They presented their ideas Thursday night to a skeptical but enthusiastic crowd at the Boston Public Library. People packed the Raab Lecture Hall, and it was quickly apparent that there is broad consensus on two points.
One, the Esplanade is a complete mess.
And two, that Storrow Drive is a big part of the problem.
The Esplanade, which opened in 1910, has been going downhill for decades, it turns out. Its decline, once gradual, was greatly accelerated by the encroachment of Storrow Drive, which opened to traffic in 1951. Much of the park is too hard to get to, there isn’t enough to do, and even the parts that were once points of pride, such as the Hatch Shell, are now shells of their former selves. Most jarring: The original wading pond has long been a compost heap.
The Esplanade Association, a nonprofit dedicated to caring for the park, believes that all of this can be remedied, though not without a substantial expenditure of will and dollars. Its leaders presented a slide show that began with examples of great parks around the world, and concluded with a number of big ideas for the Esplanade. It’s called “Esplanade 2020’’, though the sum of its proposals would probably take longer than that to complete.
Few would dispute the idea that the Esplanade is underused and underloved, or that its maintenance has left a lot to be desired, despite its prime location. Over the years it hasn’t been a priority for the state, which owns it, or for the city, which has no official role in running or maintaining it. This raises the question of who, exactly, will finance the renovations. Rich donors appear to be the main hope.
A big part of the plan involves reclaiming some of the territory that was turned over to Storrow. Certainly, the place was not meant to abut a highway, which is what Storrow Drive has become.
