Harbor Islands to get visitor center - on the Rose Kennedy Greenway

By adamg on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 5:01pm

The Greenway Conservancy, which oversees the land where the Central Artery used to be, yesterday approved a proposal to build a visitor-center "pavilion" for the Boston Harbor Islands national park on what is now a grassy field near Columbus Park.

The visitor center, which will be staffed by Natinal Park Service workers and volunteers is meant to "increase awareness of the offshore park, and will also provide information services for Greenway users, whether they are neighbors or visitors to Boston," NPS says.

But one advocacy group, Save Boston's Greenway Gardens, is skeptical, because it says there's been little public discussion about the plan:

A new building on public land in the heart of Boston merits a thorough and transparent review with real opportunities for public input.

Meanwhile, the Herald reports the state Department of Transportation, which actually owns the land, has scrapped all proposals for two other parts of the Greenway, including a planned Boston history museum. Matt Conti has more on the Parcel 9 issue.

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Comments

Save Greenway Gardens is confused

By Ron Newman on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 5:26pm.

The objection from Save Boston's Greenway Gardens appears to be based on a misunderstanding. The pavilion is proposed for the parcel between Quincy Market and Christopher Columbus Park -- which is blocks north of the 'Central Garden' parcel that Save Boston's Greenway Gardens wants to protect.

Two Pavilions

By Matt C on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 7:57pm.

Actually, there were two pavilions discussed at yesterday's meeting. The one that was "approved" is the Harbor Islands Pavilion on Parcel 14 (between Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market and Christoper Columbus Park). Its construction should start in April 2010 with a planned finish date of December 2010.

The second pavilion referred to by the Greenway Gardens group was shown on the screen as a diagram for Parcel 21 (near Intercontinental Hotel). There was quite a controversy at the meeting between the horticulture community and the Conservancy on this idea. Strangely, it is not mentioned in the Greenway blog post. The Conservancy was asked to post the diagram (and all the slides) online, but they refused. The Conservancy has hired an architect and are planning future "working sessions" on the Parcel 21 redesign. Board chair Peter Meade emphasized "we are not building a building" though it kind of looked like one.

I hope to write up more highlights from the meeting at NorthEndWaterfront.com.

Finish date of DECEMBER? I

By J on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 1:46am.

Finish date of DECEMBER? I love it. It's like every park (or park addition) is ALWAYS scheduled to open as the first snow falls upon us.

Last year, Fan Pier park had that honor.

Did you purposefully push the

By hrm on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:27am.

Did you purposefully push the far more important Parcel 9 discussion to the bottom of this post, instead of giving it the separate post it deserves? Something about this blog's ridiculous NIMBY bent?

Never ascribe conspiracy when simple ignorance will do

By adamg on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 7:52am.

I'll be honest: Around lunchtime, I had no clue about Parcel 9. I did know about the pavilion (well, one of them, anyway), because somebody e-mailed me about it. So I wrote that up. Then I saw the Herald story and, busy with other stuff at the time, simply added that to the post.