Question about moving to Boston area (crime rates, safe area, calculated)

[holden125]

Originally Posted by tcrackly

I'm probably straying from the original thread but there are obvious political and marketing reasons why those areas , which always considered Roxbury when I was a kid, are now not. It's called disenfranchising.

It is pretty far from the original thread.

Look, I understand the point you're making, and I agree with respect to other areas. People are "shrinking" Roxbury while "growing" the South End and JP. But I don't recall anyone ever saying that the particular location of Boston Latin on Louis Pasteur was in Roxbury, and my father, who's 65, doesn't either. He said it's obviously near Roxbury, but as far as he had always known, that area had come (after 1868) to be considered part of Boston proper. So my experience is not the same as what you're saying yours is.

South of Huntington, on Mission Hill-Roxbury. North of Huntington, by Boston Latin and the Fenway-Boston.

[tcrackly]

I remember this discussion being pretty active when I was a kid. I'm 51 now. The fact is as the ethnic statistics changed in Roxbury during the 60's, suddenly attractive destinations on the edge became something else as everything negative became associated with Roxbury. Just as Southie and the North End have virtually ceased to be neighborhood strongholds in favor of gentrified enclaves.
I won't clutter up this op's thread any more since my arguments fall on deaf ears. My point is that the wholesale stereotyping of areas is what frightens people away and thereby reinforces the negative influences in those neighborhoods. If new people want to make a go of an urban neighborhood, there is the chance they will find themselves pleasantly surprised.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by tcrackly

I remember this discussion being pretty active when I was a kid. I'm 51 now.

It truly is news to me, but I'm in my mid-30's. Apparently, this exact point was disputed quite recently.

http://www.universalhub.com/node/28053#comment-102851

Believe me, I'm not on here to say "nothing good's in Roxbury" but just that my understanding of what fell into Roxbury drew the line at Huntington Av

[JasonAndAmelia]

Lol thanks for the posts everyone. luckily we have some time to evaluate and find everything. I'll def check into those neighborhoods. One thing I heard as a rumor down here is that Boston is a very racially tense city. I know that most bigger cities are going to have problems, and that there usually is some level of tension between the races, but do you all bostonians think that Boston is any worse than say, Chicago, Dallas or Houston? Just another question I have. Again, thanks everyone for posting on this. I've really enjoyed reading it all. Also, I know all about a town kind of disappearing except for being called that by the locals. I grew up where I had a zip code for one city, phone number for another and went to a 3rd cities schools. Gotta love the suburbs. And, then by the time I was in High School, the city that had the phone number just got incorporated into the larger city next to it.

[bostonguy1960]

Of course, Brookline and Newton have good schools (well, at least from what I hear). Milton reportedly has good schools as well (Money Mag's 5th (or 7th?) Best place to live this year. Winchester Center is small but cute, with a town common and Sandy
Beach one mile away (and good schools!).

I met someone 10 yrs. ago who left Beverly for Rowley, MA, due to his concern about declining schools.

[ogre]

Race: During the '70's, Boston experienced some serious tension over the issue of school integration. That history seems to be largely at the root of Boston's lingering reputation for racism. The truth seems to be that there is no more racial tension in Boston than in other cities.

What there is, however, is a history of segregation, with many neighborhoods having traditionally been almost all black or white. This does seem to be changing some, as certain neighborhoods, such as Mission Hill in Roxbury, and possibly some neighborhoods in the Jamaica Plain section, have a mix of races with people seeming to be able to live together peacefully. A lot of the history of segregation may have to do with the fact that many old-time Bostonians are fiercely loyal to their local neighborhoods. With this us/them mentality, differences between sections of the city are really emphasized. Boston also has a history of having a smaller minority population than many major cities. This seems to be changing some as new immigrant groups move in, which may also have a lot to do with the development of some racially mixed neighborhoods. In terms of overall attitudes, Boston is pretty much like any other American city.

Annexation: The kind of scenario you describe is not going to happen in the Boston area. The suburbs here were their own distinct towns long before they were suburbs. There is a strong emphasis on local government, and on the sanctity of local town identities and towns' rights to run their own affairs. I don't know the details of the history, but back a long time ago Boston annexed some neighboring towns, with those sections of the city still generally being known by their original town names. But that was back in the 19th century or something like that. Nowadays you're not going to see a small town in this area be annexed by a larger neighboring town.

You also will not see unincorporated rural areas be caught in the middle between different nearby towns, having one mailing address, with another town's phone exchange, while your children go to school in a third town, etc. The reason is that there is no unincorporated land in MA, or in most of New England for that matter. All the land lies within the boundaries of cities or towns. As soon as you cross the line and leave one town, you are into the next town. Of course this means that in rural areas many towns cover fairly large territories, and include a lot of open countryside within the town boundaries. However, this also means that even if you live out in the country, you live officially within the limits of an established incorporated town, so you avoid that no-man's-land situation where you have ties to several towns near your rural home.

One exception is that some towns with populations too small to maintain their own school systems have consolidated school systems with neighboring towns. In that case, each town usually has its own elementary schools, while there will be one consolidated high school, and maybe a consolidated middle school. Your children would go to high school in a neighboring town if you did not happen to live in the town where the high school was located.

Otherwise, if you live in the Boston area, or anywhere in MA, or anywhere in most of the rest of New England for that matter, you will live in an incorporated town or city which is not going to be annexed by any other entity.

[clevedark]

I don't feel any kind of racial tension in the neighborhood I live in, and the areas I frequent. There's plenty of white folks, plenty of black folks, plenty of latino folks, plenty of asian folks, and honestly, nobody really cares.

It's a very diverse city. Some suburbs can be very white bread, but that applies to suburbs nationwide, not just around Boston. (just like some suburbs can be more black or latino or asian.)

[JasonAndAmelia]

Cool, thanks for easing my fears about that. Also, for explaining how that started in the first place.

[jaya]

I'll third Brookline and/or Newton. Great school systems and extremely convenient to the city. Coolidge Corner is the downtown of Brookline, you can find shopping, movies, good restaurants and easy transportation. This is also the area that you'll find the most apartments as well. There are a couple of elementary schools in that area, Devotion and another that I'm forgetting, but you can choose which one based on where you live. You will likely end up at the top of that budget if you want a nice place in either area though. If you're looking for a 2 bedroom apartment in these areas you'll find that the more desirable areas of Brookline and Newton run at about $1,800 and up.

[JasonAndAmelia]

Hey, what about Beacon Hill? I'm kinda shocked, because of the money there and everything, and yet, the crime rate acording to move.com is surprisingly high. And, when I check on here, that neighborhood doesn't show crime rate. I found some rentals there that met our wants and pricing, just worried about the whole crime thing.