PUBLIC MEETING FEEDBACK

Thank you to everyone that attended the  meeting on September 26, 2019:

Defining a New Direction for the Charlestown Navy Yard

hosted by National Parks of Boston and the USS Constitution Museum.

Here is some of the feedback and ideas we recieved at this event:

Visitor Experience in the Yard

• What do you think would make the Navy Yard a more welcoming place for the Community?
• What activities and programs you think would make the Navy Yard a more engaging place?
• What would bring you back to the Navy Yard again and again?

Your Thoughts

• Better differentiation of pedestrians, bikes, cars, (1st Ave)
• Shade (nautical theme)
• Nautical theme playground
• Pedicabs so people that have difficulty walking can move around
• More landscape along 1^st Avenue
• Better Activity Signage for daily/weekly events (concerts, movies)
• Coffee/breakfast, lunch, take out dinner – “the heart of the Navy Yard” Bldg 32
• Shared programming winter included liven it up potluck

Museum/Visitor Center Design

• What kinds of experiences & services should be included in the museum/visitor center design (i.e., orientation, amenities, content)?
• What should the museum/visitor center look and feel like?
• What other things might we consider in the design of this space?

Your Ideas

• Temp/Rotating Exhibits – Collaborate with Charlestown Historic Society who have collections for display an enhance the cultural experience
• Animate the shipyard …transform so that the feeling of an abandoned space is diminished
• Flower pots/containers to define and soften space
• Exhibits outside about work in yard – like ropewalking
• Small craft display on the water
• Please include signage to help visitors to navigate
• The yard is not “pretty” add plants – flowering to soften the experience
• Events that appeal to younger kids (lots of families) ex-reinactors
• Facilitate UBER rides (ie, picked up at a certain place)
• Note: Better Communication needed with Charlestown Hist. Society, Charlestown Preservation Society and Bunker Hill Monument Association and Navy Yard
• Concern: Didn’t Hear about the monument and its museum
• Need more attention and connection with the Navy Yard and Battle of Bunker Hill
• Speaker series in the evening (liked the leadership speaker series)
• Like the idea of a bigger museum
• Sculpture honoring yard workers

Master Redevelopment/Leasing

1. What kind of neighbors would you like to see in the yard?
2. What uses would complement the history, stories and sense of place of the Charlestown Navy Yard Arts & Culture, Innovation & Technology, Health & Healing, Marine Science …

What do you think?

• Need year-round, indoor , sit-down and inexpensive eating facilities
• Where are the Navy Yard Archives now located?
• Appropriate location for Kayak Center is DD2
• Warm light positioned at end of the piers can this MasterPlan for Navy Yard be linked to the Master Plan for Charlestown?
• Maintenance of Navy Yard Gates and walls/fences

Your thoughts

• Create welcome center in Gate 1 Gatehouse
• Junior Ranger Program needs to be more visible so people know they can do it
• More signage to draw people to programs
• Improve bikeway better define pathway
• The entrance’s from the Community are not inviting (except the new one). Have planters at the Gatehouse
• Hold-up lessees & developers for contributions take the contributions and pay for community amenities
• Swimming for community residents
• Info Café, etc in Gate 1 Gatehouse
• Rehab Shipway Building – activate building
• Housing in Bldg 107 for Navy
• Coordinate with the bus & trolley companies to advertise programs
• Coffee Shop and Gift Store in Gatehouse 1 – needs to be activated
• Kiosk for water recreation Dock 2 for Bldg 32
• Bldg 109 – rebuild to support the visiting ships water, power, connectivity

General Community CNY – MAP

• Connection to CNY to Tremont Street
• Sign @ Gatehouse for concerts
• Meet your sailors
• Junior League – Commandant’s House events
• Greater Connection through Underpasses under Tobin Bridge
• Bus from CNY to Sullivan Station via rail line
• Meet people where they are
• Evening open house with Boston Marine Society
• Activate Pier for Kyaking
• Showcase Maritime industrial capacity/skill sets through outside restoration projects and/or small ship building
• DC Beane Community Programming
• Community Space with Food
• Evening yoga More landscaping, less concrete
• More benches
• Parking at Building 107 – Where will people park when building is redeveloped?
• Building Height – need to protect view sheds
• Community Conference Room (bookclub)
• Scooters
• Need a new kitchen floor in Commandant’s House
• Dance Hall in one of the leased spaces near the end of Pier 3
• More community input needed on Ropewalk – bring in people who worked there
• Great to see NPS opening up to communities – family centric things
• Like the anchor café – need more of that in the navy yard
• Need to tell the security guards when there are events here
• Need to think about accessibility – people with handicapped plates used to be able to park in the yard.
• Need water stations for tourists
• Building 32 – Community center with food like the Anchor but year-round with yoga, book clubs, etc.
• Great presentation.