Despite more than a year of blocked access, don’t expect the ugly fence on the Paul Revere Mall, also known as the Prado, to disappear anytime soon. No work is planned by either the City or the Hanover St. building owner to rectify the crumbling brick wall that has caused the public safety hazard.
Every resident and tourist walking the Freedom Trail through the Prado in the North End sees the menancing fence blocking off a large swath of the public park including a water fountain. The fence was installed by the Parks Department to keep the public away from the property where brick pieces regularly fall from the building.
Neither the City nor the Hanover St. building owner has made any effort to repair the crumbling wall. The City’s Inspectional Services Department took the building owner to housing court this week as both parties argue over who is responsible for the repair.
After two weeks of inquiries to Inspectional Services and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, the assigned building inspector said he would not comment on the situation without clearance from their media representative, who did not return calls.
Sources close to the situation say the City is trying to hold the Hanover Street property owner responsible for the repair while the building owner claims the City did not properly remove an adjoining structure when the Prado was built decades ago. The Prado was initially created by demolishing housing in the area to make the public pathway from Hanover St. to Unity St.
Call me rational, but why don't they just split the cost? It really is a dreaded eyesore!!
Because the City prefers to use tax dollars for layabouts' EBT cards but not curb appeal, Chris! The building was likley inproperly detached by the City, and the City should pay up.
Sounds to me as though a little research is necessary. Kind of odd that the property owner is suddenly claiming the adjoining rowhouse was improperly removed unless this is a long-standing claim.
The Paul Revere Mall has been the Prado since 1986–25 years, that's my institutional memory.
What is the history of The Prado? What is the history of "the property owner"'s claim?
What was in The Prado before it was The Prado?
Those are some of the questions that occur to me off the top of my head.
FYI: That wall has been exposed since the park was created in 1933.
Miss Cromwell should stop hiding behind a pseudonym and use a real name to post offensive rants.
Assemble a smallgrid chainlink roof against and along the wall above the wall plaques.
keep the edge that is against the wall pitched lower than the front edge.
all the pieces will be caught by the screen above your head.