outflow

I went on a cruise ship party last Halloween. The boat was docked at the World Trade Center in South Boston, a part of town I barely know. A few weeks ago, after our semester ended, I drove back out to the neighborhood and stumbled across this scene above.

This is Outflow #070, maintained by the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. I think it's one of those mostly man-made and -regulated systems/canals that handles sewer discharge, but I don't really know. (Someone at the City is paying attention--there are brand new trees and well-defined areas like seem just short of places that people are actually meant to sit and enjoy the view.) If anyone has any clues, let me know. I'll be researching BWSC's website.



This place is like the Times Square of Boston infrastructure. It's adjacent to Route 93 and the Mass Pike, two of the major highways running through the City, as well as to rail yards and tracks that serve Amtrak, the commuter rail, and Boston's subway, the T (just down the street are both the Broadway station and South Station, the City's main train hub). This area also links downtown to South Boston, which is home to megaprojects like the Convention Center and the World Trade Center, gentrification, and public housing, and is also an old-school Boston Irish neighborhood.



Interstitial urban space + maintenance funding + heavy infrastructure + water + diverse neighborhood next door = my new favorite site in Boston.



Unrelated but also great: this review here of Mary Gaitskill's Veronica.