Boston Globe
Greenway plan etched in stone

Message bricks sold for $500 apiece will line Mothers’ Walk

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 23, 2007

The group that oversees the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which
for months opposed proposals to build memorials on the mile-long
corridor of parks, is planning to sell 900 engraved commemorative
bricks to the public, at a cost of $500 each.

In mid-November, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy will
start selling 6-inch-by-6-inch concrete pavers, which look like
granite cobblestones with smooth surfaces, to anyone who wants to
honor "a loved one, mother, mentor, coach, or teacher," said Nancy
Brennan, the conservancy’s executive director.

The engraved pavers, along the edge of a four-block stretch known as
the Moth ers’ Walk, are also a way "of building community," Brennan
said, a goal of the conservancy since its inception three years ago.
Details on how the public will purchase the stones are being worked
out.

The $450,000 gleaned from the sale of pavers will be added to almost
$18 million that has been pledged to the conservancy so far, as part
of its effort to raise at least $20 million by year-end to care for
the Greenway.

As for the inscriptions on the paving blocks, Brennan said, "Free
speech should be honored and celebrated," and "hate speech" avoided.

With that in mind, donors will have to choose from a list of 10
possible phrases, along with the name of the person being honored.

"With love to . . .," "Immigrated to Boston on . . .," "In admiration
of . . .," "My inspiration . . .," "We love you . . .," and "Thank
you!" are some of the choices.

Asked whether a potentially controversial figure would be allowed to
be commemorated, Brennan said that has yet to be resolved.

But the planned sale of commemorative stones along the Mothers’ Walk
immediately raised questions about whether the Greenway – long seen by
groups involved in its design as a place that would be without
memorials or plaques – is now changing that focus.

"I do worry about what the precedent is," said David Seeley, a Leather
District resident and member of the Mayor’s Central Artery Completion
Task Force.

"Does it mean other locations will come up for sale?" he asked.

Greenway memorials have been a hot issue for two years, as the
Armenian Heritage Foundation and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority,
which built the park system, sought to designate a small block near
Faneuil Hall Marketplace to remember the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

Dick Garver, a representative of the Boston Redevelopment Authority on
the task force, said the Armenian group’s proposed park, which is now
being broadened to refer to many or all immigrant groups, would have a
plaque on it.

"There will certainly be words here," he said. "They will be worked
out in public." Garver said they will convey "universal themes" such
as immigration to Boston but cannot "establish a proprietary name for
the park."

The antimemorial sentiment, though unwritten, was reflected numerous
times over the years at meetings where the Greenway was being shaped.

One comment came long before the Armenian park had been publicly
proposed, at a public meeting in March 2003, from Anne Emerson,
president of the Boston Museum, which plans to build a history center
adjacent to the site of the proposed Armenian park.

Discussing the nature of the Greenway, Emerson said, "It’s a canyon of
buildings, and something needs to be done to soften it. There should
be no logos, memorials, barriers, or billboards."

Mothers’ Walk is a winding walkway on the harbor side of the four
blocks between Christopher Columbus Park and High Street. It is
scheduled to be dedicated in October 2008. Another 100 pavers will be
reserved for participants in three city youth programs, including the
YMCA of Greater Boston.

"If there’s an additional massive demand, we could install additional
pavers," said Linda Jonash, the conservancy’s director of planning and
design. The Mothers’ Walk has a total of about 7,800 stones that could
be engraved.

Pavers already laid in the Mother’s Walk will be removed, engraved
with specifically prescribed wording, and replaced in a line along the
walk’s edge.

"I think actually it’s a pretty good idea," said Gary Hack, dean of
the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, and chairman of a
group of professionals that advised Greenway designers. Although
buying bricks for fund-raising has become common, he said. "It’s a
terrific way people can gain and feel some attachment to the place."

Hack said some places on the Greenway may be appropriate for
remembering individuals. "There’s a great deal of public pressure to
use the public domain as a place to make people’s contributions or
faiths memorable," he said. "This is a time when people want to
memorialize everything."

The Greenway’s 30 acres of parks and sites for nonprofit facilities,
stretching from Causeway to Kneeland streets, is scheduled to be
substantially completed this year, with a formal opening next fall.

The Greenway park in Chinatown officially opened last month. Other
blocks, including one of the two park parcels in the North End, are
open to the public but have not yet been officially inaugurated.

Brennan said selling the engraved pavers is only one means the
conservancy is considering for raising money needed to maintain and
organize events for the parks, which have replaced the old elevated
interstate highway. The flower beds need support, too.

"We’re thinking about ‘buy a bulb’ for $50 each," Brennan said.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.

(c) Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

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