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City Hall Plaza getting Astroturfed today

Putting down Astroturf in front of Boston City Hall

Shamus Moynihan watched workers putting down Astroturf on a 40x40 stretch of City Hall Plaza as part of Mayor Walsh's effort to make the normally barren brick wasteland more fun. Part of the effort also includes the plastic Adirondack chairs the city recently plunked down on the plaza.

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Comments

Now put a piece of green turf near Cambridge St. and you've got yourself a par 3.

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.

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will only get your daughter knocked up.

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You mean tax payer funded lipstick.

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Just a thought.... dig up some of that brick and put REAL grass, flowers, trees, etc....

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There's a subway station underneath all that brick. Which is one of the reasons the fountain that was originally installed when the plaza was built was decomissioned shortly thereafter.

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When you stand in the middle of the greenway you'd never know there was a massive highway buried a few feet down given the trees, plants, and fountains.

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When you stand in the middle of the greenway you can see exit ramps north and south of you with cars speeding out of them from the highway beneath. With some vent shafts thrown in for good measure. If you didn't notice there was a highway beneath you I think you need to lay off the drugs.

When you stand in the middle of the greenway you'd never know there was a massive highway buried a few feet down given the trees, plants, and fountains.

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That's okay. But no, there are not exit (or entrance) ramps every block, meaning that one can in fact be on the Greenway and in fact be oblivious to the fact that 1 there was once a highway there and 2 it was replaced by a road that runs underneath the park.

Now Atlantic Ave is hard to miss, but this is about putting grass in on the plaza at Government Center, not your ignorance of the Big Dig.

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I've worked on both sides of Atlantic Avenue both during and post big dig for years and never been dumb enough to not notice there is a highway underneath. The ramps are not that far apart, only Mr Magoo wouldn't be able to see the ramps.

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The next nice day, take a walk from High Street to Christopher Colimbus Park. Count how many on and off ramps to the Central Artery you see. Here's a hint- it's a nice round number.

Just because it's there doesn't mean you can see it. If you are telling me that if you were at the corner of State Street and Atlantic Ave and had never been there before you'd automatically know there is a 8 lane highway underneath you, I'd say you have Superman's eyesight.

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If you can see exit ramps or not? Waquiot's point was you could still grow grass in City Hall Plaza, regardless of whether the subway was underneath.

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Unfortunately, there's still the eight lane highway on either side of the thing.

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or even the PRC? (People's Republic of Cambridge)

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That fountain was open for many years and but was shut down by Menino, who wanted to sell the area to a hotel chain. (But the Feds wouldn't allow a hotel next to the JFK building). His honor claimed there was no way to stop water from dripping into the subway. I'm pretty sure that if can put a man on the moon we can figure out a little run-off.

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not to mention a parking garage, but there's still plenty of grass above.

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And they both have a lot of water damage.

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ahhh ... not quite yet: IMAGE(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11705156_10153053325168129_7467870745886975883_n.jpg?oh=1359b4ff1c639306de8e3cb516138068&oe=56577E17)

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UHub/Herald investigation 6 months later.....

City Hall $5,000 Astroturf installation billed $10 million to taxpayers.

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Scot Brown wanna be Geoff Deihl. Bad Deihl will present a secret audit done by the Pioneer shillstastute followed by a Beacon Hill illrepute pay for white white paper on unionized artificial grass vs. the nearly free Chinese stuff.

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Should have had it out when women's world cup soccer games were shown as a reminder of how the women had to play on plastic instead of grass like the men do.
[edit]
Oh, now I see those chairs in the photo background in shade...

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now City Hall Plaza is going to look like Times Square, full of random beach chairs and pedestrian plazas mostly occupied by the homeless and randoms from Kansas.

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... since City Hall is taking away benches with backs from parks (like Boston Garden/Commons and Roslindale Sq) and replacing them with less comfortable, backless benches.

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even fake grass is an improvement!

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City Hall needs an online Floor By Floor Directory! Wayfinding in the building is a big problem not always adequately addressed by asking an attendant upon entering the building.

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against the fake green grass.

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What they should do is put up some awnings. There's almost no shade on the plaza most of the day.

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