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South Boston tar pits now decorated in brick pattern
By adamg on Fri, 05/27/2016 - 8:17am
The Pave the Earth movement wins a victory in South Boston (pre-painting photo).
City officials have had the asphalt islands recently installed at Emerson and East 3 Streets painted to look like cobblestones.
Officials had to step in this week to try to calm a burgeoning text war being fought over the city's 311 system over the new raised islands that has pitted people who don't understand the preference for asphalt over trees and bushes and people who love how asphalt acts as a dog and addict repellent.
311 is now filling up with complaints such as this one:
Is this really what the final product of the Emerson St. And East Third St. Project going to look like? Just a bunch of tar pits? I thought the plans we got on our doors had some green space. Maybe some trees or shrubs. It looks awful as a tar pit. Not an improvement.
The city is now replying to these complaints like this:
This project has been developed working closely with the community to address safety and parking concerns at the intersection of Emerson St, East Third St, and H St. The design that is currently being constructed, which had approval from the community, has been balanced to maximize available parking to the extent possible, enhance safety, and improve accessibility. The issue of landscaping was discussed during the community process and, based on feedback from the community; a preferred design was chosen that did not include any landscaping elements. The final design will incorporate a red imprinted brick pattern in the areas of the sidewalk that are currently paved with asphalt. The installation of the imprinted pattern is scheduled to be installed soon.
Opponents of any greenery at the islands are jumping onto 311 and filing their own, less diplomatic responses:
Will people just get a life. I for one think it looks fine. It looks WAAAAAY better that it did before this process started and it was a dirt patch. Yes that's right a dirt patch, all of those who are complaining prob never knew that because you (a) didn't live here then or (b) live no where near here. This is NOT a park, this is something to help with traffic and parking so trees, bushes and all that other stuff can be found at any of our neighborhoods multiple parks. Thank you COB for adding parking and making the area more ped friendly. Do not listen to the "caught in southie" followers malarkey.
Au contraire, an Emerson Street resident who wants trees retorts.
One opponent of anything green explained the love of tar:
Please leave the tar island just the way it is. We do not want trees or shrubs that will attract disease ridden mosquitos, dog walkers who will allow their dogs to urinate and leave feces, or another place for the junkies to leave their used syringes behind. Furthermore, we think the uncluttered tar island has a clean look to it. I, for one, say "Bravo" to the city for cleaning this area up. Thank you.
Faux bricks (photo by Eileen Murphy):
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
Never change, Southie. Never
Never change, Southie. Never change.
Oh it is changing...
The SoBo revolution is well underway.
- The Original SoBo Yuppie
Things change. But whatever
Things change. But whatever the change that will come, I truly wish to you that it is not your forced, cringe-inducing marketing term created to pander to New Yorker than by any organic growth of the populace.
Plant barbed cactus and
Plant barbed cactus and everyone except dogs and druggies are happy.
Its southie, no one here will
Its southie, no one here will every be happy. Maybe if Trump wins they will smile for a minute, but they will soon find something to whine about.
Please
Someone get some dinosaur toys, cut them in half and install them as it it were a true tar pit!
Art | not art!
Already fixed
Actually, they already painted it red this week and stamped it to look like cobblestone. Not as good as grass, but better than tar. I'd imagine the city couldn't maintain a patch of grass or planters.
Trees would definitely be an awful idea here as it's a tricky intersection with cars crisscrossing without stop signs. You wouldn't be able to see an oncoming car if they planted a tree.
Thanks for the update
I've updated the original post with the imprint news.
the paint/brick looks nice!
the paint/brick looks nice!
It'd be cool if they put a couple big planter urns or something on it. Maybe the neighborhood association can do that. Just to add some life to it, there's some green, but nothing that can be used as a dog bathroom.
...nothing that can be used
Except the street surface, the curb, and the island surface - pretty much exactly the same as if the island surface was dirt or grass.
"Better than tar?"
Its still tar, its just red tar now.
huh?
"We do not want trees or shrubs that will attract disease ridden mosquitos,"
mosquitoes aren't attracted to non flowering plants like most generic shrubs or trees the city would plant. if this was a flower bed with a stagnant water feature you might have a point, but its a stretch to claim that this was a dengue/zika/malaria super hazard in waiting.
Wha?
Exactly. So ignorant that I don't know where to begin.
Meanwhile, adding that much paving - brick appearance or no - to an already greenery deficient area won't help their health much this weekend given the obvious heat increasing effect of pavement.
Wait
Won't the groves in the tar hold water which in turn could attract mosquitoes.
Maybe
Once enough people decide to park on the decorative faux brick and start ruts going, it will be a bigger problem.
What's missing
from this story is how many parking spaces were eliminated from this very busy area in front of the post office and how none of our elected officials had the balls to get involved in this fiasco.
In Fields Corner
When they reconfigured the intersection of Dot and Adams a few years ago, they bumped out the sidewalk in front of the post office and 2 banks, for more room for pedestrians, I guess. In the process they eliminated all but one of the parking spaces and posted no parking/no stopping.
Of course people still stop there but now they're blocking traffic.
Something similar in Upham's
Something similar in Upham's Corner. On the southwest corner of Columbia and Dudley, they have the bulge out for the pedestrian crossing and then the curbline slowly tapers back in to the regular sidewalk width for that block.
If they had simply had the bulge-out and then immediately back in like a lot of other spots in the city, there would be a clear, practical limit to parking. Not talking about the regulatory signs, those can just get ignored.
What ended up happening is people now see, "Hey! There's a nearly straight run of curb behind that last car. I can fit behind it!" and end up with the rear end of their car sticking out into the right lane of Columbia.
O!!! M!!! G!!!!!
WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CARS!!! WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY EVER CONSIDER THE POOR, INNOCENT CARS???!!!?!!!
Get out of here with that
This project is called the Linehan Island in City Hall. I'm pretty sure he was elected.
So, in a few months time
we're going to have worn painted faux "stonework" that looks awful, whereas it we had left the tar alone, it will eventually fade to a uniform gray color. And our tax dollars are paying for this foolishness.
It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
If I had any artistic talent
If I had any artistic talent I would graffiti the hell out of that asphalt right now.
Funny how people move to the
Funny how people move to the big city from the suburbs - often New York suburbs - and want to bring the grass and trees with them. And then they can't wait to spew bile on suburbanites.
Exactly
These transplants don't understand that they moved to the city where there is a lot of concrete and asphalt. You don't like or understand that? Then move back to the 'burbs and sit on your mother's lawn drinking mimosas with your sister.
Huh?
What about the people who grew up in city and would really like to see something green closer then the suburbs or the Public Garden?
Green space is good where it is appropriate
This is a TRAFFIC ISLAND.
Yeah!
Now get outta the way while I go to dunks to get my iced regular in my jorts, new balance sneakers, celts shirt to hang out with nick, mick and dick to rip on the transplants.
Green Traffic Islands
They do exist. Check out Hyde Sq in JP.
And the neighbors take care of them with plantings in the spring/summer.
You should go to Montreal and
You should go to Montreal and check out what they do there. Because they get it right with the green spaces - in the middle of a city! And with real subway too!
Wait till it get's tagged
City workers will visit often to remove spray paint. Which wouldn't have happened with just a simple planting, but hey, why have real living plants when you can have fake something else?
I want it painted to look
I want it painted to look like a luxury condo!
Sidewalk Width
Putting trees and bushes aside for the moment, my question is this: Why did they make the actual sidewalks so narrow?
I walked through there last weekend and there's barely enough room for two people to walk side by side without stepping into the street or up on to the dreaded Tar Island.
I understand why the existing sidewalks are narrow throughout Southie, but this is brand new. It makes no sense to me.
Why faux brick instead of,
Why faux brick instead of, say, actual bricks?
Probably because real bricks
Probably because real bricks are a pain in the ass to maintain.
I think it depends on how
I think it depends on how smooth and level it needs to stay. Over time bricks heave and settle, while asphalt cracks and crumbles. If you can tolerate a little bumpiness then brick is great.
Cost
It's probably close to 10x cheaper to pave and then stamp/paint the brick-like pattern than to lay city standard pavers. Asphalt is cheap cheap cheap compared to pavers, and that doesn't even count maintenance.
The tar union has more clout than the brick layers union?
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2016/04/07/beacon-hill-battle-of...
The faux bricks seems to be a
The faux bricks seems to be a fair and smart compromise to me. Meets the objectives of the arguments of both sides. Provides a nicer feeling of why people were arguing for the plant and trees but avoids the issues of standing space and attracts annoyances like dog poop. Provides all the same utilitarians usage without the ugly, cheap feel of being just tar.
Not cobblestones
Nor faux cobblestones.
Cobblestones are natural ( and not red) stone, not man-made brick. The terms aren't interchangeable.
Beacon Hill
They wouldn't do this on the Hill. And by the way, if some handicap person in s wheelchair wanted to go up on the asphalt part of the island they couldn't. These don't look like they are ADA compliant.