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Old 08-13-2013, 05:30 PM
 
Location: MA
675 posts, read 1,689,097 times
Reputation: 929

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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post

I would love for my child to aspire to afford a comfortable or even luxurious lifestyle. A little drive is not such a bad thing in my opinion. I don't want my child to aspire to live in 40B housing or an old cardboard box. I don't want my child to shoot for the middle. I want him to want to be the best.
Aspiring for the future is one thing, but a young child asking why their house is so small or feeling sad because they can't go with their friends on an expensive trip is another or being left out of conversation because they don't have the expensive trendy gadget everyone else does when the family financial situation is unlikely to change any time soon is another. I've been both the child and the parent in that situation - it stinks. And while that's going to happen to any kid from time to time, the frequency of occurrence and price/unattainability of the envied thing in question increase in more expensive areas.

Also, having grown up in a posh neighborhood, it does give you tunnel vision. When my parents gave me the "some kids don't even have..." lecture I honestly thought they were exaggerating. I didn't get that some people didn't have enough to eat or a place to live.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
It seems most of the wealthy towns have no problem voting for overrides to fund school improvements. If anything the residents of these towns understand more than others that the quality of the school system is what helps to buoy the value of their homes. Plus, these towns attract a lot of families because of the school systems so of course these people are going to vote to support the schools.
Some do, but some don't. Those with aging populations or lots of kids in private schools can be stingy. And it's not all overrides and physical improvements, sometimes it's the little stuff like kindergarten fees and bus service that can really make or break some families.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
There's really very little a town can do to prevent 40B housing. Hingham recently did it, but they had to buy the property from the developer in order to do it. There's a very controversial 40B project in Needham right now although I wouldn't say it's controversial because it's 40B as previous 40B projects in town have been warmly accepted.
I just threw in 40B in terms of percentage, am not going to get into the whole pro vs con 40B discussion, just pointing out that even the wealthiest towns have people who need extra help which they may or may not find from the town.

Also sorry for not adding more to the original topic, I don't know much about Sharon.

Last edited by tribechamy; 08-13-2013 at 05:32 PM.. Reason: html typo
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Old 08-13-2013, 08:25 PM
 
Location: Needham, MA
8,525 posts, read 13,906,155 times
Reputation: 7908
Quote:
Originally Posted by tribechamy View Post
Aspiring for the future is one thing, but a young child asking why their house is so small or feeling sad because they can't go with their friends on an expensive trip is another or being left out of conversation because they don't have the expensive trendy gadget everyone else does when the family financial situation is unlikely to change any time soon is another. I've been both the child and the parent in that situation - it stinks. And while that's going to happen to any kid from time to time, the frequency of occurrence and price/unattainability of the envied thing in question increase in more expensive areas.

Also, having grown up in a posh neighborhood, it does give you tunnel vision. When my parents gave me the "some kids don't even have..." lecture I honestly thought they were exaggerating. I didn't get that some people didn't have enough to eat or a place to live.
Kids can be cruel. If it's not that they don't have the latest gadget, your kid will get teased for wearing a yellow shirt when everyone else is wearing red. I can only imagine how much it must absolutely stink to have to tell your kid that "we don't have the money for that." We're definitely not the wealthiest people in this town and I know one day I'll have to utter those words to my kid about something. Probably because his best friend's dad bought him a Porsche or something ridiculous like that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tribechamy View Post
Some do, but some don't. Those with aging populations or lots of kids in private schools can be stingy. And it's not all overrides and physical improvements, sometimes it's the little stuff like kindergarten fees and bus service that can really make or break some families.
It's just my personal opinion but if a couple hundred dollars a semester for the bus is going to put you into foreclosure or force you to feed your family ramen noodles at every meal for a month then perhaps you've stretched yourself too thin and need to live in a less expensive town.

In the end, it's all about personal priorities. I know plenty of people that have "shoe horned" themselves into particular towns in order to put their children through the school system.
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Old 08-14-2013, 12:27 AM
 
23,087 posts, read 18,235,422 times
Reputation: 10646
Sharon diverse??? Isn't the place like 80% Jewish? Economically, it's basically upper-middle class without exception.

Fail.
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Old 08-14-2013, 07:21 AM
 
Location: Massachusetts
9,492 posts, read 16,384,905 times
Reputation: 14482
It may make the best list and Sharon is nice enough. However Best places lists are all subjective. The town would not fit everyone's needs. It would be way to expensive for many of us in this country for one thing. I certainly don't think its a town where all that many people rent. It has a certain population and the requirements needed to live there don't fit many of us. Its a more very high income high education community. I like Sharon but I could never afford the place, and would be out of place there to begin with. So for me it would never be the number 1 place to live. No list can ever match or replace the best list we each have, when it comes to anything in life
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Old 08-14-2013, 07:38 AM
 
Location: Needham, MA
8,525 posts, read 13,906,155 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by massnative71 View Post
Sharon diverse??? Isn't the place like 80% Jewish? Economically, it's basically upper-middle class without exception.

Fail.
According to the C-D stats Sharon is . . .

White alone - 4,870 (86.1%)
Asian alone - 392 (6.9%)
Black alone - 176 (3.1%)
Hispanic - 106 (1.9%)
Two or more races - 91 (1.6%)
Other race alone - 21 (0.4%)
American Indian alone - 2 (0.04%)

According to a C-D competitor site (if I posted a link it would get deleted) which does track religious preference, Sharon is a little less than 3% Jewish and actually the largest group in town is Catholics which make up nearly 54% of the population. Nearly 40% of the population in town claims no religious association.
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Old 08-14-2013, 10:58 AM
 
417 posts, read 729,425 times
Reputation: 346
Quote:
Originally Posted by massnative71 View Post
Sharon diverse??? Isn't the place like 80% Jewish? Economically, it's basically upper-middle class without exception.

Fail.
Sharon is far from 80% Jewish... Fail on your part.
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Old 08-14-2013, 11:04 AM
 
417 posts, read 729,425 times
Reputation: 346
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post


I would agree with you that compared to any other suburb around there is a good amount of shopping/restaurants in surrounding areas. However, some suburbs definitely require more car time than others. If you live in a town with a half decent town center, it cuts down on the time you spend in your car significantly. Even though we live on the edge of town, my wife and I walk into the center frequently during the warmer months for breakfast, to hang out at the town green, or just for fun. If you have kids, you'll won't have to be their chauffeur all day because they can walk or ride a bike into the center as well. Having a real town center (Sharon does not) provides a different type of lifestyle and a center of activity for the town.
Makes sense. I would have loved a walkable, large town center. Or even an amazing school system with lots of walkable places like Newton, but that was not affordable for us, which is why we ended up in Sharon. It has the good schools and other benefits discussed but it does lack a ton of walkable places. I think though that even if we did somehow end up in a town that had an amazing town center (and one of the top school systems) that we wouldnt have been able to afford a great location within that town to walk to the town center anyway.

I will really miss walking out my door and not needing to get into the car!
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Old 08-14-2013, 12:20 PM
 
2,439 posts, read 4,801,627 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
Why should anyone consider living in a town where a majority of the people are well off a demerit? I'm not saying it's necessarily a massive asset (I like economic diversity as much as the next guy) but there are definite pluses to it such as good schools and low crime rates along with a general aesthetic appeal to the town.
While I would be the last to deny the pleasures of exclusive towns, I think for society in general it will be better when things are not so geographically segregated. As it is, you have persuasive levels of diversity mostly in urban neighborhoods. Suburban communities seem to be built on values of social status, outdoing the Joneses, material comfort, etc. Do we need to discuss the benefits of diversity? Seems kind of obvious. It's good for wealthier people to come across other kinds of people in their daily lives. It's good for everyone, really, to have lots of different kinds of people in their lives. Then people have broader perspectives, they understand different points of view and different values better, which leads to a more productive, cooperative, less fractious society. All these good goals are frustrated by the persistence of class-stratified suburbs.

So, for those reasons, at least, some people would not want to live in a place like Sherborn or Dover or Weston, even if they could afford to.
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Old 08-15-2013, 01:00 AM
 
23,087 posts, read 18,235,422 times
Reputation: 10646
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
According to the C-D stats Sharon is . . .

White alone - 4,870 (86.1%)
Asian alone - 392 (6.9%)
Black alone - 176 (3.1%)
Hispanic - 106 (1.9%)
Two or more races - 91 (1.6%)
Other race alone - 21 (0.4%)
American Indian alone - 2 (0.04%)

According to a C-D competitor site (if I posted a link it would get deleted) which does track religious preference, Sharon is a little less than 3% Jewish and actually the largest group in town is Catholics which make up nearly 54% of the population. Nearly 40% of the population in town claims no religious association.
Still doesn't look too diverse to me. Those 6.9% Asians I'm sure are mostly higher end professionals living in a young mcmansion with 2 Lexuses in the driveway, with lifestyles little different than their white neighbors. That does not fit the description for "cultural diversity".

There is also no way the town is only 3% Jewish. I believe the Catholic number, even though it's surprising as years ago I had heard the 80% Jewish figure. Still, even a town with a 50/50 ratio of Catholics to Jews does not make a diverse community (that in itself anyway).
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Old 08-15-2013, 04:53 AM
 
5,774 posts, read 5,059,543 times
Reputation: 7992
There is a huge difference between "race diversity" and "class diversity". I think most people, at least in MA, tend very much in support of race diversity. But all the NIMBY will come screaming out with hatchet in hand when "class diversity" is introduced. Usually class diversity is manifested in affordable housing of all form, and many people associate that sort of diversity with crime, drugs and poor school performance. What's really unfortunate is that many young people from poor families do work very hard and achieve, if given a chance. But the many "elite" towns, Sharon included, are very tolerant of race diversity.. and much less so of class difference.

If you are in a particular economic/financial class, you tend to hold certain worldviews and see certain values, priorities and lifestyles as desirable. So it doesn't matter what color you are...green yellow, blue, white or black...you will easily be accepted by others who like similar things (once they get used to your green horns on your head or smurf blue face etc).

Hate to say it, but small towns, especially with affluent residents, can have high race diversity but almost no class diversity. They do this easily by keeping the real estate value high (or taxes high), and with only limited numbers of houses available for sale at any given time, it's easy to do. You can only find class diversity in bigger cities like Boston, Quincy, etc, and even there, different neighborhoods tend to line up by class differentiations too. You can't really blame anyone for this, because people like to be with others who hold similar values and ideals. It used to be expressed in the same race or look, but now that we are more "evolved" as a country and society, it is increasingly based on class. Is it progress, or just the repackaging of the same prejudice?
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