Why is Boston not mentioned more when people talk about great cities in the US (Lowell: statistics, eat)

[Oistrakh12]

Boston is definitely a few leagues below Chicago. It's more comparable to El Paso, Texas

[Pito_Chueco]

Originally Posted by Oistrakh12

Boston is definitely a few leagues below Chicago. It's more comparable to El Paso, Texas

^This is why pregnant women should not drink alcohol.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by TAM88

No one ever said Newport Jazz Fest would match, or top the one down in New Orleans.

The poster of the comment you responded to said:

If arts are what your basing this on, why not Newport? What festivals do Milwaukee and Madison have that are more high-profile than Newport's jazz and folk festivals?


To which you proceeded to talk about how well attended the festivals of Milwaukee are and how much better a vibe you feel they have which is useless considering he was talking about which Milwaukee Festivals have a higher profile relating to arts.

Oh, good God, I tried to be nice, but the reality is, Summerfest DOES have a higher profile and broader appeal than the fringe Newport fests. It is larger. More newsworthy. More popular. Gets more press to a wider audience and is culturally more significant nationally. But since people here (and I grew up here) don't know much outside their area, and are keyed in on culturally elitist high brow folk and jazz fests at Newport, they miss most of the U.S. The reality is Newport Jazz Fest or Folk Fest are minor music fests and in no way compare to Summerfest in size, scope, or significance, unless you're rich, snobbish and elitist. People in New England don't get that, and I'm sure folk and jazz aficionados (all one percent of the population of them) thing Newport is all that (and undoubtedly the Head of a Charles is a smashing regatta and has a "high profile" compard ot other boat events (lol)), but yea, no. Not really. Not when you take a larger view. Newport Jazz Fest is actually similar to Madison Jazz Fest in size and importance, but New Englanders will never acknowledge that.

Comparing Newport to Milwaukee is even more idiotic than comparing Salem to Madison, or Portland to Salem. There is no comparison. Except for seafood harvest, there is nothing the (second, third and fourth tier) New England cities are better at.

I go to Lowell Folk Fest too, and in some ways it is better than Newport, but lets not kid ourselves, it is small time too. Nice, fun, but small time.

[brienzi]

Originally Posted by MassVt

After reading this , I could only conclude that you're about 16..

I don't think that you know a thing about Chicago, or the Midwest, or any other part of this country. I've lived in the Midwest, and also have spent about 50 years in different parts of New England.

I guess that you don't know the difference between "native" and "Native American", either..

What are you a drifter..a hippie spending 50 years in different parts of NE..Sorry friend, 4th generation in
my neck of woods, and the native stuff, a simple mistype on my part...

Get a grip, Chicago is in decline and will continue to be so. Not hating the city itself, but it's reality. Boston
is one of top cities in Education, Hospitals, Etc..

And after reading your post, I must conclude your about 80..Get with the times, the 60's r over..

I have many friends who grew up in Chicago and have told me they DETEST the corruption, the decline in
general, and why they moved from there..

16 years old, nice thing to say...now go find another place to live for your next 5 years that u have left..

[thenewtexan]

New York, Chicago, and LA are the largest. Bigger does not mean better unless you're in Texas. The perception of Boston outside New England is actually very positive, despite jealous sports fans.

[Oistrakh12]

Originally Posted by Pito_Chueco

^This is why pregnant women should not drink alcohol.

Chicago is just so much bigger than Boston. Boston and El Paso are really close in population

[Cliff Clavin]

Originally Posted by Oistrakh12

Chicago is just so much bigger than Boston. Boston and El Paso are really close in population

Get a grip. Boston's an alpha city, with the likes Zurich, Taipei and Munich. El Paso is boarder crossing. A stash house for drug runners.

[millerm277]

Originally Posted by Oistrakh12

Chicago is just so much bigger than Boston. Boston and El Paso are really close in population

Clearly, you're drunk.

El Paso - Metro population of 800k. (67th largest in US), with a wider region of 1 million (58th largest in US).

Boston - Metro population of 4.5 million. (10th largest in US), with a wider region that it is the hub of of 7.5 million (6th largest in US).

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Yes, it is a good thing. Chicago's urban-ness isn't miles of "sprawl".

Care to elaborate a little on what you mean by this?

Originally Posted by timberline742

Nothing is wrong with Portland. Good coffee scene, good arts. I like my time there. Your sizes are just off. Portland is about 70k compared to 250 k in Madison. Portland's metro area is about 200k. Just not the same size nor does it have the vibrancy of Madison. There is little out there like the vibrancy a large B10 (or SEC) university brings to a region.

Fair enough. I was using Wikipedia for my size #s....

Portland..
City: 66,194
Urban: 203,914
Metro: 518,117

Madison..
City: 233,209
Urban: 329,533
Metro: 568,593

Take it or leave it. Though I understand what your saying about Portland not having the vibrancy of a college town.

Originally Posted by MassVt

Milwaukee's Summerfest, which over the course of the summer celebrates about every large ethnic group in the city ( huge German ( Octoberfest in summer), and Polish, with smaller Irish, French ( Bastille Day), Italy, etc. Blows Newport right out of Lake Michigan, and is known nationwide, and I've visited twice..

Fair enough. I've heard of Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, but never Summerfest. If it is so large (a) is odd that I've never heard of it, and (b) is most certainly does blow Newport's festivals out of the water.

Never ever BEEN to Chicago?
You have good intentions, but you're proving every point I was making earlier..

Never did I speak in any part of my post as though I had any real knowledge about the Midwest. I was merely pointing out the attributes of New England that I believe are good based on my expeience in places outside of New England that I've been to.

And on that note, how exactly do I prove your "point", which I'd assume to be "Boston has its good points, but I can't stomach the rampant parochialism among the natives, especially among those who have never experienced anything but Boston. There's a big world beyond Route 128, but they'll never see it. And that's their loss"?

Boston is much more cosmopolitan and multi-cultural than any other place in New England. Personally, I went to high school with children from a number of different countries in Asia, Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, etc. If there's anyone in Massachusetts who might lack cultural awareness, it's those who live outside route 128...

Originally Posted by brienzi

What are you a drifter..a hippie spending 50 years in different parts of NE....

Why so hostile? You won't help whatever argument your trying to make by flinging strange and uncalled for insults at everyone that opposes you....

Originally Posted by timberline742

Newport Jazz Fest is actually similar to Madison Jazz Fest in size and importance, but New Englanders will never acknowledge that.

Comparing Newport to Milwaukee is even more idiotic than comparing Salem to Madison, or Portland to Salem. There is no comparison.

Okay. I agree that comparing Newport to Milwaukee is ridiculous. I'd just never heard of Summerfest, which is why this whole conversation was started. (so calm down).

Lets say that Milwaukee is about on the same level as Providence. So if you're shooting down Portland as a match for Madison (which I can understand because of the lack of college-driven vibrancy) then I guess there's no close match (since Burlington is so far away).

However (and I'll quote another part of your post for this next part)...

Except for seafood harvest, there is nothing the (second, third and fourth tier) New England cities are better at.

I think that New England's strength in this comparison is that, while Hartford, Portsmouth, Newport, Northampton, Manchester, Portland, Provincetown, Lowell, Haverhill, etc. might be small shrimp in comparison to Madison, but (as far as I know) Boston has many more nice small cities available to it than Chicago does.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by Oistrakh12

Boston and El Paso are really close in population

Yes. And both El Paso and Boston are MUCH smaller than Jacksonville, which is a little bit larger than San Franciso, right?

So following this same trend, San Francisco is definitely a few leagues below Chcago and much more comparable to Jacksonville.

Wouldn't you agree?