Southerner wanting to move up north. Advice please (Boston, Worcester: apartment, for rent)

[Cattawampusfiddlesticks]

I’m glad I found this forum site cause y’all have really given me some amazing info

[bizcuit]

Originally Posted by wmass

In Northampton, you can buy a transfer station sticker for $25/year and drop off your own trash/recycling (need to buy official bags) - a lot cheaper, and kind of a social activity! In Westfield, they have Town curbside pickup.

Thanks, I didn't know the cost as I have a service.

[Cattawampusfiddlesticks]

Do y’all know anything about Templeton MA?

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by massnative71

OK before you said you wanted suburban or rural, but now you say urban environment??? Springfield definitely falls into the latter and not the prior. While some neighborhoods might be suburbanish and safe enough; overall it's a high crime/high poverty city. Schools are bad. I thought you were trying to get away from all that stuff? Westfield sounds like it might be a better choice for you. I also heard Feeding Hills is a pretty nice area, not sure what 200K will buy there though.

The crime rate in Springfield is over lower blown. The vast majority of people hurt by crime are those that do drugs, deal drugs or are in fangs. Cross reference the police logs with social media as and it validates this. As for poverty Springfield might be the only area in the region of New home construction (300k+). The foundation problem in CT is driving up prices along with the removal of the local list do public housing.

In short, the poor can't stay in Springfield. The mayor isn't authorizing new public housing. The old lox l list was dissolved and replaced with a state list. Wayfinder opens up across from Union Station in April. They'll check what other areas take section 8 and what housing authorities have sports on the state list. Between Pvta, greyhound, Peter pan and Amtrak they'll go to other areas of western mass, other parts of Mass and possibly to CT (I've seen some of that already).

Poverty changed as well as frankly developers came in and poorer left. The downtown for example put in trash barrels that cannot be picked. So those fishing for cans left. Years ago benches were removed from parks and those looking to sleep left.

I came here nearly five years ago. New ethnic restaurants opened up, a new CVS next month, more gyms, more spas, brew pub in January, new cafes, new coffee roasteries, avocado's toast ????the casino etc. What closed? Dive bars, pawn shops, convience stores.

The schools vary. There are those that do meet and exceed state standards.

Contact Information - Chestnut Accelerated Middle School (Talented and Gifted) (02810367)

Contact Information - Springfield Central High (02810500)

Education depends more on they parents rather than the students.

[LittleDolphin]

Areas of the North are lovely in Autumn and the late Spring--and much of the summer--but oh! those 6 mos. winters and the mud season in the early Spring...that's why they invented "snowbirds."

We moved from CA. to upstate NY and one Winter was enough. It went down to 22 below zero in Feb. and we both said enough! and high-tailed it back to CA.

There is cold and then there is COLD.

But the Autumns were sublime...the colors, the crispness, the snap in the air...

We now live in the coastal South and our winters are very do-able. July, August? Not so much.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Cattawampusfiddlesticks

Do y’all know anything about Templeton MA?

Kind of rural. Nice place but far away from most things, including jobs. It's in the snow belt. You have skiing not far away at Wachusett. Overall it's good for outdoors, big city stuff not so much.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by LittleDolphin

Areas of the North are lovely in Autumn and the late Spring--and much of the summer--but oh! those 6 mos. winters and the mud season in the early Spring...that's why they invented "snowbirds."

We moved from CA. to upstate NY and one Winter was enough. It went down to 22 below zero in Feb. and we both said enough! and high-tailed it back to CA.

There is cold and then there is COLD.

But the Autumns were sublime...the colors, the crispness, the snap in the air...

We now live in the coastal South and our winters are very do-able. July, August? Not so much.

Nowhere in Massachusetts do you have 6 months of winter, heck even here in Northern Maine it's 5.5 months max.

[sombrueil]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber4

You "like" the cold and prefer it over sunshine...but your visit here was your first time ever out of the south. I will go out on a limb and say you absolutely do not know the kind of bone chilling cold that comes with a true winter. You also have not experienced the kind of dismal gray weather that brings on Seasonal Affective Disorder. Lots of people visit an area and fall in love. But a vacation doesn't reveal what living in such a place is really like. You will face radical changes and it won't be easy. I'd suggest more due diligence and spending more time here before making the move. Love at first sight rarely lasts.

I moved from CA to western MA and LOVE THE COLD. Yes, people do love snow. It isn't gray in winter like the Pacific Northwest, it is BRIGHT BLUE and WHITE. Winter is wonderful and magical here. Don't let anyone tell you different.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by mdovell

The crime rate in Springfield is over lower blown. The vast majority of people hurt by crime are those that do drugs, deal drugs or are in fangs. Cross reference the police logs with social media as and it validates this. As for poverty Springfield might be the only area in the region of New home construction (300k+). The foundation problem in CT is driving up prices along with the removal of the local list do public housing.

How is the crime rate overblown, when it is one of the more dangerous cities in New England and with a rate well over the national average? As for the majority of people being hurt by crime being involved with that illicit stuff, isn't that pretty much the case everywhere? I thought that was pretty universal?



On a more positive note, I was down there for a concert one weekend and had a day to kill where I wandered around to various places in the city and surrounds. I was honestly impressed by the architecture and housing stock, despite much of it being neglected and run down. But even the ghetto areas looked nicer than the comparable of Boston, Worcester, Providence, etc. Springfield definitely has potential if it had the right blood.

[tovarisch]

To support mdovell here (though I wish he'd written "gangs" instaed of "fangs," LOL), I've worked in Springfield for over ten years (commuting from Northampton), and have never even SEEN a crime other than jaywalking.