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Esplanade 2020
Crafting a vision for the Esplanade’s future
Speaking Up, Being Heard
The Esplanade Association would like to offer our sincere thanks to all participants in the January 20th Speaking Up, Being Heard community input session. We were thrilled by the turnout, the energy, and the creative caliber of the community’s ideas. We hope that everyone found as much value in the session as we did, and look forward to working with an ever-growing group of park stakeholders over the coming months as we collectively craft the Esplanade 2020 vision.
If you would like to continue the visioning dialogue, we invite you to send us comments about the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for the Esplanade by visiting http://esplanadeassociation.org/aboutus/contact.html. We understand that some interested individuals were unable to attend Speaking Up, Being Heard, but we would like to assure the community that there will be further opportunities to add your voice to the ten-year vision of Esplanade 2020. We will be posting a detailed calendar of Esplanade 2020 activities and meetings soon.
General Report on Community Input
During the January 20th Speaking Up, Being Heard community input session, participants were asked to self-select into one of eight breakout groups, which were ordered by particular thematic areas relevant to the Esplanade: Lower Park; Center Park; Upper Park; Programs and activities; Architecture and structures; Landscape and horticulture; Access and pathways; or Communication, wayfinding, and safety.
Guided by their chosen theme, participants were invited to share with their group any opinions on park strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. Individuals were also asked to record their thoughts on color-coded index cards, which were collected by the breakout session facilitators. At the conclusion of the session, a representative from each group reported back key findings to the broader audience.
As could be expected, there were many ideas that intersected the boundaries of the eight breakout groups. For example, issues related to pathway conditions and access points were mentioned repeatedly in nearly every thematic area. Moreover, there was a great deal of crossover between topics identified as “weaknesses” and those noted as “opportunities.” These perspectives are essentially two sides of the same coin—that which is considered a challenge or limitation should also be thought of as an opening for improvement and change. Case in point: while the decaying docks at Community Boating (CBI) is indeed a weakness of the Esplanade, so too is the prospect of rebuilding them an opportunity.
The document below represents a distillation of these recurring ideas. It is a review of the dominant, most-frequently discussed issues from the Speaking Out, Being Heard breakout sessions, ordered alphabetically.
General Report from Speaking Up, Being Heard
Notes from Speaking Up, Being Heard
TEA has also compiled the public’s comments, both as key points (i.e. those which were reported by group representatives at the meeting) and as categorized raw data (i.e. the comments recorded on the color-coded index cards). These documents are available below.
Key Points, as reported by each breakout group
Notes from individual breakout sessions may be found below
For those unable to attend the first community input session, please see the agenda below.
Agenda
Speaking Up, Being Heard: An Esplanade 2020 Community Input Session
January 20, 2010
Boston Public Library
McKim Conference Room B (Lower Level)
100 Years of History
5:00 Arrival and sign in
5:10 Welcome Sylvia Salas
5:15 Welcome from the DCR Joe Orfant
5:20 History of the Esplanade Karl Haglund
5:50 Intermission
Community Workshop
6:00 Introduction to project and workshop John Shields
6:20 Personal connection exercise All
6:30 Breakout session All
Round the table input in three cycles…
1) Qualities & features worth preserving: strengths 5 min
2) Issues to be addressed: weaknesses, threats 10 min
3) Opportunities for improvements: outcomes 25 min
7:20 Reassemble All
7:30 Report back Reporters
7:50 Closing John Shields
8:00 Reception
Esplanade 2020: The Need for a Plan
Crafting a shared vision for a park as heavily and diversely used as the Charles River Esplanade is no small task. Such an undertaking, which demands a balance of conceptual creativity and practicality, rightly provokes the questions: why is a vision needed, and why should it be created now? There are several reasons to move the Esplanade 2020 project forward during the Esplanade’s 2010 centennial year.
With over 90% of Massachusetts residents living in urban areas—most of whom call Greater Boston home—our metropolitan parks are more important than ever before. They clean the air, cool the city, and sustain nature. When well-maintained, parks attract visitors from near and far and provide a high quality of life for urban residents. They have a profound, if largely invisible, impact on the local economy and encourage a healthy and productive lifestyle for all who choose to use them. Studies show that more than three million individuals visit the Esplanade annually, and as many as 20,000 people enter the park on a typical summer’s day. A half a million people crowd onto the Esplanade and surrounding shores for the nation’s July 4 birthday celebration. Few state parks are as intensely used and deeply loved as the Esplanade.
The Esplanade is indeed the heart and soul of the Boston metropolitan park system, threshold to one of the world’s great urban water park resources: the Charles River Basin. Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, the narrow piece of land we call the Esplanade is in generally poor condition today. The ongoing efforts of maintenance staff and the substantial capital investments made in recent years to rebuild docks, fields, and fences still have not turned the tide against deferred maintenance suffered by the park over decades. Aging trees are past their prime and in decline. The soil is exhausted and the grass worn out in many places. Pathway shoulders continue to erode, increasing the amount of pollutants that find their way into the river. Historic granite structures and railings are crumbling. Once active public recreation and restroom facilities are dilapidated, closed to the public, and appear abandoned. In short, after a century of change and heavy use, the park is depleted in need of substantial revitalization.
Through a series of planning exercises that involve community members, park staff, designers, and others, and in collaboration with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Esplanade 2020 will identify park needs and community desires, determine priority park projects, mobilize support for the Esplanade, and create an attainable and exciting 10-year vision for the park. The Esplanade Association will then work with the community and the Department of Conservation and Recreation to develop an appropriate implementation plan to help bring this vision to life. This rich body of work will be thoroughly vetted by the end of 2010, and the Esplanade’s stakeholders will be challenged to help implement key parts of their vision.
Several publications have assessed the historical development and present condition of the Esplanade, but a shared vision for the park’s future has not yet emerged. The Charles River Basin Master Plan, published for the Metropolitan District Commission in 2002, provides guiding principles and a number of specific ideas for revitalizing the Esplanade, among other segments of the Basin. It provides an excellent framework for our work but it also recommends that a more detailed action plan be developed for the park. The Esplanade Association commissioned the Cultural Landscape Report: The Esplanade in 2007, which presents a historical overview of the park's changing landscape, as well as an analysis of existing structural and landscape conditions. In July 2009, the Esplanade received landmark status from the Boston Landmarks Commission. The Charles River Esplanade Study Report authored during the landmark approval process was built upon the Cultural Landscape Report, and it further reveals a great deal about how the Esplanade was created, what the intentions of its founders were, and what has been gained and lost over the decades. We must use this information to inspire us and guide the park forward into the next century.
It is time for a careful reappraisal of existing conditions and management practices, and time to re-imagine what the Esplanade can be if treated properly. The Esplanade Association is well positioned to lead the Esplanade 2020 effort, and we welcome and encourage the participation of all interested stakeholders in the exciting work that lies ahead.
Please contact Chris Murton at 617.227.0365 or cmurton@esplanadeassociation.org for more information about Esplanade 2020.
Archived News Stories
Archived Media Coverage
“They say the Boston parklands form an emerald necklace around our great city. I say the Esplanade is the complementary bracelet that completes the outfit. It’s a special place for relaxation, exercise, entertainment, solitude.”
Jeff Bellows
Vice-President, The Esplanade Association, 2004-2005
The Esplanade Association
10 Derne Street
Boston, MA 02114
617.227.0365
Media Coverage:
WCVB-TV, 6/3/2008, Storrow Drive Road Repairs to Begin
The Boston Globe, 5/18/2008, 1,500 Help Beautify State Parks
The Carlisle Mosquito, 4/25/2008. Carlisle's Kevin Quinlan Runs for "Green Team"
The Beacon Hill Times, 4/22/2008, Team Esplanade's Final Group Meeting Before Marathon
The Boston Courant, 4/12/2008, User Survey Results Reveal Goose Droppings Are Top Esplanade Concern
WBZ-TV Interviews TEAM ESPLANADE Runner About 'Fit Boot'
The Beacon Hill Times, 4/8/2008, TEA Discusses User Survey Results at Annual Meeting
The Boston Globe, 2/8/2008, Esplanade Association Links with Boston Marathon
The Beacon Hill Times, 1/8/2008 Boat Haven Partners give $400,00 to Esplanade Docks
The Boston Globe, 11/30/2007, Landmark Status Sought for Esplanade
The Boston Globe, 11/15/2007, Advocates Seek Landmark Status for Esplanade
The Boston Globe, 11/09/2007, Storrow Tunnel to Undergo Repairs
The Beacon Hill Times, 10/02/2007, The Advent School Partners with TEA
The Boston Globe, 8/16/2007, Proposed Storrow Drive Detour
NECN Reports on Controversial Storrow Drive Plan, 8/16/2007
The Beacon Hill Times , 8/14/2007, Teen Leaders Beautify Esplanade
The Boston Globe, 8/08/2007, Assaults on Esplanade Linked
Back Bay Sun, 7/13/2007, New and Improved Drinking Fountains
Back Bay Sun, 7/6/2007, Boston Landmarks Orchestra at the Hatch Shell
Back Bay Sun, 7/6/2007, The Joy of Model Sailing
Back Bay Sun, 6/29/2007, TEA Volunteer Program Keeps Park Looking Great
Beacon Hill Times, 1/30/07, TEA Wins Grant
Beacon Hill Times, 2/06/07, Todisco Heads Storrow Drive Landscape Advisory Committee
Boston Globe, 10/14/2006, TEA Moondance Auction a Success
CBS4 Highlights TEA Volunteer Efforts, 7/4/2006
Boston Globe Editorial, 1/4/2006, Seeking another route for Storrow
Newsletters: