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You missed my point. Umass used to be a school that locals just went to to get credits. Now its becoming a destination school that people are moving for and buying up condos in once ghetto areas. I mean who would have thought Dorchester could have a college town type feel to it a few yrs ago?
Im not sure what the simmons girl from the 90s and her parents buying her a condo had to do with what i said. Simmons is in the longwood area amongst some of the top hospitals in the world. I can see why people would want to live in that area and go to school there.
For a long time, there have been quite a few rich people in places like NJ who sent their dumb kids to mediocre schools in New England. Apparently, it sounds good. (And some of them are quite pricey, so it makes no sense to me, but whatever.) If they have the money available, it can be a good investment/make a lot of financial sense to buy a place and have roommates pay rent, then sell the place later on.
This isn't a new thing, nor is it limited to UMass Boston.
'Thing is, Worcester and Springfield just aren't the same as Boston. They don't offer as many cultural amenities'
But they could be LIKE Boston if they had more jobs. People would move there to the jobs and set up their life/culture there to live. It's gotta change. I'm not saying they will BE Boston..but a city doesnt need to be near ocean to thrive. The weather is the same, those places are within 2 hours....how could it be that different? And why do people have to be city lovers? Plenty of people living in the city of boston dont love the city but they are here because that's where their job is. I know i'm not the only person in boston tired of the prices and crowds and I believe people are open to other options. There just need to be options. Some people do love boston and will never leave, sure. But some people are ready for change but maybe dont want to leave the state.
Also Worcester seems pretty diverse to me....Springfield was mainly hispanic last time i was there.
Springfield does seem like a pretty awful place...at least it was the last time i was there...but Worcester has potential. College town - Holy Cross, WPI, Assumption, Worcester state, etc and UMASS medical ctr is there so a lot of people are staying there to work.
For a long time, there have been quite a few rich people in places like NJ who sent their dumb kids to mediocre schools in New England. Apparently, it sounds good. (And some of them are quite pricey, so it makes no sense to me, but whatever.) If they have the money available, it can be a good investment/make a lot of financial sense to buy a place and have roommates pay rent, then sell the place later on.
This isn't a new thing, nor is it limited to UMass Boston.
Ok...i'm just sayin' the condo they bought for him was in Dorchester.
I have heard the same thing from a global perspective in that people want to send their kid to school in boston. I guess it sounds good to them since Harvard and MIT are here. Could be UMASS Boston but hey it's Boston..
But they could be LIKE Boston if they had more jobs. People would move there to the jobs and set up their life/culture there to live. It's gotta change. I'm not saying they will BE Boston..but a city doesnt need to be near ocean to thrive...
True. I know *more* people are starting to be pushed out toward Worcester because of housing prices. I haven't been out there myself in ages, but I remember friends saying that it *could* be up and coming if it only had the infrastructure to attract people who'd otherwise stay in the Boston area.
You also have to remember, too, that New Englanders in particular have an inborn provincialism in that they don't want to move far from where they've been living all their lives. I know people out toward Milford who have NEVER been to Boston and have no idea where Quincy is located, for example.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Whatsnext75
'Thing is, Worcester and Springfield just aren't the same as Boston. They don't offer as many cultural amenities'
But they could be LIKE Boston if they had more jobs. People would move there to the jobs and set up their life/culture there to live. It's gotta change. I'm not saying they will BE Boston..but a city doesnt need to be near ocean to thrive. The weather is the same, those places are within 2 hours....how could it be that different? And why do people have to be city lovers? Plenty of people living in the city of boston dont love the city but they are here because that's where their job is. I know i'm not the only person in boston tired of the prices and crowds and I believe people are open to other options. There just need to be options. Some people do love boston and will never leave, sure. But some people are ready for change but maybe dont want to leave the state.
Also Worcester seems pretty diverse to me....Springfield was mainly hispanic last time i was there.
Springfield does seem like a pretty awful place...at least it was the last time i was there...but Worcester has potential. College town - Holy Cross, WPI, Assumption, Worcester state, etc and UMASS medical ctr is there so a lot of people are staying there to work.
It does not work like that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Urban Peasant
Thing is, Worcester and Springfield just aren't the same as Boston. They don't offer as many cultural amenities, they're inland as opposed to Boston being by the coast, public transportation isn't as efficient and the weather isn't as good (hotter in the summer, colder and snowier in winter, and [the thing I personally hate the most] more severe thunderstorms). If you're into simple enjoyment, then those two cities may be a good suit but true city lovers need something bigger. The next best city in New England to me is Providence, RI but don't be surprised if real estate starts to get expensive there as well if it hasn't already.
It hasn't gotten expensive. Still dirt cheap. The economy stinks there so it keeps it down. Providence is the best city I can afford in New England myself.
Just curious where you moved to and what you like better. This whole question is very individual -- it depends so much on what you are looking for and what makes you happy.
We moved to Cincinnati which elicits gasps of horror on the Boston forum. Other than the ocean we want for very little. We have all of the same cultural amenities available to us but we can actually DO THEM which we couldn't in Boston. Cincinnati also has (due to the numerous fortune 500 companies here) philanthropic money falling from the skies, so the art/music scene is (and has been forever) very very vibrant for a city it's size. Which is important to us. Also the parks and public spaces are truly amazing.
Additionally we have (due to being on the western edge of EST) an extra hour of daylight over Boston which has made a huge difference in my husband's/son's quality of life. They have (at least)an extra hour of outside time for playing, mowing, raking, hanging out and that is 5 hours a week minimum. In the summer it doesn't get dark until 930. That is really significant to working parents. The weather is also milder in the winter which makes the outdoors more use-able year-round.
The schools around Cincinnati are comparable to those of greater Boston(although fewer) and CPS has a latin magnet that rivals Boston Latin in national rankings.
We live in an inner-ring 1920s new-urbanist village where the kids walk to school and the ice cream shop is open until 10.
Cincinnati is a little Austin-esque in that it is a blue city in the middle of a red state but I look at it as at least my vote will count here.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scorpio516
Not really.
I had a week of high school cancelled because the highs were in the -20F range...
And a 1970s era 2800 sf house goes for $700k.
Depends on where you are. They don't cancel school in Wisconsin for cold like that, I lived and walked to work in plenty.
And a house that old and that size would be a third that or less in a nice area.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SalamanderSmile
We moved to Cincinnati which elicits gasps of horror on the Boston forum. Other than the ocean we want for very little. We have all of the same cultural amenities available to us but we can actually DO THEM which we couldn't in Boston.
Why couldn't you do them in Boston?
One of my closest friends is from Cincinnati, and she loved growing up there, but her big complaint was bands don't play there much. She went to Louisville, and sometimes Indy, which isn't a bad trip, often since Cincy was skipped a lot. Still, she loves the city.
'Thing is, Worcester and Springfield just aren't the same as Boston. They don't offer as many cultural amenities'
But they could be LIKE Boston if they had more jobs. People would move there to the jobs and set up their life/culture there to live. It's gotta change. I'm not saying they will BE Boston..but a city doesnt need to be near ocean to thrive. The weather is the same, those places are within 2 hours....how could it be that different? And why do people have to be city lovers? Plenty of people living in the city of boston dont love the city but they are here because that's where their job is. I know i'm not the only person in boston tired of the prices and crowds and I believe people are open to other options. There just need to be options. Some people do love boston and will never leave, sure. But some people are ready for change but maybe dont want to leave the state.
Also Worcester seems pretty diverse to me....Springfield was mainly hispanic last time i was there.
Springfield does seem like a pretty awful place...at least it was the last time i was there...but Worcester has potential. College town - Holy Cross, WPI, Assumption, Worcester state, etc and UMASS medical ctr is there so a lot of people are staying there to work.
Worcester specifically wants NOT to be like Boston. Just like you said about not everyone loving the city - Worcester is built around the idea of not being cosmopolitan or cultural but instead desperately clinging to a faded notion of being a working class factory city... opps, did I get carried away there? Anyone who wants the style of Boston would be best served to avoid Worcester. For a city with 11 colleges there is practically no student culture at all. Few people spend any time downtown. Providence is a lot better an option - they just have to get their economy going.
As for when it all went south, that is easy. 1994. The ballot question to eliminate rent control. Follow the trend from there.
One of my closest friends is from Cincinnati, and she loved growing up there, but her big complaint was bands don't play there much. She went to Louisville, and sometimes Indy, which isn't a bad trip, often since Cincy was skipped a lot. Still, she loves the city.
There are just too many people trying to do the same thing at the same time in Boston; in places and on an infrastructure that cannot handle it.
Try going to the aquarium with your kid on a weekend, or (god forbid,) the Children's Museum, or the Museum of Science. Get in the big line of bumper-to-bumper cars to go apple picking in the fall and then wait to park, get up at 7am to be at Crane's beach to get a parking space (for $30 btw) in the summer, try to take the helltrain to see the Red Sox play if you can pony up $500 for your family to get in, sign up for summer camp in January at midnight the minute the registration opens for the privledge of paying $600/week or you are out of luck. Everything just sucked and was very family unfriendly. I liked it well enough in my 20s living in Cambridge with too many roomates, but it is just too expensive for what you get once you age out of that phase.
As far as music goes, I have been able to see far more bands in Ohio than I did in the last ten years in Boston. There is a ton of local music and not many bands that I would want to see pass us by. I love Louisville though. In Boston the sheer logistics of a nightout where we both could actually relax, consume alcohol, and see a band was daunting once we moved to Waltham and were commuter-rail-ers.
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re
) the Children's Museum, or the Museum of Science. Get in the big line of bumper-to-bumper cars to go apple picking in the fall and then wait to park, get up at 7am to be at Crane's beach to get a parking space (for $30 btw) in the summer, try to take the helltrain to see the Red Sox play if you can pony up $500 for your family to get in, sign up for summer camp in January at midnight the minute the registration opens for the privledge of paying $600/week or you are out of luck. Everything just sucked and was very family unfriendly. I liked it well enough in my 20s living in Cambridge with too many roomates, but it is just too expensive for what you get once you age out of that phase.
