What are the pros and cons of living in the Boston area? (hotel, homes)

[scarletfire]

I recently blogged about the pros and cons of living in the Boston area. Anyone care to add to the list?

Pro: A short drive to the mountains or beautiful ocean beaches
Con: Boston traffic

Pro: A terrific cultural and historic city
Con: Crazy drivers

Pro: Changing seasons
Con: Unpredictably changing seasons

Pro: Amazing autumn foliage
Con: Frigid winters

Pro: Great public schools
Con: High taxes

Pro: Beautiful historic homes
Con: Many homes lack central air

Pro: Decent transit system
Con: Toll roads

[lrfox]

Pro: Incredible walkability
Con: Expensive to own/operate a vehicle

Pro: Great historic housing stock
Con: Cost of the homes

Pro: Wonderfully dense (more than any major city not named New York, Chicago, or San Francisco)
Con: Zoning laws make for low density suburbs which drive up the cost of homes

more later. Good thread though!

[haberstroh]

You all summed it up already pretty good but here are mine:

Pro: very high quality of life
Con: very high cost of living

Pro: 6 hour flight to Europe
Con: 9 hour flight to Hawaii

[Kimmy61]

Having lived in Boston my entire life, I agree with most of the pros and cons listed, except that we have good public schools. The schools are terrible unless your child gets into one of the exam schools.

[yaeger07]

Originally Posted by scarletfire

Pro: Changing seasons
Con: Unpredictably changing seasons

I disagree here. I don't find the weather all that unpredictable.

Also, re the comment about schools, OP mentioned "Boston area." The suburbs around the city have pretty excellent schools.

[vtecluder617]

Pro: The locals tend to keep to themselves.
Con:The locals tend to keep to themselves.

[jewban]

Pro: Many good restaurants
Con: [Depending on your perspective] tend to be on the expensive side compared to other major cities

Pro: Concentration of universities & other higher education institutions
Con: Overall landscape for jobs is competitive

Pro: MBTA network covers large geography
Con: unreliable MBTA service especially during inclement weather

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by vtecluder617

Pro: The locals tend to keep to themselves.
Con:The locals tend to keep to themselves.

This is probably my favorite post on City-Data. Spot on summary of the discussions that last pages in more threads than I can count.

[vtecluder617]

Originally Posted by lrfox

This is probably my favorite post on City-Data. Spot on summary of the discussions that last pages in more threads than I can count.

Thanks. I can see why some people would consider it a pro, which is why I posted it as such, but definitely a con for me personally. Life's too short to be surrounded by introverts, which unfortunately we have an abundance of in the greater Boston area (or maybe its just a Northeast thing in general, I don't know)

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by vtecluder617

Thanks. I can see why some people would consider it a pro, which is why I posted it as such, but definitely a con for me personally. Life's too short to be surrounded by introverts, which unfortunately we have an abundance of in the greater Boston area (or maybe its just a Northeast thing in general, I don't know)

I would argue that it is a Northeast thing. NH, NY, CT, RI, and to a lesser degree VT are not markedly different in regards to the level of "introvert-ness".

As a MA resident, one of my personal hells was sharing a hotel lobby in Austin with a bunch of congregated cattle ranchers ... "Howdy" "Howdy" "Howdy" "What takes you to the big city?" "It's a beaut out!" "howdy" "howdy" ... oye!