SIDEBAR

Deadline approaching for Storrow decision
By Karen Cord Taylor

After almost a year and a half of public meetings and subsequent advisory committee meetings about how best to reconstruct the Storrow Drive tunnel, participants are still wondering: What do we do now?

That was the only consensus after a presentation on Wednesday night detailing the effects of two more variations for dealing with the crumbling tunnel between the Clarendon and Arlington street exits.

As things now stand, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the state agency that owns the road, has set a deadline of July 30 for filing its Draft Environmental Impact Report, in which it will identify the option it prefers. It has four primary options to consider, including repairing or rebuilding what is there now, putting the entire road around Arlington Street underground, or constructing the entire roadway above ground. The primary options have several variations.

But as things now stand, the traffic and landscape advisory committee members are supposed to submit individual letters to DCR by July 13. With the committee’s next meeting scheduled for July 18, members complained they will have had no chance to discuss the options before those letters are due.

So Nancy Farrell of Regina Villa Associates, who is running the public process for DCR, has said she will try to schedule a meeting for June 28. Those interested in the discussion should contact Nancy at nfarrell@reginavilla.com.





With some advisory committee members still not satisfied with the proposed solutions to fixing the deteriorated Storrow Drive tunnel between Clarendon and Arlington streets, designers went back to the drawing board.

On Wednesday they presented the implications of building the two new variations they had unveiled at a previous meeting.

Option B3, which eliminates the tunnel, but depresses the roadway in both directions has major disadvantages. It eliminates a westbound entrance in the Back Bay, forcing local drivers wishing to head west on Storrow Drive to get on either at Charles Circle or Charlesgate. It also provides no exit for eastbound drivers at Arlington, forcing them off at either Clarendon Street or Charles Circle. Finally, it adds little useful green space to the Esplanade, since the 29,700 square feet gained are cheek by jowl with fast-moving traffic. With a new 12-foot wide footbridge crossing over depressed traffic lanes, pedestrians would still not encounter a park-like setting until they are well off the bridge and into the Esplanade.

On the plus side, the pedestrian bridge can be wider than the current one and start at Beacon Street at grade level thought a projection of green space. Traffic backups on Storrow Drive would not change significantly from the current conditions. Beacon Street traffic would increase, but Clarendon Street traffic next to the playground, would see only a small increase. It would take longer to build — three and a half years — than it would take to repair the existing structure, but less time than option D’s configuration, which buries both tunnels. Its $150,000 maintenance cost in one of the lowest, as is its construction cost, estimated at about $65 million.

The other variation, Option D3, builds tunnels in both directions, with a net gain of about 26,000 square feet of usable parkland for the Esplanade and a graceful pedestrian connection between the Public Garden and the Esplanade. When finished, it would allow for 25 more trees than the area now contains. It would also preserve a westbound entrance to Storrow Drive at Berkeley Street. Residents of Beacon Street between Arlington and Berkeley streets and on Beaver Place, who now endure ear-grinding traffic if they venture onto roof decks, would benefit more than most. They would have relative peace and quiet, hearing only slower vehicles entering and exiting Storrow Drive.

Option D3’s major drawbacks are construction time and cost. It would take more than four years to build, compared to two and a half years repairing the existing configuration. Maintaining it is estimated to cost about $600,000 annually. Estimated construction costs are $135 million compared to $52 million for repairing what is there now.

credit: Penny Cherubino



Casey Steinberg from Old Friends Farm shows off the artichokes he brought to the Copley Square Market this week. This is an unusual product for a Massachusetts farm and Steinberg is testing it this year. This week there were also lots of strawberries, greens and bedding plants, and the first seasonal appearances of golden zucchini and heritage beets. The Copley Square Market is open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

photo and text by Tory Glerum






Catie Copley, a black labrador and Fairmont Copley Plaza’s Canine Ambassador, was the center of attention last Tuesday at the official launch of Catie Copley, a children’s book named for her and inspired by her real-life adventures. Children and their families, as well as several individuals involved in the story, gathered at the Plaza for a reading and book signing by author Deborah Kovacs and illustrator David R. Godine. Hardcover copies of the book, green and white Catie Copley tee-shirts, and black lab stuffed animals were available for purchase and stamped “paw-tographs” were given out in Catie’s honor by hotel concierge Jim Carey.

Catie joined the hotel staff in 2004 after failing her test to become a seeing-eye dog, and since then has become popular —welcoming visitors to the hotel, playing with children and allowing guests to take her out on walks. Although Catie found her calling in the hotel business, a portion of the book’s proceeds will benefit The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, the organization that originally trained her.

Meals tax increase good for Boston

The legislature should move promptly to give Boston and other cities the option of increasing the meals tax by 1 percent, as Mayor Menino has proposed.

Although usually it does not seem wise to dedicate revenue to specific uses, in this case Menino’s plan to use the funds generated by this tax to relieve property taxes seems reasonable.

Massachusetts residents have a relatively small burden of total taxes compared to other states relative to their income. But we are 8th among states in property taxes per capita. Raising one tax that will affect big spenders more than modest ones and visitors as well as residents also seems reasonable.

Residents will barely notice the increase. If you spend $100 on a dinner for two at Stephanie’s, your tax will be $6 instead of $5. With such a small change, restaurants in the Back Bay should not lose any business.

Visitors coming from other major U.S. cities and other states in New England will still be pleasantly surprised to find that Boston’s meals tax is well below Chicago’s, Atlanta’s or New Hampshire’s.

We urge Speaker DiMasi to put this effort high on his agenda.

Settling in

After listening to several presentations over the last nine months by Dennis Royer, Boston’s newish chief of public works and transportation, the city’s worriers have come to believe this dirty city might become cleaner after all.

Royer said he expected to hear complaints about Boston’s infrastructure, which has been in bad repair for many years. Instead, what he has heard from every neighborhood is forget the infrastructure. First clean up the place.

So that has been his focus.

He has put new trash barrels and a few Big Bellies throughout the city. He has continued the practice begun last fall of towing cars on street cleaning day and has heard only praise, not criticism, for the towing. He has instituted cleanup days for many neighborhood commercial centers when street fixtures get a coat of paint and the place gets scrubbed. He is trying to figure out a way to deploy his cleanup team where it is needed most.

The place already looks better than it did last year at this time. Keep it up, Mr. Royer.