Her innovation should have earned her a spot in Cooperstown. Her Oriole hard hat is there, but the National Baseball Hall of Fame has only inducted one woman, Negro League civil rights leader Effa Manley.

Her talent isn’t limited to the diamond. Smith, who studied design at Mississippi State, also updated Battery Park City in Manhattan and the Baltimore waterfront.

Janet Marie Smith surveyed the scene of the off-season construction at Fenway Park in 2006.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

The Globe has asked her to critique Boston City Hall Plaza, opened in 1967 to acclaim. But the notorious Brutalist-style building at the center of the plaza is also considered by the public as “the most hated building” in Boston. Even the $95 million makeover of the plaza completed in 2022 gets mixed reviews.

City Hall Plaza has been the setting for a range of experiences, from the glorious celebrations of sports championships to the dark moments of the city’s busing crisis. In 1976, Black civil rights activist Theodore Landsmark was physically attacked, and a man lunged at him with an American flag on the plaza.

It’s where Larry Bird famously went off script during a 1981 Celtics championship rally and declared that Philadelphia 76ers Moses Malone “does eat (expletive).”

Smith is diplomatic when discussing the plaza’s look.

“I’m sensitive to mucking in other people’s projects uninvited,” she says. But last Wednesday evening, she trained her designer’s eye on the seven-acre site.

Aris Apollos, waiting for a train while resting outside of City Hall Plaza, is not a fan of the architecture.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

“They have made great strides,” she says on a walk-around the plaza. Her report is a mix of “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” she says.

On a gorgeous summer night, visitors are quick to offer Smith their take of the brick-and-concrete government center.

“Oh, it’s ugly as hell,” says Aris Apollos of Concord. “I’m being completely honest. It looks just like a prison. I think they should change it to look more human, less incarcerating.’’

Smith smiles. Being from Mississippi, she’s got Southern charm and years of experience working in male-dominated baseball.

The buildings offer a fine frame for Faneuil Hall and the Custom House from City Hall Plaza.Stan Grossfeld/Globe StaffFrom a picnic table, Smith praises the view but is disappointed there are no umbrellas.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

First, the good news. She loves the planting of 250 trees and other landscaping to reduce the brick wasteland and make it environmentally friendly.

“That’s fantastic and will only get better. The planting really does soften it up and makes a huge difference.”

The playscape on the north side is clearly a home run.

“I think it’s really great. It feels very purposeful and nicely integrated into the plaza. Clearly designed for kids because of the soft surface. It’s clearly filling a need in downtown.”

A beer garden there would be a good idea, too.

“Who wouldn’t enjoy a relaxing cold drink more than folks watching their kids have fun?”

But she does not like the placement of the bronze Bill Russell statue, tucked away on the south side, in front of a beer garden that is supposed to be open but closed early last Wednesday evening.

The placement of the statue of Celtics great Bill Russell was a missed opportunity, according to Smith.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

“In my opinion, rule number one with any kind of sculpture is people are going to photograph it. And the important thing is to have a beautiful background. [But] there is nowhere you can stand to get that. … It feels honestly out of place.”

She understands there are security issues that did not exist when City Hall Plaza first opened. But she does not like the addition of bright, yellow devices designed to stop vehicles from entering. Ditto for the metal barricades, some of which are carelessly tossed on their side.

“So we might as well accept that that’s going to be a part of our world and say, ‘How can we do better than just put barriers and No Trespassing signs around?’”

Nor does she like the four security cars parked on the plaza , including one with its green lights flashing.

“Is that just for kicks?” she asks. “It sends a signal that something is wrong if you’ve got police cars everywhere. Make security measures disappear into the landscape, not highlight it.”

Washington, D.C., disguises its security measures very well, she says.

Tom Brady addressed a packed City Hall Plaza during a Patriots victory parade on Feb. 7, 2017.Stan Grossfeld/Globe StaffBrady and the Patriots addressed the City Plaza crowds from the top of the brick wall, left of center. The addition of trees and the playscape has now made holding big rallies here impossible.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

“Many federal buildings in D.C. have built planters, seating walls, and tree protectors as part of the landscape, inviting more pedestrian use,” she says. “But they are constructed to withstand the force of an oncoming vehicle.”

City Hall Plaza also doesn’t blend well with the surrounding historic architecture. The Georgian-style Faneuil Hall is just across the street.

“There’s all this stuff nearby — it’s all historic, historic, historic and this (place) is sterile,” she says.

She says the new office buildings near the southeast side of the plaza cuts off some of those historic-building views and are “boring.”

On the other side of the plaza, she gives the rebuilt Government Center MBTA station an A for effort. “An almost, but no” she says. “It looks to me like it wants to be that beautiful Apple store by the Tribune Building in Chicago.

“That was shiny and this is sort of … translucent ” she says, adding that it was likely that way to avoid the heat effect.

The use of security structures around the plaza is haphazard. “We might as well accept [security’s] going to be a part of our world and say, ‘How can we do better than just put barriers and No Trespassing signs around?’” Smith says.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

She thinks there is space wasted.

“I really do think there needs to be a strong retail strategy for the ground floor of the buildings abutting City Hall Plaza. Imagine how much easier with restaurants and a lane of the road devoted to sidewalk dining vs. parking,” she says.

Other elements are done half-baked. She loves the location of a half dozen picnic tables that look down over Faneuil Hall and the Custom House across Congress Street.

“The way they’ve got Faneuil Hall framed, that’s really beautiful, but you move over 30 feet and it’s blocked.” She doesn’t like that they are set on a piece of green artificial turf either.

“The phony turf thing, doesn’t really do it right. Six tables in the sun with no umbrellas, that’s not all right.”

Smith is at home in Fenway Park, with a hot dog and a beer on the Pavilion level. Behind her are the seats she placed on top of the famed Green Monster.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

After the walking tour, we head to Fenway. Smith, who currently lives in Baltimore, where she runs a design company called Canopy, wants to sit in the stands and eat a hot dog slathered with mustard and enjoy an ice-cold beer.

She watches the game and the crowd simultaneously, like a proud parent. It’s a hoot to see people having fun in a place she designed. She never leaves before the last out.

“I love that the Green Monster seats have retained their cache after all these years. I think that’s special,” she says.

She’s most proud of making Jersey Street an open-air extension of the ballpark.

“It made it fun and playful and removed the congestion in the concourse and allowed people to hang out.’

That’s what City Hall Plaza needs: more fun, she says.

Smith visits Jersey Street before a game on Venezuelan Night at Fenway Park. She is most proud of moving the turnstiles back and making Jersey Street a pedestrian extension of the ballpark.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff

Stan Grossfeld can be reached at stanley.grossfeld@globe.com.