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I'm referencing exactly where I lived in HP and Dorchester. Im showing that you can live just as far (timewise) from downtown Boston -in Boston- that at Station Row.
Correct me if I'm wrong but you said it took 70 minutes to go from your home in HP to Roxbury Latin. I don't dispute that, but it sounded like you're saying that based on your commute from HP to West Roxbury, that you might as well live at Station Row in PVD and commute to BOS. I don't know how better to explain why this comparison is not a good one.
By Commuter Rail, 27 minutes from West Roxbury (in the same 46 sq. mile city) to S Station, vs. 1 h 7 m from Providence (another city in another state 40+ miles away). Baltimore to D. C. is 45 minutes. See a pattern here?
No dispute here that Boston's commuter rail system should be better...but it's better than the alternatives that are currently available unless one enjoys sitting in traffic or driving into the city at 6am and driving out at 9pm.
No dispute here that Boston's commuter rail system should be better...but it's better than the alternatives that are currently available unless one enjoys sitting in traffic or driving into the city at 6am and driving out at 9pm.
No question about that, but West Roxbury and Hyde Park should be served by rapid transit (commuter rail really has no place there). The lines outside 128 are a century behind times and need a complete overhaul and redesign/reconfiguration.
No question about that, but West Roxbury and Hyde Park should be served by rapid transit (commuter rail really has no place there). The lines outside 128 are a century behind times and need a complete overhaul and redesign/reconfiguration.
Boston needs a radial transit network if it ever hopes to shed a little of that parochialism errr umm "neighborhood feel"
Boston needs a radial transit network if it ever hopes to shed a little of that parochialism errr umm "neighborhood feel"
Not sure where that would go other than maybe more dedicated bus routes ie. Silver Line. A rail line (or monorail) along 128 would help the inner suburbs a lot.
No question about that, but West Roxbury and Hyde Park should be served by rapid transit (commuter rail really has no place there). The lines outside 128 are a century behind times and need a complete overhaul and redesign/reconfiguration.
The commuter rails stops need to begin ( outbound) or end (inbound) at route 128. Everything inside 128 should be served by a combination of buses and rapid transit.
When I commuted from Lowell it took 50 minutes to an hour for the train ride. Driving to Boston outside rush hour only took up to 30 minutes. The commuter rail needs to be as fast as non-rush hour traffic to be effective and adequate for daily use. Towards the end of my time working in Boston, the MBCR implemented an express train to/from Lowell where the first stop was Anderson/RTC just outside route 128 and that train ride was much closer to the half hour mark. The culprit for the Lowell line is the three Winchester to Medford stops that are way too close together. The trains cannot get up to an acceptable speed in that area due to the three stops being within a total of two miles. The commuter rail system needs to be overhauled for longer distance commuting and the catering to wealthy elites in the inner burbs needs to end.
My wife and I used to live in Wickford, and I lived in Greenville for 27 years. We lived in Virginia for 2 years.
We have been living in Florida for 15+ years; and for the past 5 years in Port St. Lucie (West), which has a nice atmosphere and physical appearance. It has many planned neighborhoods and the city government, although Republican, does seem to care about the city's infrastructure and amenities. Businesses have been moving in steadily (mostly retail because there are loads of retirees who still have some money to spend.) We have more residents now than Fort Lauderdale. Port St. Lucie is always ranked as one of the safest cities. We have very little crime and the small amount of older and unsightly structures are almost all in the south and east of the city, (not St. Lucie West.) The price for a 2000 sq ft home under 15 years old in a nice area is about $230K. We have a lovely home--a 3/2 in a gated community. The only downside for living in an elderly gated community is that most are not really well educated and vote stupidly, I guess remembering that Eisenhower was a decent guy. Sure the food ****s for an Italian from Rhode Island, and the clothes are confined to tee shirts and shorts, the driving is slow, a lot of people uninformed and not intellectually curious, it is difficult to find really good tradesmen, (we look for former NY or NE tradesmen), but that is about it for the negatives. At least we will roast alive in a nice place when climate change really kicks in. We are already about 10 degrees above normal this summer--stifling. The property taxes are annoying, but probably less than RI for the house one is living in. There is no income tax in Florida. All in all though, it is not that much cheaper in Florida, except the housing is so much better for the money. Don't be fooled though, St. Lucie County has the only large amount of buildable land area in the State where there is decent infrastructure, so Florida has a growing housing cost problem too.
We have tried to move back to Rhode Island at least 3 times since about 2008. We always fail. The housing prices in Rhode Island are astronomical for what you get. There is almost nothing to look at under 250k which is decent. The realtor and I drove all over the northwestern part of the state and saw almost nothing worth living in. I saw houses which needed at least $10-20K of repairs and changes to become liveable (tough not attractive) for a middle class person. Oh, and catch this: while driving through Gloucester down Snake Hill Road, we saw signs nailed in the forest saying development stay the hell out and don't pollute their watershed. Mind you, all of the towns from Burrillville down to Foster and across to Smithfield are underdeveloped. Smithfield, the most developed, has most of the built land squeezed in around Greenville. It still has an enormous amount of acreage. The State was supposed to hold hearings about the lack of housing development in so much land, but of course that went nowhere because rural politicians also have the right to vote--against everything benefiting other human beings. Umm, oh yeah, I looked at houses in Pascoag and surrounding, not realizing there was a public water problem, and the locals had become right wingers.
The problem with Rhode Island's lack of affordable middle class looking housing is that the semi-rural towns are controlled by families who do not want development. To them it spells, besides higher taxes, roads, lighting, schools, traffic, god forbid Hispanics from Providence, and a devolution of their imagined innocence. To be fair, if you consider Greenville, it was really nice when I lived there before Apple Valley became a mega-shopping location but once it developed a lot of retail, the housing skyrocketed and the developers started salivating. Now you can't drive through Greenville or Apple Valley without swearing and thinking of ramming the car in front of you.
In March 2019 I spent ten days in RI looking at over 40 houses spread all over northwestern RI and also in Coventry and, uggh, Warwick (because there were some "inexpensive" **** holes under $250k for sale there.) After noticing that not one of the homes I viewed was in any sense in the universe comparable to the homes I have had in Florida and Virginia for less money by the way, I gave up. We really wanted to move back to be nearer our children, but it is impossible. The middle class type affordable housing is crummy, the neighborhoods deteriorating, traffic and overpopulation are appalling, there is no building going on, the homes in need of TLC, the condos and townhouses I saw were shoddily built and not being maintained by the associations that well. Another thing--almost all the houses were near one or more houses which no one who has vision would consider nice. That's right--every one of the 40 were near some crappy or low looking place or noticeable tatooed neighbors, motorcycles, pink painted houses, etc..., and not one was worth a penny over $175K in a normal rational market. The market in RI is so badly inflated, I wouldn't touch it with someone else's hand. You know, I always thought most Rhode Islanders were blue collar folks without much money. So how could stupendously over-priced houses be selling? I mean how desperate can someone get to pay a quarter of a million dollars for a 1950's ranch in an aged neighborhood with cracked streets and basketball hoops in Cranston or Warwick? I am totally stumped. It simply defies rational conclusions. And Rhode Island needs population!
I weep for what has happened to my native state. In the 1980's and 90's there was hope and optimism. You could still find good professional jobs and still go to a band concert on Wickford harbor and be surrounded by people wearing blue button down shirts and khaki slacks. It was obvious a lot of houses were undergoing repairs and renovation at the time. Roads, shops and houses were being built. Even Providence had been upgraded noticeably. The stores in Wickford were still doing well and our streets were filled with gawkers from elsewhere on weekends. Also, I wanted so badly to walk in the forest while it is snowing big flakes, or buying a strawberry rhubarb pie at Schartner Farm, (no wait, that building burned down, right?) Well, I guess we will spend our remaining years in a Confederate state where the locals think "northerners" are from New York.
Last edited by pslresident444; 09-15-2019 at 10:12 PM..
Reason: Mis-spelled a word or maybe even more, didn't check it all.
My wife and I used to live in Wickford, and I lived in Greenville for 27 years. We lived in Virginia for 2 years.
We have been living in Florida for 15+ years; and for the past 5 years in Port St. Lucie (West), which has a nice atmosphere and physical appearance. It has many planned neighborhoods and the city government, although Republican, does seem to care about the city's infrastructure and amenities. Businesses have been moving in steadily (mostly retail because there are loads of retirees who still have some money to spend.) We have more residents now than Fort Lauderdale. Port St. Lucie is always ranked as one of the safest cities. We have very little crime and the small amount of older and unsightly structures are almost all in the south and east of the city, (not St. Lucie West.) The price for a 2000 sq ft home under 15 years old in a nice area is about $230K. We have a lovely home--a 3/2 in a gated community. The only downside for living in an elderly gated community is that most are not really well educated and vote stupidly, I guess remembering that Eisenhower was a decent guy. Sure the food ****s for an Italian from Rhode Island, and the clothes are confined to tee shirts and shorts, the driving is slow, a lot of people uninformed and not intellectually curious, it is difficult to find really good tradesmen, (we look for former NY or NE tradesmen), but that is about it for the negatives. At least we will roast alive in a nice place when climate change really kicks in. We are already about 10 degrees above normal this summer--stifling. The property taxes are annoying, but probably less than RI for the house one is living in. There is no income tax in Florida. All in all though, it is not that much cheaper in Florida, except the housing is so much better for the money. Don't be fooled though, St. Lucie County has the only large amount of buildable land area in the State where there is decent infrastructure, so Florida has a growing housing cost problem too.
We have tried to move back to Rhode Island at least 3 times since about 2008. We always fail. The housing prices in Rhode Island are astronomical for what you get. There is almost nothing to look at under 250k which is decent. The realtor and I drove all over the northwestern part of the state and saw almost nothing worth living in. I saw houses which needed at least $10-20K of repairs and changes to become liveable (tough not attractive) for a middle class person. Oh, and catch this: while driving through Gloucester down Snake Hill Road, we saw signs nailed in the forest saying development stay the hell out and don't pollute their watershed. Mind you, all of the towns from Burrillville down to Foster and across to Smithfield are underdeveloped. Smithfield, the most developed, has most of the built land squeezed in around Greenville. It still has an enormous amount of acreage. The State was supposed to hold hearings about the lack of housing development in so much land, but of course that went nowhere because rural politicians also have the right to vote--against everything benefiting other human beings. Umm, oh yeah, I looked at houses in Pascoag and surrounding, not realizing there was a public water problem, and the locals had become right wingers.
The problem with Rhode Island's lack of affordable middle class looking housing is that the semi-rural towns are controlled by families who do not want development. To them it spells, besides higher taxes, roads, lighting, schools, traffic, god forbid Hispanics from Providence, and a devolution of their imagined innocence. To be fair, if you consider Greenville, it was really nice when I lived there before Apple Valley became a mega-shopping location but once it developed a lot of retail, the housing skyrocketed and the developers started salivating. Now you can't drive through Greenville or Apple Valley without swearing and thinking of ramming the car in front of you.
In March 2019 I spent ten days in RI looking at over 40 houses spread all over northwestern RI and also in Coventry and, uggh, Warwick (because there were some "inexpensive" **** holes under $250k for sale there.) After noticing that not one of the homes I viewed was in any sense in the universe comparable to the homes I have had in Florida and Virginia for less money by the way, I gave up. We really wanted to move back to be nearer our children, but it is impossible. The middle class type affordable housing is crummy, the neighborhoods deteriorating, traffic and overpopulation are appalling, there is no building going on, the homes in need of TLC, the condos and townhouses I saw were shoddily built and not being maintained by the associations that well. Another thing--almost all the houses were near one or more houses which no one who has vision would consider nice. That's right--every one of the 40 were near some crappy or low looking place or noticeable tatooed neighbors, motorcycles, pink painted houses, etc..., and not one was worth a penny over $175K in a normal rational market. The market in RI is so badly inflated, I wouldn't touch it with someone else's hand. You know, I always thought most Rhode Islanders were blue collar folks without much money. So how could stupendously over-priced houses be selling? I mean how desperate can someone get to pay a quarter of a million dollars for a 1950's ranch in an aged neighborhood with cracked streets and basketball hoops in Cranston or Warwick? I am totally stumped. It simply defies rational conclusions. And Rhode Island needs population!
I weep for what has happened to my native state. In the 1980's and 90's there was hope and optimism. You could still find good professional jobs and still go to a band concert on Wickford harbor and be surrounded by people wearing blue button down shirts and khaki slacks. It was obvious a lot of houses were undergoing repairs and renovation at the time. Roads, shops and houses were being built. Even Providence had been upgraded noticeably. The stores in Wickford were still doing well and our streets were filled with gawkers from elsewhere on weekends. Also, I wanted so badly to walk in the forest while it is snowing big flakes, or buying a strawberry rhubarb pie at Schartner Farm, (no wait, that building burned down, right?) Well, I guess we will spend our remaining years in a Confederate state where the locals think "northerners" are from New York.
So your problem is you expect Florida pricing in a place that's not Florida.
FWIW a lot of the "cheap houses" in Florida are crap or have insanely high HOA dues. There's no such thing as a free lunch. The Florida economy is basically driven by borderline slave wages paid for by retirees who made their money in the northeast where wages aren't crap. Retirees are usually quite segregated from the real Florida and they ignore just how desperate the conditions are there for people who are actually trying to make a living there. Sure doctors and lawyers do well but everyone else works for artificially low wages.
The price for a 2000 sq ft home under 15 years old in a nice area is about $230K. We have a lovely home--a 3/2 in a gated community. The only downside for living in an elderly gated community is that most are not really well educated and vote stupidly
If you wanted to live in white collar retiree heaven in Florida instead of that 'lovely home' in blue collar retiree heaven on reclaimed swamp land, your house wouldn't be $230K.
To meet building code, pay market rate labor costs where you're not using illegals, and meet the granite/stainless market expectations in the northeast corridor, new construction is up over $200 per square foot. You can't toss up 2x4 construction on an uninsulated slab. You need to pour a foundation below the frost line and meet energy code.
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Tried to move to RI 3 times and failed
