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BRA would allow taller buildings on the North End side of the Greenway
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110 feet is not too high for
110 feet is not too high for a dense urban area. And the building in question is shown stepping up to the height, which means that the street wall itself will probably stick with the 55 feet the bloger thinks is required to maintain the North End's character. The greenway needs more of a wall along the edge, and this is the way to do it.
It's not as though the BRA is proposing to go West End on the North End. It's a few parcels that currently don't even have anything on them. Replacing a parking lot with a building that meets the street wall yet gives a bit more height to make it an economically feasible project is just what the area needs.
Why does the Greenway need
Why does the Greenway need more of a wall, and its associated shadow, along the edge? You need to justify that assertion before I accept your argument.
Hello?
because we're in a CITY!!!! The greenway was and still is a bad idea. Now we can't have any development anywhere near the greenway because of shadows? You wan t open land, move to Kansas. This is a city, and cities have tall buildings. Live with i tor pack your bags.
Well, in part, the answer is
Well, in part, the answer is JohnMcBoston's this is a city statement. But I'll give you a second and at least as important reason.
Open space without a defined edge tends to be a void space, rather than a usable space. Think about the Common/Public Garden and the buildings on the surrounding perimeter streets. They make a solid delineation between the park and the city. The streets and buildings face on to the park which then invites building occupants and sidewalk users in to the green space. If you have small structures of limited use lining the Greenway, you will not get high densities of people along the corridor. Without people, the space is dead.
So the question then, is which do we prefer, for an urban environment? A lively, heavily used space with some shadows at various points in the day, or an empty, sunny, but isolating space that mostly serves as an obstacle to crossing the street.
Levinthal Park
aka "Post Office Square Park".
It has tall buildings all around it.
It is small, but very well tended.
It is extremely popular, even in the winter.
We don't need a beach to be happy, and you don't need that much sun to be lovely and lush. Take a look at that small and extremely successful park sometime and think about how the greenway could be designed to incorporate what works.
Great Plan
but unfortunately Matt Conti and the rest of members of the two North End & Waterfront Neighbor Associations never met a single thing they didn't like. You should read their minutes. Here's the quick run down: no, no, no, no, we'll think about it and then say no, no, no, and finally.... wait for it... no!