere), I see this swap as a net gain for the city.

If the original conception for this parcel was a public market ... perhaps the BRA can be persuaded to consider such an animal for the old Mass Hort Parcels (I'm thinking specificially of the area around the ugly vent building near South Station).
 
Why not put a public market on the current Boston Museum Parcel?
 
A "could look like" rendering of the initial public market proposal was posted here by Shiz02130.
 
So depressing to read this. Not only do we get more "park" (read: suburban lawn wedged in between the various waving arms of a major highway), but the museum's new location would've had housing and retail on a nicely proportioned lot.

Can we declare the Greenway a failure once and for all and sell it to a well-regarded developer? Maybe if it isn't government-run it won't be allowed to keep missing its targets and disappointing in every way...

PS I want a Big Dig tax refund.
 
The corrupt and bankrupt Turnpike Authority needs to sell their real estate. Quickly. We need to develop some of the Wharf parcels and all of the Mass Hort parcels. We cannot afford all this useless luxury. Not in the state we're in right now. Rolling fields and meandering paths are a useless luxury in the heart of a city. They are downright criminal when looked at in the context of the bankrupt and failing agency that created them. The Mass Pike needs to sell their property now. All of it. And then the authority needs to be disbanded and merged into MassHighway along with the DCR parkway system. We need one group running the roads of the state, not three.
 
The large retail spaces in the Haymarket garage are still empty, suggesting that commercial space in this area may have reached saturation level already. I'd like to see those filled first before building any more.
 
statler said:
While I'm sure no one is sad to see Safdie's Cheshire Cat building go, converting the ramp parcel to (even more) park land is a loss, especially if they don't completely cover the ramps.
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Well, count me as a no one, I guess. Can I ask what the objections were to the design?
 
shiz02130 said:
The triangular parcel is fenced off - the vendors use the street next to it.
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I just walked by it a few minutes ago. It is not surrounded by a fence. Part of it is paved as an extra lane of Blackstone Street, separated from the main lane by jersey barriers. I think this is where the Haymarket vendors park their trucks on Fridays and Saturdays.

Two small areas of it are surrounded by leftover Big Dig fences, and appear to be used by vendors to store crates and other packing materials.

The rest of the lot is empty, and unfenced.
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I'd like to see a public market too, but on the Mass Hort parcels rather than here where it would directly compete with the existing Haymarket vendors.
 
I was thinking the Haymarket vendors could relocate into the market..and then their space could be used for development.
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With added housing, there would be more demand for added retail.
 
The sidewalk in front of the Haymarket garage (and its still-vacant retail space) is very wide. It could easily accommodate any Haymarket vendors that are displaced by the museum construction. Perhaps some vendors could also move into one of the North End Greenway parks.

If the vendors moved indoors they'd have to operate all week long rather than just Fridays and Saturdays. I'm not sure if they really want that.
 
unterbau said:
Well, count me as a no one, I guess. Can I ask what the objections were to the design?
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That makes two nobodies. (I guess 2x0=0.) I thought the Safdie design was pretty interesting and would have liked to have seen it built.
 
Me three. Looked like a nice change from mass-manufactured brick PoMo or glass-box architecture. Coulda been very interesting.

Best of all, it would have eliminated the ramps. Seriously, the Greenway as it is is not a pleasant place. You can't walk more than one parcel at a time (and even those you can't walk the length of sometimes) without having to cross the street to the sidewalk because of traffic. It really still is ... the Central Artery.

I was hoping the museum would have gone some length to take the highway out of the Greenway. I guess $15M, despite being half the cost of a drinking fountain in Dubai these days, is too much to pay on top of the mere $15 billion we shelled out for a Sudbury backyard in the middle of Boston.
 
ckb's objection to the Safdie design ("ostentacious in all the wrong ways") parallels mine. It disengaged the city in a space where there was finally an opportunity for reknitting. We didn't need another monument a mere block from Government Center, especially one as comical as this glass reincarnation of Noah's Ark atop Ararat.

I'll go so far as to say the only thing I wish were different about this situation is the consideration given to the Haymarket vendors, who will likely be given the shaft by the new museum's construction. Rolling mulligans covering the ramps, even partially, will only be akin to the Safdie design - without the beached white elephant riding atop.
 
I'm a huge fan of putting a market here. In fact, do it up right--make it a great civic place, built to last out of solid granite, in a classic, Greek revival style. Have a great central corridor with booths selling all sorts of foods and wares, and in good weather have stalls lining the outside. Wait, come to think of it ... that would just get turned into a mall food court after a while.

In all seriousness, a market building modeled on Eastern Market in DC, filled with a mix of permanent vendors, such as bakers, butchers, fishmongers, a simple cafe or two, with outside stalls on market days selling flowers, produce, art, questionable tobacco-related paraphenalia, what have you, on weekend market days, would be great, and it would draw real shoppers and tourists alike. The hordes marching to North Station would stop here to pick up food on their way home. This should not rule out a market at South Station, too.
 
The hordes marching to North Station would stop here to pick up food on their way home.
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They should just let the vendors take over the Govt Center garage. Imagine...a vertical, concrete souk!

Seriously, Congress Street is empty/desolate enough that any shift/expansion of the marketplace shouldn't rule it out.
 
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