Why do people overreact about Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan (Boston: rent, how much)

[artaxerxes]

mattapan is a good place to get murdered, just check the crime map for murders, nice clustering of it. With that said, they are usually gang on gang or whatever, but still not nice to be around.

yeah, its better than North Philly, better than South Bronx, but that's like saying urinal is a better place to drink out of than a toliet. What I consider safe areas are not ones that I merely get out of alive, where I am startled if no one stare me down or robs me. I want to walk, completely wasted, alone, txting with iphone 4s in hand, at 2:30AM, and be absolutely unmolested, which I have done in numerous times without a second thought in truly safe areas of boston and the suburbs. Whether I'm wrong to feel that level of security is debatable, but thats the level of comfort I'm talking about when I say safe.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by artaxerxes

I want to walk, completely wasted, alone, txting with iphone 4s in hand, at 2:30AM, and be absolutely unmolested, which I have done in numerous times without a second thought in truly safe areas of boston and the suburbs.

Just because you got away with that a few times doesn't mean you will continue to get away with it. The only Boston area where you might get away with that behavior consistently might be in the Beacon Hill/Lewisburg Square area. I can't imagine any other area of Boston proper where you can behave like that and always expect to be safe.

If you try to convince me that you can stagger around drunk, displaying expensive electronics, in the Back Bay or South End, I will call you crazy.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

If you try to convince me that you can stagger around drunk, displaying expensive electronics, in the Back Bay or South End, I will call you crazy.

Really? Back Bay? Ever see Boylston after last call on a Friday/Saturday night? It's chalk full of 20-somethings doing just that. Not to mention expensive jewelry, purses, watches, etc.

[artaxerxes]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Really? Back Bay? Ever see Boylston after last call on a Friday/Saturday night? It's chalk full of 20-somethings doing just that. Not to mention expensive jewelry, purses, watches, etc.

exactly, you'd never see anyone dare do that in mattapan or dorchester.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by artaxerxes

mattapan is a good place to get murdered, just check the crime map for murders, nice clustering of it. With that said, they are usually gang on gang or whatever, but still not nice to be around.

yeah, its better than North Philly, better than South Bronx, but that's like saying urinal is a better place to drink out of than a toliet. What I consider safe areas are not ones that I merely get out of alive, where I am startled if no one stare me down or robs me. I want to walk, completely wasted, alone, txting with iphone 4s in hand, at 2:30AM, and be absolutely unmolested, which I have done in numerous times without a second thought in truly safe areas of boston and the suburbs. Whether I'm wrong to feel that level of security is debatable, but thats the level of comfort I'm talking about when I say safe.

There are few places you can do that w/o some issue. Wasn't a BU student just shot to death in Allston? Women have been assaulted jogging around the Esplanade. There is NO WHERE in the city of Boston where I would walk around wasted and texting on a $300+ piece of oft stolen technology, especially as a woman. That level of safety is only found in suburbs like Newton and Wellesley (and even then, it's just not the smartest thing to do in a populous setting).

[eevee]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Really? Back Bay? Ever see Boylston after last call on a Friday/Saturday night? It's chalk full of 20-somethings doing just that. Not to mention expensive jewelry, purses, watches, etc.

Yeah, and there's more protection in a crowd of even drunken students near/on a club filled street vs. walking by yourself down a more deserted street. Herd mentality: surround yourself w/ enough bodies and you're less likely to be picked out as a victim. Not every street in Boston is as busy as Boylston at last call (and even that isn't a guarantee safe spot. Haven't people been shot/stabbed in and around those clubs?)

[Tinawina]

Originally Posted by artaxerxes

I want to walk, completely wasted, alone, txting with iphone 4s in hand, at 2:30AM, and be absolutely unmolested, which I have done in numerous times without a second thought in truly safe areas of boston and the suburbs.

No offense to you for what I'm about to say. I mean that.

But I really, truly JUST DON'T GET people who have this mentality and yet insist in living in a major metropolitan city. WTF??? No large city offers that. Maybe if you are walking out with 50 other drunk clubbers, but even then that sh*t is iffy as hell. I could do that 2 am in the West Village (NYC) too, but I would never assume I'm more than one wrong turn down an alley away from getting my dumb drunk ass robbed. Even if I did it 30 times in a row... and believe me, in my partying days I probably did... but come on. Don't lie to yourself.

If folk want to leave their car unlocked and walk naked down the street at 2 am.. MOVE TO THE SUBURBS. Don't bother bitching about how crappy the city except is for a 2 block radius in the richest section and how the rest of it are filled with animals and blah blah blah. Its just stupid. Those standards are too high for any big city, period. Its just not for you. That doesn't make cities hellholes where rape and murder await little old ladies and tiny girls in pink dresses. There is a space in between, and some folks are okay with that.

On another note, I swear stuff like this made me used to want to slap so many people in Boston. LOL. That was like the safest larger metro area I've ever lived in, but yet you had folks who were convinced places like Roxbury were like Riker's Island even though they never stepped foot in the place. Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan were HUGE areas. Really big. Hundreds of thousands of people live there and mysteriously don't die or get robbed! Amazing! Maybe because not all of it is a hell hole? Ya think? Yikes.

[artaxerxes]

Originally Posted by eevee

There are few places you can do that w/o some issue. Wasn't a BU student just shot to death in Allston? Women have been assaulted jogging around the Esplanade. There is NO WHERE in the city of Boston where I would walk around wasted and texting on a $300+ piece of oft stolen technology, especially as a woman. That level of safety is only found in suburbs like Newton and Wellesley (and even then, it's just not the smartest thing to do in a populous setting).

I think a lot of people do it in allston, north end, west end, theater district/boylston, brookline, newton, near the campuses, cambridge. And the vast vast majority get away scott free. Pull that in mattapan and see what happens...

And of course I'm talking about men.....when it comes to women its a whole-nother game. I mean I knew plenty of female classmates in college who were afraid to walk alone at 8pm when it was winter through newton centre.....so yea....

[ogre]

Originally Posted by Tinawina

No offense to you for what I'm about to say. I mean that.

But I really, truly JUST DON'T GET people who have this mentality and yet insist in living in a major metropolitan city. WTF??? No large city offers that. Maybe if you are walking out with 50 other drunk clubbers, but even then that sh*t is iffy as hell. I could do that 2 am in the West Village (NYC) too, but I would never assume I'm more than one wrong turn down an alley away from getting my dumb drunk ass robbed. Even if I did it 30 times in a row... and believe me, in my partying days I probably did... but come on. Don't lie to yourself.

If folk want to leave their car unlocked and walk naked down the street at 2 am.. MOVE TO THE SUBURBS. Don't bother bitching about how crappy the city except is for a 2 block radius in the richest section and how the rest of it are filled with animals and blah blah blah. Its just stupid. Those standards are too high for any big city, period. Its just not for you. That doesn't make cities hellholes where rape and murder await little old ladies and tiny girls in pink dresses. There is a space in between, and some folks are okay with that.

On another note, I swear stuff like this made me used to want to slap so many people in Boston. LOL. That was like the safest larger metro area I've ever lived in, but yet you had folks who were convinced places like Roxbury were like Riker's Island even though they never stepped foot in the place. Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan were HUGE areas. Really big. Hundreds of thousands of people live there and mysteriously don't die or get robbed! Amazing! Maybe because not all of it is a hell hole? Ya think? Yikes.

You make some good points here. Accepting the reality that a certain amount of crime takes place is part of urban living. If someone really can't handle that, maybe the city life is not for that person.

While some possibility of crime goes with the territory in big cities (some small cities for that matter), it is true that some districts have more crime than others. Still, you also make a good point about the size of Dot., Rox., Mattapan, especially the first two. You can't really characterize these entire sections of Boston as crime-ridden holes. It's something that varies neighborhood by neighborhood, in some cases even street by street. Some years ago I did work that took me into various neighborhoods in Dot. and Rox. with some frequency. Many neighborhoods were just typical middle-class to working-class urban residential areas, where it happened that most of the residents were black. That was long ago enough so that some areas may have changed in that time, but even if the particular neighborhoods may be different than they were then, I feel pretty sure that in areas the size of Dot. and Rox. it's still true that plenty of neighborhoods still fit the description of the areas I used to travel to at times.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by artaxerxes

I think a lot of people do it in allston, north end, west end, theater district/boylston, brookline, newton, near the campuses, cambridge. And the vast vast majority get away scott free. Pull that in mattapan and see what happens...

And of course I'm talking about men.....when it comes to women its a whole-nother game. I mean I knew plenty of female classmates in college who were afraid to walk alone at 8pm when it was winter through newton centre.....so yea....

I've lived in Mattapan and walked through there as late as 1am (of course being aware of my surroundings). I'm not shrinking violet that won't leave the house past sunset.

I lived in Allston near Linden and Brighton Ave and have had quite a few issues: house was robbed, roommates car was broken into, encounters w/ aggressive drunks coming out of the Kells and White Horse, aggressive weirdos hanging out at that laundry mat across the street from Urban Renewals (is that place even still open? It's been almost 10 years since I lived there). Just a few days ago a BU grad student was shot dead.

Point being, don't be dumb and think it's okay to walk around wasted and drunk and flashing iPhones just b/c you're not in Mattapan/Roxbury/Dorchester/ I've lived in all three on those areas and the only 3 times I've been robbed or had to worry about my safety were in Allston, near Davis Sq, and around Fanueil Hall-all areas most people would consider to be far safer than Mattapan/Dorchester/Roxbury.

Like I said, there is no place in the city of Boston that I'd say it's okay for people to walk around at 2am w/o being aware of their surroundings, regardless if you're a 120lb female or a good sized guy. It's just stupid to take such risks in a city, even one as relatively safe as Boston. Lord knows, Mattapan at its worse is still a walk in the park compared to some of the areas out in Chicago!