Our dinner last night was typical for us in the spring. We sat down to fava beans, fiddleheads and morel mushrooms sent for my birthday from my sister-in-law. Last week we had soft shell crabs two nights in a row because they are so good, and their season is short. I haven’t found ramps this Read More…
Tag: Downtown View
Downtown View: AirBnB Woes
Airbnb and its cohorts have been a lifesaver for some downtown residents. They say that renting out a room in their home has allowed them to afford Boston’s high rents or helped them pay for the costly mortgages they have to take on if they buy a place. Travelers like the arrangement because living in Read More…
Downtown View: Competition Might Improve Old Rental Buildings
Downtown residents are enjoying a certain satisfaction they didn’t expect. Those dreadful absentee landlords who suck all the rent money out of their buildings while keeping them in slum-like condition are now facing competition from such new luxury buildings as the Kensington in the Theatre District, the Avalon near North Station and the Watermark in Read More…
Downtown View: Better Skyscrapers
Consider Los Angeles. It’s enjoying an upgrade. With refurbished hotels, new residential buildings, a spruce-up of its gorgeous library and all the services and restaurants that come with a dense population, LA’s downtown is finally full of vitality. It also looks good. One reason is the tops of some of its new buildings. In 2014, Read More…
Downtown View: Being Left Out
Are you working hard? Paying attention? Being involved? Some people apparently believe you aren’t. You are not worthy of their attention. They are leaving you out. The Boston Water and Sewer Commission is one of the perpetrators. Its recent flyer listed the sites in each neighborhood to which Boston residents could go to meet a Read More…
Downtown View: Boston’s Future Mobility
The city published its Go Boston 2030 report in mid-March. It is 223 pages long. I read it so you don’t have to. It’s taken me awhile. It is available electronically at http://goboston2030.org/en/. Suggestions are accompanied by a note explaining how other cities have fared with such changes, a nice touch. After I read the Read More…
Downtown View: Hunting for Spring
About this time of year, everyone gets antsy. When will winter really end? A few warm days help make everyone feel better. But it is when the magnolias bloom along Back Bay’s streets and when the beds in the Boston Public Garden fill with blooms that it really seems like spring. The Greenway has also Read More…
Downtown View: Baffling
So many things I don’t understand. Maybe you don’t either. Some people in some states are all in a lather about women sharing bathrooms with transgender persons who are now female. My question: how would you know? This person presumably looks like a woman. She would go into a stall like any other woman. It’s Read More…
Downtown View: Where Things Stand – Allston Interchange
If you live in downtown Boston, you probably know this place from your car only. This is where either you paid your first toll on the Mass Pike after you sailed past BU, or where you got on the pike via a long, winding ramp after driving out from downtown on Storrow Drive. Either way, Read More…
Downtown View: Where Things Stand – Winthrop Square
The proposed 775-foot tower to be built on the site of a grungy city garage started out nicely when plans were unveiled last summer. The developer, Millennium Partners, was largely responsible for revitalization of Washington Street with the Ritz complex, Millennium Place and the Millennium Tower that filled in Vornado’s Filene’s hole. They would pay Read More…
Downtown View: Finding Hope
After the election, Nancy Schön was blue. When faced with sadness, what’s a sculptor to do? She fashions a piece that acknowledges her feelings, yet points toward hope. The mother dove has a tear in her eye. But her fledgling is rising from a lilac branch that already has buds on it. Laurel leaves lie Read More…
Downtown View: Class Divides?
A few weeks ago I took the T over to Prudential Center. I wanted to check out Eataly, since I’d heard so much about it. Was it really a sign that tradition-bound Boston can handle the latest, greatest retail concept? Would it finally make the Pru cool? Would it edge out the North End as Read More…