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Harbor News

Waterfront Activities / Best of Boston
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Need to find something fast?
Visit our Site Map
Visit the HarborWalk
website
Visit the Boston Water Transportation website
Download HarborWalk Audio Tours
Enjoy the Harborwalk like never before – free of
charge! Download one or both of the new MP3 audio
HarborWalk tours to your personal MP3 player. Learn
about shipwrecks and lobster rolls on the Downtown
tour which begins at Christopher Columbus Waterfront
Park, or start at the InterContinental Hotel and get
an insider’s view of the Fort Point Channel. Click
here to download each of the audio tours.
Naturally
Boston Harbor
Download Naturally
Boston Harbor for self-guided nature tours along
the Boston Harbor. Naturally Boston Harbor describes
flourishing plant and animal life and provides
historical background, suggestions for activities, and
directions to sixteen Harbor locations in Charlestown,
East Boston, Dorchester, South Boston, and on the
Harbor Islands.
Harbor Curriculum Guide
The Boston Harbor
Association's Boston
Harbor Curriculum Guide is an excellent resource
for middle school teachers, students, and parents.
Guide to Safe Shellfishing in
Boston Harbor
TBHA’s guides on the hazards of consuming
contaminated shellfish and the regulations on
shellfishing in Boston Harbor are now available in
five languages (Click on a link to download the
appropriate version: English, Chinese
(Traditional), Chinese
(Simplified), Vietnamese,
Laotian,
and Khmer).
Funding for this project was provided by the
Massachusetts Environmental Trust.
Designated Port Area study:
TBHA’s comprehensive study
about designated port areas (DPA’s) provides
detailed information about the current state of Boston’s
DPA’s and the challenges faced by the region’s
marine industry.
Chelsea Creek Activity Guide:
The Chelsea Creek Activity
Guide, available in both English and Spanish, is a fun
way to inform young people Chelsea Creek’s history,
natural environment, and importance to industry.
To obtain
copies of any of TBHA’s publications, please contact
us by email at mail@tbha.org
or by phone at 617-482-1722.
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TBHA has joined Facebook!
Find us by clicking the image below.

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The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA)
is the leading harbor advocacy group working to promote a
clean, alive, and accessible Boston Harbor. Founded in 1973 by
the League of Women Voters and the Boston Shipping
Association, TBHA prides itself in its creative and innovative
programs that help to educate the public and build a consensus
for a clean and alive Harbor. The Boston Harbor Association is
making a difference today and for future generations with
solutions and programs that promote maritime industrial
activities, environmental protection, and public access around
Boston Harbor.
TBHA
cares about Boston Harbor as New England's maritime port, as a
recreational and tourist asset, and as the centerpiece of the
area's natural and urban environment. TBHA advocates for
greater public access and open space along Boston Harbor,
promotes the Port of Boston's economy, educates urban youths
about Boston Harbor and related career opportunities through
our Harbor Bound program, encourages affordable public water
transportation throughout the Harbor, monitors water quality
improvements, and works for the restoration of Boston Harbor
Beaches. The Boston Harbor Association is making a difference
every day on Boston Harbor!
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New InterContinental Boston Water
Transportation Terminal

The
InterContinental Boston Water Transportation Terminal,
located on the Fort Point Channel between Russia Wharf
and the InterContinental Boston Hotel/Residences, is
now open to the public! The Boston Harbor Association
has worked closely with Fred Laselva of Penfield's and
Tim Kirwan of InterContinental Boston, as well as the
MBTA, Massport, Seaport TMA, and the BRA on opening
the terminal. Brochures, schedules, and maps on water
transit services, including the on-call water taxi
service at the dock right behind the InterContinental
Boston, are available inside the terminal. Visitors
will also be able to buy small gifts and bottled
beverages and use two public rest rooms within the
kiosk from 7 a.m. to dusk, seven days a week through
Columbus Day. The InterContinental Boston water
transportation terminal is the newest amenity to the
Harborwalk.

Brochures,
schedules, and maps on water transit
services, are available inside the terminal.
Boston Harbor Now Designated as
No Discharge Area
The Boston
Harbor became the largest urban port in the U.S. to be
designated as a “No Discharge Area” (NDA) by the
Environmental Protection Agency. All commercial and
recreational boats are prohibited from releasing
sewage within three miles of the shoreline. Instead,
both treated and untreated wastewater from boats must
be pumped out at one of more than 35 pump-out
facilities. The Boston Harbor No Discharge Area
stretches from Winthrop to Hull, and is the second
largest of Massachusetts’s ten NDAs, affecting over
4000 boats in the Boston area.
Establishing
a No Discharge Area will protect public health, reduce
toxic pollution, reduce nitrogen loading, and protect
our coastal economy. Even treated sewage can release
nitrogen and other nutrients that cause algae blooms
in the water. Pumping out wastewater instead of
releasing it into the harbor will prevent bacteria and
chemical pollutants from contaminating Boston Harbor.
Mayor Thomas Menino announced that two new pump-out
facilities will be built in the Charlestown Navy Yard
and the Reserve Channel in South Boston to accommodate
more boats.

Vivien Li,
Executive Director of The Boston Harbor Association,
joined Boston’s Chief of Environmental and Energy
Services Jim Hunt, EPA Regional Administrator Robert
Varney, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Secretary of
Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles, Jack
Wiggin of the Urban Harbors Institute, and other
environmental leaders, advocates, and harbormasters at
a press conference on 7 July 2008 to announce the
start of the new ban on discharge. To help enforce the
No Discharge Area through educational outreach
efforts, The Boston Harbor Association has been
distributing copies of the MA Coastal Zone Management
Program’s 2008 Boater’s Guide to Pump-out
Facilities to local marinas and yacht clubs. For a
copy, please email mail@tbha.org. |
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| New Water Transportation Developments
As a part of its commitment to promote
water transportation in Boston Harbor, The Boston
Harbor Association has launched a new website: www.bostonwatertransportation.com.
Created in conjunction with the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, Executive Office of Transportation, and
the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the
new website includes detailed information on available
water transportation services in Boston’s Inner
Harbor, South Shore, and North Shore. The website was
unveiled at the MBTA Water Transportation Awareness
Week press conference on 24 June 2008.

Photo courtesy of the MBTA
At the press conference, Lt. Governor
Tim Murray, MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas,
Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen, and TBHA
Executive Director Vivien Li spoke briefly on
continuing efforts to promote water transportation
options for commuters in the Greater Boston area. The
MBTA also launched its new Wi-Fi Commuter Boat Pilot
Program, which provides free internet access on all
MBTA commuter boats. Speakers and attendees boarded an
MBTA Harbor Express vessel at Long Wharf, where Lt.
Governor Murray tested the new Wi-Fi connection by
opening a link to TBHA’s Boston Water Transportation
website.
A press release of the event is
available at mbta.com. |
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| TBHA Launches Water Transportation Initiative

Since its
founding in 1973, The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA)
has been working to promote a clean, alive, and
accessible Boston Harbor. In recent years, as Boston
Harbor has become cleaner and the waterfront more
accessible to residents, workers, and visitors, The
Boston Harbor Association has focused increased
attention and advocacy on water transportation.
Consistent with TBHA's strategic plan and 2008
workplan, The Boston Harbor Association has launched a
multi-year Water Transportation Initiative. Charles
Norris, leading authority on water transportation in
Boston Harbor, and Alden Raine, national expert on
transportation and urban development and former
Executive Director of Massport, will co-chair TBHA's
Water Transportation Working Group.
The Working
Group will work to promote a robust water
transportation network for Boston Harbor, hosting a
series of meetings this year and subsequently
releasing working papers on topics such as technical,
market-based, economic, and mobility aspects related
to water transportation. TBHA prides itself in
providing expertise on a variety of Boston Harbor
Issues, and we anticipate that the Working Group will
enhance our discussions, continued advocacy, and
collaboration with our colleagues and other
organizations in promoting a comprehensive water
transportation system.
TBHA
Executive Director Vivien Li's 5 May 2008 Banker
& Tradesman article on TBHA's water
transportation initiative can be accessed here.
New 2008 HarborWalk Segments and
Amenities
As a result of The
Boston Harbor Association’s advocacy as well as the
efforts of others, several new additions to the
HarborWalk have been added in 2008. Kudos to the
Boston Redevelopment Authority for installing some of
the most striking additions to the HarborWalk.
Installed in early 2008, the new chairs (see right)
along the Long Wharf HarborWalk have fast become a
favorite of tourists, school children, and residents.
In keeping
with the goal of making the harbor accessible, TBHA
worked with the Coast Guard to reopen a portion of the
HarborWalk next to Boston's Coast Guard base in the
North End. This portion of the walk was closed for
security reasons following 11 September 2001.
Thanks to an arrangement with the Coast
Guard's Integrated Support Command, the pier end of
their site next to the Mirabella Swimming Pool will
now be open seasonally during daylight hours through 1
November 2008 (see left). TBHA thanks base commanding
officer Captain Scott Keene and the Coast Guard for
their support in opening up this space to the general
public.
In addition,
a portion of the HarborWalk on and near Lovejoy Wharf
next to the North Washington Street Bridge, completed
by the property owner and the Central Artery/Tunnel
project, opened in summer 2008. This HarborWalk
segment connects Prince Street Park in the North End
to Lovejoy Wharf, and offers great views of the
waterfront and the Zakim Bridge.
Planning is
underway by both Federal Express and NSTAR for
construction of new HarborWalk segments by the Federal
Express facility and by NSTAR’s HarborWalk segment
in South Boston. When completed by the end of 2008,
theses two segments will provide a more complete
HarborWalk along the Reserved Channel.
The brand new
section of HarborWalk surrounding the Battery Wharf
development is now open to the public. Public
restrooms and a second floor observation deck opened
in August 2008. The HarborWalk is lit up at night
thanks to illuminated railings, and features like
benches, telescopes, and a water taxi station will be
completed later this summer. An information center for
the general public and a second-floor observation deck
will provide much-welcomed amenities to this portion
of the waterfront.


In addition,
the completion of repairs to the Congress Street
Bridge over the Fort Point Channel later this year
will include the addition of a new HarborWalk segment
on Dorchester Avenue across from the Federal Reserve
Bank.
Significant
progress has been made in the completion and
maintenance of Boston’s HarborWalk, according to The
Boston Harbor Association’s Vivien Li in an October, 2007 Banker & Tradesman
article. To read, please click here. And once the above
HarborWalk segments open, the HarborWalk public access
network will be close to 83% complete.
Read more
Harbor News
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