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Background
Bostonist discusses the developer featured in a recent article in the Times (you know, the paper that thinks the South End is oh so cute):
Nuts to that...I like the
Nuts to that...I like the name "Fort Point Channel.." It's distinctive. Plus, how much fun would it be to live in FoPoCha?
Boston Wharf District?
Come now. Its cutesy abbreviation would be BoWhaDi. What good is that?
not a good idea
Walk along Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street and you will pass Russia Wharf, Rowes Wharf, Central Wharf, Long Wharf, Commercial Wharf, Sargents Wharf, Union Wharf, Burroughs Wharf, Lincoln Wharf, and Battery Wharf .... none of which are in the Fort Point district.
Well, okay ...
Fine. Call the area Fort Point Channel. Of course, Mr. Goldman has the right to call his properties whatever he wishes. He has bought 16 buildings that were unused or underused, with plans on creating a vibrant, 24-hour a day neighborhood. Boston needs new housing, and he is providing it, along with a lot of retail and commercial space, something the area and the city needs and wants.
Tony Goldman was raised an orphan, and is a self-made man. He was very successful in New York City, in SoHo, but he has also done a lot of work in South Beach and, now, in Philadelphia and Boston.
If you look at the history of Boston, you'll see many areas were renamed. Ask your average person in the South End if they want their neighborhood to be called "Roxbury" and they'll sneer. Ask someone living on the top of the hill in South Boston if we can go back to naming South Boston "Dorchester Heights", and he's likely to light your car, or yourself, on fire.
Um, Fort Point Channel is the name of a body of water, isn't it?
That's right, Mr. Goldman - oops...
Sorry, I mean that's right "John K", Fort Point Channel is the name of the body of water near Fort Point. To sum up: Fort Point is the dry land, Fort Point Channel is the waterway.
Naming and Renaming
"If you look at the history of Boston, you'll see many areas were renamed."
Really? I can't think of very many. The South End was never part of Roxbury, in any case, and Dorchester Heights is still the name of the park at the top of the hill in Southie.
Given that almost the entire Boston pensinula had wharves around it, "Wharf District" really doesn't describe much of anything.
SoWa?
Perhaps John was referring to what some people used to call lower Washington Street?
Can't wait til I can say "Where the luxury condos usedta-be"
Fine. Call the area Fort Point Channel. Of course, Mr. Goldman has the right to call his properties whatever he wishes. He has bought 16 buildings that were unused or underused, with plans on creating a vibrant, 24-hour a day neighborhood.
Whatever happened to the radical concept that the neighborhoods define their own name? Fort Point is a neighborhood. It is not a single development, no matter how many buildings Tony Goldman buys up. He can call his cluster of buildings the Boston Wharf District all he wants, but that doesn't change the fact that the district will always be a part of the Fort Point neighborhood.
And your rudimentary knowledge of Boston surely must include the fact that Bostonians are proudly cognizant of their past and hold very dearly each Usedta-Be (as in "Turn right where the Dunkin Donuts usedta-be.") The real live people who use and would continue to use the public spaces on a daily basis would most likely continue to call it Fort Point anyway (FleetCenter? What was that? Wasn't anything there but Where The Gahden Usedta-Be) and you can't buy that away.