Avalon/Axis Demolition

Post Office Square

Boston’s Post Office Square is known as one of the greatest public spaces, ranked #14 for ‘Best Squares & Plazas’ in the World by “Project for Open Spaces.”

1. Piazza del Campo, Sienna
2. Piazza San Marco, Venice
3. Campo Santa Margherita, Venice
4. Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, OR
5. Hotel de Ville (City Hall), Paris
6. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA
7. Rathaus Park (City Hall), Vienna
8. Union Square Park and Greenmarket, New York, NY
9. Piazza Navona, Rome
10. Washington Square, San Francisco
11. Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
12. Plaza de la Constitucion (Zocalo), Oaxaca, Mexico
13. Plaza de Armas, Cuzco, Peru
14. Post Office Square, Boston, MA

History & Background

"Park above, park below" is the slogan at Boston's Post Office Square. A public-private partnership financed the design and construction of the park and garage, while fees from the garage are targeted to repay capital costs and ongoing maintenance.
Garage attendants patrol the park and provide general maintenance, while Friends of Post Office Square pays for a private park ranger in the summer. The park/garage design has received more than 20 planning and architecture awards, and created open space in an extremely dense quarter of the city.

The development of the Park at Post Office Square began in the early 1980s‚ when the real-estate market was booming in downtown Boston and development space was at a premium. In the heart of the city's revitalized financial district stood a three-story concrete parking garage. With construction and renovation going on all over the downtown area, many buildings in the financial district turned their backs on this unsightly concrete structure.

One developer, Norman Leventhal, was renovating a building across the street from the parking facility and promoted the idea that the area would be more attractive without the garage. Leventhal founded Friends of Post Office Square with the intention of buying the garage and redeveloping it as a park. However, the ownership of the old garage and the cost of the project were considerable obstacles. Friends of Post Office Square consulted with the Parks Department and the Boston Greenspace Alliance, a consortium of open-space advocates, and decided to build a parking structure underground with a park above it.

With the strong support of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Friends of Post Office Square secured the development rights from the City of Boston. The parking garage opened in 1990; the park, in 1992. The $80 million construction cost was financed through a $50 million loan from Bank of New England (now Bank of America). To raise capital funds for the garage, Friends of Post Office Square offered stock in the parking structure. Local businesses were sold individual shares for $65,000. Along with the right to a monthly parking space, the purchase arrangement with Friends of Post Office Square included a cumulative 8% dividend to be paid to shareholders when debt relief is complete. The entire lot of 450 preferred shares was sold in just six weeks, raising $29.25 million.

After the debt has been paid, the partnership has arranged for the city of Boston to receive all profits from the garage. These funds are slated to be allocated to other neighborhood parks as well as to the city's general fund.

More Fun Facts

Its official name is The Norman B. Leventhal Park, after the Boston building manager and designer who designed it.

The garage is named "The Garage at Post Office Square," and it is 80 feet below the surface, which is the deepest point in the city.

The 1.7 acre (6,900 m²) park is a popular lunchtime destination for area workers. It features a café, fountains, and a pergola around a central lawn, and provides seat cushions for visitors during the summer. Designed by the landscape architects The Halvorson Company, the park is also home to "125 species of plants."

Improving Your Myspace Page

I have a friend, who we will call "Mike," who seriously needs to improve his Myspace Page. To help him out, I decided to give him some pointers:

As you all know, Michael is in dyer need of a Myspace overhaul and has requested our help. What you need to do is to show off your strengths Michael. You need to do a Personal SWOT Analysis to identify what makes you, You:

S Strength Your personal/professional talents, skills, and abilities
W Weaknesses Your own personal/professional limitations, dislikes, and soft-spots
O Opportunities The things that (and people who) motivate, inspire, and empower you
T Threats The things that (and people who) frighten, unnerve, and discombobulate you

SWOT analysis is an important step in planning and its value is often underestimated despite the simplicity in creation. From your SWOT chart, you can express your strengths on Myspace in multiple ways. Create a witty “about me” section, list hobbies/activities that you enjoy (even if they are fake), update your movie likes, personal heroes, and so on. This greatly increases your like-ability to others. And please, do not make it too long, as Myspace viewers tend to get bored very easily…so try to keep it simple and to the point!


Default Picture
If your profile is private, your default picture is very important. It’s usually best to go with a headshot so everyone can clearly see who you are. Your current picture is mediocre at best. If the statement you want to make is, “Hi my name is Mike, and I’m Boring,” well then you have succeeded. We need to spice that up to get some new viewers to your profile. Maybe do something zany and crazy. Or perhaps an action shot, such as you playing in one of your soccer games. Going the cute route is very helpful as well…I could lend you my dog Harry for the day if you would like. Since I’ve added that picture of Harry and Me this week, I’ve gained a handful of new adds! Also rotate your default picture sometimes, as I think you’ve had the same pic for the past 2 years…..

Myspace Photo Albums
The most important part of your profile is your photo albums. Honestly, your current line-up of pictures turns viewers away from your profile and it leaves a sour taste in their mouth. The goal here is to show off some solo pics of yourself looking good, but also to showcase your fabulous and beautiful friends! When people see that other beautiful people like spending time with you, this makes them want to as well! Jealously and Stalking is what keeps Myspace in business, and people want to know who you are friends with. Below are a couple good ideas from your Online Web Album:

· Soccer Classic: These pictures will show that you are sporty. Choose some of the soccer group photos to show off your entire team. Include the picture of you Matt S., resize to 50% smaller, it's too in your face as is. This is good to show that you are actually friends with your top8 (we will get to your top8 overhaul later…)

· St. Patty’s Day: These pictures will show that you are Festive. Take a few pictures from here since they are very recent, and mix it up, add a couple group pics and solo’s…. And remember, if you look good in one pic but others don’t, just CROP!

· NYC Trip: to show you like to Travel. Take some of the group pics from my profile…

Use your own judgment and add maybe 1 to 2 pages of pictures. If you want, create separate albums, but don’t over do it, no one likes an overachiever…

Also you need to upload some group photos to Photobucket.com and paste the code into your actually myspace profile. For example, look at Dennis’s profile, he has a ton of pictures. However Dennis may have too many pictures, you might want to start slow and just add a few pictures on the left side…

Music
Music is a good touch because it keeps viewership up. If you switch your song a lot, people will keep coming back to see what you are playing next. If you can’t decide on a song, no big deal, just steal it from one of your friends, or a friend of a friend. It’s best to wait until they move on to their next song, then steal it from their music history list…..

Top Eight
As I said earlier, people don’t use Myspace to keep in touch with friends; they use it to stalk friends and their friends of friends. Because of this, your top8 is crucial because it lets people know who you are closest with. I looked at yours the other day, and I only knew like 2 or 3 people!! This needs to be overhauled STAT! Now ranking your friends can be a difficult process. Many people have different methods of ranking. You can do best to worst, alphabetical, longest acquaintance to newest, and so on. To start though, you should probably change your top friends to a top4 to get a clean slate. Give it a few weeks so that everyone sees that you downsized and to let it sink in. Then once enough time has passed, increase back up to a top 8, 10, 20 with the people you really want to put in…. You can base your top8 also on those who have you in their top8. Why would your #1 Buddy be someone who doesn’t have you in theirs? WTF?!

Background
A lot of people add crazy backgrounds or designs to their profile. These are sometimes cool and add a bit of finesse, but you don’t want to overdue it. NEVER use a Flash background, as these take way too long to load and people will automatically click off of your page. Simple is the best way to go, or a really cool design if that’s what you are into. I can show you how to do this, but so can Google….

Comments/Bulletins
If you want your presence known on Myspace, you need to start commenting more on friend’s pages. Leaving funny or vague comments is best, as this often intrigues others. Sometimes people will friend request you just so they can see what their friend wrote back to you. I find bulletins are also a good because it lets you entertain the masses… Bulletins/Blogs/Myspace Weekly Themes are more advance and will be covered once you have mastered the beginners guide….

Hopefully this has helped you on your quest to improving your Myspace Page. Remember these are just suggestions, and everyone has their own personal likes/dislikes..but I would follow this if I was you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Best of Luck,

Eric

Fenway Before & After

Fenway Leftfield Roof BEFORE:

Fenway Leftfield Roof AFTER:NOW THAT'S A REFRESHING IMPROVEMENT :)