Improvements to North Station and TD Garden taking shape

[Fenway]

The days where you have a better chance of being stabbed around Causeway St than you do in your own kitchen are long over.

 

[jgatie]

Whoops! Can't be any more wrong than that!

 

[Fenway]

 

[Chief Nine]

But that's not the Boston Garden... does he realize that building no longer exists?

I know he loves his old timey stuff but my goodness

 

[Therick67]

The Boston Garden has been gone for over 20 years...

 

[talkinaway]

Whoops! Can't be any more wrong than that!

Well, you're really not far off base. Boston's changed. I fundamentally agree with you - I really don't feel that Causeway's a dangerous place to go at all. At least certainly during a game/event, or before 10 at night - can't personally vouch for other times. It's not the only area that's changed a lot - the Combat Zone is now basically the Theater District.

The fact that I believed that the white stuff coming from the east side of floor 9 of the building was TV lighting (ala Dale and Billy's setup on floor 5), and not natural light...that's both sad and hilarious. I had no idea what all that brightness was about, and was curious as to why the Garden left it on the whole game.

 

[Fenway]

Bruins SOG display still on the blink

As anyone got a response from the Garden after they asked for feedback?

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Bruins SOG display still on the blink

As anyone got a response from the Garden after they asked for feedback?

Yeah and that guy is SHOCKED by it. Shocked.

 

[Fenway]

Well, you're really not far off base. Boston's changed. I fundamentally agree with you - I really don't feel that Causeway's a dangerous place to go at all. At least certainly during a game/event, or before 10 at night - can't personally vouch for other times. It's not the only area that's changed a lot - the Combat Zone is now basically the Theater District.

The homeless are still around but have been contained.

Just last week a friend who now lives in Tampa flew up for a family wedding and took an Uber from Logan to North Station and thought the driver was lost - she had not been back in Boston since 1991.

 

[Kate08]

Bruins SOG display still on the blink

As anyone got a response from the Garden after they asked for feedback?

got a generic response from the presidents office that another friend got, word for word.

slightly better response from my rep. We are on the aisle and had to move back 3 rows because of a new ADA section where our seats were. We are on the aisle, and the other side of the row is blocked off (no idea why) so now there is only one way in and one way out and it’s by us.

our rep said they didn’t know about that part of the design.

oooooook.

 

[talkinaway]

Bruins SOG display still on the blink

As anyone got a response from the Garden after they asked for feedback?

I got probably the exact same response from Amy Latimer's office that Kate got:

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. I'm sorry that you had an issue with your seat/experience recently.

As you know, we have been working diligently to evaluate the situation, and, while we have been able to implement some immediate fixes in select sections, we are still working through the process with our seating and industry experts. We will have more information to share once the plan for the phased-approach is completed.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. I appreciate your patience and willingness to work with us.

Best,
Amy

Like Kate, my rep has been a little more helpful and communicative than the President's Office, but, basically, their hands are tied. Looking down, I noticed a huge row in the high rows of loge, around section 10 or 11 - it looked like 20+ seats together, meaning someone's climbing over 10 people. Fewer aisles = more seats = more $.

It's been about 2 weeks since the local stations started hammering on the Garden for the renovation downgrades, and 8 months (as of yesterday) since I wrote my rep warning him about the extra seats in my section and a potential revolt. I appreciate the need for patience, but over 1/7 of the STH's season is already down the toilet.

I finally noticed last night that the Bruins SOG count is available....IF you look behind the goalies! Weird technical glitch to have, and they've had awhile to fix it. The Mikela-cam was also wonky the first couple of nights...

 

[Kate08]

Yeah the shots thing has been driving me nuts. Luckily we can see straight across to the board behind the goalie, but it's annoying.

My rep said that because we had to move to a place we wouldn't prefer to sit she added us to a priority select-a-seat list for next season. That's all well and good, but a) how many people have been added to said list, b) you're going to charge me more to move to a seat that I prefer when I lost my seats not by choice but due to renovations, and c) I *think* you need to commit to renewing in order to participate in select a seat and I'm not sure that we're going to.

 

[jgatie]

Ia actually saw the Bruins SOG flash on the Jumbotron once last night. And then *poof* it was gone.

 

[nazartp]

The homeless are still around but have been contained.

View attachment 268057


Just last week a friend who now lives in Tampa flew up for a family wedding and took an Uber from Logan to North Station and thought the driver was lost - she had not been back in Boston since 1991.

I was in Boston for the playoffs against Montreal, 2009 methinks. Then came this year for the game against Toronto. The changes were striking even for me. One of the major cities that I can tolerate.

 

[bossfan]

As anyone got a response from the Garden after they asked for feedback?

I got a response but it looks like the same canned response reported above.

The message from Amy Latimer on the Garden web site has an update as of 10/17 that technicians have completed a full modification to Loge seating sections, adjusting seat back angles to improve legroom. I was at the 10/17 game and didn't notice a difference so don't know what was actually done. Anyone in Loge seats notice a difference?

When the Garden initially said that they were in line with other arenas they may have been right. Take a look at the yelp reviews on the new Chase Center in San Francisco major complaints about leg room there.

 

[talkinaway]

Yeah the shots thing has been driving me nuts. Luckily we can see straight across to the board behind the goalie, but it's annoying.

My rep said that because we had to move to a place we wouldn't prefer to sit she added us to a priority select-a-seat list for next season. That's all well and good, but a) how many people have been added to said list, b) you're going to charge me more to move to a seat that I prefer when I lost my seats not by choice but due to renovations, and c) I *think* you need to commit to renewing in order to participate in select a seat and I'm not sure that we're going to.

You're absolutely right - if everyone is on the priority list, nobody's on the priority list. For me, I think a good chunk of my price increase was due to reclassification of my section - I think my seats in 304 used to be the same price as the shoot 1x side corner, but they changed it to the "correct" 2x pricing....but it's a pretty steep price increase when added to the "regular" price hike.

Select-a-seat definitely does require you to commit to your old seats before switching in to new ones....at least it has for the last 3-4 years. I'm pretty sure you can upgrade your seat to a more expensive one, or change to one that's the same price, with no repercussions. I think switching to cheaper seats resets your STH clock back to "first year STH". I don't know if renewal pricing is significantly less than first year pricing...I still had a price hike between year one and year two. The benefits for being a long term STH aren't really all that great...

Bruins Season Tickets-benefits

After 10 years (!), you get an invite to an alumni event (usually a watch party in Legends, I think?), and a special event at Warrior during camp. Another 10 years, and you get a d-camp BBQ and $100/year to spend on Garden concessions. That's $2.27 per game*! Granted, when times get tough and they feel they need to "reward" STHs during a rebuild, long term STHs may be treated slightly better, and they could always change the plans to benefit long term STHs....but right now, I don't see a whole lot that would convince me to stick with it through a slog of really bad years when tickets are cheap on the secondary market.

*playoff games not included

 

[Fenway]

 

[SpeedyLazaro]

surprised to the see the place in such disarray

construction everywhere in the balcony
rafters not ready
scoreboard with glitches

I'm in 330 and I heard there might be bathrooms right outside my section, so that's cool.

Went to Banners before Tuesdays game and the food was horrendous. basically the same Delaware North quality that exists inside the building.. nice atmosphere though

 

[Fenway]

Went to Banners before Tuesdays game and the food was horrendous. basically the same Delaware North quality that exists inside the building.. nice atmosphere though

 

[Fenway]

Big Night Live, Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina, and Studio B at the Hub on Causeway will open on Thursday, Oct. 31. Rachel Klein (Om, Liquid Art House, RFK Kitchen) oversees the culinary direction of all three venues. Big Night Live is a concert venue, Studio B at the Hub is an event space, and Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina — well, that speaks for itself.

Not a trick: Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina to open on Halloween - The Boston Globe​

 

[SpeedyLazaro]

When are they going to open up the expanded concourses and back row bar in the Balcony?

 

[talkinaway]

I think November/December is their target date for that. The loge concourse has already been expanded, but seeing as I have absolutely no urge to wear crappy, overpriced Delaware North food, especially after all the downgrades, I’m not particularly interested in the balcony concourse or the back room bar.

 

[Kate08]

The entrance has become a pinch point.

I understand that anytime you have 15k+ people entering an arena in generally the same time frame, there is going to be a wait. A wait I am fine with, but they completely shut down the escalators to get into the building and reroute people through the train station, to send people up in waves to go through security. It's not as bad for games because people tend to stagger going in more, but I have now been to 2 concerts since the new entrance opened and both were a complete clusterf***. New Kids on the Block over the summer and Fleetwood Mac last night. Poor signage, lack of updates/information from staff about what the holdup is causes people to get cranky and riled up and contributes to a poor experience.

Also, the lights on the ceiling as you're going through security are terrible.

 

[wintersej]

The entrance has become a pinch point.

I understand that anytime you have 15k+ people entering an arena in generally the same time frame, there is going to be a wait. A wait I am fine with, but they completely shut down the escalators to get into the building and reroute people through the train station, to send people up in waves to go through security. It's not as bad for games because people tend to stagger going in more, but I have now been to 2 concerts since the new entrance opened and both were a complete cluster****. New Kids on the Block over the summer and Fleetwood Mac last night. Poor signage, lack of updates/information from staff about what the holdup is causes people to get cranky and riled up and contributes to a poor experience.

Also, the lights on the ceiling as you're going through security are terrible.

Those lights make me think someone put some ecstasy in my coffee.

 

[jgatie]

Those lights make me think someone put some ecstasy in my coffee.

Management better watch out, the first thing I thought when I saw them was "Fall-backwards-down-the-escalator-due-to-weird-light-induced-seizure" lawsuit waiting to happen.