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Carbon credits?
Perhaps Parish Cafe could write a check to Al Gore and take care of the matter? On the envelope, they should be sure to use an ink that will stand-up to the snow and cold in Boston, October 2011.
Wow, you are batting 0.000 lately
Is this some sort of slam out of left field at climate change?
First, local weather <> climate.
Second, the average date of first frost in Boston is roughly the first week of October - so we're actually quite overdue.
Third, if you insist on ignoring point one and point two above, I'll remind you that a mere two weeks ago we had three(!) days in the 80s, with some parts of Boston reaching 90 on the 9th!
Fourth, what does any of this have to do with cutting down healthy trees along a stretch of sidewalk that could use more of them?
Oy.
Now, now, now..
if you just ignore FISH, he'll go back to the Breitbart sites, the Free Republic and the Herald, where his refreshing opinions are not only the norm, they're singled out for their proper spelling.
My understanding is that carbon "offsets" pay for tree planting
@Jeff F "Is this some sort of slam out of left field at climate change?"
---
No. Just a slam of carbon
credits"offsets." The thread is about a tree after all, and the "offsets" supposedly pay to plant new ones.BTW, if local weather is irrelevant, why cite a few recent warm days around here?
Why?
To show that even if one were to accept the false premise implied by your inital comment - you still don't make any sense.
There is a reason it is called "Climate Change"
Not every place will get warmer ... but nearly everyone will see changes. Not all changes will be bad, either - my brother's area of Alberta is already planning 30 years out for climate refugees as they stand to benefit substantially from changing climate.
We've been getting a whole lot wetter lately, and trending that direction as the CO2 and global average temperatures have risen.
So, the possibly hottest day on record (had it been measured where they measured temps in 1911) in the last year doesn't mean as much as the mounting deluge the northeast has been experiencing due to larger and more severe storms than in the past and the el nino/la nina cycle throwing more water into the jet stream.
Our year-to-year weather tends to be cycled according to the North Atlantic Oscillation ... but its getting a lot more water to work with these days.
BTW, did you know that snowy winters are actually WARMER than non-snowy winters (but colder than rainy winters, of course). Same forces in effect - wet from the west and south mixes with northern cold and BAM - snow. Cold air dominating? NYC gets it.
Politics may be local, but Mother Nature always bats last.
He's just mad
and a little annoyed that his guy Brownie will be a one hit wonder.
I mean, if you wake up and see the opposition was able to pack a room with 500+ volunteers, a year before the election, with only a small announcement / call for help a few days beforehand; you too would be grumpy.
"Professor" "Betti" Warren apparently get's on OFISH's nerve.
Occupy the Ballroom?
Did Betti write the academic foundation of their beliefs?
Win for the neighbors!
Win for the neighbors!
Isn't it more pleasant to sit under a tree?
I'm not intimately familiar with the area, but isn't it more pleasant to sit next to/under a tree than on an uninterrupted paved slab?
I don't understand why they can't just have seating around the trees as many other sidewalk cafes seem to do just fine.
What is ya, ignunt?
It's the South End! Nature is only allowed in certain areas! That way people don't have to worry about fresh air, only that they can be seen enjoying their thirteen dollar Nicoise Salad with only the slightest hint of auto exhaust.
Now that's good eatin'!
Have any of you actually
Have any of you actually looked at these trees? http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mass+ave+and+tremont...
General Sherman these are not.
I say the city offer to sell the owners rights to the parking spots, push the curb out to make room for cafe space plus planting soil space enough to ensure healthy trees, then plant new ones. Win win win.
Those be some mighty small trees
Also, who the hell wants to eat outside at that corner anyways?
People eat outdoors at Mass. Ave. and Newbury
overlooking a Mass Pike onramp even, at The Other Side Cafe.
So why not here?
Didn't realize there was an outdoor place there.
I'm more willing to try to dine outdoors there, than I am on Tremont and Mass Ave.
The original Other Side
Ever time I walk by that Other Side Cafe I think of Boston's ORIGINAL Other Side, a legendary gay bar in Bay Village in the 1970s. Even David Bowie went in there once. Those were the days.
Little trees + time = bigger trees
Apart from the fact that the google street view you ref is about four years old, it seems like the best way to get bigger, shadier, more appealing trees is to let the current healthy young trees continue to grow.
So you'll wind up with trees that are oversized
for their location, with the roots eventually damaging the sidewalk and street.
And they will look just as awkward and out of place as they do now.
what are you trolling about?
Look at that section of Tremont. Check out the size of the trees growing right across the street and around the corner on Mass Ave. Compare the scale of that neighborhood's streetscape to similar areas in the city (eg the Commonwealth mall near Mass Ave). Spend a little time walking around that part of the South End/Rox and see if you notice any correlation between which parts are the most pleasant and attractive and which parts have 20-40' mature healthy trees (hint, it's 1:1).
Now, realize how completely foolish and off-base your knee-jerk cynicism sounds. Apparently you live in a concrete underpass somewhere and like it, but most of us surface dwellers actually prefer green and shady sidewalks and would rather not live in wide and naked canyons of brownstone and brick.
That photo is at most a year
That photo is at most a year and half old.
I bike past these trees most days, they look the same. Further they are not immature young trees, they are stressed. Go look at them next time you are around. These trees aren't helping much.
Location of the tree
The tree isn't where they want to or would be able to place seating. It's further away from the building. I believe the issue is pedestrian passage. To put enough space between the tree and seating area would render the seating area too small.
Why not?
It does mean that waiters would have to walk a few steps further across the pedestrian passage, but that doesn't seem like a big deal. The Tavern at Central sq has that setup(which would be vastly improved by some trees), Hammersleys has a similar (albeit larger) set up.
Not sure I understand what you mean
Are you proposing that the dining area abut the street side of the sidewalk, rather than the building side? I'm not sure that's legal in Boston. I'm pretty sure sidewalk dining is regulated in a way that requires it to abut the entrance to the restaurant, and leave 6 feet of pedestrian passage.
Boston must have odd requirements
Yes, I'm proposing the cafe be on the street edge, next to the parked cars, with the pedestrian space running between the restaurant and the seating. That's the way the Tavern on the Square seating at Central is (not that that's a fabulous example, it's just one I've eaten at).
Boston regulations may be different, but they don't always require 6' of pedestrian passage, as the two restaurants on the same block as my office on Broad (JA Stats and Blue Inc) allow approximately 3' of passage, and some of that is obstructed by street signs.
The outdoor seating at Hammersleys is also separated from the door of the restaurant by a good 10', but that's all a plaza space, well separated from cars.
I bet it has to do with the liquor "security perimeter" they require, which is really kind of silly.
Street edge dining sounds unpleasant to me
And I'd hate to be the person who parks next to it. I could be off on the 6 feet part, perhaps that varies by location specific issues. Maybe it's a percentage of the sidewalk? At any rate, I think that's the issue here -- street side is not an option, and the tree is too close to the building to allow room for building side.
On second thought
I ate at a place in Miami Beach about 15 years ago that did have the tables on the curbside, and it was pretty awesome. I had r9tally forgotten about that!
Outdoor dining at street edge of sidewalk
I've seen this arrangement elsewhere, and recall eating at such tables at Bertucci's in Lexington Center.
I think I remember hearing about it
right below here
Outdoor dining at street edge of sidewalk
I've seen this arrangement elsewhere, and recall eating at such tables at Bertucci's in Lexington Center.
I don't get inner city outdoor dining
I don't get inner city outdoor dining. There's really no reason for it. It is not exactly scenic. Outdoor dining on Boylston Street, for example. What is there to see but snarled, noisy traffic and professional fundraisers harrassing people? It's not as if there are pituresque oceans or mountains. My favorite is the outdoor dining in Central Square. Lovely view of intoxicated homeless people vomiting.
People-watching
is why people like to sit outdoors and eat in places like Harvard Square, Central Square, Davis Square, Newbury Street, Boylston Street, etc. It's fun to just watch a continuous stream of folks walk by.
I'll be sure to let the
I'll be sure to let the bistros and cafes in Paris know that sitting outside in a city is useless...
And ...
Barcelona, and Dublin and San Francisco (they have heaters!), and ...
Although, in Barcelona, the nights are silky and sweet and people want to be outside and eat late (and, yes, some are right by the street with a walkway between).
Short sited
The community seems to really be shooting itself in the foot here. The cafe is offering to plant two new trees in the neighborhood in addition to replacing the one they want to cut down AND taking care of them for ten years. The gas station next door between the cafe and the piano lofts could really use some trees in front of it, this seems like a no brainier.
Not to mention these aren't exactly historic trees, it looks like they were planted recently. They could probably transplant the one. Bumping out the curb was also suggested in the article and would be great here, it appears they already enlarged the corner, I don't see why they cant just buy a parking spot from the city. If restaurants can do it for valets they should be able to do it to offset sidewalk space for seating.
Boston is supposed to be so european and the south end is supposed to be so trendy and yet they are making the biggest deal out of a non-issue.
Everyone would hope they'd be around to keep that promise
but we all know that there's no certainty, especially with restaurants, that they'll be around ten years from now.
It sounds like the Parks and Recreation Department
commisioner didn't believe that the cafe owners had made an effort to work within the existing streetscape:
"[The department had] not seen evidence of a design effort to retain the trees, provide outdoor seating, and maintain an accessible route along the sidewalk."
Given all that, she still left the door open:
"We encourage you to return to this Department with design alternatives that preserve the trees and provide outdoor seating while continuing to work with the community to find a solution they can support."
The South End is not "trendy"
It's filled with people who are pissed they couldn't afford to live in the Back Bay.
Not everyone lives their
Not everyone lives their lives in a state of perpetual economic jealousy. Believe it or not some, probably most, people are content with their lives. Most people I know love their neighborhoods and are grateful that they can afford the life they have, rather than resenting the one they don't.
Your mileage may vary.
Hey, thanks!
Let me smoke a joint, put my feet up on the dog and then I'll try to formulate some dime store psychology about what you're frustrated about in life.
Me, I'm quite content with life, Ask any one who knows me. Wait, you don't know me, so how could you ask anyone about me? Mmm..this new blend is tasty!