What to do about Government Center

...but they wouldn't be eating in the cafeteria at JFK if they were relocated...

Reserve complex is next to South Station, a bigger hub than Government Center (at least for outsiders to the city).

Most day to day functions of government that these poorer people would require would be functions of the city or state government (which would stay put, and possibly expanded). You can't really walk into the Reserve and ask for a forward on your Social Security, now, can you?
 
Here's my plan:

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The "New Plaza"? Would you take that by eminent domain? If so, it would be the definition of "irony"!
 
no more plaza. The Kallman building, dejected and unloved, goes into hiding.... But the 1000 foot tower reasserts itself...


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I think where you wrote "hotel? restaurants? research institute?" you meant "city morgue".
 
Why not relocate the Boston Architectural College into the building?
 
That would be an awesome idea. I sort of wish the BAC would be absorbed (as the School of Architecture) into a larger institution. Unite a few of the smaller schools into larger entity-the small schools retain their identity, yet have access to the larger resources of a university. Similar to what the New School did in NYC.
 
That would be an awesome idea. I sort of wish the BAC would be absorbed (as the School of Architecture) into a larger institution. Unite a few of the smaller schools into larger entity-the small schools retain their identity, yet have access to the larger resources of a university. Similar to what the New School did in NYC.
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Lesley is already doing this; it took control of the Boston Art Institute and will slowly move it into a new campus in Cambridge.
 
Lurker said:
Why not relocate the Boston Architectural College into the building?
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If we had a award for Best Ideas, I would nominate this. I can't believe I haven't thought about it (I've been thinking a lot about the whole BAC-into-larger-institution thing, and I couldn't figure out how to get past the geographic constraints. All the schools that would fit together seem very spread out.)

scootie said:
the prison or the BAC?

I'm just learning the ^ lingo..
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Fairly sure he meant the BAC. Usually it's just the post directly above.
 
The configuration of City Hall is actually almost perfect for an architecture school's program. However, the sale of all the BAC's property in the Back Bay would never cover the cost of taking over City Hall.

And honestly scootie's figure ground is better than most of the proposals to redevelop the plaza in the past decade. The childish proposals in Architecture Boston a year ago are pathetic in comparison. Perhaps the city could save millions on the BRA payroll by farming planning out to internet forums. Most of the online arm chair amateur enthusiasts seem to have more common sense than the elite graduates of the ivy league. Go figure!
 
czsz said:
Lesley is already doing this; it took control of the Boston Art Institute and will slowly move it into a new campus in Cambridge.
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So did Suffolk. The only clueless school is Brandeis.
 
I don't think we have a thread on Government Center / Boston City Hall ...

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Cancer Garden of Hope to grow on City Hall Plaza
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney March 31, 2010 10:12 AM


A new garden will blossom in the brick landscape surrounding City Hall in Boston.

The Cancer Garden of Hope, on the Congress Street side of City Hall Plaza, will be formed from flowers, plaques, and engraved bricks honoring people touched by cancer. The brainchild of the Coalition to Conquer Cancer, it will be dedicated at noon on June 19.

"Our mission always was to raise money across the board for all cancers, spread awareness, and bring the cancer community together. This is a golden opportunity to do that," Susan Zuker said today.

Zuker and her two sons founded the coalition after her husband, Michael Zuker, died of lung cancer in 2004 at the age of 53. The group is responsible for creating specialty license plates in Massachusetts saying "Conquer Cancer" that have raised $350,000 for cancer research and patient services.

For the garden, flowers cost $10, bricks $100, and plaques $1,000. Orders are already flowing in from people who have seen billboards donated by Clear Channel Outdoor, Zuker said. Two of the 3,000 available bricks will say, "Olivia at age 4 beat cancer and so can you. Keep fighting." and "Dying is another country and I've always been a good traveler."

People can choose which organization will receive money from their donation from a list of 12 groups on the coalition's web site, including the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge, hospital cancer centers, and Hope in Bloom, which plants gardens free of charge at the homes patients being treated for breast cancer.
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.
 
I don't want to be like the proverbial skunk at the picnic, but ideas like this cancer garden are just wrong. I say this as someone who lost a spouse to cancer, a father to cancer, and having had a tumor removed last year.

The Congress Street side of City Hall is oppressive and hostile to pedestrians. It is not welcoming or warm, nor does it offer any consolation to someone seeking a quiet respite. It's about as appropriate a place for a garden as the shoulder along the walls of the Pike.

I also suspect that this idea, when fleshed out, will end up being so small and so done on the cheap that it will probably end up being neglected within a year.

A better idea would be to move the concept up to CHP and make it bigger. Put up some kind of summer installation of small water features, large posts suspending sail-cloth tenting overhead, large ceramic planters filled with seasonal and tropical folliage, some benches, maybe even a few pallets of sod, etc. In winter, the shade tents can come down and the planters can be rotated out and evergreens (holly, low maintenance pines, etc.) put in their place.
 
/\ I have to agree /\

Nothing against these people, I wish them all the luck raising money, I just think here is not that great of an idea. Does anyone know exactly where it will be located? If it was off in that section, the "mall", near the JFK building then it wouldn't be so bad.
 
Again, agreed with you three. ^

All the best, but this isn't the spot for a memorial garden.
 
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