On the waterfront

摘要

"When I was a kid in the 70s, this stunk," says Jim Rooney of the Boston Convention Centre, talking about South Boston's waterfront, where his huge centre stands. "Rotten eggy smell, things floating around, couldn't see through it. Nasty water." Furthermore, the area-1,000 acres of it, or 400 hectares-was cut off from the rest of the city by an elevated highway. It had poor public transport and few roads. Once it boasted railway yards and docks where "Southies" (who lived nearby) worked as longshoremen. But many of the seafront jobs left long ago. The tracks were covered by a sea of asphalt. Warehouses lay empty and the place became an enormous car park.