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Draft proposal for upgrading Boston Common released

Here (3.8M PDF file).

The report, by councilors Michael Ross, Bill Linehan and Sal LaMattina, calls for some major changes to the Common, including:

  • An ornamental fence along Tremont to delineate the park and keep Tremont Street pedestrians off the grass while keeping it open to sunbathers;
  • A "Grand Entrance" to the park at a rebuilt visitors center;
  • a low-cost cafe on the site of either the old men's room or parks maintenance building; a dedicated dog run;
  • A permanent carousel at the Frog Pond
  • Permanent underground facilities for storing equipment needed for events at the bandstand.

In addition, the report calls for increased maintenance (everything from sidewalk to the Soliders and Sailors Monument are in poor shape) and efforts to help the homeless who congregate on the Common find permanent housing. To pay for it, the councilors propose a betterment fund paid for by neighboring landowners and gradually increasing the amount of money now raised by Boys and Girls Club kiosks on the Common dedicated to the Common.

Some initial comments by Kevin McCrea.

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Comments

Astroturf?

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Where have I heard this before?

The Silverline project will rip up the entire stretch of
the Common along Charles Street for up to 10 years,
for the staging area for heavy equipment. It will snarl
traffic as they close a lane for the construction of a
new tunnel, and it will make an entire stretch of the
Common nearly unusable during that time. All of this
will be done for the purpose of putting in bus transit
that is unnecessary, when tunnels already exist for
light rail, and when it is nearly universally agreed
that the bus system as set up does not work, and is
not nearly as effective or efficient as light rail.

Sounds to me like the Special Committee did their homework. It also sounds to me like the project may collapse in a boondoggle of squabbling between multiple municipal agencies. This report cites a lot of problems we're already aware of, but offers few solutions to them.

We want more of the good stuff, more, more more! And we want to make somebody else pay for it! Want to fix up the area around the T station? Make them pay for it! Want to get rid of the homeless? Make somebody else find them homes! Want a picnic area? A carousel? Make a restaurant pay for that! Oh, and did we mention we don't have any money?

Good luck with all that. Save me a piece of that pie in the sky.

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How about some well-maintained public restrooms? And ranger/security patrols.

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who and the what now?

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They've got comments in there about how much someone TBD needs to pay money TBD for those too.

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This is pretty good, i think, but it will be interesting to see what the old guard thinks of a real restaurant being built. And why can't they proofread this thing before they release it?

Check out a full rundown here: http://urbanboston.blogspot.com/2008/12/city-counc...

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