Rose Kennedy Greenway

kennedy said:
And please, I wear my Harvard Yard shorts a seersucker with crimson whales when I ghost-ride the limozine with my mangy fat cats.
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Speak the truth Little Nephew
 
The "Greenway study" will be done the same time all the other "studies" that Menino's henchmen at the BRA are working on...

...after the election.

Every major development of the past 1+ year is being put through unimaginable, drawn out, longer-than usual, specialty "studies" just so that the clock can run out and Boss Menino isn't forced to take a stand one way or another.

- Bayside Expo redevelopment - City response "Wait! Don't file anything yet, we should really do a master plan study... it'll be ready in about two years, just after the mayoral election." Of course, in the real business world, people don't have two years to sit on a vacant property, and the development went belly-up.

- Government Center Garage redevelopment - City response "wait! Don't file anything yet, hold some preliminary 'community input' sessions before filing so we can then hold the real 'community input' sessions. These preliminary ones are just to let the clock wind down so you can get the dirty work done... after the election.

- Aquarium Garage - City response "wait! Let's study the Greenway! We forgot that it would be there, but now that it is... well, let's sit back, wait until after the mayoral election, and then let people know what we're thinking, even though this thing has been planned for a decade."

(These are just three examples... there are dozens of quieter, smaller projects that I have personally heard "we've been told not to approach the BRA until after the election, it would really piss Menino off otherwise")

These studies are not much more than stalling tactics at this point. The Bayside one especially and most offensively. Menino can't lose votes in Dorchester so it sits and waits until after the election.
 
I thought Bayside Expo was reopening because of a bankruptcy and foreclosure auction that killed off the development plan. Can't blame Menino for this.
 
It's true Ron, you can't "blame" Menino for this... entirely.

When the government decided they would take all of Bayside's business away from them (by simply passing a law that allowed previously forbidden 'gate shows' at the BCEC), the owners of the Bayside site created a re-development plan for the Bayside site. A very good plan.

When they made it public, the city told them that they should actually wait around so that the City could create a master plan for all of Columbia Point. Frustrated, the developers played ball with the BRA and waited around.

This has turned out to be a two-year stall. Coincidentally or not, the Master Plan will be released... just after the election. Then the owners (the new owners) will be allowed to continue to pursue their development plans. Stall, stall, stall. Study, study, study. Nothing gets done.
 
Great, they can finish filling in so the street will get shaded. Good job planning this one.
 
The unpaved driveway in the middle of the 'useless space' exists so that trucks can get in and out of the Boston Public Market, which is held in the Dewey Square plaza every Tuesday and Thursday.
 
The BRA has added the 4th and 5th PowerPoint from the 4th and 5th public Greenway District Planning Study presentations.

http://www.bostonredevelopmentautho...nitsIndividual.asp?action=ViewInit&InitID=145

They stress the obvious, like reinforcing the streetwall and activating the Greenway's edges. How realistic those recommendations are, though, remains to be seen. Even if by some miracle the properties bordering the Greenway were to be reoriented to "face" the park, I wonder how effective it would be at elevating the Greenway's current role above that of a glorified median strip.

One thing that really puzzles me are the density recommendations made in Presentation 5. Here they seem to suggest that density decrease as we approach South Station. One would assume the city would encourage the total opposite to take advantage of the area's transportation connections. I would really like to know the rationale behind this one.
 
Rationale? Please! That would imply logic. Our esteemed BRA members probably all live in Framingham, and they won't stop a'rockin until the Greenway looks and feels like their safe and familiar Route 9.

So remind me, what's the problem again with a drive-thru Arby's next to South Station?
 
At this point, a Framingham-style Jordan's Furniture might be the best thing the Greenway could hope for.
 
In all serious - a well-landscaped Dunkin Donuts on each and every single parcel of the Greenway would be a huge improvement. Seriously. It could be called the Dunkin Greenway, pay for itself, and be much, much more lively and interesting than the current median strips.
 
briv said:
One thing that really puzzles me are the density recommendations made in Presentation 5. Here they seem to suggest that density decrease as we approach South Station. One would assume the city would encourage the total opposite to take advantage of the area's transportation connections. I would really like to know the rationale behind this one.
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There's still a density increase, just less of one.

I hope their heights for the garage towers don't reflect the eventual reality (400' and 600').
 
I think the Dewey Square area is well thought-out. I just hope at congress street, they don't limit to the 400' 600'. It should be more like 600' 800-900'. They may have limited it tho to use it as a bargaining chip with the developer.
 
slide 34 of the shorter presentation (#5 i think) - what happened to this???
 
These are really well thought out and the presentations seem to be very easy to digest. I think I just lost an hour looking though all those.
 
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