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1.) The crime in outlying neighborhoods.
2.) How dirty some areas can be.
3.) Many professional jobs are located within the greater Philadelphia area, not in the city.
4.) We only have two subway lines with SEPTA (plus the Broad-Ridge Spur), plus one with PATCO. Also, the city encourages car culture in certain ways when we should be doing everything possible to remove cars from city streets.
5.) The lack of vision that some of our leaders have. We could be so much better, but City Council is a HUGE impediment to our success.
6.) I-95 should not exist within Philadelphia County. It should be torn down to restore the connection between Center City and the Delaware River waterfront.
Also, it's the fact that we're located within the Commonwealth of PA. I love PA, but politicians in Harrisburg love to do anything to impede the advancement of our city, despite the fact that we subsidize the less productive areas of this state.
I love Philly with all of my heart and plan on never leaving it (unless my girlfriend convinces me. Even then, I refuse to live in the suburbs/a city with a suburban built form), but we do have some problems that hold us back. If we could reduce crime and invest in outlying neighborhoods, significantly expand the heavy rail system within the city, have better leaders on City Council, eliminate councilmanic privilege, and have more businesses in the region relocate to Philadelphia County, then our city would be so much better than it already is, and it's already a top 3 city nationally!
Let's start with this, I LOVE Boston and will be happy to spend the rest of my life here (hopefully with a few additional stops in between). That being said, I want improvement on the following fronts (apart from the obvious like traffic, housing cost, etc.):
Embracing the city's diversity more. Boston's a diverse, international city by most metrics. However, it's still way behind the curve when it comes to celebrating diversity. Boston's Irish and Italian heritage is celebrated to no end. Chinatown is prominently located and embraced for its food and cultural offerings. But Boston's black population and its newer immigrant populations are sort of cast to the side. If you're a visitor to Boston hitting all of the primary tourist spots and neighborhoods, you might never know that Boston has sizable African American, LatinX, West Indian, Brazilian, South Asian, etc. communities. Cities like Montreal, New York, Toronto, Washington DC, etc. do a much better job at putting these communities in the spotlight. When you search the best restaurants in these cities, there's much greater representation from diverse populations. Many of the larger festivals and events each community celebrates are not all tucked away in outer neighborhoods. And it seems like there's more representation in city government and more opportunity for diverse populations to succeed in other places. Our diverse populations are underrepresented in the workforce (especially at leadership levels), have worse access to healthcare and services, and tend to have less access to educational opportunities. Boston's made strides (recent city council elections should continue that trend), but it's behind the curve on that front.
Transportation. Boston's one of the best systems in the country, but to me that says more about the state of our nation's public transit than it does about how great Boston's system is. Again we're making investments and improvements, but we have a number of communities and neighborhoods that are drastically under-served (see #1), and existing lines suffer from deferred maintenance. I also wish we had drastically improved bike/micro-mobility infrastructure. It'd be a huge boon to the city.
Constricted by out of date/archaic regulations/laws. Boston is booming in spite of the fact that layers of red tape and dated laws, zoning restrictions, etc. hold the city back. It's too hard for prospective restaurateurs to get started because we have awful restrictions on liquor licenses (part of the reason number 1 is an issue too), we have zoning and height restrictions as well as an approval process that makes it extremely difficult for developers to turn a profit on projects (part of the reason housing and office space are at such premiums here). It's taken forever to do things that other places do quickly (marijuana sales, gambling), which drives up costs for everyone involved. And even little things like happy hour are outlawed.
Embracing winter. Yup, Boston's cold. But for some reason we allow it to be a death sentence for the winter months. Unless you have the time/means to get out to the mountains, or go to Florida, you're going to be stuck indoors. It doesn't need to be that way. Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Copenhagen, Paris, London, etc. are all chilly too. And they all have an abundance of winter activities to get people outside. Heaters under awnings (and gas-powered standing heaters), blankets on chairs, etc. enable people to sit outside at bars and restaurants year/round. In addition to ice skating, there are winter markets, igloo restaurants, festivals of light, etc. to get people outdoors. Boston seems content to pack it in for the winter.
Fragmented metro area. Boston's urban core is divided by political boundaries that don't make a lot of sense anymore. Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, etc. (at minimum) should be part of the city of Boston. Instead, Boston and its neighbors are like tiny little islands acting in their own interest, often times competing with each other. I wish there was more cohesion between the core communities.
I might also add in that our sports teams stink right now
Y'all Chicagoans are spoiled when it comes to your Chicago sports teams lol . The Cubs broke their 100+ year World Series title drought in 2016, the Blackhawks have won 3 Stanley Cup titles in the last decade and the Bears made the playoffs the season before last. Try being a Cleveland sports fan with only one title in recent memory, and some people hate your team for winning that title.
Last edited by QCongress83216; 02-19-2020 at 09:42 AM..
Y'all Chicagoans are spoiled when it comes Chicago sports teams lol . The Cubs broke their 100+ year World Series title drought in 2016, the Blackhawks have won 3 Stanley Cup titles in the last decade and the Bears made the playoffs the season before last. Try being a Cleveland sports fan with only one title in recent memory, and some people hate your team for winning that title.
Lol! I was in Cleveland on business when the Browns finally won a game breaking their drought. I was so incredibly happy for them! Hope springs eternal in Chicago sports- people are excited about both the Cubs and White Sox this year, until their hearts are shattered and ground into the pavement. But I agree, they are so lucky here to have not only occasionally decent teams, but a full roster of them if one or more go south.
Again, Boston is my favorite.. love it far better than any US city, and I've lived in New York City (Yuck!), Orlando (Oof), Syracuse (Snooze), etc.. However, Boston is far from perfect...
Change I Want to See in Boston
1. Transportation: The Red Line sucks. The Green Line is underserved. The Blue Line doesnt Connect to the Red Line. The Orange Line doesnt Extend far enough. The Commuter Rail splits the city in half. We need an overhaul. We need to extend the Red Line further into Arlington and possibly Lexington. We need to extend the Blue Line to Lynn and then the other way to MGH... and tunnel it under Soldier's Field Road to Kenmore Square. We need to extend the Orange Line to Hyde Park. The Fairmount Line needs to be High Speed Rail and then connect North Station to South Station directly. Then we need a five-track underground fix connecting North and South Station.. immediately. Then we need to electrify the Commuter Rail and make it faster and on a better schedule. On top of that, spur a green line route through the Grand Junction into Cambridge. Seaport Transit??? All this would cost $60 Billion, with about 1/2 of the costs being NSRL Link and electrification of the Commuter Rail. We need these fixes FAST.
2. Elitism: A lot of Bostonians have the attitude that they are far better than you and if you aren't a rich white individual who didnt attend Harvard, MIT, BU, Tufts or BC .. your less than them. These WASPs are found due West and North of the city. I know its a stereotype of New England, but its quite annoying. People in Greater Boston need to lose this attitude.
3. Development and Laws: Every single tower, building, unit tat has been proposed in Greater Boston has ben significantly reduced or NIMBYs have fought so hard to knock off as many units as they can. South Station Tower Originally Proposed at 800ft? Now 677ft. HUb On Causeway was originally 650ft, now 510ft. Winthrop Square Tower reduced from 1,000ft to 770ft to 702ft to 691ft ... all by Shadow Laws and angry NIMBYs. Any project, you name it! If it casts a shadow for 30 seconds n January 14th from 4:00pm to 4:01pm... Knock the floors down!!
4. Alcohol Laws: A liquor license is up to 450k now. Happy Hour is ILLEGAL. Drink Specials? ILLEGAL. Closing time is 2am yeah, but most places have to purchase an additional license to stay open until 2am. Its absurd. Its disgusting how backwards the system is. No city is this bad for liquor laws.
5. Ballooning COL: Its wicked expensive. $3k a month for a 1 bedroom? Yeah. Its not feasible to live in Boston. Atleast in NYC, you can go to NJ and grab a halfway decent condo for ~200k in Fort Lee or Hackensack and be commutable to NYC. You cant grab anything in a commutable distance in Boston for under 400k thats decent.
6. Traffic: Dependent on Public Transportation. Its getting bad.
7. The Winter: Every other city, a lot who are colder/snowier than us, have wonderful fun winters. Not in Boston. Shuts down. Boston on Christmas is boring as hell. I guess all the Bostonians migrate to Aruba or Florida during this time.
There is no east coast city with more snowfall than Minneapolis. The only coastal cities in the top 16 are Boston, Providence RI and NYC. There is no east coast city with more snow days than Minneapolis.
No, snow really doesn't bother me. I live in an apartment and my car is parked in a heated garage, so I pretty much never have to deal with it.
I didn't say that East Coast cities get more snow than Minneapolis; I said that they get big snow storms that dwarf what we usually see here. We get most of our snow in the form of Alberta Clippers, which usually move quickly and drop 1-3 inches at a time. Nor'easters can drop literally multiple feet of snow on New York and Boston; those kinds of storms are more rare here.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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Miami:
Traffic/Parking: I find myself not going out and exploring the overall area as much as I did when I lived in other cities. There is literally no such thing as free parking in Miami or Miami Beach and we arguably have the worst drivers in the nation (where red lights and stop signs are merely suggestions...lol). Uber is often a much better option. Traffic can disincentivize me to get in my car though we are not LA bad. I am convinced that if I die prematurely it will be from a driver that hits me when I am walking because they ignored a traffic signal or crosswalk stop—many South Americans bring their crappy driving skills with them when they move here and have less regard for pedestrians.
Restaurant diversification: we have many great restaurants, including Asian, though we tend to excel on the high end. Would be nice to see more diversity and quality of more “popular price point” options. West Coast chains Tender Greens and Pick up Stix would be welcome here (though we do have Rubio’s). Minor critique and overall very pleased with the dining scene here, particularly since I eat out every meal (have not cooked since 1987).
Job market: was not an issue for me as I moved here at the latter stages of my tech career and brought my high paying job with me but outside of the standard professional careers (Law, Medicine, some Finance), there are less corporate, tech, and career building opportunities for younger people than other cities. In some cases it helps to be Latino (and be bilingual) and in other cases it is better to build your wealth elsewhere before moving here.
Real estate equity: I have decided to rent here rather than own for many reasons. When looking at condos, there are a ton here, you are dependent to a large extent on foreign buyers and foreign economies, many units I have looked at have owners who bought 8,10, or 15 years ago and will be lucky to break even by the time they pay realtor fees—some are below water (talking financially...lol).
Gyms/sports bars: I am really nitpicking with these 2 items but I’m paying double at an overrated Equinox club that is not anywhere as nice as a couple of gyms I belonged to in San Diego. Lifetime is opening more locations so I look forward to seeing what they offer and a local gym, Anatomy, is expanding though the closest one to me is a 15-20 minute drive v my current 8 minute walk. Miami doesn’t really have what I consider a great sports bar, though we do have top notch cigar clubs, including some with TVs for sporting events.
In spite of above, I am happy with my decision of relocating here.
Last edited by elchevere; 02-19-2020 at 10:25 AM..
Atlanta doesn't know how to be Atlanta. It seems to nearly always be trying to emulate other cites from the magnificent mile in Chicago which was a bust to Times Square. Atlanta has an identity but it is rather abstract. I wish we had something that wasn't the airport or traffic that says "This is Atlanta".
The lack of water features. I am not a beach person but enjoy the sight and sounds of water. The core of the city is far from lakes. A river forms the western border but isn't built out like a river walk. It too is pretty far from the city core.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Providence.
Underutilized waterfront areas. Sure, industrial areas are commerce, but there should be better balance there.
Surface lots (just wasted real estate).
It could use stronger professional jobs and a resulting more robust tax base. Right now, most of the best real estate is off the roles and is owned by Universities (Brown, etc) and hospitals.
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. The Cubs broke their 100+ year World Series title drought in 2016, the Blackhawks have won 3 Stanley Cup titles in the last decade and the Bears made the playoffs the season before last. Try being a Cleveland sports fan with only one title in recent memory, and some people hate your team for winning that title.
