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+1; but the bolded will never happen due to anti-annexation blue laws in each of the new england states constitution. they actually used to be part of boston but have seceded; conversely, northeast philadelphia used to be part of bucks county until philadelphia annexed it.
That is false, they were never part of Boston. Somerville split from Charlestown in like 1842, 30 years before Boston annexed Charlestown, Cambridge was always its own town and so was Brookline.
People do need to remember the size difference between the two. You can fit Boston in one of three slices of Philadelphia. The downtown areas and immediate residential areas compare very well. They're virtually identical IMO with a size edge to Philadelphia, but both of which have both cities most desirable areas. Philadelphia has a larger percentage of blight, which is the biggest difference between them. Boston limits it's blight, gentrified earlier and is also much smaller. I've always thought that Somerville, Cambridge and Brookline should just be annexed nowadays. It's easier to sort out.
I'm sure everyone can agree that racism is a nation-wide issue that shouldn't reflect on just Boston, but you also can't deny Boston's racist history either. I do think Philadelphia is much better integrated between white and black people. I've seen more integration on the streets in Philly than in Boston. Doesn't mean they're both not segregated, but I do give Philly an edge when it comes racial integration. As much as their worlds can be different between a white guy and a black guy, Philly is the kind of place where their worlds meet at the pub bitching about the Eagles.
Transplants and people not from MA think that. but those cities are all way more like each other than like Boston. They don't have nearly the same ethos/culture.
-Boston Is about as Black/Hispanic as it is white (~44% white and 24% black 20%) latino . The only city that come close to that at all is Cambridge about 18-20% black and latino.
-They are much wealthier than Boston. (Half of Bostonians make less than 35k a yar and 30% of Boston Children live in poverty, not accounting for COL)
-They are not union strongholds.
-They have very little to no violent gun crime. Mean while Boston's largest neighborhood, Dorchester, has a homicide rate 4x that of Brooklyn....Dorchester: 23 homicides for 95k people. In 2014 Roxbury a 4 square neighborhood of 45,000 had 21 homicides. Brooklyn: 127 homicides for 2,630,000 people). I would venture to Say those three cities I highlighted have about 4-5 homicdes a year in between them....
- They are liberal, not just democratic.
-Brookline was offered to be a part of Boston multiple times but rejected for cultural reasons. The same cultural argument would hold true until very very recently.
Transplants and people not from MA think that. but those cities are all way more like each other than like Boston. They don't have nearly the same ethos/culture.
-Boston Is about as Black/Hispanic as it is white (~44% white and 24% black 20%) latino . The only city that come close to that at all is Cambridge about 18-20% black and latino.
-They are much wealthier than Boston. (Half of Bostonians make less than 35k a yar and 30% of Boston Children live in poverty, not accounting for COL)
-They are not union strongholds.
-They have very little to no violent gun crime. Mean while Boston's largest neighborhood, Dorchester, has a homicide rate 4x that of Brooklyn....Dorchester: 23 homicides for 95k people. In 2014 Roxbury a 4 square neighborhood of 45,000 had 21 homicides. Brooklyn: 127 homicides for 2,630,000 people). I would venture to Say those three cities I highlighted have about 4-5 homicdes a year in between them....
- They are liberal, not just democratic.
-Brookline was offered to be a part of Boston multiple times but rejected for cultural reasons. The same cultural argument would hold true until very very recently.
The fact that Cambridge, Brookline and Somerville don't have much crime or they're liberal doesn't mean anything. Go to Chicago. Look at the cultural differences between the north and south sides. Same with Philly, NYC, LA, etc. Boston does have small and weird city limits, and a sort of artificially inflated crime rate because of that.
Also, where are you getting Roxbury's stats from? Universal Hub puts Roxbury at 10 homicides in 2014 and Dorchester with 17 (27 out of Boston's 52 homicides).
Last edited by joeyg2014; 08-13-2017 at 05:39 PM..
Dorchester in 2016 had 23 homicides not 22. Brooklyn had 127 homicides in 2016.
And I meant to say 2013 for Roxbury but still it only had 14 homicides, I read an article about 20+ homicides in Roxbury like 2 years ago, but I guess it was inaccurate or the districts were shifted around after the act.
But to say it doesn't matter and their artificial ignores the widely different political system in New England. Boston is Strong Mayor as is Somerville but Brookline and Cambridge are not. They have different functions for city council as well. And clearly those distinctions mattered and maybe still do to Brookline and so on.
I'm glad that Boston has not annexed the likes of Brookline or anywhere else. Shrinking central control is much better.
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