On February 9, Boston is due to get an eye-popping new look at one of the city's oldest, most beloved public spaces — the Charles River Esplanade. Working for two years in a process that included multiple public meetings, the State Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the private, nonprofit Esplanade Association (TEA) have come up with a provisional, long-range plan they're calling "Esplanade 2020: A Vision for the Future." It begins with restoration of the park's landscaping, and goes on to suggest such bold initiatives as reclaiming areas of the 100-year-old park that, over time, have been ceded to roadway construction (most notably Storrow Drive). TEA will present their plan to Mayor Thomas Menino this Friday, February 3. A public presentation and moderated discussion is scheduled for February 9 at the Boston Public Library main branch.The state-owned park was designed in the 1890s by landscape architect Charles Eliot, as part of what he called the "crown jewel" of the city's park system. Since then, TEA points out, the park — with its three million annual visitors to such events as the Hatch Shell concerts and the massive July 4 celebration — has degraded. The park, they say, has been "loved to death." But TEA's plan calls for more than a buff and shine to the old park's infrastructure. In "Esplanade 2020," they call for the reclamation of paved-over parkland, new structures (and redesigns of old ones), and new facilities that could help the park sustain year-round use.
At this point, no initiatives have been ordered regarding the park, no funds have been allocated. There's not even a budget. Which is one reason TEA is not calling the plan a plan at all, but a "vision." Organizers hope the public meeting will not only rally support, but also encourage private donors to become involved.
"It's bold," says John R. Shields, an architect and chairman of the Esplanade 2020 Vision committee. "Some things may stir controversy. But it carries a big message about the need for broad public/private collaboration." It was also a largely pro-bono effort. Adds TEA board chair Margo Newman, "This was a lot of people, a lot of meetings, a lot of input."
"Esplanade 2020 Unveiled" | Rabb Auditorium, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St, Boston | February 9 | 6-8 pm
Related:
Preaching to the choir, Portland Music News: May 1, 2009, Diane Sawyer and the new voice of authority, More 
- Preaching to the choir
Despite the curious omission of the Phoenix, that bastion of liberal, progressive, alternative news, The Nation's Guide to the Nation (Vintage) mostly lives up to its stated goal of being " a kind of collage of the Left.
- Portland Music News: May 1, 2009
SEAN MORIN will perform his senior composition recital at UMaine Augusta's Jewett Hall on May 6.
- Diane Sawyer and the new voice of authority
The sight of Barack Obama in the White House has, rather quickly, taken on the air of the ordinary.
- Prison ‘troublemaker’ confronts racism, medical abuse
Vacillating between grit and despair — between aggressive lawsuits and suicide attempts — Deane Brown, the prisoner who in 2005 blew the whistle on the torture of mentally ill inmates at the Maine State Prison’s solitary-confinement “Supermax” unit, is struggling against prison conditions in Maryland, where he was exiled by the Baldacci administration.
- Swine fever: An evening with Hunter S. Thompson
Only Hunter S. Thompson could come up with a line like that; no one else had his knack for the near-Biblical proverb. Few writers outside of Madison Avenue or the New Testament can sum up a zeitgeist so cannily in a phrase.
- IBEW pressures Stop & Shop
Folks driving past suburban Stop & Shop locations this week might wonder why laborers are suddenly concerned about food safety.
- Mutant rats invade Allston
How could you write this article, a cover story no less, with no mention of the Allston squrat? Obviously, you have not done your homework.
- Capuano for Senate
After a telescoped campaign, Massachusetts Democrats go to the polls Tuesday to choose a successor to a legend, Ted Kennedy.
- Questioning the Legality of Straight Marriage
When it comes to supporting gay rights, two straight Boston University grads are putting their marriage where their mouths are.
- A weed grows in Boston
Even though it's a crisp November day, the flower boxes of Mary Jones's neat little bungalow are overflowing with brightly colored blooms.
- Idiot wind
Last spring, after the state Legislature rejected a bill that could have resulted in a wind farm being constructed on two undeveloped mountains in Redington Township, a lot of people in western Maine, figuring the controversial project was finally dead, expressed their joy by doing the chicken dance in the streets.
- Less
Topics:
This Just In
, News
