Seaport Neighborhood - Infill and Discussion

I am very happy there is going to be a school. This will bring much needed street life via kids during the afternoons. I live next to and international school and once school gets out the sun baked, wind swept plaza I live at teems with life. Yeah you COULD complain of kids running around but then you just sound like a crazy old coot.
 
Actually, the mayor should be happy! All those families paying property tax which supports public education yet send their kids to this private school. That's a lot of extra money for the kids that do attend Boston public schools. I don't see the beef...and the Boston Superintendent of schools is as out of line with his comments as is the mayor. I was a public school teacher for 30 years and I see no problem here except for the comments from the mayor and superintendent. Is Hynes not kissing Mennino's butt or what? What is his problem?
 
End busing, fund new local neighborhood schools with the saved transportation money. All city schools are equally funded per student head. Neighborhood character determines the character of the school, everyone has equal funding, problem solved.
 
Alright, two things:

One, according to Banker & Tradesman Menino is not only after Hynes because of the school proposal, but Menino is also after Hynes because he is proposing too many shops in the Seaport Square development. For some reason, Menino seems convinced that the retail from Hynes's development will strip the rest of the city of its commercial success. Jeez, I think that Menino is single-handedly out to destroy this project.

Secondly, I found a rendering (the first one released, I believe) of Seaport Square:

http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/pub/5_286/breakingnews/196476-1.html
 
Instead of creating a completely public or completely private school, why not build another Boston Latin? Residents of the Seaport could still get priority, as long as they got high enough test scores. And that way the school would be more open (and cheaper) to all BPS students.
 
End busing, fund new local neighborhood schools with the saved transportation money. All city schools are equally funded per student head. Neighborhood character determines the character of the school, everyone has equal funding, problem solved.
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This would lead to allegations that students in poor neighborhoods were being educationally "ghettoized" and that it would be better for children of poor, troubled households to be balanced out (and influenced) by those from wealthier, stable ones (which may have merit; school environment may have just as much to do with performance as funding)...not to mention the inevitable assertion that it reinforces Boston's pattern of de facto voluntary segregation, the attempted mitigation of which was the reason for the implementation of busing in the first place.

Instead of creating a completely public or completely private school, why not build another Boston Latin? Residents of the Seaport could still get priority, as long as they got high enough test scores. And that way the school would be more open (and cheaper) to all BPS students.
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That sounds like a compromise without a purpose. Is Boston really aching for another test-in elite public school?

By the way, this Seaport Square rendering is, from what I can tell, bland as hell. At least the buildings seem to be glass.

Seaport_Square_rendering.jpg
 
This would lead to allegations that students in poor neighborhoods were being educationally "ghettoized" and that it would be better for children of poor, troubled households to be balanced out (and influenced) by those from wealthier, stable ones (which may have merit; school environment may have just as much to do with performance as funding)...not to mention the inevitable assertion that it reinforces Boston's pattern of de facto voluntary segregation, the attempted mitigation of which was the reason for the implementation of busing in the first place.
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Somehow the the drastic slide of BPS in the toilet over the last 30 years suggest busing is the wrong idea for improving the quality of education vs funding local schools. The BPS is more segregated than it was in the 70's, given that more than 85% of the system is minorities and no longer even remotely represents the ethnic background of the city. Judge William Garrity, well at least the harbor is clean, should have demanded equal funding for schools in minority neighborhoods and proportional neighborhood representation, rather than at large representation, on the school board. Busing and centralized schools have been a disaster and the tired race card and cult of victim-hood, pulled out whenever someone suggests ending it, needs to be thrown away in favor of stuff that actually works.

The school system's job is to educate students, not be some guilt tripping political social engineering project.
 
The following applies to Boston families who are unwilling or unable to shell out $$ for private/parochial school tuition:

When my children reached kindergarten age about 2 years ago, we made a very difficult decision to sell our home in a wonderful neighborhood in Boston on the Roslindale/West Roxbury line due to school situation in Boston. Some families stay in the city, put their kids into the city schools, cross their fingers that their kids will test into an exam school when they get older and end up having a wonderful experience. However, get ready for years of hard work and effort because it often becomes a "second job" for families to get their children into an acceptable school. For my family, our concerns were whether we could land a spot in a school with a good reputation. At the elementary level there are only a few diamonds in the rough and its extremely competitive to land a spot through the lottery system. Further, the lack of neighborhood based schools was a big issue for me. You could have 20 kids on your block all going to different schools all over the city, none of the kids go to school with their neighbors (unless they go to the neighborhood parochial school) and social fabric of the neighborhood suffers. In addition, Boston schools will make a preference, but not guarantee, that siblings get a placement in the same school. Lastly, if my kids are anything like me they either won't make the cut or will not thrive at at the highly competitive exam schools when they get to Jr. high age and, at that point, you had better learn to part with your wallet in order to pay for multiple years of private school tuition for multiple kids. I think Boston schools are heading in the right direction, but the changes were too slow and too few by the time my kids were of school age. We reluctantly moved out to the suburbs and have found that life out here revolves around the local neighborhood based school. Significant connections between neighborhood kids and parents are made via the local neighborhood school. Overall, although we miss the stimulation and convenience of the city and our old neighbors, I'm happy I made the move for the kids.

On a different, but related note:

czsz said:

"not to mention the inevitable assertion that it reinforces Boston's pattern of de facto voluntary segregation, the attempted mitigation of which was the reason for the implementation of busing in the first place."

It is my understanding that all judicially imposed busing plans, including but not limited to Boston Public School, were based upon the Court finding intentional "de jure" actions by the school districts which violated civil right anti-discrimination laws. Accordingly, in recent years, the Courts have lifted such desegregation orders despite the fact that many neighborhoods have or are in the process of re-segregated themselves due to racial settlement patterns beyond the control of the school department.

On a completely different note:

The surface parking lots in the Seaport District have begun to increase their daily parking rates. Granted the parking lots are only going up a few buck here and there, but given the recent significant MBTA hikes, its a step in the right direction to discourage commuting by car into the city. I speculate those lots which are a relative bargain for Boston will see continuing price increases as land development starts to eliminate these lots and parking demand tightens up.
 
Lurker said:
The school system's job is to educate students, not be some guilt tripping political social engineering project.
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k-12 schools are exactly supposed to be a political social engineering project. the only thing you missed was to add 'economic' to the list.

schools are all about socialization, the construction of civil society and the reinforcement of the political status quo. (anyone not recite the pledge of allegiance?) and secondarily, they are about providing a pre-trained and productive workforce to capital.

so it sounds like your argument is with the political status quo.

on the politico-economic front, mixing social classes, races, religions, etc. during primarily education could be assumed to generate a greater clash of ideas and engender more a more innovative population over the long term. that alone would be worth the price of admission in a state of ~7 million that routinely competes head-to-head with NY (~28 million) and CA (30+ million) for private capital, public funding, jobs, residents/employees, political influence, tourists, etc.

beyond that, a diverse primary education should lead to greater social and geographic mobility, which should be a secondary boost to the innovation economy, as well as to the productive deployment of local capital.

test tomorrow, and homework is due....
 
It looks like Menino got what he wanted. Hynes has put the private school on hold.

http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/pub/5_287/breakingnews/196506-1.html

I really can't believe that Menino doesn't want this school built. It would be a major boost, and, no matter how much the Mayor doesn't like to admit it, the BPS aren't performing well lately, and Boston residents are indeed fleeing to the suburbs for schools. A school like the one proposed would only help curb that trend.
 
A component of the Boston ethos: commitment to proleterianization. Hence, no private school. Smacks of elitism.
 
Truly ridiculous.....with all the negatives to the location, Silver Line service being the chief culprit, the private school was really the only selling point. It allowed a family to live in the SBF without need for mass transit. If the mayor thinks that a family paying $600k is going to send the elementary school kid to any school in the South Zone (except maybe Perry, which has less than 200 students), well, then he is more out of touch than I imagined.

A private school serving K-12 would have been just what this portion of the city needed, and would helped establish the SBF as a legitamate family oriented neighborhood, and over time, some of that may trickle down to the public schools.
 
Turner Construction wins contract for Fan Pier office tower
Boston Business Journal - 2:40 PM EDT Wednesday, June 20, 2007
by Michelle Hillman
Journal staff

The Fallon Co. has awarded Turner Construction Co. the contract to build the first office tower on Fan Pier.

The 500,000-square-foot, 18-story office building will break ground in October and is expected to open by the end of 2009 when demand for office space is expected to be at a high, said Charles Buuck, senior vice president at Turner Construction. The building will cost $125 million to construct.

"We're going to start the first building," said Buuck. "You know that there's going to be demand for office space in the city coming up."

The construction contract is one of several expected to be awarded by the Fallon Co. which is developing the waterfront site in South Boston with its partner Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.

The Boston Business Journal first reported in January that Fallon would move ahead with the construction of an office building on a "speculative" basis or regardless of whether he had signed leases.

Last June Fallon hired three architecture firms to design four buildings totaling 1.8 million square feet and including office, hotel, residential and retail uses.

Since buying the 20.5 acre site in 2005 for $115 million, Fallon and MassMutual have hired architects, publicists and real estate brokerage firms to help him design, market and lease what will eventually be a nine-building, 3 million square foot development including office, hotel, residential and retail uses.

Fallon has opened an on-site marketing center and recently began providing hot-air balloon rides to potential tenants and residents.


Link
 
This is the layout proposed for Fan Pier from a mailing I received earlier this afternoon.

07-03-2007035938PM.jpg
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Agreed; the appendages "Drive", "Way", and "Boulevard" should be banned from Boston. I do rather like "Bond Street", though.

And it's wonderful to finally get broken blocks and new streets in the Seaport district, although single-building blocks are likely to lead to the sort of awkward results (loading docks clashing with entryways on different sides of the road) at the back of the new Marriott.
 
To top it off, the only decent one, Bond, already exists in the South End.
 
Liberty Drive is one of the most obnoxious street names I've ever seen
 
Eh... the street names aren't all that important. Granted, these are lame as hell, but it's the project that's important, not the street names.

I am glad to see that the buildings (at least from the looks of this) are right on the edge of the sidewalk. I have no problem with open space on a waterfront (even in an urban area), but i hate excessive grassy area or plaza space between a building and the street. This doesn't seem to be an issue here anyway (from what i can see).

I still fear this turning into a suburban office/ condo park though. and while i don't care about street names, "boulevard" and "drive" don't help my fears.
 
czsz said:
Agreed; the appendages "Drive", "Way", and "Boulevard" should be banned from Boston..
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you want to rename Storrow Drive, Morrissey Blvd, Day Blvd, Fenway, Riverway, Jamaicaway, and Arborway?
 
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