credit: Fiona Gerety

CAPTION: The busy Arlington Street eastbound exit off Storrow Drive is a necessary one, say local groups.




Opinions in the Back Bay are coalescing over what to do about fixing the Storrow Drive tunnel, which is crumbling between Clarendon and Arlington Streets.

Fix the tunnel, and call it a day.

That’s the message both the Back Bay Association, the neighborhood’s business association, and the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, which primarily represents residents, will convey in letters to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the agency that has the responsibility for Storrow Drive. They will support rehabbing the tunnel and changing none of the locations of the entrances and exits, a plan known as Option A. Letters are due today.

The problem with the other five options now up for consideration is that most of them close exits and entrances onto Storrow Drive and put more traffic onto Back Bay streets.

“The Back Bay Association supports maintaining all access points and ramps in the rebuilding of Storrow Drive,” said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, the association’s president and executive director.

Mainzer-Cohen points out that traffic counts show 9,000 cars per day coming from the homes and businesses of the Back Bay get on Storrow Drive going westbound at Berkeley Street. That is about 16 percent of all the cars going in that direction on Storrow.

The eastbound exit at Arlington is another ramp that would be lost in most options other than A. Mainzer points out that about 20 percent of the 53,000 cars going east on Storrow Drive get off at Arlington Street, with the majority of them presumably going to Back Bay businesses and homes.

“The loss of that move would have impacts on the health of businesses, but on the whole neighborhood too,” she predicted.

NABB leaders would not go on the record as to what their letter would say, but more than one reliable source said NABB would also urge DCR to choose repairing the existing tunnel as the preferred option.

“None of the other options are better than where we are today,” said one opinion leader.

Option B puts all the traffic at ground level, with stop lights and at-grade crossing. This configuration backs up traffic to levels that concern DCR officials. Option B3 depresses the roads slightly but doesn’t cover them. This is an option that many have seen as one of the best, except for the closing of the Arlington Street off-ramp.

Option C eliminates the tunnel in the eastbound direction, but builds one on the westbound side, a configuration that has garnered few supportes.

Option D and D3 bury both directions of the road in a tunnel. These options are the most costly and take the most time to build.

Some individuals who were members of the advisory committee considering options regarding the Storrow Drive tunnel area have said they will not identify a preferred option until next week when the committee is due to discuss the options for the last time. They said they will submit questions to DCR about all the options.

The Beacon Hill Civic Association and the Esplanade Association will not recommend a particular option, but will also submit questions and principles it wants DCR to consider as it goes forward. Most committee members have said they are sorry they have been asked to consider options for the tunnel, but haven’t been able to look at how to reduce traffic on Storrow.

DCR must identify its preferred option by July 30, when it files a draft environmental impact report

The Back Bay Association is still open to other options if the problems of traffic congestion on local streets is reduced and entrances and exits can be made more convenient, said Mainzer-Cohen.

Photo Caption: The drinking fountain at Teddy Ebersol’s Red Sox Fields sprung a leak and is currently out of commission.





Three of the Esplanade’s nine water fountains, one located at the Teddy Ebersol Fields, one near the Hatch Shell, and one at Dartmouth Street, are currently broken, and, according to Wendy Fox, Press Secretary for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, are either undergoing or awaiting repairs.

Meanwhile, the Esplanade Association has been working with architects and engineers on a project to eventually replace several aging and often broken water fountains on the Esplanade and fix the current piping system.

“Some of the fountains might be working, but they are dismal,” TEA’s Executive Director Patrice Todisco said. “They are old, concrete fixtures set in mud that you would want to think twice about before using.”

According to Todisco, a new model has already been chosen that is better looking and more reliable. However, she said the project is complicated due to the necessity of fixing the entire water system, and the timeline depends on construction scheduling and the progress of behind-the-scenes engineering. TEA will also pursue outreach and fundraising to help pay for the project, and hopes to reconvene with DCR, who they met with eight months ago, in order to finalize plans.

“There are a lot of issues involved, but we are committed to doing the work,” Todisco said.

The question is, will these new fountains be used? People who attend Hill House’s weekend events seem to prefer bottled water, Associate Director Ian Moorhouse said. Hill House not only sells water bottles at these events, but also provides them daily to children participating in their summer camp, which runs recreational activities on the Ebersol Fields.

“We have never had a problem with the faulty fountains because the kids come down to the fields filled up,” he said.

Yet, while Todisco recognizes the popularity of bottled water, she said TEA has not taken it into consideration as they pursue their water fountain renewal project.

“Drinking fountains are an essential amenity and traditional component of public parks,” she added. “It would be a mistake not to replace them.”

The Fourth of July has passed, and now it’s time to wave the blue, white and red of the French tricolore flag in celebration of Bastille Day, July 14. Those wishing to mark the storming of the Bastille and the uprising of modern France may want to do so by sipping a glass of champagne or noshing on a plate of steak-frites at one of the fine French restaurants in the Back Bay. After all, good food is always cause for celebration.

Almost the entire month of July is devoted to celebrating at Brasserie JO in the Colonnade Hotel, where different specials are being offered to mark each stage of the Tour de France, the world-famous cycling race that culminates July 29. For example, as the race reaches the hilly region near the Mediterranean coast at Stage 12 from Montpellier to Castres, “bourrides de poission, rouille tartine” – a tasty fish stew – is the featured dish.

“Brasserie JO epitomizes the spirit of France, so this celebrated race allows us to give guests a chance to experience the energy of the race and the flavors of France right here in Boston’s Bay Back,” says Olivier Rigaud, Brasserie JO’s Chef de Cuisine.

On Bastille Day, the restaurant will feature special festive sangrias in blue, white and red. The red will be a traditional sangria, the white pairs white wine and champagne with stone fruit, and the blue features berries, white wine and Blue Curacao. Alanna Flood, a Brasserie JO spokesperson, says that reservations are advised, and the patio dining area will fill up quickly. And, while dining at Brasserie JO on Bastille Day, be sure to enter to win a $1,200 TREK 1500 bicycle being raffled away when the Tour de France is finished.

Flood says July is the perfect time to visit Brasserie JO, the creation of French-born Chef Jean Joho that opened in 1998.
“Brasseries are popping up all over Boston, but we’re one of the originals,” says Flood. “Our food is very traditional and very delicious.”

One of the new brasseries that has “popped up” over the past year is Bouchée, the Back Bay Restaurant Group-owned restaurant at 159 Newbury Street. Manager Jonah Selaya says business has been great since Bouchée opened its doors in September, and the staff is looking forward to celebrating its first Bastille Day.

Selaya, who is French himself and has spent time back and forth between France, Mexico and the States, says it is always a good time to come and sample any of the menu staples, such as coq au vin or roasted monkfish. The restaurant also features special “plats du jour,” such as the Beef à la Bourguignonne on Saturday. And just as would be expected from an Alsatian brasserie, Bouchée serves handmade charcuterie.

The atmosphere is warm but hip, and in the summer the big draw is the sunny, sunken patio. The other big draw on Bastille Day is a special $45 three-course prix fixe menu, to which wine selections may be added for $65. The first course will be crab beignets with a warm olive tapenade; the second course will be a poached halibut with confit tomatoes and English pea-potato veloute; and for dessert -- financier with cherrie syrup and vanilla ice cream.

L'Espalier, the venerable Gloucester Street restaurant synonymous with Boston haute cuisine, isn’t doing anything special for Bastille Day. But then, L’Espalier is already known as one of Boston’s favorite special-occasion restaurants. Maybe the celebration of Bastille Day will be an excuse to treat yourself to Chef Frank McClelland’s Tasting Journey, a special $175 prix fixe multiple course menu inspired by the seasons of New England and crafted for your table. With champagne, escargot and truffles in the mix, your stomach will be saying, “Merci!”

In the weeks since hundreds of people lined up at the AT&T Wireless store on Boylston Street to buy the iPhone when it made its debut June 29, the sales just keep on coming for the Apple gadget that many say has already surpassed the iPod in terms of coolness. With the planned flagship Apple Store on Boylston Street still under construction, the AT&T Wireless store is the only place in the Back Bay to buy the revolutionary mobile phone, music player and Internet browser all in one.
AT&T Wireless representatives won’t reveal the sales figures at the Boylston street location – or even say if the store has iPhones in stock -- but AT&T Wireless spokesperson Kate MacKinnon did say that the Boylston store sold out of its original allotment within an hour and a half on June 29.

“The hype,” MacKinnon says, “is justifiable.”

Apple isn’t releasing official sales figures either, and many stores are selling out of the phone as soon as a new shipment arrives. But even if the AT&T Wireless store on Boylston is sold out, MacKinnon encourages customers to participate in the iPhone direct fulfillment program, which allows orders to be placed at a store and completed within a few days when it is shipped to the customer. She says Apple is replenishing its supply weekly to keep up with the demand. Apple is projecting the demand to continue steadily for months, at least, to come.

Michael Oh, president of Tech Superpowers, an Apple specialist and reseller on Newbury Street that has been in business for 15 years, says that the buzz among employees and customers about the iPhone has been tremendous. Apple is only selling the iPhones at Apple Stores, AT&T Wireless stores and through its Web site, but Oh says he has still been getting plenty of questions from his customers. And, he says, the pros and cons of the new technology have been the subject of some heated discussions among Tech Superpowers staff.

With concerns about iPhone’s exclusive distribution model with AT&T, lack of applications and more, Oh hasn’t yet purchased an iPhone. He admits that already, though, the iPhone blows other mobile phones away.

“Numerous friends and employees bought it – and they love it,” he says. “It seems that once you get it in your hands, you’ll fall in love with it.”

Oh predicts that the iPhone will be a boon to his business, as well. The iPod began to change the public’s perception of Apple, which for many had mainly involved memories of the old Macintosh personal computer introduced in the early 1980s. The idea that Apple has evolved and is putting out groundbreaking new products is becoming more common among the non-Apple diehards.

“This will help change people’s mentality about Apple laptops and computers,” Oh says. “[People will think], ‘If Apple can do great things with music players and phones, maybe they are worth a second shot.’”

It’s safe to say that’s what Apple is hoping. Employees have certainly prepared for a successful iPhone roll-out – MacKinnon says each AT&T Wireless employee went through at least six hours of special training prior to the launch.


And maybe, eventually, Oh will be one of their customers.
“I’ll be interested to see when they come out with ‘iPhone II’ or ‘iPhone Mini,’ or whatever the next thing is,” Oh says.

Editorial

One comes to take Boston for granted. We’re used to walking everywhere, encountering people behaving like people and seeing what there is to do and buy along our streets and sidewalks.

So after entertaining out-of-town visitors, which many residents do during the summer, one has a new appreciation of what this city has to offer.

One recent experience started with a whale watch, an activity denied to our land-locked visitors from the West. It was not only the tons (literally) of three kinds of whales that our visitors got to see, it was also the view of Boston from the harbor that was compelling. The Port of Boston may not be what it once was, but it is still pretty interesting with planes flying overhead and glimpses of freight and passenger vessels docked along the inner harbor.

Later, the visitors enjoyed lunch at an outdoor restaurant and a Red Sox game at night.

But as good as the heavy entertainment was, it was the time between that showed what a nice place Boston is for visiting, and by extension, what good place for living.

There were children along, and they walked miles without complaining. Why would anyone complain when they had a chance to work their way through the international crowds on Newbury Street, overhearing unfamiliar languages and looking at all the goods the world has to offer? Another walk was up Charles Street, where displays at the level of an eight-year-old’s eyes kept children so interested that no one thought to complain, even though by then little legs had walked miles.

The Frog Pond on the Common stopped the little ones in their tracks even though the parents had not brought appropriate clothing in which they could get wet. They mollified themselves by getting a fresh lemonade at a stand nearby.

Walks through Chinatown and Faneuil Hall Marketplace also kept their attention. Again, no one — adults or children — appeared fatigued.

The only time anyone flagged was along the Greenway. Too many buildings are understandably turned away from what was an overhead roadway that no one wanted to look at. But owners of the buildings need to rethink the facades that lie along that potential park.

One resident who was along for the walks complained that the Greenway would never be more than a wide median in a busy roadway, a criticism that looked too accurate for comfort as things stand now.

Except for the Greenway walk, when the children began to ask how long it would be until they got to the destination, Boston held up well in terms of beauty, interest, convenience and entertainment. We know we live here because of those qualities, but it helps to have visitors to remind us.