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Instead of a park, South Boston Waterfront to get a walkway
By adamg on Fri, 02/03/2017 - 10:09am
The Globe reports the new owners of the massive Seaport Square land have Xed out longstanding plans for a park in the middle of the property and will instead give the BPDA plans for a walkway from Summer Street to the water that will be "narrower but longer, and friendlier to foot traffic."
From the current plans on file with the BPDA:
The Boston Business Journal reports the new owners, WS Development, have hired the architect of New York's High Line park to design the new promenade.
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Comments
That Sucks
Seaport is in dire need of some green space. It's good that the area is being built up, but it doesn't seem to be taking many cues from the trends elsewhere to build an urban neighborhood. Towers, wind swept sidewalks, and ground floor banks; meh.
its really sux.
south boston, south end, financial district, chinatown...this whole general area needs more green space.
marty step up!
why?
How much green space does it need? How much green space should the heart of a major city have?
Fuck Central Park. Amirite?
Fuck Central Park. Amirite?
this
Prospect park in Brooklyn is bigger than the common AND garden together.
The first day google earth came online was a real eye opener for me.
Seeing vast expanses of grey where there used to be green made it immediately clear how humans have caused global warming (or at least its acceleration). It baffles me how the deniers can face this evidence and shrug it off. Take 40% of our CO2 processing equipment (trees) away while simultaneously pumping carbon from the ground, burning it, and spewing it into the air. Nah, no harm could come of that (eye roll).
Planting a tree is LITERALLY the very least someone can do to help. It is cheap and requires minimum maintenance. On ramps, off ramps, clovers, and wide medians are the obvious places where I see a distinct lack of large vegetation/tree stands that could be remedied.
New development should always include the planting of large or medium growth trees IMO. Again, its the least they can do....
wind
You know, a lot of wind is generated by vehicles on highways ... can we get wind turbines along the medians and harness that?
I don't have the exact square
I don't have the exact square footage...but a helluva a lot more than we have now.
- South Boston Community Member
Some?
We don't need the RKG, but something like post office square that acts as a central hub to get away to would be nice. Parks also give you shade in the summer, clean the air, and help with city heat island problems on our hottest days.
I'm not sure if the after the break picture is the new plan, if so it looks fine. But if its a tree lined walkway, that stinks.
people should inform
people should inform themselves and make their own decisions after that, instead of jumping to conclusions or taking Lord Adams (jaded) opinion as their own.
If PO Square is your goal, this will blow it out of the water (as great as PO Square is). Its also a huge improvement over the previous road locked public square that had been proposed.
That's ...
His Most Excellent Majesty, Lord Adam to you.
adam, why not
john quincy adam gaffin?
Most excellent indeed.
http://www.geekportland.com/sites/default/files/Bill-and-Ted-3%5B1%5D.jpg
quality of life
Someone who's lived in NYC can probably speak to this better than I can, but from my visits one thing I love about the city is that the many little parks seem like they function as an extension of people's homes. When the weather is at all good, people are in the parks on their laptops, reading, eating, hanging out with the kids and dogs, etc. It seems to me that the parks make small living spaces more bearable, and are as key a part of any city as the buildings, streets and businesses.
And?
We also have that here in Boston. PO square, the greenway, Christopher Columbus park, The Common/Public Garden, and 2 parks that exist in the Seaport already. I'm not saying I'm against parks, but saying Boston NEED more parks downtown without any actual data to back this up is silly.
What sort of data?
What would this data look like though? We can determine the amount of green space in various cities throughout the world, but any judgement after that, including which of these cities is more livable, is going to be subjective.
I'm personally a fan of many smaller parks. I'm a lot more likely to be a frequent visitor to a small park a couple blocks away than I am to hop on the T to hang out at the Common or Greenway. But again, that's subjective. If the two existing Seaport parks you mention are within walking distance for most residents and not too crowded in the warm months, I might be inclined to agree with you that another park isn't needed. (I'd still welcome it though).
Barren windswept
Driving around the seaport district is very confusing. It is NOT pedestrian friendly at all
There doesn't seem to be any cohesiveness to it at all no tree lined boulevard or pedestrian / visually appealing reason that makes you want to walk around. Also no direct access to water
Total windswept and shadows everywhere
is there a master plan? Doesn't seem to be
Definitely needs much more green people friendly places
as much as possible!
bosguy22, as a Boston city dweller, which I assume you are given self-proclaimed user name, if you don't see the value of green space in Boston then continue to feel free NOT frequenting any of our beautiful city parks. Meanwhile, the rest of us Bostonians enjoy meeting friends in the park for conversation, walking through the Common, looking at birds in trees, breathing in 'fresher' city air, walking Fido at the Southie dog park, reading a book on the park bench, throwing a ball at Millennium Park, and getting ouside for some much neede R&R after a busy day/ week at work.
I don't understand the
I don't understand the concern. It sounds like there will be more square footage for public use and will be more useful since it will not just be a giant square in the middle of the property (outsiders sometimes don't feel comfortable if land looks like it is walled off.) A welcoming park and walkway to the water sounds much friendlier and more accommodating.
Some nice parks already in the Seaport
Of course, the landscaping will take some time to mature, as most of them are new: Q Park (dog-friendly), Seaport Common, Fan Pier Park, the MA Fallen Heroes Memorial, Eastport Park, Marine Industrial Park and the soon-to-be-built Martin Richard Children's Park are just a few off the top of my head. And of course there's the Harborwalk.
I am of course in favor of more parks, but it's not just a cement wasteland here.
How about this idea:
Seaport Boulevard is far too wide. There is a gigantic barren island in the middle of the road that has no functionality. There is plenty of underground parking in the new buildings. Cars speed down Seaport Blvd. now and the pedestrian and cycling experience suffer as a result.
Eliminate curbside parking (meters) on Seaport. Reconfigure the road so there are two vehicle lanes and a bicycle lane in each direction. Widen the center island and landscape it with trees, grass, benches and art as Commonwealth Avenue Mall is now in the Back Bay.
Win, win, win.
BPDA
Well, here's a chance to see if the NEW and IMPROVED BRA, the Boston Preening and Dissembling Administration (BPDA) will actually do anything. Nothing better than building out every square inch of filled-in mudflats. There better be some serious insurance-related stipulations that puts the developers on the hook for these things once they start flooding.
Seaport
Would be a lot nicer if they had parks in different areas of the Seaport, much like San Francisco has Alamo Square, etc where nearby residents could use them.
Either / Or?
Yet another developers' Sophie's Choice to the community. Public park (community benefit) versus public waterfront access (compliance with Massachusetts state law). Column A AND column B are win-win for everyone, including the developer. Boston Strong includes quality of life.
boston strong...?
the marketing tool? or a different one that i'm unaware of
Here are the new plans,
in case anyone's interested in envisioning something besides "a park with a red X through it":
Thanks
This is a much better depiction of what we're talking about. A narrow alley lined by tall, featureless buildings that looked like they were moved from 128 to the seaport and dumped. I'm sure this will be an inviting destination space that will beckon Bostonians near and far to come down and get windblown while scurrying past the glass and steel looking for a Legal Sea Foods.
The Disinnervation District is a massive planning fail and the sooner it slips into the harbor the better.
indeed
it actually manages to be more lame than i envisioned
One good thing it will do is
One good thing it will do is provide more pedestrian-friendly connections from Summer Street to Seaport. Of course, I dont think they're factoring in how much of a wind tunnel this thing is going to be.
they did factor in the wind tunnel
depending on the direction you're walking it is being marketed as a speed enhancer or a calorie burner
Is this supposed to be good?
I would say this clearly backs up Adams statement that it's a walkway. I'd prefer the park with the red X.
It's public art!
I vote we incorporate a large red X sculpture into any future park planning.
Well
That's no PO Square, nor even a small neighborhood park.
I'll reiterate, that sucks.
Big park w 4 lane roads around it
I'd like 2 tree-alleys which were a little more winding or offset with narrow buildings between them .
A big park in that spot would just have a bunch of crazies zipping around the roads. The greenway is not relaxing with all the road stress around it.
Promenade?
That is an alley / wind tunnel.