City Hall Plaza
Dear Editor,
Karen Cord Taylor always seems to say what I’ve been grinding my teeth over (and not saying.)
Apropos the new Government Center MBTA station—why is it that Boston needs these multi-million dollar entrances? To distract us from the miserable condition of the cars and system? I’m attaching photos of one entrance to the subway system in Berlin, Germany—a system that runs in a timely way, with clean cars that travel over a smooth track (the windows, incidentally, are covered with a transparent film that discourages graffiti. If someone tries to paint or scratch on a window, the subway people just pull the film off, and the defacement comes with it. Clever.
Somehow, Berliners find their way to the subway without an edifice to guide them. Harrumph.
Carol Ann Lundquist
Pinckney Street
More on City Hall Plaza
Dear Editor,
Sometime around the end of the Big Dig. I was representing Bay Village on the Historic Commission and transportation issues. I spent a lot of time at meetings at City Hall. At one of those meetings some one asked what was going on in the Plaza. We were told that the architects were trying to make it more inviting so they created what you see today. The Poles are supposed to represent masts of sailing ships and I believe there were supposed to pieces of fabric to make us think sails. I did not think much of then and thought there could be a better solution than satisfying the ego of an architect. In the years since I have tried to ignore it but there have been days when I had no choice. The seating is uncomfortable and the canopy provides no protection from sun, wind and rain.
Terence Janericco
Boylston Street