Rose Kennedy Greenway

The large open plaza in Chinatown is supposed to have a huge chessboard on it, but it doesn't look like that ever got painted.
 
Wouldn't it be infinitely more beneficial to have many chess tables instead of one big painted chess board? As it is there's a few tables plunked at the south end of the park (by the vent stack and the pre-existing playground) that see heavy use but look like a planning afterthought.
 
I agree, actually. I'm just recalling a picture of what was supposed to be there, but isn't (yet, anyway).

Outdoor chess tables get heavy use at Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square.
 
Ron Newman said:
The large open plaza in Chinatown is supposed to have a huge chessboard on it, but it doesn't look like that ever got painted.
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Oh, just like the ones for the kiddies visiting their grandparents at the retirement complex in St. Pete!
 
Ron Newman said:
The large open plaza in Chinatown is supposed to have a huge chessboard on it, but it doesn't look like that ever got painted.
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Ron, the so-called chessboard you mention is actually the 'circle within a square' design and is located just in front of the Chinatown gate and has some sort of symbolic meaning in Chinese culture. It's not at all a chessboard.

chinatownpk_gate.jpg
 
OK, I guess I was confused about where this pattern was supposed to be, or else I looked at a drawing that put it in a different place than where it ended up. (But now that I know where to look, I see many web pages referring to it as a 'Chinese chessboard' or as being inspired by one)
 
Waldorf said:
Ron, the so-called chessboard you mention is actually the 'circle within a square' design and is located just in front of the Chinatown gate and has some sort of symbolic meaning in Chinese culture. It's not at all a chessboard.

chinatownpk_gate.jpg
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No, Ron is correct. It is a chessboard. I posted way back in this thread about it. It is the Xiangqi chessboard which the old people tend to play there:

545px-Xiangqi_Board.svg.png
 
Yes, please. A tram network along the Greenway, then through the Seaport out to perhaps the tent would be a perfect solution to get rid of the SL and add mass transit to both SBW, Fort Point, and the Greenway.

But that still doesn't solve what we were talking about, how to stop playing with gardens and make real parks.
 
Wonder why this didn't happen while Les Marino, owner of Modern Continetial (big dig) was still alive:

Waterfront site must open to public
State fines owners of wharf building

By Milton J. Valencia
Globe Staff / May 13, 2009

It was a secret jewel along the waterfront, providing a picturesque view of Boston Harbor and the city's skyline. But according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the historic building at 470 Atlantic Ave. and its public viewing space wasn't supposed to be a secret at all.

The department has fined the owner of the plush Independence Wharf building, at the corner of Seaport Boulevard, more than $21,000 and also issued a series of compliance orders for holding out from the public its grand view of Boston and its harbor, on the site of one the country's largest acts of civil defiance, the Boston Tea Party.

"A renewed commitment on their part is necessary to open this site up to the general public, in a way that provides a public benefit for the city, its residents and our visitors," Glenn Haas, assistant commissioner of the agency, said in a statement.

In addition to the fines, the owner of the building - Independence Wharf LLC - must open up 2,856 square feet of space on the ground floor of the building as a public accommodation. The owner must post proper signage designating the 14th floor, with its observation deck and indoor viewing area, as public space.

The company must also post proper signage outside the building along the Harborwalk encouraging public patronage of the ground floor and viewing deck.

"The current property owners recognize they have a responsibility to provide, and in fact encourage, the general public to access this historic Boston site," Haas said in a statement.

A spokesman for the building's management company, Cushman & Wakefield, said yesterday that management would not comment on the settlement. Independence Wharf LLC is based in Connecticut.

The orders were based on a 2001 license the state granted Independence Wharf LLC allowing it to operate office space at the 14-story structure, which is built on the waterfront. Under state law covering filled tidelands, the state must preserve the public's rights to access natural resources such as the sea and the shore. The 2001 license included a public access agreement based on the law that required the observation deck and ground floor accommodating area.

The agency said it found the violations during a May 2008 inspection. In addition to the fines, the owner must provide, within 30 days, a publicly accessible interior space on the observation deck with signs directing the public to the area. The owner must also submit a plan within 90 days detailing how it will open up the 2,856 square feet to the public, and must complete the plan within six months.

And, the company must pay $35,000 in license fees that it has not paid since the license was granted in 2001. The site is where Samuel Adams and other patriots of the American Revolution boarded three British tea ships in 1773 in a protest of English rule.

Yesterday, a small sign on the Harborwalk alerted passersby that the observation deck is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, instructing anyone interested to "see security guard in lobby for information."

Winston Van Buitenen of Connecticut, and Greg Beck of New York, two businessmen touring the waterfront, said they did not believe the building is public from the look from the outside. "It doesn't present itself that way," said Buitenen.

Matt Pitarresi, 23, of South Boston, said he walks by the building daily to work and other Boston destinations and never knew about the observation deck. "If it's supposed to be public access, it should be," he said. "Anywhere you can get up high and view the city, people appreciate it."

Lynne Stubblefield, a 43-year-old South Boston woman who walks by the building on the way to her job in Charleston, said she has seen been to the observation deck before: when the building had just been renovated. But, "I don't think many people know about it," she said.

"It's a pretty area to look at, there's a lot of stuff to see," Stubblefield said. "People should know about it. It's waterfront property and a lot of people would like to see it."

Milton Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...09/05/13/waterfront_site_must_open_to_public/

In October, construction magnate Lelio ``Les'' Marino held a lucrative fund-raiser at his Cambridge restaurant for the mayor, one day prior to asking for a city-owned parcel to develop. The request zipped through City Hall within days and Marino got the land at about half of its assessed value.
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(Hub developers pack Menino fund-raiser
by Jack Meyers Tuesday, December 7, 1999 (c) 1999 The Boston Herald)
 
KentXie said:
No, Ron is correct. It is a chessboard. I posted way back in this thread about it. It is the Xiangqi chessboard which the old people tend to play there:

545px-Xiangqi_Board.svg.png
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Cool! The way the MTA told me what it was it didn't sound anything like a chessboard, but it makes sense now.
 
from Tom Palmer
Now, Uhlir's presentation was followed by those of the panelists, almost all of which we've carried in the Journal previously at some point. In particular, Shen talked in detail about the Greenway District Study now under way, which will guide development along the edges. The third public meeting is May 20 at 6 p.m. in the BRA board room, 9th floor of City Hall.

Brennan offered an early glimpse of the Conservancy's thoughts for activation of the three blocks near South Station, which are kind of orphans, since they were originally designated for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and now are not.

There may be skating on Parcel 22, the one right at Dewey Square, with the barrel-topped air intake building on its north end.

Brennan and the Conservancy just took over stewardship of the Greenway in February. "What should we do? Who should we serve? How should we serve them?" are the questions she's asking now.

Since Millennium Park is so chock-full of physical things, and our linear parks have fewer of these attention-getting creative features, we asked Uhlir what kind of public process led to Millennium Park.

Not to oversimplify, but he said they essentially got the thing half designed, showed it to the public, the reaction was pretty good, and they went ahead and built it. A little different than the grueling decade of discussion, input and scrapping that preceded last fall's Greenway ribbon cutting.

Shen, who is always walking a tightrope between competing interests, said that sounded pretty good. "I guess when planners die, they go to Chicago," he said.
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http://www.mcdermottventures.com/tompalmer/contrast
 
PaulC said:
Wonder why this didn't happen while Les Marino, owner of Modern Continetial (big dig) was still alive:


http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...09/05/13/waterfront_site_must_open_to_public/

(Hub developers pack Menino fund-raiser
by Jack Meyers Tuesday, December 7, 1999 (c) 1999 The Boston Herald)
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Interesting. I have never had any issue getting to the observation deck in Independence wharf. I guess it's not well signed, but I've never had any issues with the guard. Wish they'd post the hours of the deck outside though, just so I'd know.
 
Today, an area of the Greenway between Quincy Market and State Street is fenced off with flexible orange temporary mesh fencing. A sign says this is survey work for a Harbor Islands pavilion to be built on the site.
 
^ Interesting to hear, Ron. I was under the impression that this project was killed by economic forces. I recall that what was proposed was a glassy 1-story pavilion (innocuous and easy to remove in the future) with a visitor information center, restrooms, and a small retail area. A rendering may be in this thread, a hundred or so pages back.
 
The stimulus bill included $5,000,000 for this project, as well as money for two additional Kennedy related projects - an addition to the JFK Library and the proposed Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate. From http://www.boston.com/news/local/m..._greenway_building_to_be_an_islands_pavilion/


1st Greenway building to be an islands pavilion

By Martin Finucane

Globe Staff / March 12, 2009

The federal government has approved $5 million for the construction of the first building on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a 2,500-square-foot pavilion that is intended to serve as a gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands National Park area.

The building, which will be located near Long Wharf, will offer general visitor information, including a map of the 34-island park and a schedule of activities, and sell tickets to ferries heading to the islands, according to the Boston Harbor Island Alliance, a nonprofit agency that promotes use and awareness of the islands.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement that he looks forward to working with the alliance and the National Park Service to "develop an inviting and functional gateway that will open up the Rose Kennedy Greenway to the treasures of the Harbor Islands."

Construction could begin in late summer or early fall, said Thomas Powers, president of the Boston Harbor Alliance.

Powers said one reason the price tag for the building is so high is that it will have to sit safely atop the Big Dig tunnels that carry traffic under downtown Boston. "There's a significant premium for being ever so careful about how you anchor the building into the ground without penetrating the tunnel," he said.

He said his group had already received $1.38 million in funding for the project from the federal government, the state, and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. But, he said, the alliance dropped its initial designer after "a number of false starts." As a result, most of that initial funding will be used up by the time the new design team completes its work in the early summer.

In the end,he said, the expenditure will be worthwhile because the pavilion will draw people's attention to the islands, which will be a resource for residents and a draw to tourists who will pump dollars into the local economy.

Powers said the project, which was championed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, still needs approvals from the city, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the Turnpike Authority.

The funding was included in a $410 billion federal spending bill passed by Congress Tuesday night and signed by President Obama yesterday. The bill also included $22 million for an addition to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and $5 million for the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate.
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I kinda like this:

- Will highlight an undervalued national park / Boston's waterfront
- Will NOT be part of the Boston history theme park that encompasses much of this area
- Will cover the ramps

Now let's just see the design...
 
It won't be on top of any ramps.

it will have to sit safely atop the Big Dig tunnels
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http://www.utiledesign.com/
[/Boston Harbor Island Alliance and the National Park Service recently announced that Utile, a Boston-based architecture and urban design firm, has been awarded the contract to design a visitor pavilion on Parcel 14 of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Utile was selected after an open call for proposals from design firms; twenty-nine firms submitted proposals. The pavilion is an information center for the Boston Harbor Islands and has been conceived as the first step in the journey to the islands via nearby ferries.
The client team was previously pursuing a fully conditioned building for the site but made the decision to meet the program requirements with an open-air pavilion and a series of kiosks and exhibits. ?With a change in emphasis in the project scope, the pavilion can be perceived as an important element in a larger landscape strategy that will make Parcel 14 an open space destination, as well as a key gateway to the harbor islands,? said Tom Powers, President of the Island Alliance, the non-profit partner of the National Park Service.
To meet the full promise of the project ambitions, Utile will be collaborating with Reed Hilderbrand, an award-winning landscape architecture firm. In addition, IDEO, a nationally-recognized design consultancy, will provide input on how human factors should impact the design of the landscape and pavilion. Utile and IDEO will also work together to conceive the exhibits and information graphics that complement the direct interaction of the pavilion staff.
Utile sees an enormous opportunity to complement and build on the early successes of the Greenway parks. As Tim Love, Utile principal, remarked, ?Our team has the advantage of starting the design process the same month that the Greenway had its official opening. Rather than imagine the context of the site through renderings and models, we can observe for ourselves where the parks have engaged the public and where the intentions of the parks have not yet reached their full potential to generate public lif
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http://www.islandalliance.org/edplan.asp

Gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands:
Harbor Park Pavilion

Boston Harbor Island Alliance is pleased to announce that Congress recently appropriated $5,000,000 to construct a Harbor Park Pavilion on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. This Pavilion, to be located near the corner of State Street and Atlantic Avenue at Long Wharf, will be a gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands. Conceived as an open-air exhibit, defined by two sculptural canopies, the Pavilion will contain a 40 foot by 52 foot granite map of the Harbor Islands Park with the islands rendered in cast bronze.

A team led by Utile, Inc. (architects) and Reed Hilderbrand, Inc. (landscape architects) is currently designing the 4000 square foot structure. It will be situated on over 28,000 square feet of landscaped space, will contain enough solar panels to make the facility close to a net zero energy consumer, and will serve as a landside visitor information facility. Exhibit panels will offer colorful information about the islands. Ferry tickets and schedules will be easily available.

Estimated Cost: $4,000,000 (combination of government and private funding)
Design currently underway; estimated start date of construction: Summer 2009
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