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Massport to build new park in East Boston in exchange for expanding international terminal
By adamg on Fri, 08/05/2016 - 9:38am
The East Boston Times reports Massport says it will build Piers Park II as part of its mitigation for expanding Terminal E.
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Comments
I've said it before
but it bears repeating. "Mitigation" is nothing more than legalized extortion.
Poor little Massport
Yes, they're really being taken advantage of.
Does Massport just print this
Does Massport just print this money or do they pass the mitigation costs on to their customers?
Wouldn't it be
Wouldn't it be
More flights through Logan > Massport gets more money > Massport recoups costs spent on park?
So what? It's a nice park and will get even nicer
To me, it's a good trade-off for Massport being able to expand its operations. It is also long overdue.
Right
Go home and count up every last mitigation that is to your advantage when you do.
Piers park II as long it has
Piers park II as long it has the same rules as piers park I . Better to place parks on that waterfront instead of highly priced condos for those who can only afford them. Would also like to know what's Massports plan for this new park on the waterfront. Tennis court, outdoor iceskating rink, resturaunts, outdoor flea market, I hope they come up with some creative plan.
Please, I hope they don't
Please, I hope they don't name the park after a politician, it should be dedicated and be named simply The Maverick mothers park, A group of Jeffries point mothers who protested and blocked large bulldozers and Trucks from entering their neighborhood construction crews hired by massport to knock down homes so massport can expand into neighborhood.
One interesting highlight is
One interesting highlight is that parking rates will be increased to "encourage more use of public transportation" except that a lot of the long-term garage parking at Logan is occupied by people where public transportation isn't all that great of an option. This is going to be a boon for car services since now the cost of two way transportation by car may be cheaper than a week's worth of parking at Logan.
There are other options
For instance, drive to Braintree, Framingham, Woburn, and Peabody, park for $7 a day and take the Logan Express.
As far as taking a cab or whatnot, trust me, I've run the numbers for a 1 week trip, and even now it is more cost effective to pay someone to drive you to and from the airport from within 15 miles than to pay to park in the economy lot.
I don't begrudge people filling up the lots at Logan, but they are not parking there because it is the cheapest option.
Mitigation ...
is part of the cost of operating an airport in urban location.
If massport/the state wanted
If massport/the state wanted to truly encourage more people to take the T to the airport (and decrease vehicle trips and pollution for Eastie residents), there are several things they could do. For example, they could decrease the amount of parking at the airport, and finally connect the blue line stop and the airport with a people mover like many airports have . The shuttle bus is terrible, it adds so much unnecessary time (guide books to Boston say to factor in 30 minutes to get from airport to blue line, because of waiting for the bus and crawling from terminal to terminal). Of course Massport/the state gets lots of money from parking, so their promise to raise parking prices only helps them, and they don't want to encourage people to take the T since they get no money from that, so they make it as painful a process as possible. Look no further than the silver bus, which was designed while logan was underdoing a massive renovation and the seaport was being planned. But it feels like a total afterthought.
Massport subsidizes the Silver Line
That's why it's free to get on the bus at Logan.
Id rather pay for the silver
Id rather pay for the silver bus and it be improved (like go above 7 mph in its tunnel and have dedicated right of way the whole way as promised, not just in its short tunnel. Maybe even connect to the rest of the silver line, also as promised. Enforcing the bus only areas at the terminals, especially terminal B, would make the ride faster and nicer, instead of having to be dropped in the street because illegally stopped vehicles are blocking the drop off zones.
The shuttle to the Blue Line
The shuttle to the Blue Line used to work reasonably well. But Massport screwed it up when they opened the Rental Car Center.
It used to be an all-highway route. Now there's extra driving time and endless red lights to get to the RCC. And the RCC stop is really long, as people who didn't pack for a transit trip heave their suitcases on one by one.
And all the buses lay over at the Blue Line, and *again* at the RCC. Except for the majority of buses which leave Blue Line passengers behind, as they pull through the drop-off-only lane at the T station.
The only other transit option from most places is the Silver Line, which is bad most of the time, and a nightmare in the PM rush.
Transit improvements
This is planned as part of the Terminal E expansion that's being discussed here. Also, I don't know if you've taken the blue line shuttle lately, but they've upgraded all the buses and it's pretty efficient. They also added a shuttle that goes directly to Back Bay.
Silver line connecting to the Blue line
I didn't see anything in the plan to connect the Blue line with the Airport itself. Just have more buses running to the Blue line so you could travel between South Station and the Blue Line Airport stop. That does not improve access to the airport.
Airport-T connection
Maybe the regurgitated p.r. pablum of the Eastie Times doesn't mention it, but the project does indeed include an extension of Terminal E to the Airport Blue Line station. You'll be able to walk/stand on the moving sidewalk (and not see under your feet) right from the MBTA to the entrance of Terminal E which makes sense given that we live this thing right in the middle of the city.
They are planning on putting another 5,000 car parking garage in there to go along with the Terminal E Extension. Wonderful chew toy they've thrown out there in the form of Piers Park II, but think folks are looking for some serious money. Let the Games Begin!
Bike path
Let's hope it's better than their basically useless and poorly designed bike path. The one that follows the blue line from wood island to constitution beach. You can't use it after dark, it has no connectivity to cross streets (and someone built an illegal fence across where it should connect to short street), and it has a bizarre fenced in section next to a recreation area at constitution beach. Basically you can't rely on it for transportation, and you can't use it if your origin or destination happens to actually be along it.
Plus you can't walk your dog on the path
Most people who would use that path would be dog walkers but Massport bans dogs from all their parks. I understand for parks like piers park but anyone looking to walk their dog down the greenway and connector can only do so in the areas maintained by Boston and not Massport.
no
I like dogs, but the areas they are allowed are covered with dog shit (even in relatively tonier areas like Jeffries Point, I've stepped in shit in Brophy Park where there are even free bags). Kudos for Massport for not allowing dogs.
the whole greenway
The whole greenway including Bremen Street Park happens to close at random times. I understand the security concerns as I live right on Bremen Street, but once it closes it becomes a massive barrier for anyone trying to cross from neighborhood to neighborhood. The randomness of closing is the worst part. I walked through at 11:30pm one weeknight, and the next night I was locked in the park at 8:30 and had to jump a fence to get out.
You Nimbys need to get a life
You nimbys need to STFU and get a life.
THEY ARE STILL WORKING on extending the bike path to Constitution beach I believe work will be this year 2016.
so give it time.
Dont think there's much they can do abut short street, but would be nice if they could make a trail through the woods a path connecting short street to the path. for now.....or maybe some people in the neighborhood could work together to make a walking trail from short street to the path for now?
Eventually it will connect to Constitution beach so just give it time
But stop being NIMBYS not in my back yard folks ruin good things for everyone else.
This is an important path for the entire community and for the connectivity of boston
The Greenway already connects to Constitution Beach
The official opening was May 26.
Question mark?
So, NIMBY stands for not in my back yard. As in someone who doesn't want the path. I want the path, and wanted it before it was built. I just think it was poorly designed and operated. And furthermore that the fixes would be stupidly easy: take down a tiny section of fence and stop closing the gates.
They're not still working on it. It's open (except at night, which is stupid). It's extended all the way to the beach.
Trail through the woods? Short street ends, and five or ten feet beyond is the bike path. Except that there are two fences in the way, one that MassPort built and is legal but poor design, and one that a neighbor built on property they don't own (MassPort owns it) and so is probably illegal.
As it currently stands, the path is off almost no importance to anyone who lives along it because they cannot access it without taking a long way around.
Rec vs. transpo
I think the issue here is that what you (and any other reasonable person) are seeing as a piece of transportation infrastructure which should be accessible from multiple points and at all hours, is seen by MassPort (who manages the path) as a recreational benefit that they have come down from high and bestowed upon the unwashed masses. They clean up after the slovenly local hordes who recreate and slob about the place because they must do so to placate them and keep the barbarians from the gate of Logan. But that does not mean they want to take on any additional liability of people using this trinket too often, on the off-hours or doing things that could in any way ruin the beautiful green buffer around their true concern -- their airport. No dogs. No ball playing. No cookouts. No large groups (unless you fill out the forms in triplicate months in advance with your liability waiver). No evening use. Lots of lawn chemicals. Regular trash pick-up, maintenance and security patrols.