5/14/01
As a statement regarding the diminishing availability of public space for creation of recreational parks in Boston neighborhoods due to utilization of public space for private development, artists in the Fort Point neighborhood have created a temporary 5,000 square foot green grass park over the sidewalk on the Summer Street Bridge.
The Fort Point neighborhood does not have a single patch of greenspace for the community to gather, walk dogs or picnic together.
Recreational greenspace planned along a 3.5 acre esplanade included in the City's Seaport Public Realm Plan of 1998 was later drastically reduced in the Ciy's Municipal Harbor Plan as planners capitulated to demand for office development.
For more info, visit www.saveourstudios.org.
Comment
The Boston Redevelopment Authority allows developers to include sidewalks, private streets in fulfillment of waterfront "open space" requirements. Since the BRA's publication of the "Waterfront Master Plan Interim Report" of 1997 and the "Seaport Public Realm Plan" of 1998, SAND has asked the Boston Redevelopment Authority to redefine the all-encompassing word "open space" to distinguish hard-scape (i.e. sidewalks) from recreational greenspace, passive greenspace, etc.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority continues to resist demands to redefine "open space". The recently drafted Municipal Harbor Plan (2000) allows the inclusion of sidewalks and streets in fulfillment of developers' "open space" requirements.
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