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Downtown Crossing not only business district with a large, vacant nothingness at its core
By adamg on Wed, 09/29/2010 - 11:56pm
The Phoenix reports on a meeting this week about "the broken brick skeleton" in Dudley Square, otherwise known as the Ferdinand building:
Behind the original five-story structure, on a 33,000-square-foot lot between Washington and Warren streets, is a ditch to rival the universally scorned crater abutting Filene's.
"We hear a lot about the hole in downtown Boston," said City Councilor-At-Large Ayanna Pressley. "But we need to hear more about the hole in downtown Dudley."
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Comments
I am sorry, Councilor, but
I am sorry, Councilor, but most people don't even know what the hell Dudley Square IS, let alone have been there. It is amazing how much I hate the City of Boston and its residents.
A troll outs himself
> It is amazing how much I hate the City of Boston and its
> residents.
And why, might I ask, are you here -- in this forum?
As usual
Hatred is rooted in willful ignorance.
I don't see how the second sentence follows from the first
Or vice versa, for that matter. Can you expand on this?
Unfortunately thanks to years
Unfortunately thanks to years of I-695 demolition fallout, crack, and arson for profit, once the El was removed Dudley really stopped having any kind of meaning to 95% of the people living in the city. What should be the equivalent of a Central Square is now really closer to a Sullivan.
The saddest thing is, unlike
The saddest thing is, unlike Boston's other great holes, the Ferdinand Building has been owned by the BRA since May 2006 and Boston has still not done anything with it.
http://www.masslandrecords.com/malr/controller?com...
Do the BRA-Bash
Nothing new for the fine folks at the BRA. They buy up property to prevent anything from happening on it that they don't have control over. Until they can get the things lined up properly, they would never let anyone (especially a community-based organization) try and do anything on a property. By "lined up properly" I mean some city planners wet dream of a development idea that has nothing to do with the people who currently live near the site, a developer (non-profit or for profit, don't matter much) who is willing to let the mayor spray his stink all over the project and of course the deposit into the Mayor's campaign fund and/or ancillary commercial development opportunities queued up for BRA/Mayoral friends.
For Dudley that might mean a big Boys and Girls Club facility or some sort of Menino Memorial Yadda-Yadda Community Building with the adjacent mixed use condos being owned by whoever replaces Winn Properties as the favored developer (making use of consultants who formerly worked at the BRA).
Or am I just being cynical again...?
Dud...ley
I think what the postings here want to say, is that Dudley Square means nothing to people who don't live near it, travel through its very active bus terminal, or shop at the few stores that remain.
I could go out on a limb and say that Dudley doesn't matter to white people, but I'd be called out on race baiting. So let's say that Dudley only matters to the predominantly black, poor people who live near it.
Don't worry, it's in a primo location and I'm sure as soon as the BRA gets things rolling on Fort Point (or whatever the hell they call it now), they've got Dudley squarely in their sights to drive out the locals and expand the South End towards it.
If only it could get a re-branding..."DudBo?...The Dudley District?"
wrong!
There are lots of people of all races and socio-economic groups who care about Dudley and many of them showed up Monday night to testify at the public hearing about Ferdinand's development.
Just because the city's been ignoring us doesn't mean we're not here.
Great!
In a case like this, I'd enjoy being wrong more often!
Here's hoping Dudley can return to being an economically vibrant center as well as a culturally vibrant locale in Boston (and not get the character gentrified out of it).
How about Harvard's Hell Hole?
The councilor appears to be utterly silent about that big hole that's sitting in North Allston and was once slated to be Harvard's $1 billion science complex.
At least in the case of North Allston, there are substantial private funds potentially available to develop the site, which is a situation with more potential for a councilor's bully pulpit to help move something along.
Is Pressley ignoring Downtown Allston? Is she a councilor at-large, or representing only parts of the city?
And he swings and misses!
She spoke at a hearing specifically about the Ferdinand building. Which you'd know by following the link. I have no doubts that were the BRA to hold a meeting in Allston and she attended, she'd speak about Harvard.
Downtown Allston?
Really?
Indeed
Yeah, even if there were such a thing as "downtown Allston" the giant Harvard hole is nowhere near it.