Why is Boston not mentioned more when people talk about great cities in the US (Cambridge: credit, colleges)

[masonbauknight]

@miu. Manhattan-centric drivel. Most Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods are very New York City in lifestyle, often 1/2 hour to 45 minutes from Manhattan via subway (some of these commutes are actually less onerous than a few in-Manhattan commutes). Depending on the neighborhood, the Outer Boroughs offer a near-European mode of life, 24/7 amenities, and everything is accessible on foot, no car necessary. Not a bad deal for someone who wants to work/be near Manhattan but can't afford its London-like rents (totally prohibitive for most young people--pricey even with 3 roommates à la the sitcom Friends).

@9162. If you don't know about the Boston Eurokid phenom, I am shocked. I do agree with the rest of your post though: Students want to stay in Boston after graduation -- the quality of life is that good. But the stayers (and the newcomers AND the Boston-Cambridge elite itself) make the city too expensive for most anyone to consider. You had better land a very nice job indeed. And those Boston winters. Br-r-r-r!

[FCMA]

Boston has everything good going for it, but then it has those deficiencies that keep it middling.

Public transit deficiencies that the T refuses to fix - decent nightlife but the damn T ends at 12:30. As a proud resident of westernish MA, it gives me sick pleasure to point out that Amherst and Northampton have bus service running til 3 AM on the weekends. Up your game, Boston, and maybe people would stay out late en masse for culture, instead of scurrying back into your holes at 11:30 or worse, paying ripoff cab fares to stay out past then, or even worse, driving drunk.

Boston has somewhat of a lack of cultural draw in terms of things like compelling festivals and activities to draw people from outside there, or iconic buildings in the skyline ala NYC, Chicago, or Seattle (space Needle is silly but people know of it). Montreal has its jazz fest and Euro flavor, Austin has supremely hip music festivals drawing performers from the world over, New Orleans has Mardi Gras, Vegas is Vegas, San Francisco has the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, and bohemian vibe. Other western cities have access to fantastic mountain landscapes, are exciting with their growing rather than stagnant economic prospects and relative affordability, LA has Hollywood glitz and all that BS. New York is simply frenetic all the time and a truly insane and renowned world-dominating metropolis. Miami is cocaine and beaches and hard bodies and clubs. DC is the nation's hallowed capitol with its ridiculous classical revival monuments. Philly has cheesesteaks, Rocky, and the Liberty Bell and the Constitution and all that. What is Boston known for besides people's vague knowledge of our historical sites and universities? A certain kind of tourist (but only a certain kind) will come for the history, and students are transient largely. What is Boston's calling card to attract other outsiders to care we are here? Sure Boston offers a nice quality of life and has plenty of cultural vitality, and is beautiful, and farking expensive, but what is its identity in the national mind that would make the average joe want to visit, or know much about it besides that America was largely born there and it's cold, and we're a bunch of unAmerican commie pinko liberal elite latte sipping college professor types letting the terrorists win and we have funny accents and are the closest thing the USA has to sports hooligans? The colleges are a valid point, and the jewel in Boston's crown, but what else?

Boston, why is your public transit outdone by semirural college towns in western MA, stifling your young and shallow and exciting and convenience factor versus many other large cities? And what is your calling card to make the average joe notice your cultural impact in modern America and want to visit? What is shiny and iconic and new and shallow about you that would draw the average a-hole in? It's cold and the city projects an image of sidewalks rolling up early. Not saying that's true, but that's the reputation!

[Qfkl]

Look, Boston is okay at best. It has never been, and will never be, one of the great cities. It's main distinction is that it was one of the first places settled, but that was by mere geographical coincidence. Then people left for better places, and they continue to do so today.

Growing up in the western inland provinces of the southern states along the Atlantic (not the east coast, mind you), I always thought of Boston as one of the big, important US cities. Since moving here, I've been underwhelmed to say the least. Maybe after a few years I'll lower my standards like the rest of you and start to believe that it has something going for it.

In the meantime, trust me, I'm trying to do what a couple of you half-morons have suggested: go back to where I came from. Or anywhere else for that matter.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Qfkl

In the meantime, trust me, I'm trying to do what a couple of you half-morons have suggested: go back to where I came from. Or anywhere else for that matter.

So smart advice would be for you to stay in a place you don't want to?

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by Qfkl

Then people left for better places, and they continue to do so today.

Ahhh, so that's why Boston's city and metro population have been increasing since the 80s. Good call.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Ahhh, so that's why Boston's city and metro population have been increasing since the 80s. Good call.

Boston's population growth has been anemic over time. Massachusetts has lost a US Representative in three of the last four decades as a result of the censuses.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

Boston's population growth has been anemic over time. Massachusetts has lost a US Representative in three of the last four decades as a result of the censuses.

The assertion was that people continue to leave the area because it's no good. My counter is that more people think it's good and are continuing to move in.

Right now go look at the figures for Massachusetts. The state has never lost population, as long as we've been keeping track of it. Now go look at Boston. Every census since 1990 has shown an increase in population.

This stuff isn't a secret. It's out there for you to see.

[sandsonik]

Originally Posted by 9162

One very sad problem with our schools is the over emphasis on diversity. They allow a foreign student over a native student, despite their overall GPA, or potential contribution they can make to society. Colleges also look at foreign students as a way they can consistantly rationalize raising tuition rates much faster than the inflation rate. There are more than enough foreign students with big dreams of not only attending an American college, but eventually immigrating here permanently, displacing yet another American worker.

Where the heck are you getting this from?

The foreign students who go to college in Boston are inordinately wealthy and paying the full tuition, compared to their American counterpart. That's why colleges like them.

Lots plan to take their skills back home. But if they don't, they're not taking an American's job unless their skills are better than that American - and isn't that what America is supposed to be all about? Working hard and getting ahead. It's a shame that so many other countries are outperforming American student in math and science, but those are the facts.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Right now go look at the figures for Massachusetts. The state has never lost population, as long as we've been keeping track of it. Now go look at Boston. Every census since 1990 has shown an increase in population.

There was a slight loss in 2005 (for the state).

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by massnative71

There was a slight loss in 2005 (for the state).

If you read what I said, I said look at the census. To my knowledge, we don't do censuses in any year ending in 5.