Lovely Park, But...

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Long before the Rose Kennedy Greenway was designed and installed downtown, officials of the Massachusetts Port Authority completed a lovely addition to the waterfront -- South Boston Maritime Park, at D Street and Northern Avenue.

It's across from the old Jimmy's Harborside Restaurant site, and next to the great new LTK restaurant, in the Park Lane Seaport residences complex.

It's 1.3 acres, and it also contains some fun features, as well as a snack shop (during nice weather). It's very crowded on good days.

But something there isn't working.

Along a walkway that rises from Northern Avenue, near the edge of Boston Harbor, leading to the small structure in the park and a pergola, is a set of 24 lights set flush in a granite curb.

Those lights, as engraved markings suggest, are supposed to indicate where the tide is -- high or low.

And, more than that, if they're working properly, the colors blink and change over a stretch of about six of the evenly spaced bulbs, showing the surf coming in and out.

So, if the tide is high, most or all of the 24 lights are supposed to be white.

And, if the tide is low, most of them are supposed to be blue.

(Now, we thought that choice of white for water and blue for "air" was backward, but Massport officials said they had a long debate about it before the park opened in the summer of 2004. And they decided otherwise. So be it. Whichever way it's supposed to work, though -- it would be great if it worked.)

When we brought this to the attention of Massport months ago, they were looking into it. There was a malfunction that they were trying to fix.

But today it doesn't seem to be working, and it's too bad.

The lights weren't changing at all on a recent day when we visited. They were static.

Most of the lights were blue, indicating that tide was low -- which indeed it was.

But five of the lights were completely out -- neither blue nor white, some looking sort of brown.

And there were two white lights lit, near opposite ends of the walk -- both surrounded by blue ones.

The lights are bright enough that they can be enjoyed in the daytime, but they're spectacular at night. When they're functioning.

We hope there's a solution. Even if they choose to keep the white lights to indicate the tide is high.

*****

The park was designed by the Halvorson Design Partnership Inc. and Machado and Silvetti Associates Inc.

As The Boston Globe reported when the park opened, Artist Carlos Dorrien, a native of Argentina, sculpted blocks of granite with nautical images for the park.

Ellen Driscoll of Cambridge created mosaics set on stainless-steel tables, which revolve to create changing images.

The $6.7 million park was given to the community, and is maintained, by Massport, in exchange for the commercial development taking place on its land on the South Boston Waterfront.






The "tide walk" at South Boston Maritime Park.


A working blue light, normally indicating "above tide level."


A working white light, normally indicating "below tide level."


Two lights, one working, the other apparently not.


A tide indicator light not working at South Boston Maritime Park.