Western Mass (Boston, Worcester, Springfield: condo, credit card, house)

[WestMass79]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

[i]
I would not recommend Springfield to anyone, not anymore. I'd love to see it cleaned up and transformed but they've been trying to do that for decades and it just doesn't happen. Wouldn't it be nice if Boston sent some of that tax money out to the (invisible to them) Western part of the state and got things fixed up.

That's interesting and you are right about the $$$. On recommendations, I guess that's why we all have opinions. For instance I would not recommend East Longmeadow or Longmeadow to anyone. I feel like they are far overpriced for this market (a lot of people will be losing their shirt there, or stuck for a long time now), and unfortunately the folks I've dealt with for some reason think it increases their own self worth to bash the city (Springfield) that caused them to even exist. Without Springfield there is no EL or Longmeadow yet a lot of the residents there have a superiority complex which is sadly undeserved.

It's really quite an interesting dynamic (considering most probably still get their paychecks here), but I steer people away from those two places as often as possible. Wilbraham, Agawam, and even parts of West Springfield are far better choices if you don't want to live in a city neighborhood. Just speaking from an "attitudes" point of view.

[Giantone]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Nothing against Springfield but I don't think it's considerd "Western Mass"...west of Boston yes.

I lived in Western Mass all my life -- Springfield, Longmeadow, Amherst -- of course it's Western Mass. Anything along the river is part of the CT River Valley (or as some call it, The Valley, officially the Pioneer Valley.) Worcester is in Central MA. The Berkshires are the Berkshires.

I would not recommend Springfield to anyone, not anymore. I'd love to see it cleaned up and transformed but they've been trying to do that for decades and it just doesn't happen. Wouldn't it be nice if Boston sent some of that tax money out to the (invisible to them) Western part of the state and got things fixed up.

Not if you look at a map,so you are saying the Berkshires are'nt part of Western Mass?

[plazab12]

Let me save you from a big mistake. People living near Springfield are living with their heads in the sand. If you like to hear about the weekly/nightly murder on the local news, than this place is for you! If you like to drive past tons of people on welfare on your way to work, then you just might like this place. Also, if you like snobs who act like they are more important than you are then by all means move here! People who still live there are putting up with more and more. Poverty is rising, everything is dirty and discusting in Springfield and the roads are some of the worst in the nation. How can you possibly look the other way when you hear about all the crime, murders and everything that goes on in Springfield and Holyoke. People from those areas are starting to spread to the other areas now and mark my words the crime will spread there, too. NO ONE EVER wants to go to Holyoke unless they want to get shot at or dealt drugs. Oh yeah, people say there are great colleges and museums here. How about that story about the guy and his kids going to the Dr. Suess museum in Springfield and they got caught in the middle of a SHOOTOUT? Why on earth would you want to move here! Let me be the voice of reason, please take my advice, this place is a has-been and is turning more and more sour by the minute. The people who say it is nice are living a lie. I got out of here and I'm NEVER coming back. DON'T move here.

[superbikekid]

If you have money, everywhere is nice.

[kaday]

There are nice places to live in Western, MA. If you don't mind a bit of a drive from Springfield check out Lenox and Lee in the Berkshires. Yes the winters are rough and don't even compare to DC (I lived there for 10 years then in Western MA for 4). Just take up down hill or cross country. Summer and Fall are the trade off. The summers are awesome and the Autumn season is truly amazing.

[WestMass79]

Originally Posted by plazab12

The people who say it is nice are living a lie. I got out of here and I'm NEVER coming back. DON'T move here.

The people who bash Springfield are generally those that abandoned it, and now have to lie about it to make themselves feel better about their move to nowhereville.

What this poster won't tell you is that according to FBI data scales available on the web, Springfield is safer than almost all cities in New England, including Boston, New Haven, Providence, Hartford, Lowell, Burlington, etc. I've lived and worked here for many years with no incidents of crime, nor have my neighbors, nor have my coworkers. Yet I have two friends in Longmeadow who have been broken into in their own home. Crime, unfortunately, is everywhere.

Hundreds of thousands of people go to Springfield each year to visit the Basketball Hall of Fame, Suess sculpture garden, MassMutual Center, Armory museum and many others. Nobody goes to nowhereville to see anything, and that makes some people very miserable to be in a place with no significance.

[in_newengland]

so you are saying the Berkshires are'nt part of Western Mass

Well, I'm from Western Mass -- born, raised, and lived there most of my life and we just called the Berkshires the Berkshires. None of us went out there very often except for cross country skiing in the winter or Tanglewood in the summer. Maybe it depends on where you are living -- I hear the Boston newscasters on tv calling WORCESTER Western Mass!

Sometimes I call the Berkshires Far Western Mass. LOL As a native of Western Mass I could never live out in the Berkshires although it is gorgeous and has loads of culture in certain areas. To me it's just too remote and too cold in winter. It's different to us and to us it's not Western Mass. Weird now that I think about it.

Since moving to Eastern Mass a few years ago I am surprised when people out here think there is Boston and anything to the west of it is Western Mass. I mean, there is that city, its suburbs and then the rest of the state is Western Mass to them. In reality there are a whole lot of cities and towns and farmland and forest in this state and just because it's not in or near Boston doesn't mean it's all in Western Mass. They lump us in all together. For the most part they don't know that the rest of the state exists and sometimes we like it better that way. Usually they've at least heard of the Berkshires -- that's because of Tanglewood, I think.

All I know is that people who live up and down the Connecticut River Valley think of themselves as living in Western Mass. To us Worcester is Central Mass and the Berkshires are the Berkshires. Of course if you look on a map, the Berkshires certainly are in the western end of the state. I don't know if there's any hard and fast rule about what is what.

To be fair, people in Western Mass think everything east of Worcester is Boston. We just call the entire mess Boston. Until I moved out here I didn't even know there were individual cities and towns -- zillions of them. There's even a north shore and a south shore.

People who are saying that Springfield is horrible are correct, IMHO. It USED to be a great place but that era is sadly gone. IF Boston would send money, IF more good people would band together, move in, renovate, revitalize.....maybe it could come back someday. The Forest Park area tries to hang on, so does Sixteen Acres.

There definitely is crime in Longmeadow and E. Longmeadow -- usually it's someone from Springfield (sorry) who knows that there's money to steal in those suburban homes.

Holyoke is dead and gone. I wouldn't go there or even anywhere near it. Even if there are a few remaining "good" locations like the Highlands I'd be afraid of being so close to a huge criminal element. With Holyoke when you think it could get no worse, it gets worse. It's all drugs and gangs and burned out buildings. The entire city was always burning back in the 80s - slumlords burning down their own buildings to get the insurance money so they could jump ship. A sad down and out city and dangerous.

[MaryNancy]

Dear God, you don't want to live in Springfield. Amherst is as diff from Spfld as Montreal is from Daytona. Amherst is quite nice, low crime, not cheap. Longmeadow, just south of Springfield is another safe suburb, again not cheap. Agawam, across the river from Spfld is nice, not as expensive as the aforementioned. If you have children I can't emphasize enough to do your homework. Good luck!

[WestMass79]

There are plenty of good neighborhoods in Springfield Nancy. Visit City of Homes | Choose Springfield, Massachusetts to learn about them. You are correct in mentioning that Amherst and Longmeadow are expensive.

I'd agree if you have children, you'd need to send them to private school. But at this point, that seems to be the case in many communities if you really want a decent education. Even the small towns are cutting, cutting, cutting budgets.

[Xenos]

Originally Posted by superbikekid

If you have money, everywhere is nice.

Very astute!

As for schools, they are being cut everywhere. Arguably, everything is in decline, as local economies get steadily weaker and the Commonwealth can not make up the difference. Some communities have a lot more excess capacity to absorb the cost of maintaining standards than others. The ones that have fallen fully (Springfield, Holyoke) are not coming back for decades, if ever.