January 31, 2001
Ms. Anne Emerson
The Bostonian Society
RE: THE MUSEUM PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR CITY HALL PLAZA
Dear Anne:
The Museum Project, a collaboration of the Bostonian Society, the Boston History Collaborative and the Freedom Trail Foundation, is proposing a private venture to construct a 250,000 square foot, $170,000,000 museum of Boston history. The Project is seeking to site the building on City Hall Plaza. The ABN has been following the issue of City Hall Plaza redesign for several years, and we would like to convey our comments on this siting.
We cannot support placement of a private project, even a cultural venue, on land that is legally dedicated to public open space. This museum is a private venture, and should not be seeking to appropriate public open space for construction. Siting even public schools or utilities on public open space, as some propose elsewhere in the state, is highly controversial and should require replacement value, in money or land, to keep the community's public realm whole. A private museum, like any worthy but private undertaking, has still less claim to public open space. Should other socially valuable uses, such as hospitals, child care centers, affordable housing, or private schools, declare, as you do, that they do not want to buy land, would it be appropriate to give them space on the Boston Common to build? This would be unacceptable as public policy; the principle applies as well to a private museum on City Hall Plaza.
As you know, any changes in ownership or use of the Plaza require an extensive public process including a declaration by the "owners of record" (the people of Boston) that the land is no longer needed for public open space purposes, a City Council land disposition vote, and approval by 2/3 of the State Legislature, as required by Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution. The failure of the City and the BRA to comply with legal public process requirements to date does not negate the obligation to do so.
Further, we have joined many others, including the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, in advocating that any changes in design of the Plaza must be part of a comprehensive Master Plan, created through a genuine public process, by financially disinterested designers.
We are concerned in specific with the involvement of the Trust for City Hall Plaza, Inc., in the project. You have stated that you have the Trust's support. However, the Trust has no standing to support your use of the Plaza. The Trust's "designation" as the "redeveloper" of the Plaza, and its Commencement Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding to build a hotel and garage on the Plaza, all rely on the BRA's purported eminent domain taking of the Plaza. The taking is not valid. It is now being challenged by the City Council, and will in all likelihood be voided, as will the contractual agreements based on it.
The Trust has long sought a cultural use to serve as the civic pretext for their commercial development of the Plaza. The Trust has viewed this as a way to overcome widespread public resistance to the hotel use. The museum, presented as a stand-alone project, may be promoted by the Trust to win public sympathy for a cultural venue to "activate" the Plaza, which has been intentionally portrayed by the hotel proponents as an unused wasteland. Subsequently, the Trust may propose that the museum share a portion of the hotel's first floor and garage. Indeed, as you mentioned, the Trust has already discussed the feasibility of a vastly expanded garage (from 700 to 1,500 cars). Also, at the January 25 Board of Advisors meeting, you spoke of the museum's need for a vehicular road across the Plaza to accommodate touris t buses, etc., a roadway that has always been a critical -- and controversial -- element of the Trust's hotel proposal. Ultimately, you are likely to find that the museum will share the fate of the Yo Yo Ma Music Garden before you, which was used by the Trust to engender popular support for itself as the Plaza revitalization entity, and to attempt to coerce the GSA into agreement for construction within its property setback. In the end, when the Trust achieved its mission of the Plaza land taking and designation of itself as redeveloper, the Music Garden was abandoned, and Mr. Ma was left to find partners elsewhere while the Trust pursued the hotel. You might find it useful to investigate for yourself Mr. Ma's experience with the Trust.
The Alliance cannot support plans for our public space in which the Trust is involved. The Trust for City Hall Plaza, Inc., is not a legitimate entity; it pursues a mission of private commercial interest rather than public interest; and it operates out of public sight. The public is barred from its Board of Trustees meetings, and even from the meetings of the Board of Advisors (created for "broad public overview"), where you spoke on January 25. You may not be aware that I visited that meeting despite the Trust's written instructions prohibiting members of the public from attending.
Alex Krieger, in his role as consultant to the Trust, has prepared drawings and models of the museum proposal, which have already been shared with some groups. The North End Waterfront Residents Association looks forward to seeing these during your presentation at their upcoming February 8 meeting.
I hope these comments will be of help to you. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Shirley Kressel
President, ABN
cc: Mayor Thomas M. Menino, City of Boston
Boston City Council
Stephanie Pollack, Conservation Law Foundation
Bob Durand, Secretary, EOEA
Terry Savage, Superintendent, Boston National Historical
Park, National Park Service
Glenn Rotundo, Acting Regional Administrator, GSA
Sandra A. DiBernardo, Assistant Regional Administrator,
Public Buildings Service, GSA
Sandy Steele, Beacon Hill Civic Association
Sandi Padellaro, David Kubiak, Phyllis Rugnetta, North End
Waterfront Residents Association
Martha Walz, Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay
Ann Donner, Trust for City Hall Plaza, Inc.
Robert Turner, Tom Gagen, Steve Bailey, Joan Vennochi, The
Boston Globe
Jack Meyers, Steve Marantz, The Boston Herald
Bettina Norton, Beacon Hill/Back Bay Chronicle
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Advocacy
Committee