Hubbub over city proposal to move statue in the heart of Mattapan Square

By adamg on Thu, 03/24/2022 - 9:44am

The Dorchester Reporter reports on a city plan to make Mattapan Square safer for pedestrians that would include moving one of the "heritage statues" now there.

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Mattapan Square

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Nope

By Don't Panic on Fri, 03/25/2022 - 1:29am.

The last time the City moved a statue from a Black community in Boston they lost it for like 50 years and never even tried to put it back once found.
http://goodoldboston.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-disappearance-of-general-j...

Your link doesn't say the

By anon on Fri, 03/25/2022 - 2:12pm.

Your link doesn't say the city didn't try to put it back. It says, "there was no apparent interest by current Roxbury residents in a statue of a dead white guy." Though it doesn't cite this claim.

Of course it doesn't

By Don't Panic on Sun, 03/27/2022 - 11:27pm.

That was just my opinion as a long time inner-city resident. The city would have had to either build a new triangle for it or you know just set it up on the grassy area near Regent and Warren Street. But as noted the allure of statuary celebrating the guy who sent Paul Revere on his way has faded.

I used to pass it every day on my way to and from St. Joseph's Parochial School back in the sixties. No one was complaining about it then and it never got vandalized.

I get the symbolism

By ScottB on Fri, 03/25/2022 - 8:00am.

With how the placement of the statues was chosen. I don't think it quite works in practice, though. The road is too wide, with supports for the traffic signals on the island in the middle of the intersection, for the statues and their pedestals to feel like they form a gateway to Mattapan. I think drivers might notice the one on their side of the road if they're not too distracted by traffic in the intersection or looking at their phones, and unfortunately the location of the statues on islands makes them a bit pedestrian-unfriendly. I always feel like I need to be watching out for traffic when I'm standing on small islands like those.

Moving one without moving the other destroys the gateway concept and I don't think that's right, either. Maybe they could both go somewhere with high pedestrian traffic, maybe 10 to 20 feet apart so that they are more noticeable as a pair and also in a place where passersby can pause to appreciate the artwork?

Yeah, I don't see their

By anon on Fri, 03/25/2022 - 2:16pm.

Yeah, I don't see their current placement as particularly prominent. And they're at risk of getting knocked over by a car. https://goo.gl/maps/A4nVQVohNeujXjsZ9

I'm not a landscape architect, but I'd suggest putting them on more prominent bases at the ends of the bridge railings.