Why is Boston considered urban/vibrant on city data? (Lowell: rent, hotels)

[table12]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I went to Ohio State in Columbus- was not hard to be out until 3-4 am in the city.

Bingo. I don't know what Boston's aversion to this is, there's so much upside: more business hours to collect more revenue that can then be taxed. It would only make going to college in Boston even more appealing. And it would certainly lift the convention business -- when you think they built that brand new convention center last decade and it hasn't exactly outperformed expectations.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by table12

Bingo. I don't know what Boston's aversion to this is, there's so much upside: more business hours to collect more revenue that can then be taxed. It would only make going to college in Boston even more appealing. And it would certainly lift the convention business -- when you think they built that brand new convention center last decade and it hasn't exactly outperformed expectations.

I don't know if I can agree with the last statement. Our big new convention center is considered a top 10 convention center in the nation but is currently not big enough to house some events. Every year, a few events get turned away because shows want more space than it currently provides. The currently inadequate number of hotels in the SB Waterfront also plays a role. They are planning to expand and build more hotels in the next few years though so we can hope for better progress.

[Cliff Clavin]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

They are planning to expand and build more hotels in the next few years though so we can hope for better progress.

Southie hall hotels under way
Friday, December 13, 2013
By: Donna Goodison

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority yesterday heralded a groundbreaking for two “mid-priced” hotels on D Street as the kickoff to its proposed $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

CV Properties and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will build a 330-room Aloft Hotel and a 180-room extended-stay Element Hotel across from the convention center in the South Boston waterfront.

Starwood created the two hotel brands a few years ago based on a “democratization of design” that incorporates qualities of luxury hotels, according to Allison Reid, senior vice president of North American development. Room rates at the D Street properties will be at least 10 percent below prevailing rates of nearby four-star hotels. Both hotels will be “flagships” for their respective brands, Reid said.

The $140 million project is part of a larger MCCA effort to spur development of more hotels near the convention center, from which there are 1,690 rooms within walking distance, compared to an average 7,584 rooms for competing centers in other cities, according to the MCCA. It’s also eyeing a 1,200- to 1,500-room “headquarters hotel” near the BCEC.

The next step in the 
MCCA’s expansion plan would be passage of the proposed legislation, filed in October, to expand the nine-year-old BCEC by 60 percent, according to executive director James Rooney.

“Our hope is that we can see action from the House and Senate and get it to the governor’s desk in the first quarter of next year,” Rooney said.

Southie hall hotels under way | Boston Herald

[table12]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Our big new convention center is considered a top 10 convention center in the nation

By who? I've never seen it in the top 10. According to Cvent it just breaks the top 20:

Cvent's Top 50 Meeting Destinations in the United States | Cvent

[thenewtexan]

Originally Posted by Oistrakh12

1. A dining scene on par with San Francisco's, where one can find outstanding yet reasonably priced restaurants on practically every street of every neighborhood (and in some neighborhoods, on practically every block).
2. More karaoke studios.
3. More late-night dining options, other than those in Chinatown.

I think the funniest part of this thread is that someone is asking: Why is Boston considered urban?

At least we have an answer now. Only cheap late night meals and drunks at karaoke machines can make a place urban. Got it.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by table12

By who? I've never seen it in the top 10. According to Cvent it just breaks the top 20:

Cvent's Top 50 Meeting Destinations in the United States | Cvent

All right, you got me, only top 20. Still my point is that other reasons such as lack of space and the generally high cost of being in this city are more likely the reasons for the BCEC's less than stellar performance so far, not the general shortage of nightlife establishments that do not open late.

[xS☺B☺s]

Originally Posted by table12

Bingo. I don't know what Boston's aversion to this is, there's so much upside: more business hours to collect more revenue that can then be taxed. It would only make going to college in Boston even more appealing.

Boston's Puritan based reasoning behind not being a 24 hour city has some method to the madness.

1. If you think about it, in a 24 hour city, who is out fooling around at 3am and what are they doing? Well they sure aren't doing their homework or cancer research. They are getting drunk, gambling, and soliciting for sex. These activities are perfect for Vegas or MB, but Boston isn't and doesn't want to be either.

2. Boston is a city of students, academics, researchers, science - IOW - thinkers. These are day people. Vegas is a city of drunks, gamblers, strippers and hookers - decadents. Fact is, Boston doesn't want this crowd in their city.

3. I have no doubt crime rates after 2am are far higher in Miami than Boston. By providing less bait, Boston keeps the animals off the streets and reduces the cost to the city by not having to pay emergency service to put the drunkty dumpties back together again when they wreck themselves.

Boston doesn't need to be Vegas. Billions of dollars in research revenue is sent to Boston every year because Boston can be counted on to do something productive with it. All the money that go to Vegas every year goes to booty dancers and bookies which is then spent on cocaine, yachts and Moet.

Boston is one of those places in the world where places like Vegas and Miami will turn to when the Moet guzzlers need to find someone to cure their afflictions. Without the Boston thinkers, the Vegas drinkers would all be dead of aids by now.

We need Boston to be Boston.

[xS☺B☺s]

Originally Posted by table12

By who? I've never seen it in the top 10. According to Cvent it just breaks the top 20:

Cvent's Top 50 Meeting Destinations in the United States | Cvent

Table, are you from Boston? The new Convention Center is in a veritable wasteland of empty lots, decay, and warehouses. It is the seed of a grand long term scheme to revitalize a very large very dilapidated area. It's a long term plan. I don't think anyone is under any illusion that the Seaport District is going to top Disneyworld in the next five years. But 50 years from now, the Seaport District will be a bustling exciting part of town connecting a fully restored South Boston to the brand new Rose Kennedy Greenway - and thus downtown, Chinatown, Quincy, North End etc.

The one major design flaw in the whole scheme is that cockamamie highway mess directly in front of the Center. It prevents easy access to the waterfront.

[table12]

Originally Posted by xS☺Be

1. If you think about it, in a 24 hour city, who is out fooling around at 3am and what are they doing? Well they sure aren't doing their homework or cancer research. They are getting drunk, gambling, and soliciting for sex. These activities are perfect for Vegas or MB, but Boston isn't and doesn't want to be either.

I wasn't really suggesting Boston become 24/7, more that they consider not essentially shutting down around midnight. I agree 100% that Boston should NOT be in full swing at 3 AM -- that would be fundamentally out of character. What does worry me, though, is the reticence to keep transportation running until 2 AM. Smaller cities that have seen breakneck growth over the last decade are hardly 24/7 either, but many do firmly keep things going until 2 AM every day of the week.

I am a native Bostonian, and having now seen a lot of smaller cities around the country for my work in tourism, I'm basically floored Boston isn't worried about population drain. Nashville, Charlotte, Orlando... this is just the tip of the iceberg. Smaller cities that were no-man's-lands just a few decades ago that now have very real industry, very real affordability, and shockingly high overall quality of life. Whether it's for you, for me, or for anyone else is really beside the point -- they're a direct threat to Boston's ability to keep growing their population, and things like bars having to pay licenses to allow dancing and public transport not running until 2 AM are larger problems that you might realize on a macro scale in terms of keeping Boston competitive.

There was a front page article on Yahoo today about how Florida's population is about to surpass New York's, and it isn't due to people retiring -- it's due to young people choosing small cities in FL that have grown exponentially. While NY was the focus of the article, the concerns the article had for NY could just as easily be applied to Boston/MA.

Watching people wring their hands over whether to keep public transportation running until 2 AM, when the change really should have happened a decade ago, simply astounds me.

[table12]

Originally Posted by xS☺Be

Table, are you from Boston? The new Convention Center is in a veritable wasteland of empty lots, decay, and warehouses. It is the seed of a grand long term scheme to revitalize a very large very dilapidated area. It's a long term plan. I don't think anyone is under any illusion that the Seaport District is going to top Disneyworld in the next five years. But 50 years from now, the Seaport District will be a bustling exciting part of town connecting a fully restored South Boston to the brand new Rose Kennedy Greenway - and thus downtown, Chinatown, Quincy, North End etc.

The one major design flaw in the whole scheme is that cockamamie highway mess directly in front of the Center. It prevents easy access to the waterfront.

I am originally from Boston. I was given a slightly different story about the Convention Center, that some felt simply building a new one would be enough to at least bump business -- but that hasn't happened. And while I admire their long-term plan, purely in my own personal opinion, it truly lacks nerve. It's easy to forget Disney World went from being swampland to the country's most visited tourist attraction in less than 10 years.

I'm not saying that's what should happen here, but a little more ambition would be great. If your universe is Boston-centric, it's hard to understand how hard some other places laugh at things like a 50 year revitalization plan. And while I know tourism isn't necessarily Boston's highest priority and there are so many things the city does lead at, I've always been bothered by how they tend to take that pride of leadership in some areas and sort of blanket it over everything. Witness the user a few posts up openly admitting their "top 10 convention center" statement was bogus. It's like admitting Boston might trail other places at things is heresy. I've found that if you truly care about a place, sometimes the absolute best thing you can do for it is focus soberly on its flaws and find things that could be done to actually improve them.

I'm not convinced their plan for the Convention Center and the immediate surrounding area is going to work because -- just like a decade ago with the opening of the new center -- it has an undercurrent of "we're Boston, of course people will come". Honestly, I've always had a gut sense that the whole casino thing wouldn't even be in play to begin with if the Convention Center were pulling better #'s -- it seems like a last ditch effort to grow both in and out-of-state tourism and they're just acting like they're hesitant to pass it so Boston's image won't suffer. And yes, a casino wouldn't be next door, but they'll just run buses or whatever -- it's an obvious turn-key feature benefit. I hate to say it, because at heart I love Boston, but that's honestly my take on it -- please tell me I'm wrong!