I don’t apologist arguments for frequently closing public amenities for less than justifiable reasons are indicated here. While some statements here might be somewhat hyperbolic, denigrating them as unreasonable and cheerfully accepting the (bullshit) excuses that are often offered for closing perfectly harmless and reasonable public amenities is ignoring the many problematic practices and patterns embedded in such closures—ranging from, yes, hostility to homeless people, underfunding of government, bureaucratic inaction, the loss of enjoyment of amenities due to defensive civil practices, and excessive use of “security” and “safety” to herd people away from congregating in places the powers that be don’t want. All of these are real issues and impact the urban fabric of cities, including Boston, and are relevant to this forum. The steps in question were built only a decade ago as a public amenity. They’re new. IE, nothing has changed, not the weather, terrorists, homeless people, or lawsuits. If it is true that we invested land and money into a large architectural folly that is deemed necessary to close off for half the year due to weather, that’s a waste of an investment.
I always thought those steps had potential but they were a little out of place and probably suffer from being too high and not wide enough. In any case, either fish or cut bait: it’s a big structure so it should be usable 365 or it should be replaced with something else. Boston should not be in the business of approving things being built that need to be roped, fenced, bollarded, or jersey barriered off for whole swaths of the year. Barriered off public spaces are classic detractors of urban space.
All that being said, has anyone actually confirmed if these steps are regularly closed off in the first place?
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