LEAVE THEM PARKS ALONE
By Nick Milano
The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, MA
Oct 4 2007
It seems nothing can happen in the state of Massachusetts without utter
political confusion and debate. Although the engineering marvel that
is the Big Dig has suffered years of criticism for costs that spiraled
out of control, for delays and for crucial mistakes in ensuring the
proper construction of the new highways, there is plenty to inspire
pride. Let us take a step back and consider what has come out of this
massive highway project.
The Central Artery, that green hunk of metal, was designed to smoothly
handle 75,000 cars, but was recently carrying more than 200,000. As
Dave D’Alessandro wrote in a Boston Globe editorial, projections for
the year 2010 figured Boston "would have stop-and-go traffic for 16
hours a day."
While some may say this would only affect the poor residents of Boston,
consider the gas wasted by engines idling. Consider the productivity
levels of many companies that would plummet because of an inability to
get from one end of the city to the other. How does this make the city
of Boston attractive to new companies and residents? Sure, treasured
neighborhoods like South Boston and the North End are turning yuppie,
but this is preferable to the alternative.
The 161 miles of new highway is only a piece of the miraculous
construction project. Half those miles are now underground, out of
sight, out of hearing range. In their place will be 300 acres of new
park and space. A whole new Boston Harbor Island, Spectacle Island,
was built with the dirt from the excavation. Forty new acres of park
space was created along the Charles River.
This collection of parks in downtown Boston is called the Rose
Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and remains one of the last projects left
on the Big Dig’s checklist. Sadly, this park, which has the potential
to turn Boston into one of the most beautiful urban areas in the world,
cannot escape the Big Dig’s bad luck. In 2000 the state legislature
ordered the Turnpike Authority to find a place for a memorial to the
Armenian victims of Turkey’s genocide. The Authority chose a plot on
the Greenway only to face scrutiny for its decision.
The Greenway will help the city of Boston evolve from a largely
metal and concrete urban jungle into a greener, more beautiful and
more welcoming place of residence. It would surely be a mistake to
overtly politicize the park spaces as the construction of the Armenian
Memorial will accomplish.
There is no historical doubt that the Armenian peoples were subjected
to genocide at the hands of the Turkish government during World War
I. It was Adolf Hitler who asked the world, "Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" as he was conducting
his own purge of the German Jews. However, the Turkish government
has continued to deny that genocide occurred and has called the
allegations "historically and legally baseless," according to a Boston
Globe article.
The disagreement between Armenian groups and the Turkish government
has thus given the Greenway a black eye. The latest twist in the
story, further emphasizing the need for the Greenway to keep out of
the memorial business, is the proposal by a Turkish-American group to
contribute its own park for the "Boston Peace and Heritage Park." In a
letter to officials, the stated reasoning was that Turkish-Americans
derive strength from leaving "behind the conflicts and animosities
of the old world."
If the committee deciding what to build on the Greenway accepts
either of these park proposals, it will only draw what should be a
peaceful park system into the international controversy between the
Turkish government and their past actions. Further, the construction
of one memorial will inspire countless other groups to try and make
their own mark on the Greenway. This has already been proven by the
Turkish-American group’s idea for another park. The Greenway must
not turn into a collection of memorials, but should remain a pristine
stretch of open green space in the midst of a concrete prison.
In the more than 20 years since the Big Dig was proposed, the project
has been the punch line for far too many jokes and criticisms. The
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway has the promise of proving all the
positive qualities of the Big Dig that too often go unnoticed. The
decision-makers should work together to find a place in Boston for
the Armenian Memorial. Boston has a penchant for beautiful memorials.
What is more moving than the six glass columns on Congress Street
memorializing the victims of the Holocaust? What about the memorial
park on Washington Street in downtown Boston which displays the
horrible suffering of the Irish famine on the one hand, but on the
other demonstrates the hope and success the Irish discovered in
Boston and the United States? Boston is large enough that there will
be another, better location for the Armenian Memorial, but it must not
be on the Greenway. The Big Dig has suffered quite enough controversy.
Nick Milano is a Collegian columnist.
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