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Marking room for more snow in the Back Bay
By adamg on Sat, 01/31/2015 - 9:27pm
Christopher spotted one of those snow melters in action in the Back Bay tonight.
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Comments
Intersections
While they are ridding the downtown areas of snow perhaps they could spare some employees to shovel out the major intersections and crosswalks in the city. Kenmore Sq still has only foot paths in the 4ft snow banks. The city always seems to ignore this and many other squares, let alone major crosswalks, etc.
The MBTA is to blame too -- they are quick to clear our the station platforms but then ignore nearly everything else abutting their property. (If you call to complain you'll hear about some stupid dispute between the T/City/State which results in no one doing the work and every agency blaming the other.)
Back Bay isn't downtown.
Back Bay isn't downtown.
Actually
That thing was also melting snow along Tremont in front of the visitors center and that IS Downtown. I prefer to think they are making room for a duckboat parade.
Sure it is
You are confusing downtown with the Financial district.
I've lived in Back Bay for 22 years and when people ask me where I live, I tell them downtown Boston (as opposed to a local whom I would just tell Back Bay, figuring that has more meaning).
I consider downtown everything bounded by Mass Ave and water and these days Fenway and the Seaport could probably make pretty good arguments that they fit the definition of downtown as well.
PS - Cappy - GREAT THINKING! Go Pats!
sorry! no one refers to Back
sorry! no one refers to Back Bay as downtown other than people who refer to South Boston as SoBo. Thanks for playing though!
downtown Boston map
http://www.downtownboston.org/home/map-of-downtown/
Here ya go!
Thanks for the marketing propaganda
That's the Downtown BID - kind of a made up neighborhood defined by the local businesses who chip in to provide extra cleaning and security.
Go look up the term "downtown" and get back to us. It's not a name of a place - it's a description of an area - generally with a concentration of business activities.
Stevil, I love ya
But you don't live Downtown.
First, Back Bay is a very distinct area.
Second, Downtown is a very small area. North End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, South End, Bay Village, Chinatown- these define the limits of Downtown by not being Downtown. I will put the Financial District Downtown, just because.
You live "in town."
Two questions then
a) you meet someone who asks where you live and has no concept of Boston geography - and wants a succinct answer without too much detail. How would you describe living in Back Bay as opposed to say Roslindale to them in fewer than a 3-4 words? (I might use "in town" if I were speaking to someone from another part of the city - but not to someone that doesn't know local geography).
b) The area east of Mass Ave and bordering on water is very distinct from the rest of the city - mixed use, office buildings, dense residential in apartments or townhouses etc.
How would you broadly describe that area that includes Back Bay, Beacon Hill, West End, North End, South End, Waterfront, Financial district and the rest?
I have never thought of (or heard) a better description than downtown - and there is an association of downtown civic groups covering that area that calls itself ADCO - Alliance of Downtown Civic Organizations. Is that a misnomer when a group of people who actually live there collectively call the area downtown?
I think the definition of downtown may be evolving.
Listen, Back Bay is a
Listen, Back Bay is a beautiful neighborhood... why are you so hung up on wether or not it's considered downtown? Relax.
My humble opinion
a. Where there was the Back Bay should be the Back Bay neighborhood, but I would say Arlington to Mass Ave, Charles River to Huntington Ave, since technically the South End and Fenway were a part of the Back Bay before it was filled.
b. Like I said, "in town."
I work in the Back Bay. Were I to go to the Back Bay from Roslindale, I would say "in town." I go to Mass at St. Anthony's Shrine after work sometimes. For that and say trips to City Hall, I then go downtown? My counter would be this, what do you do when you go from your house to Macy's?
Here's the other thing. Back Bay is awesome. Great place. Downtown is just starting to get residents, so it is a bit of a ghost town (not as much as some say, but compared to other parts of town, it is.) Why would you want to be seen as being from Downtown? Same thing with Beacon Hill, North End, and Chinatown (I would imagine being in Bay Village entails explaining where it is, so I will leave them out.) I could say I am from West Roxbury (part of the old town) or just say "Southwest Boston." Sure, now the 100 people who watch Jimmy Kimmel know that Roslindale exists, but back in the day (when I went to high school with South Shore kids) it was unknown.
Gotta represent!
Original Point
Was some troglodytic anon equated calling Back Bay part of downtown Boston with calling South Boston Sobo.
Very proud to live in the Back Bay and downtown and Boston - spectacular everything from people to buildings.
Simply saying I consider "downtown Boston" to be much larger than just a pile of tall buildings surrounded by other neighborhoods that have more defined names and borders. Telling someone I meet on a plane I live in Back Bay after I tell them I live in Boston probably means nothing to them. Saying I live downtown is just shorthand without going into minutia. Downtown Boston pinpoints it to about half a mile - and I doubt anyone cares much after that. If they do (like the went to school here and are familiar with the area) they ask for specifics.
More importantly (and semi-officially), I am working with a group of "downtown" residents from Fenway to the North End on an umbrella group that works on inter-neighborhood issues like licensing, transportation, affordable housing, BRA etc.
To prove the point - if WE call ourselves "downtown residents" - who is someone who doesn't live here to say that we aren't. It's like a New Yorker telling someone from Quincy that it's pronounced KWIN-see.
More Melters PLease!
The City should have t lwast one for each neighborhood. Thanks Mayor Walsh
They had to borrow the ones
They had to borrow the ones they are currently using. Snow melters are absurdly expensive and not worth the cost when they're not needed every year.
None for JP
The Greens will have a melt down (No pun intended) if they ever find out how much diesel these things use per hour.
Where does the City dump the water?
To my knowledge, Massachusetts DEP has regulations against dumping snow.
To my knowledge
You cannot dump snow in rivers or the ocean but the snow melt will obviously end there. The reason for the dump ban has more to do with what is mixed in with the snow (garbage, plastic, animal waste etc).
The dump water is poured down the city drainage system. Just like it would if melted naturally.
Better than naturally
Naturally, melt runoff may still contain much of the physical debris depending on how easily it is carried off by the running water.
The melters are supposed to have a trap for physical objects so the only thing going down the drain is water (and anything dilute enough to be dissolved in it).
It looks like they just
It looks like they just vaporize it
Mostly not
What you don't see is the drain on one side.
Dump trucks out in Allston
Dump trucks out in Allston hauling away snow this morning. Would be nice for us if they use the Super Bowl parking ban to clear everything out, although annoying for the workers who miss the game.
Snow Melter Can Be Used For Snow Removal
''WALTHAM (CBS) – The average person doesn’t have a lot of options when it comes to snow removal. You can shovel, use a snow blower, or perhaps even get a plow to visit the yard.
But, commercial clients are going one step further by renting portable snow melters and speeding up the job mother nature takes her time getting done.
Antico Snow Removal in Waltham has one such snow melter, which it rents out for around $1200 an hour. It makes quick work of tons of snow, melting huge chunks in just minutes.
WBZ caught up with one in action at a Woburn parking lot, where the goal was to clear away as much as possible both to reclaim lost parking spots and to make room for more snow expected tomorrow ''
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/01/20/snow-melter-...
Mordor in the City
With all the snow and big machines steaming the air as though they were mechanical vents open to the inner core of the living Earth I can only wonder WWSD? (What would Sauron do?) Would he wear Manolos?
9 pairs of shoes for the Emily Rooneys who would never ride the subway
7 pairs of shoes for the Patriot fans who wear football shoes at SuperBowl parties
3 pairs of shoes for the Martha Coakley and dark powers of Partners who have lost their monopoly
1 pair Monolos to rule them all
1 pair to find them
1 pair to bring them all
And in the darkness stomp them.