There’s a reason why all those water colorists and other artists, including singer Tony Bennett, lined along the Swan Boat lagoon never paint the pavilion. The Swan Boats of the Public Garden are a treasure. The pavilion, a rickety wood structure amidst the splendor of the park, seems like an afterthought.
For those who’d like to weigh in on a better design for the pavilion and its sister duck house, a juried architectural competition is underway, seeking out ideas.
The objective of this juried competition is to explore possibilities, since there is no actual formal project or plan to replace the pavilion and duck house.
The family that runs the Swan Boats, the Pagets, support the competition and will contribute some money for cash prizes.
The competition is open to all architects, architecture school graduates, urban designers, landscape architects, artists, interior designers, and design-related undergraduate/graduate students in New England. There is no registration or submission fee.
The mastermind of this competition is Paul McIntire, senior designer at CBT Architects. He and his wife had always loved the Swan Boats, but when they began bringing their nieces and nephews and out-of-town friends there, they noticed “…that it doesn’t seem to fit the beauty and grandeur of the Public Garden,” he said. “I said to my wife, it was a someday scenario. I said I’d like to donate money to do this. The impetus was to put the idea forward and get the money afterward.” That was in August, when they decided to launch a competition. He’s realistic – he realizes that many people love the pavilion as is, or will complain about some of the designs that come forward. Even when they choose a winning design, that doesn’t mean the pavilion will be replaced quickly, or at all. “Nothing gets going with the City of Boston very quickly, but it’s just a competition. No one is threatened by it,” he said.
When he came up with the idea, the first people he called were the Paget family for their blessing. He insisted he wasn’t being critical of the Paget family for not doing the redesign themselves. “I’m sure it’s enough of an operation just taking them apart every year and storing them,” said McIntire.

The history of the swan boat
Paget was granted a boat for hire license by the City of Boston, and developed a catamaran which housed a paddle wheel propelled by foot, like a bicycle.
Robert suggested a swan, based on his familiarity with the opera “Lohengrin,” in which a knight of the Grail crosses a river in a boat drawn by a swan to defend the innocence of his heroine, Princess Elsa.
Robert Paget lived only one year after the first Swan Boats were launched. He died in 1878 at the age of 42, and his wife, Julia, a young widow with four children, assumed full management of the new enterprise. Initially, the fleet was comprised of single-seaters that could carry eight. The current boats are replicas of the originals, but have five or six benches, each carrying up to 20 passengers.
At the time Paget built his Swan Boat, it wasn’t considered a cultural icon for Boston; it was just a ride. Originally, the pavilion consisted of a red and white fabric roof set on poles, and has since become a green, painted wooden structure with an asphalt-shingled roof.
Paul McIntire observed historic photographs and said it was obvious that the pavilion was always meant to be a temporary structure when Robert Paget initially crafted a Swan Boat in 1877.
To provide the same experience for Swan Boat fans through the upcoming years, a few suggested guidelines, include keeping the pavilion in its current location and keeping the swan boat water route.
The pavilion does the job, but can be a problem during peak hours, so the contest organizers have recommended minimum dimensions.
The owners of the Swan Boats have a concessions license issued by the City of Boston to operate in the Public Garden, which itself is operated by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. Under this current agreement with the city, the entire structure of the current pavilion is located in the water within the perimeter of the lagoon and not on Public Garden land. Again, for the competition, organizers suggest the pavilion structure be located entirely within the perimeter of the lagoon.
Other considerations will be the operation of the Swan Boats, pedestrian circulation, storage needs, stroller storage area, lines of people, boarding and unloading, ticket counter, and retail counter. It could also be designed to accommodate a seasonal ice skating pavilion.
Old photographs and other documents will be provided to help architects come up with something appropriate.
It’s not just the pavilion that could use a makeover – the Duck House, which is so-named because ducks are known to live in the structure by entering from under the deck, is actually a housing for a 48-inch sewer main, used for the inlet and draining of the pond’s water. The limitations of the competition would keep it to the current location, allow for duck co-habitation, and continue to hide the vertical portion of the sewer main. Otherwise, there’s no height limitations for the Duck House.
“It’s going to generate some interest,” said Marian W. Hill of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. “The structure hasn’t been updated since 1924 or something.”
She’s seeking out event sponsors to provide money for cash rewards, to join fellow sponsors, including the Four Seasons Hotel, where the judging and awards ceremony will be held on Nov. 25; Boston Society of Architects; Enlightened Nutrition, where Hill works; and the Paget family.
Friends of the Public Garden are on board as a sponsor, and the Boston Parks Commission will be talking to them soon.
Designs are due Nov. 17, and about 12 area designers have already begun to participate.
“I expect some pretty crazy things,” said McIntire, who expects architects or students seeking some exposure, not the cash prize, to submit wild ideas. “It’s all about generating ideas and discussion,” he added.
Submissions will be showed at two architectural conventions and at the Boston Society of Architects. “There is exposure,” said McIntire. “They can let fly with whatever design they really want.”
But the winning design will probably be pretty conservative, possibly with wrought iron, predict Hill and McIntire. “I see this competition as inspiring somebody out there to make the improvements, whether it be the city or a personal donation, to generate interest to improve a structure that is a part of our history - to make it something beautiful like it should be,” said Hill.
The winner of the competition will be announced Nov. 25 at the Four Seasons event. For more information, check out swanboatspavilioncompetition.com.

Smiling at a stranger or saying hello to someone at random can be infectious, even in a city as infamously unfriendly as Boston. For those who decided not to take a friendly compliment as a potential con job, a Beacon Hill resident worked last week to create a domino effect of positive thinking.
Every year, Nancy Purbeck of 80 Beacon Street makes it her job to boost the morale of the city by going around to Beacon Hill businesses and setting up shop at South Station to hand out business cards with reminders on how to stay positive.
“I took them all over Beacon Hill. The merchants just love them,” she says.
It’s all part of “Positive People Day,” which is held annually on Oct. 29, as officially proclaimed by Mayor Thomas Menino, and officially endorsed by psychiatrists Dr. Jerrold Rosenbaum at Mass. General Hospital, Dr. Alvin Poussaint at Judge Baker Children’s Center, and others at the Lahey Clinic and Tufts Medical Center.
For those who didn’t get a card, they feature the cartoon character Underdog on each side, with the following tips: “Share a hug,” “Share a smile,” “Call your mom, family member or friend,” “Laugh, often,” “Participate in random acts of kindness,” and “Give unexpected compliments.”
The day is sponsored by Purback’s Victory Over Violence group of volunteers, to remind participants that being positive is an antidote for violence.
Boston is the only U.S. city to reserve a day to encourage residents and visitors to be kind to one another, notes Purback.
Purbeck, a marketing specialist, and her partner Watts Biggers of Plymouth, who also established the nonprofit, Victory Over Violence, founded Positive People Day in 1997.
Biggers is a former creative arts director for NBC-TV, and the creator of Underdog, the original 1960s cartoon character and Positive People Day mascot.
Purbeck, Biggers and volunteers handed out hundreds of business cards to commuters all day. One person asked Purbeck, “Please, can I have more of these Underdog cards? My boss is a grouch,” she says. “There were people from Fidelity saying, ’Can we have hundreds of those cards? So many people are depressed.’ I thought we were handing out dollar bills.
“It’s a little checklist on how to be positive,” says Purbeck, who also does conflict resolution seminars and works with families on conflict. “Those little messages go a long way. It’s just an excuse for people to be kind, not that we need one. Sometimes it helps.”

Dianne Wilkerson finally agreed to drop her sticker campaign against Democratic candidate Sonia-Chang Diaz, despite expressing initial defiance in the face of charges that could land her in prison for years.
Wilkerson, who was arrested last week and charged with accepting over $20,000 in bribes, said she still hasn’t decided on whether to resign from the Senate.
"As of this moment today, though, I am certainly announcing the suspension, the termination, cessation," Wilkerson said, after a meeting with local black ministers. "I want to make it clear that I am ending any further campaign."
Wilkerson’s decision to drop out came amidst a total evaporation of her supporters. On Wednesday, her colleagues in the Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for her resignation for clear violations of Senate rules.
State Representative Marty Walz, who represents sections of Wilkerson’s Second Suffolk District in the House, echoed the outrage of her Senate colleagues.
“Senator Wilkerson has again brought disrepute onto the Legislature and violated the public’s trust,” said Walz, who was one of the few local politicians to not support Wilkerson in the primary and has strongly endorsed Chang-Diaz in the general election. “Serving in the Legislature is an extraordinary privilege, and I am deeply troubled and angered by Senator Wilkerson’s actions. If these allegations are true, Senator Wilkerson should immediately resign,” Walz added.
Boston City Councilor Mike Ross, whose district also overlaps with Wilkerson’s, pledged his support to Sonia Chang-Diaz and expressed sadness at the news of Wilkerson’s arrest.
“If the charges against Senator Dianne Wilkerson are true, she has betrayed her duty as a public servant,” said Ross. “She has the right to her defense, but given where we are now, her ability to be the senator from the Second Suffolk is seriously compromised.”
Ross is one of many local politicians, including state and national figures such as Senator John Kerry and Governor Duval Patrick, who supported Wilkerson in her primary fight with Chang-Diaz. Ross was also one of the few local Democrats to remain neutral in the general election, after most of the party threw their support behind Democratic nominee Chang-Diaz.
Patrick, one of Wilkerson’s strongest allies, issued a somewhat ambivalent statement after the Senate passed its resolution.
"On a bipartisan basis, the Senate [last week] unanimously reaffirmed that elected officials should be held to the highest ethical standards,” said Patrick. “I support and respect their action."
Another public figure who spoke in measured terms was Wilkerson’s primary and general election opponent, Sonia Chang-Diaz, who sounded a note of sympathy for both the senator and the many Wilkerson supporters whom she will now represent in the Senate.
“It's important to remember that the legal proceedings will continue, and like everyone else, Senator Wilkerson deserves a fair trial based on the facts, not a rush to judgment,” said Chang-Diaz. “I want to ask members of the media, and certainly anyone involved in my campaign, to be considerate of Senator Wilkerson's supporters...for whom this must be a very difficult time.”
Initially, before dropping out of the race, Wilkerson, who was seen in photographs released by the FBI, stuffing hundred dollar bills down her shirt at No. 9 Park, expressed defiance to the Senate.
"Surely the members of the state Senate could not have believed that such a monumental decision would be made within a few hours," Wilkerson said. "A decision like this could be comforting to some, but could prove disastrous to others."

Boston is a divided city.
On one side stand the dog owners, tired of a city that seems to make it as hard as possible for them and their pets.
On the other side are those who say dogs are running amok, turning parks and neighborhood sidewalks into canine-controlled territory.
And in the middle last week was City Councilor Bill Linehan and his colleague Sal LaMattina, who held a meeting Wednesday to address the issue of dog/human co-existence in Boston.
“For all of us that live in this great city, this is not a new issue,” said LaMattina. “There have been conflicts between dog owners and non-dog owners for over 20 years, and I hear it all the time in my neighborhood. I hope tonight that we can have a nice discussion and find ways that we can all work together to solve concerns on both sides.”
Despite LaMattina’s hopes, things felt decidedly contentious on Wednesday, particularly when it came to the non-dog owners.
Bill Sucevic, a South Boston resident, said he is sick and tired of seeing dogs running off leash and having to watch for dog messes everywhere he goes.
“I’m tired of walking down the street with my head down looking at dog crap,” he said.
However, Councilor Linehan was quick to point out that he believed the majority of dog owner violations come from a minority of dog owners.
““I believe that it is a small number of dog owners who flaunt leash laws, don’t clean up after their pets, and organize off-leash activities,” said Linehan. “The culture of non-compliance is growing, and that’s why we’re holding this meeting today. We need to review how the city of Boston is presently dealing with uses and what we need.”
Dog owners at the meeting were quick to point out the many positive things dog owners bring to the city, including vitality and a sense of use to public spaces.
“We’re one of the few groups that congregate en masse - that’s part of the solution as much as part of the problem,” said Nicholas Ogden of Downtown Crossing.
Almost all in attendance agreed more enclosed dog recreation spaces, such as the Joe Wex space at Peter’s Park in the South End, would help ease tension, giving designated areas where people and their pets could congregate without letting dogs off leash in general use areas.
“Boston could benefit from the building of dog parks,” said Back Bay resident Alain Ferry, founder of Boston Dog. “Dog parks promote responsible dog owner behavior.”
Boston’s current statutes concerning dog parks, however, are complex and difficult to navigate, said Linehan, who added he’d like to streamline legislation in order to ease hurdles to dog park construction.
“We as a city have a duty to become more dog friendly,” said Linehan, citing New York as a role model to emulate, with its dozens of off-leash dog parks.

Great weekend
The weather was the only variable on Friday night and it was perfect for both children and young-at-heart who went out trick-a-treating. However, the residents in both Back Bay and Beacon Hill made Halloween, a very special treat. To all those residents who took the time to decorate their houses, a thank-you is in order. To all those residents who just were out on their front steps passing out the candy, a thank-you is also in order. To those residents who opened their houses and provided a special treat to the adults, another thank-you is in order. To city officials who closed off sections of Marlboro Street and Beacon Hill to automobiles, thank you for adding to this festive time and keeping our children safe.
Not too many years ago, in the Back Bay, Halloween was almost a forgotten time. Too few families and too few Halloween hosts marked the eve of All Souls’ Day. But this has changed, as the city has changed over the years. More families with young children are living in the neighborhoods that once were dominated by either college students or young professionals.
The increasing numbers of young families staying in Boston’s neighborhoods were seen in another part of the weekend. Hill House held the annual in-house playoff soccer championship, and on Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m., hundreds of young soccer players packed Ebersol Field.
Both of these events prove that Boston neighborhoods have achieved what many thought was impossible in the 1970s – they created a livable city for young middle-class families.