Nightfall after the storm
By adamg - Thu, 03/06/2008 - 12:13am.
After today's torrential rains, nightfall was quite something - an amazing palette of blues. Above is the view toward the World Trade Center West building from the South Boston convention center (where I've spent the past three days) this evening. Below is the view toward downtown from the bridge between the convention center and the World Trade Center.
Maria Varmazis, also at the convention center, pointed her camera toward the Back Bay. She also photographed all 900 people at the Drupal conference there as well as the exhibition floor at the much larger AIIM show.
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I couldn't imagine spending
I couldn't imagine spending three days in the bleak, pedestrian hell that is the Waterfront District.
Oh, if I were walking around there for three days ...
Yeah, I'd agree. But I spent virtually all my time inside the convention center at sessions that were both interesting and useful (hey, I learned stuff, woot!) with people who are really, really into what they were doing, which is kind of infectious, so it was all good. Plus, Monday night, I got to walk from the convention center to Downtown Crossing, which I suppose would get boring after awhile, but I don't tend to get down that way very much. I would've done it Tuesday and Wednesday, too, but Tuesday it poured and Wednesday, those wind guests just pushed me right into Courthouse station, which left me with the question of why the hell is that station so large? It's not like a lot of people use it, that I can tell, but I suppose the T was thinking ahead to the days when Fan Pier is finally built out.
Courthouse station should have more entrances at its east end
for use by whatever developer finally builds on that property. I don't know how long that will take. The Silver Line got built before most of the development it was intended to serve.
Thank goodness you stayed inside.
Ron is right about the station, but I'm trying to imagine huge crowds piling up to squeeze onto Silver Line buses. Somehow the math isn't adding up. Especially when you take into consideration the ridiculously low speed limit in that bumpy tunnel.
I imagine it will eventually be like Kenmore, post-Sox on a regular basis.
Then again, the city would rather have you drive. In the "new" Boston the Waterfront represents, the pedestrian is deprecated.
There were some huge crowds at South Station in the morning
Mostly of people going to the convention center - on Tuesday, it was especially fun because the crowd just kept getting larger and larger and then four buses showed up all at once. Hey, just like the real buses the T claims the Silver Line isn't!
But in terms of walking, I guess that's what happens when you build a new "city" on top of a major highway interchange. Still, walking from the convention center to the "old" city across Fort Point Channel was not bad. There were sidewalks and crossing lights the whole way. Maybe it's worse on the other side of the World Trade Center. ...
The lack of any real "street
The lack of any real "street presence" is what really soured me on the area. As Ron said, it's still building up, but what is there is just...there. It seems to be about as friendly to pedestrian exploration as newly rebuilt sections of Cambridge. Endless, monotonous, blank walls of prefab concrete paneling and tinted glass. Little shelter or shade.
A place to drive to, complete a specific task and then drive away from.
I'm not sure how the neighborhood is supposed to be tied together in the years to come, but what exists now doesn't engender optimism, and the Silver Line is barely workable with any meaningful level of traffic.
The businesses would rather you drive too...
My lawyer is a few blocks from the World Trade Center stop. Their website says to park in some garage that's approximately eleventeen dollars per 15 minutes. Being a progressive sorta place, they do also say how to get there on public transit. But what's up with the fexpensive garages in that area? There's plenty of street parking just a couple blocks away. Of course, the businesses in that area largely cater to people who aren't from the city, so they're not going to know that they're actually not in a congested downtown area despite all the shiny buildings and valet parking. But still, it just disturbs me that people actually pay this kind of money for parking in an area where parking's really not a premium and it's an easy walk to free parking.
Area will be more pedestrian-friendly when it is built up
The main thing that makes this area unpleasant to walk through is the large amount of land that is either parking lots or just plain vacant lots. That will get filled in over time. Until then, this is the windiest part of our city.
No "there" there as yet
I was involved with organizing some breakout sessions for a conference there a year ago. It was very difficult to find restaurant space for satellite functions, since there isn't any "there" there. I ended up using my minivan as a shuttle to get people to an offsite function and then over to where the hotels are.
People attending the conference were rather unhappy with the whole isolated location, made worse by the lack of ways to get into and out of there to the hotel zone. These were public health professionals who were not adverse to walking, either - they just found the transport accomodations to be poorly signed and implemented as of November, 2006.
I support the idea of putting the Convention Center out where the city would like to expand. The problem is that transit and pedestrian infrastructure should precede such a facility, not wait until it has been there a while. If the facilities had been laid out well (including after hours) as of the opening of the center, I think it would attract businesses more quickly.
Good points
I'm assuming public-health professionals would steer clear of the Eastern Pier :-). Also, how did the WTC stop wind up where it is? Whether you're going to the World Trade Center or (especially) the convention center, you're going to get wet if it rains or snows.
It definitely needs a roof.
It definitely needs a roof. Hopefully, when the megamall with its enormous walls is built, it includes sidewalk cover.
I agree
I enjoy the walk to and from South Station to that area because it's some much-needed downtime, but I heard so many visitors to the area complaining how boring the BCEC area was. I can imagine being tired at the end of a long day, you might be up for exploring the city, but not if feels so out of the way. Can't complain about the ease of driving access to the area, but walking down Summer Street from South Station... it does feel a bit like no-man's-land. You'd think with the overpriced BCEC food restaurants would be popping up all over the place nearby for people who don't want to shell out $3.75 for a hot dog.