[img]http://johnakeithrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads...
It's not the most-appealing section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, that's for sure. It's to be expected, though, given its location near the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and South Station, and given that it includes what I believe to be a ventilation shaft / garage.
Not much happens here. During the hour I sat nearby, about ten to twenty people stopped by the sandwich truck. The only other occupants were hundreds of pigeons who flew in and out of the "park".
Oh, and a guy on a stand-up lawnmower looking terribly uncomfortable as he cut grass that didn't need cutting.
What could fill this space instead of grass? How about a croquet field?
How about a helipad?
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Comments
beauty is in the simplicity of it
By anon
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 6:04pm
Nope, just the simple green patch of grass. It's like a breath of fresh air to see grass growing downtown for no other reason then to serve the public as a park.
Make that blank wall a public rock-climbing wall
By Ron Newman
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 6:08pm
Open 24 hours a day, it can become a magnet for both participants and spectators. Persuade someone like Boston Rock Gym or EMS or REI to sponsor it.
The parcel is empty now because it was supposed to be the site of Mass Horticultural Society's Garden Under Glass, and the state has never figured out what should go there once that scheme failed to raise sufficient funds.
Boston EMS could sponsor a
By anon
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 6:13pm
Boston EMS could sponsor a public rock-climbing wall. Do they get paid by the 911 call? ;)
rock climbing wall
By Casey
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 8:35am
Great idea—the rock climbing wall. Embrace it.
Good Thing...
By NorthEnd
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 6:48pm
They haven't built any tall buildings here yet to ruin this pristine landscape with horrible shadows!
As for the empty field -- how about a German biergarten?
By Ron Newman
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 6:50pm
Make it a public beer garden, open every warm-weather night until 2 am.
Seconded.
By anon
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 8:57pm
Seconded.
Thirded!
By HenryAlan
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 12:13pm
Thirded!
my friend and i were talking
By greenlinetobrooklyn
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 9:59pm
my friend and i were talking about doing just this with the greenspace at the opposite end of the greenway, by TD bank
Ein Prosit!
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 6:09am
I'll g'suffa to that idea.
Great idea, in theory...
By Big Baby Jesus
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 9:27am
but look up the video of the punks in Chinatown punching cars, only to meet up with a aluminum bat wielding
douche, and reconsider this. We can't have nice things in boston, because of shit heads who refuse to grow up.
Yes, that is indeed
By roadman
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 7:22pm
one of the ventilation buildings for the underground tunnel. And the doors on the building not only serve to gain access to the machinery inside, I believe they also are the emergency exits from the tunnel (the northbound tube if I recall correctly) in case people have to abandon their cars in flight should fire, flood, or other such nastiness suddenly invade.
vent-phant
By John-W
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 7:50pm
It's got sort of an elephant vibe to it. Or maybe a "killroy was here" kind of figure but with one of the ghosts from pac-man? Really, just take another drag and you'll be amazed at what you see in that muave monstrosity.
Bocce courts! Or show movies
By katken
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 7:55pm
Bocce courts! Or show movies in the evening on that giant blank wall.
Wow look,
By Anon²
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 8:01pm
Another JK post slamming the RK Greenway. How surprising.
I mean, think of all that wasted real estate space, and those asinine laws preventing mega towers on the harbor side. Sucks, where are we to put some more million dollar condos so JK can get some more work?
/snark off
In reality, I think JK picks the worst times possible so he can go and take empty lot photos of the Greenway to support his narrative. I took a nice long walk on Saturday and the entire greenway was bustling local people walking around, tourists, people sunning themselves or playing with balls, from the garden all the way down to the intercontinental.
Granted, above was the only section not, but it's a pretty small parcel, and it connects an open tiled area that has been used as a farmers market during the summer months for the past two or three years. If John bothered to stop by lunchtime, he would have also see the grass in the picture being used by the local BSC and others using it to catch some sun, or read a book, or just enjoying some green in the cncrete jungle that is the financial district.
JK, you need to get out more if all your pictures of the greenway look like something from a post apocalyptic wasteland....
So angry
By JohnAKeith
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 8:45pm
I don't know why you feel the need to lash out when all I did was post a photo. The earlier photo essay I posted here showed a lot going on in different parcels and I seem to remember giving high marks to the Greenway (higher than a lot of people do! - I gave it a B-, as is).
I don't remember making any editorial comments here one way or another on what should or shouldn't be built on the Greenway. As Ron Newman mentioned, this parcel specifically was designated to be built on. Some of the parcels will remain green while others will have buildings.
I don't know why you question my profession. I've never pushed real estate here or anywhere else. Anyone with any sense would realize that building any residential down there would have limited success; it took a long time to sell out the InterContinental.
I've never been a strong supporter of building on the harbor side of the Greenway although I think there's a case to be made to build on the Aquarium site. I think the people who live at Harbor Towers (such as you?) are smug and selfish to not allow anything of any size to be built there. Beyond that spot, however, few parcels exist to build upon. (The city has designated the space where James Hook Lobster is, as well as next door at the Coast Guard / Northern Ave bridge.)
You're confusing a tongue-in-cheek comment on my part for something more sinister.
I forget, what did you suggest should be built there?
Before the Central Artery was
By anon
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 8:17pm
Before the Central Artery was built, it was private property. How about selling it off and returning it to the tax roles?
There's still a highway under this parcel
By Ron Newman
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 9:32pm
so at most you could sell air rights, not the land itself. Next you'd have to determine just how large a building the tunnel cap can support, and how to build without disturbing the buried highway.
Engineering study
By fenwayguy
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 12:33am
Did MassHort ever complete an engineering study, or was that part unfunded too?
Half of the entire damned
By anon
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 10:29am
Half of the entire damned waste of space needs to be built upon. I agree with the poster who suggests selling it. That's not a park--that is an empty lot.
Actually, if they would cultivate it as a wildflower meadow it might be kinda cool. But not a mowed grass lot.
Whit
As I recall, once the decision to build the Greenway
By roadman
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 4:54pm
was made, the tunnel superstructure design was greatly simplified (thus saving money). Therefore, it doesn't appear that building structures on the Greenway is feasible.
And lest anyone forget that, during Big Dig construction, at least a couple of nationally prominent landscape architects cautioned against building the Greenway in the form that ultimately evolved. Their concerns were that it would be much too large to effectively operate and maintain as public open space.
The picture does seem oddly
By anon
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 9:50am
The picture does seem oddly framed to cut out the large, profuse flower gardens to the right next to the road, and to the left behind the Clover truck.
Great flower gardens cropped out
By Anon
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 11:12am
Yep, there are great flower gardens to the left, behind where the truck is located, all along that side of the park. Go take a look there -- it's beautifully in bloom right now.
Nopee
By JohnAKeith
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 11:24am
Blame my Blackberry, not me. :O)
Cropping out the flower beds
By anon
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 12:21pm
Cropping out the flower beds pretty much dismisses the credibility of the original post. Lame.
I didn't recognize that as the Clover Truck
By Sarcastic Sam
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 12:44pm
because there weren't 25 people in line!
Walked down there today
By Anon²
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 6:15pm
Walked down there today around 1pm.
The market was bustling, about 25-30 people were at the truck, and a good 20-30 sitting on the lawn enjoying the area.
Such a failure!
Yes, at certain time the place is a desolate, deserted area. But that goes for all of the / financial district south of congress street after 6pm besides a few pubs.
Why not still try for...
By Love them shadows
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 10:01am
the Garden Under Glass?
Shouldn't the overpaid Conservancy be trying to line up alternate sources of funding for what was, perhaps, the one bright idea of the original design?
Make it a beer garden under
By HenryAlan
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 12:17pm
Make it a beer garden under glass and the financing becomes easy.
Lunchtime
By anon
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 11:17am
Whenever I have gone around lunch time, this area is bustling, and not just on the days of the farmers market. Knucklebones (http://www.knucklebones.us/Free_Events.html) sets up here to encourage urbanites to play (granted, it is not everyday)...