Boston (the city) Has Lost Its Allure for Me (Worcester: rentals, how much)

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

As I alluded to in the previous post, I get all of that. I've lived in other big cities and my sentiments around their recent evolution are similar. The changes ain't all progress nor can all the criticism be reduced to simply disliking change. The blighted cities you mentioned are directly connected to factors you attribute to progress and also represent change. We need to find better ways of doing things that are actual progress and which represent more positive change across the board. Settling for less and becoming corporate drones, is not the answer.

It sounds to me like your position is, simply put: The change happening in many major cities, including Boston, does not necessarily equal progress. It's not a gripe with Boston, but rather a gripe with the ways in which American cities are maturing. And this change, or maturation, does not equal progress.

The debate then becomes, what should progress look like? Which cities of equal stature have done it better or best?

I think Boston's density, and lack of available space, is the culprit of a lot of my issues with its evolution. But that is an topic not worth exploring here or now. And i'm not quite sure how that will ever change, unless the city goes into land-grab overhaul.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by mwj119

It sounds to me like your position is, simply put: The change happening in many major cities, including Boston, does not necessarily equal progress. It's not a gripe with Boston, but rather a gripe with the ways in which American cities are maturing. And this change, or maturation, does not equal progress.

The debate then becomes, what should progress look like? Which cities of equal stature have done it better or best?

I think Boston's density, and lack of available space, is the culprit of a lot of my issues with its evolution. But that is an topic not worth exploring here or now. And i'm not quite sure how that will ever change, unless the city goes into land-grab overhaul.

That is definitely a key and very large conversation that we don't generally have in large part due to background noise, diversion and division. American cities are maturing economically but participants are generally just those at the top end of the spectrum and the subsidized bottom (who exist on the crumbs of their benefactors and think they are dependent on them). They are losing their diversity. They are maturing at the expense of other areas and middle class and to the benefit of large multinational businesses. In many ways, the country as a whole is selling out its own interest to the benefit of global interests who, again, are the globalist players and not the people. That's not to say that international commerce doesn't benefit people at the bottom, but it's becomingly increasingly out of balance.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

It's not blatantly obvious. The operative part of this being the change here being progress. The changes in post-industrial cities are generally just changes for the worse.

I'm curious about what specifically about Boston do you consider counter-progressive change?

dwindling socioeconomic diversity, dwindling local charm, rising prices of everything especially housing, the loss of organic music and arts scene not funded by multi-state conglomerates, the loss of light industry, auto repair shops, gas stations and other things that add to the economic and functional diversity of a city, open space, and neighborhood schools and community-oriented traditional public schools, the dwindling child population and the coinciding gloss of child and teen services and programs

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

dwindling socioeconomic diversity, dwindling local charm, rising prices of everything especially housing, the loss of organic music and arts scene not funded by multi-state conglomerates, the loss of light industry, auto repair shops, gas stations and other things that add to the economic and functional diversity of a city, open space, and neighborhood schools and community-oriented traditional public schools, the dwindling child population and the coinciding gloss of child and teen services and programs

New York, Jersey City, Chicago, DC, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Raleigh, etc

Its a big concern for large affluent, growing, American cities.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

dwindling socioeconomic diversity, dwindling local charm, rising prices of everything especially housing, the loss of organic music and arts scene not funded by multi-state conglomerates, the loss of light industry, auto repair shops, gas stations and other things that add to the economic and functional diversity of a city, open space, and neighborhood schools and community-oriented traditional public schools, the dwindling child population and the coinciding gloss of child and teen services and programs

Agree with everything here except auto repair shops and gas stations. I think those are things that are better located on the fringes of neighborhoods and by highways rather than right up next to homes.

The music and arts scene note in particular feels all too real.

[Space_League]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

Agree with everything here except auto repair shops and gas stations. I think those are things that are better located on the fringes of neighborhoods and by highways rather than right up next to homes.

The music and arts scene note in particular feels all too real.

It could be annoying to the neighbors if they're noisy. There is still room for them in the streetscape though.

Here's a tiny one in Nagoya

https://goo.gl/maps/oPbhXvYNFcQBdJq59


And here's a bigger shop something more reaslitic to imagine in the US

https://goo.gl/maps/q3CWUFFYkuvz8tUu6

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

Agree with everything here except auto repair shops and gas stations. I think those are things that are better located on the fringes of neighborhoods and by highways rather than right up next to homes.

The music and arts scene note in particular feels all too real.

They're still getting replaced on fringes of neighborhoods though..

https://www.universalhub.com/2020/ju...rtments-coffee

https://www.universalhub.com/2017/ap...uto-body-shops

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...L2M/story.html

http://realestate.boston.com/new-dev...o-repair-shop/

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by Space_League

It could be annoying to the neighbors if they're noisy. There is still room for them in the streetscape though.

Here's a tiny one in Nagoya

https://goo.gl/maps/oPbhXvYNFcQBdJq59


And here's a bigger shop something more reaslitic to imagine in the US

https://goo.gl/maps/q3CWUFFYkuvz8tUu6

Both of these would become condos in Boston.

Proposed apartments would replace South Boston auto repair shop

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by Space_League

It could be annoying to the neighbors if they're noisy. There is still room for them in the streetscape though.

Here's a tiny one in Nagoya

https://goo.gl/maps/oPbhXvYNFcQBdJq59


And here's a bigger shop something more reaslitic to imagine in the US

https://goo.gl/maps/q3CWUFFYkuvz8tUu6

Touché. Seems there are better ways to incorporate them into the cityscape than what we’re used to.

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

They're still getting replaced on fringes of neighborhoods though..

https://www.universalhub.com/2020/ju...rtments-coffee

https://www.universalhub.com/2017/ap...uto-body-shops

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...L2M/story.html

http://realestate.boston.com/new-dev...o-repair-shop/

I think these are examples of what we think of as “the fringe” being pushed outward as the city grows.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

dwindling socioeconomic diversity, dwindling local charm, rising prices of everything especially housing, the loss of organic music and arts scene not funded by multi-state conglomerates, the loss of light industry, auto repair shops, gas stations and other things that add to the economic and functional diversity of a city, open space, and neighborhood schools and community-oriented traditional public schools, the dwindling child population and the coinciding gloss of child and teen services and programs

I'm curious what you think the solutions might look like. Are there cities that are doing a good job? Generally the urban areas I'm familiar with that aren't undergoing similar transformations are simply because no one really wants to live there.