Wind

When thinking about some parts of Boston, like City Hall Plaza, intense winds come to mind immediately; this is not the case with the North End. Even when walking around the North End in the winter, I can't recall experiencing the types of gusts that send people running for cover. This is in large part due to the layout of the buildings and streets in the North End. Both the streets and the buildings are close together, eliminating any large plazas or expanses of open land for air to rush across. Ninety percent of the buildings are between 3-5 stories tall, so none of the effects of having a skyscraper in the neighborhood are felt here. More than anything, the North End is pleasantly breezy. Since it is surrounded by water, it seems to be cooler in the summer than downtown Boston is because of the sea breeze, be it real or imagined. The North End seems almost immune to the extreme wind conditions, strong gusts and stagnation, which plague other areas of the city.

 

Air Pollution

The North End is not immune to the air quality problems of the city however. Cross St., which runs perpendicular to both Salem and Hanover and parallel to the Central Artery, often has many cars idling at the traffic light at the end of Salem St. Pollutants released in the exhaust from the cars linger in the air during rush hour in both the morning and evening, a seemingly unavoidable phenomena. In addition, the Central Artery and construction on the new tunnel lie just outside of the borders of my area; both are major sources of air pollution. The pollution is aggravated by the ongoing construction, which adds more exhaust from the trucks and heavy machinery and dust from construction, which is all trapped underneath the existing Central Artery and blown either towards the North End or Haymarket. The combination of exhaust from cars and machinery and dust from construction add up to poor air quality in my section of the North End.

Animals

The North End, like most city neighborhoods, is not the ideal environment for animals to live, though there is one cat that I have seen prowling around the same corner store almost every time I have visited. Surprisingly, I never see many birds around, not even pigeons or seagulls, which I would expect. My suspicion is that there is too much traffic, automotive and pedestrian, for even these pests that make themselves at home. Also, the North End is always relatively trash-free, so it is not such a good place for pigeons or seagulls to scavenge. However, in the basketball court/playground, there are often small sparrows chirping in the bushes. Perhaps they are tiny enough to enjoy such small amounts of green space. Beyond these few sightings though, I have not seen many other birds.
One animal whose presence in the North End I was curious about was the mouse. I have heard from numerous people about how construction in the city often disturbs rats and mice and sends the scurrying into neighboring streets and buildings, seeking new shelter. I was curious as to whether this happened in the North End with the Central Artery/Tunnel Project construction. The few shop owners that I talked to said that although they hadn't really thought about it extensively, they supposed that they had noticed more mice in the alleys and streets when they were putting out their trash since construction started. From what I gathered however, the influx was, luckily, far from overwhelming. Beyond these normal city pests, the mice, pigeons, and sparrows, I have not noticed other types of animals on my visits to the North End.

 

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In my examination of nature in the North End, I was surprised to find another thing to attribute to the different "feels" Salem and Hanover streets have. While Salem is void of trees and dark, Hanover has trees (albeit, not many robust ones) and is more open and light. Hanover St., therefore, again is a more welcoming street. Once you look beyond the green space though, the problems of the North End regarding wind, air pollution, and animals become those of many parts of the city, regardless of which street you are on. I was pleasantly surprised to find that "nature" gave a lot more insight into my site than I thought it would have.

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