Do you consider Dorchester just a neighborhood? Or an area with many neighborhoods? (Boston: transplants, private schools)

[Clampdown69]

Dorchester is technically neighborhood of Boston, but neighborhoods are usually this or that, poor or rich, white or black or Spanish or Asian etc.

Dorchester has neighborhoods in it. There are black parts, yuppie gay parts, parts with poor irish American Markie Mark types. Most neighborhoods don't have those kind of divisions, it's set up seems more akin to like Queens or something which runs the gamut of different areas, as opposed to other Boston neighborhoods - say Mattapan or Eastie - which are mostly just the same throughout the neighborhood and it doesn't change until your cross into another neighborhood.

Idk if I'm explaining the question right, so let me know if you don't get what I'm trying to ask.

DOT just seems more comparable to a boro of the city as opposed to just one neighborhood

Someone says their from Dorchester, are they from the gritty parts off Blue Hill or the Neponset part which is nice. It's like saying your from Brooklyn. Where??

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by Clampdown69

Someone says their from Dorchester, are they from the gritty parts off Blue Hill or the Neponset part which is nice. It's like saying your from Brooklyn. Where??

If someone says they're from Dorchester, they grew up there. Someone who moved there as an adult wouldn't put it that way. They'd probably say something like, "I live in the Ashmont section of Dorchester."

[Clampdown69]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

If someone says they're from Dorchester, they grew up there. Someone who moved there as an adult wouldn't put it that way. They'd probably say something like, "I live in the Ashmont section of Dorchester."

Notice the same thing here in NY.

"I'm from Queens" vs "I live in Astoria"

It's interesting. Do you think of Dorchester as one neighborhood? Or as an area? Is it mostly transplants that use the names of different sections of DOT in everyday life to separate themselves from the perceived icky parts?

[goyguy]

I'm going to share ownership of the Dorchester/Queens analogy. That's great. I've always perceived Dorchester as "a part of town broken up into neighborhoods," rather than a neighborhood unto itself, also. Its geographic sweep and population diversity are far too extensive to think otherwise. And so it is for the NYC borough with the city's largest head count. Forest Hills...South Ozone Park...Middle Village...Bayside...Jackson Heights...Laurelton...such a head-spinning variety of communities! But in that case many of the communities themselves are sufficiently large and well-known that I doubt many of their residents defer to "Queens" when asked where they're from. Dorchester's denizens differ in that way; they'll say they're from Dot first, and then specify the neighborhood only if asked.

[495neighbor]

I hear fewer people self-identifying with any of Boston's sections than I did 25 years ago. I attribute this to aging population of people who were actually born in Boston, also the arrival of immigrants and gentrification, not so much that people don't want to self-identify.

If you look online, most of these Dorchester neighborhoods have their own neighborhood association. Dorchester is so large in land area compared to many of the other sections of Boston such as the North End.

[Clampdown69]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

I hear fewer people self-identifying with any of Boston's sections than I did 25 years ago. I attribute this to aging population of people who were actually born in Boston, also the arrival of immigrants and gentrification, not so much that people don't want to self-identify.

If you look online, most of these Dorchester neighborhoods have their own neighborhood association. Dorchester is so large in land area compared to many of the other sections of Boston such as the North End.

Yeah, my female friend married a Bostonian dude and I went to go visit them actually where they live in Duxbury south of Boston and I saw some bumper stickers with neighborhood names on it and it seemed everyone I met was born in Boston (similar to where i live in LI where everyone was born in Brooklyn or their parents moved here before they were born)

Why is that people don't wanna raise kids in Boston? I've been and the crappy to nice area ratio is much smaller than in NYC or Atlanta or something...also I looked at the public school racial demographics and they are way out of wack to the actual city demographics

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by Clampdown69

Why is that people don't wanna raise kids in Boston? I've been and the crappy to nice area ratio is much smaller than in NYC or Atlanta or something...also I looked at the public school racial demographics and they are way out of wack to the actual city demographics

People don't want to raise children there anymore because of the Boston schools.

[Clampdown69]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

People don't want to raise children there anymore because of the Boston schools.

Why are schools so bad in such a education-y city? even NYC has decent schools mostly in middle class areas out on the edges like Staten Island or bay ridge on the other side of the bridge. The kind of places where SES is high enough o demand decent schools but not rich enough to go private. Does Boston have neighborhood schools?

[CaseyB]

Yes they do but the schools never recovered from the busing crisis. You don't know if your child will be allowed to attend the closest school. There are a couple of exam schools for the upper grades that are good but many families don't want to take the chance that their child won't be admitted when the time comes. They choose to move to the suburbs or send them to private schools.

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by Clampdown69

Why is that people don't wanna raise kids in Boston? I've been and the crappy to nice area ratio is much smaller than in NYC or Atlanta or something...also I looked at the public school racial demographics and they are way out of wack to the actual city demographics

Primarily the schools like Casey said. Other factors would be the large population of college students and crime.