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Who cares what happened the line was put in their to feed the trolls something so they wouldn't be burned by the truth.
Boston sports = bread and circuses. God forbid anyone talk blasphemy about Pope Belichek and The Holy Patriot Church.
Good to know they got permission to dump snow into the bay. That should be SOP, not "please EPA let us get rid of a wee bit of our snow so certain things can run." Snow removal should be higher on the list of priorities.
Beyond sports though, I wish Boston was better. At least we have access to good mountains in the winter(NH is so solid for snow boarding) it's time to try my luck elsewhere. My days here are numbered.
Different strokes for different folks as they say.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,937 posts, read 36,948,491 times
Reputation: 40635
Quote:
Originally Posted by okyoureabeast
Beyond sports though, I wish Boston was better. At least we have access to good mountains in the winter(NH is so solid for snow boarding) it's time to try my luck elsewhere. My days here are numbered.
You said you were getting out two years ago? That hard to find a job?
It isn't mentioned more because the city isn't great. Boston is a 2nd tier city trying to masquerade as a 1st tier city. The city is on par with Seattle, Pittsburgh, and DC. The problems with the city are structural which exacerbates the cultural problems stewing underneath.
The T needs its governing body tarred, feathered, and dragged behind a B line train from BC all the way to Park. What happened in terms of service this past winter was unacceptable. I spent almost a month home from work.
Snow removal: for a town with so many smart people, it is hilarious to see how inept the city is at removing snow. Common complaints are that there isn't any place to put it. Apparently they used to dump the snow into the Charles but stopped because of the rock salt hurting a freshwater river. So dump it into the salt water bay, problem solved.
The city and its residents seem to have a sort of weather amnesia. Every year since 2012 the snow has gotten progressively worse with each successive year adding a week of being unable to travel to work. In 2012/13 it was one week, 2013/14 it was two weeks, and finally the 2014/15 season it was well over a month of snowpocolypse. Maybe it's time to cut the police budget (because we need a cop at every utility stop standing around with his thumb in his mouth) and up the snow removal budget.
Intelligence in this town is supposedly very high, but people here tend to be "fact heavy, wisdom poor". This town's people lack common sense. I've been all around town and the only places you will find true wisdom are in the working class parts. Quincy and Dorchester. The real heart and soul of this city was pushed out by monied interests. I'm glad I moved to Quincy.
People are stunned to hear that I am not a student but someone who is gainfully employed. What a rare specimen indeed! Riding the T is a perfect example of Boston's demographics. The town is a hodgepodge mess of students, immigrants, and boomer retirees. The culture malaise reflects that.
I'm a classically trained musician and went to a few concerts here in town and had the pleasure of getting out to the Berkshires (not really Boston). The professional music scene here in town is over rated which is unfortunate. It's quite the site to see professional musicians mess up on stage playing some music I slayed over in high school and college. I've started attending concerts at the conservatories in town. The quality is immensely better than what you'll find at the BSO and Pops. These musicians have something to prove and the quality shows.
Tanglewood as a venue has terrible acoustics. If you need audio amplification on an outdoor venue then you're doing it wrong. Check out Blossom in Cleveland for how outdoor venues should be done.
Restaurants in the city are lack luster. I can count on both hands restaurants worth visiting. This is very apparent in the North End. As an italian, the cooking from the restaurants there is an insult to my heritage. My cooking is better than most of the expensive funk being served. It's hilarious how many restaurants and take out places survive in this town given that the quality is subpar. If you're looking for a good pizza joint Big Daddies is the best pizza in town. Don't bother with any other place.
Cost of living is a joke. The cost of living and rent should be somewhere between Pittsburgh and Seattle. Boston shouldn't be almost as expensive as New York City considering the quality of life is nowhere near it.
I love it when I ask someone where they are from and they respond with some 'burb that is 10-15 minutes outside of the city like they came from a trek half way across the state. You're from Boston sweetheart.
If Boston was a woman, she would be a 4,5/10 in the winter hitting maybe a mid to high 6 in the summer. It's a shame because in the 19th and early 20th century, Boston used to be the cultural capital of the United States (in the same way people look at LA today). You can see it in the architecture and parks.
The redeeming quality to this town are the parks which thankfully are beautiful for 4-5 months out of the year. The city has potential, but I don't want to dedicate my life to running for political office. I'll try my luck in a different place.
No semi rant is complete without suggestions to better the problem. Here are two suggestions if there are any city planners reading this thread:
The drivers in Boston would be better if the city did more to properly mark roadways. Most road markings are completely worn down and missing. Storrow needs longer merge lanes at the Allston and BU ramps. The on-ramp at Fenway that lets drivers go towards Newton needs a longer on ramp and maybe those, "One car per green" lights that are commonly used in western states on freeways. Photo enforce this. Police need to hyper enforce the no grid lock rule with a $500 fine. I can list several intersections that the city would make bank on if they enforced their traffic rules. Same goes for double parking.
Traffic in Brighton, Allston, and Watertown would be lessened if the city would remove the Allston/Brighton i90 toll. They can keep tolling the tunneled sections to the airport. More cheapskates would be inclined to use the highway which their gas taxes pay for instead of clogging the side streets. Use hyper enforcement of the traffic rules for gridlocking and double parking to make up for the loss of revenue.
Demolish that oppressive and drab block known as government center. Buildings designed during that architectural dark age known as the 60s need to disappear. It looks like a prison in the middle of winter.
Edit: There will undoubtedly be some Boston ra ra ra trolls so here's some bait for you to nibble on. Belichick is a cheat and the Patriots should have been barred from competing this year for all of their tomfoolery.
Yes there are some "highly educated" people in Boston and even places like Chicago and Detroit among others. However a top heavy population of highly educated folks in the "Liberal Arts" without the correct proportion of skilled workers to support the necessary infrastructure is a surefire recipe for disaster isn't it? See how useless that Ph.D in Gender Studies etc is when you have a plugged up toilet.
The drivers in Boston would be better if the city did more to properly mark roadways. Most road markings are completely worn down and missing. Storrow needs longer merge lanes at the Allston and BU ramps. The on-ramp at Fenway that lets drivers go towards Newton needs a longer on ramp and maybe those, "One car per green" lights that are commonly used in western states on freeways. Photo enforce this. Police need to hyper enforce the no grid lock rule with a $500 fine. I can list several intersections that the city would make bank on if they enforced their traffic rules. Same goes for double parking.
Traffic in Brighton, Allston, and Watertown would be lessened if the city would remove the Allston/Brighton i90 toll. They can keep tolling the tunneled sections to the airport. More cheapskates would be inclined to use the highway which their gas taxes pay for instead of clogging the side streets. Use hyper enforcement of the traffic rules for gridlocking and double parking to make up for the loss of revenue.
Demolish that oppressive and drab block known as government center. Buildings designed during that architectural dark age known as the 60s need to disappear. It looks like a prison in the middle of winter.
Boston gets a lot of snow and sleet. The salt and sand used to melt the snow coupled with heavy traffic volumes wears out the road markings.
Storrow Drive was not built to accommodate so many vehicles that drive so fast. Those merges become hard merges because of the heavy traffic. Storrow Drive was supposed to be a recreational road not a wannabe limited access highway that it has become.
Being too harsh on traffic and parking rules will ruin business in the city in the long run because both business owners and patrons will complain. What was a safety matter becomes a political matter.
It isn't mentioned more because the city isn't great. Boston is a 2nd tier city trying to masquerade as a 1st tier city. The city is on par with Seattle, Pittsburgh, and DC. The problems with the city are structural which exacerbates the cultural problems stewing underneath.
The T needs its governing body tarred, feathered, and dragged behind a B line train from BC all the way to Park. What happened in terms of service this past winter was unacceptable. I spent almost a month home from work.
Snow removal: for a town with so many smart people, it is hilarious to see how inept the city is at removing snow. Common complaints are that there isn't any place to put it. Apparently they used to dump the snow into the Charles but stopped because of the rock salt hurting a freshwater river. So dump it into the salt water bay, problem solved.
The city and its residents seem to have a sort of weather amnesia. Every year since 2012 the snow has gotten progressively worse with each successive year adding a week of being unable to travel to work. In 2012/13 it was one week, 2013/14 it was two weeks, and finally the 2014/15 season it was well over a month of snowpocolypse. Maybe it's time to cut the police budget (because we need a cop at every utility stop standing around with his thumb in his mouth) and up the snow removal budget.
Intelligence in this town is supposedly very high, but people here tend to be "fact heavy, wisdom poor". This town's people lack common sense. I've been all around town and the only places you will find true wisdom are in the working class parts. Quincy and Dorchester. The real heart and soul of this city was pushed out by monied interests. I'm glad I moved to Quincy.
People are stunned to hear that I am not a student but someone who is gainfully employed. What a rare specimen indeed! Riding the T is a perfect example of Boston's demographics. The town is a hodgepodge mess of students, immigrants, and boomer retirees. The culture malaise reflects that.
I'm a classically trained musician and went to a few concerts here in town and had the pleasure of getting out to the Berkshires (not really Boston). The professional music scene here in town is over rated which is unfortunate. It's quite the site to see professional musicians mess up on stage playing some music I slayed over in high school and college. I've started attending concerts at the conservatories in town. The quality is immensely better than what you'll find at the BSO and Pops. These musicians have something to prove and the quality shows.
Tanglewood as a venue has terrible acoustics. If you need audio amplification on an outdoor venue then you're doing it wrong. Check out Blossom in Cleveland for how outdoor venues should be done.
Restaurants in the city are lack luster. I can count on both hands restaurants worth visiting. This is very apparent in the North End. As an italian, the cooking from the restaurants there is an insult to my heritage. My cooking is better than most of the expensive funk being served. It's hilarious how many restaurants and take out places survive in this town given that the quality is subpar. If you're looking for a good pizza joint Big Daddies is the best pizza in town. Don't bother with any other place.
Cost of living is a joke. The cost of living and rent should be somewhere between Pittsburgh and Seattle. Boston shouldn't be almost as expensive as New York City considering the quality of life is nowhere near it.
I love it when I ask someone where they are from and they respond with some 'burb that is 10-15 minutes outside of the city like they came from a trek half way across the state. You're from Boston sweetheart.
If Boston was a woman, she would be a 4,5/10 in the winter hitting maybe a mid to high 6 in the summer. It's a shame because in the 19th and early 20th century, Boston used to be the cultural capital of the United States (in the same way people look at LA today). You can see it in the architecture and parks.
The redeeming quality to this town are the parks which thankfully are beautiful for 4-5 months out of the year. The city has potential, but I don't want to dedicate my life to running for political office. I'll try my luck in a different place.
No semi rant is complete without suggestions to better the problem. Here are two suggestions if there are any city planners reading this thread:
The drivers in Boston would be better if the city did more to properly mark roadways. Most road markings are completely worn down and missing. Storrow needs longer merge lanes at the Allston and BU ramps. The on-ramp at Fenway that lets drivers go towards Newton needs a longer on ramp and maybe those, "One car per green" lights that are commonly used in western states on freeways. Photo enforce this. Police need to hyper enforce the no grid lock rule with a $500 fine. I can list several intersections that the city would make bank on if they enforced their traffic rules. Same goes for double parking.
Traffic in Brighton, Allston, and Watertown would be lessened if the city would remove the Allston/Brighton i90 toll. They can keep tolling the tunneled sections to the airport. More cheapskates would be inclined to use the highway which their gas taxes pay for instead of clogging the side streets. Use hyper enforcement of the traffic rules for gridlocking and double parking to make up for the loss of revenue.
Demolish that oppressive and drab block known as government center. Buildings designed during that architectural dark age known as the 60s need to disappear. It looks like a prison in the middle of winter.
Edit: There will undoubtedly be some Boston ra ra ra trolls so here's some bait for you to nibble on. Belichick is a cheat and the Patriots should have been barred from competing this year for all of their tomfoolery.
Has it even been established that Boston isn't often listed among great American cities? That apparently was the OP's subjective impression, but has anyone taken a survey?
Anyway, Okyoureabeast, in the post quoted here it seems not so much that Boston lacks appeal, but more that it doesn't appeal to you personally. That's fine--different strokes, as they say--but if you prefer amenities that aren't Boston's strong suits, it doesn't mean others wouldn't consider Boston a great city for their needs.
Yes there are some "highly educated" people in Boston and even places like Chicago and Detroit among others. However a top heavy population of highly educated folks in the "Liberal Arts" without the correct proportion of skilled workers to support the necessary infrastructure is a surefire recipe for disaster isn't it? See how useless that Ph.D in Gender Studies etc is when you have a plugged up toilet.
I was guessing that you lived in a rural area, and might feel this way about city residents in general. I was thinking of asking whether many people in your part of Nebraska might feel this way even when they're keeping it in-state, and might question the practical skills of folks in Nebraska's two major cities, Lincoln and Omaha.
Then I looked up the zip code in your profile, and discovered that you lived in Lincoln. Apparently this isn't a work-the-land-with-your-hands rural resident's view of city people.
On the other hand, being that the big university is located in Lincoln, you may get a lot of opportunity to observe academic types who are highly intelligent in their professional fields but lacking in common sense. I've been around colleges for a good chunk of my adult life--as an employee and as a returning adult student--and I'd say it's true that those absent-minded professor types can be found. Not all academic types are like that, however.
Even to the degree that such academically brilliant but practically challenged sorts are found around colleges, it's interesting that you would associate this with Boston to a great degree. Sure, a city with as many colleges as we have here will have plenty of people majoring in just about any subject you can imagine, including liberal arts and gender studies, but several mainstays of Boston's economy are practical fields like medicine, finance, electronics, and biomedical engineering. Many of the employees in these fields are graduates of local colleges. Not a lot of pie-in-the-sky coursework there.
Boston is an amazing city. I was there a few summers ago and it is gorgeous in the summer around the Charles River. Cambridge and surrounding areas are really nice too. The city has great food, anchors New England, maintains historic charm, and is the perfect size for a major city (big enough but not too large). Honestly, I think the only reason it's not mentioned more with some major cities is because of its size. It's a lot smaller than a lot of major cities so that may be why it's not talked about as much with some of the bigger cities. I think it's a great city.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,937 posts, read 36,948,491 times
Reputation: 40635
Quote:
Originally Posted by personone
Boston is an amazing city. I was there a few summers ago and it is gorgeous in the summer around the Charles River. Cambridge and surrounding areas are really nice too. The city has great food, anchors New England, maintains historic charm, and is the perfect size for a major city (big enough but not too large). Honestly, I think the only reason it's not mentioned more with some major cities is because of its size. It's a lot smaller than a lot of major cities so that may be why it's not talked about as much with some of the bigger cities. I think it's a great city.
Really. It isn't that big. It's great. Just not that big. It hits at a bigger class than it really is.
I was guessing that you lived in a rural area, and might feel this way about city residents in general. I was thinking of asking whether many people in your part of Nebraska might feel this way even when they're keeping it in-state, and might question the practical skills of folks in Nebraska's two major cities, Lincoln and Omaha.
Then I looked up the zip code in your profile, and discovered that you lived in Lincoln. Apparently this isn't a work-the-land-with-your-hands rural resident's view of city people.
On the other hand, being that the big university is located in Lincoln, you may get a lot of opportunity to observe academic types who are highly intelligent in their professional fields but lacking in common sense. I've been around colleges for a good chunk of my adult life--as an employee and as a returning adult student--and I'd say it's true that those absent-minded professor types can be found. Not all academic types are like that, however.
Even to the degree that such academically brilliant but practically challenged sorts are found around colleges, it's interesting that you would associate this with Boston to a great degree. Sure, a city with as many colleges as we have here will have plenty of people majoring in just about any subject you can imagine, including liberal arts and gender studies, but several mainstays of Boston's economy are practical fields like medicine, finance, electronics, and biomedical engineering. Many of the employees in these fields are graduates of local colleges. Not a lot of pie-in-the-sky coursework there.
Ogre,
I do have rural roots. I grew up on a Farm/Ranch and still have an interest in the family farm from my Mother's side of the family. However by the time I graduated from High School I knew I didn't want to make my living in Agriculture.
I worked my way through college and I dropped out a few hours short of my B.S. degree. I saved up enough money to buy a truck and I spent the next 25 years in the trucking business. During that time I spent a lot of time exploring various parts of the USA and Canada. I made many trips to Boston and East Coast cities. I enjoyed many of the things that the big cities have to offer but I would never want to live there. Some of my friends are in professions that require advanced degrees and are very successful in their field. However because of the amount of time and concentration they had to devote to their education they didn't really experience a lot of the day to day problems that a Blue Collar worker deals with. Thus my analogy to the clogged toilet. Specialization is predominant in large Urban environments but in smaller communities it can be a handicap.
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You're from Boston sweetheart. 
