why Massachusetts (Boston) is one of the worst places to live (Worcester: loans, good schools)

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by sori_liss

I think lot of it is POV. But, it's true that Boston isn't consistently, if ever (although I'm sure you could find one out there somewhere) on top of those QOL rankings. It's places like Madison....

So why is that? These things are the sum of many, many parts.

I don't put a lot of stock in rankings personally (I know many people do though). After all, Money Magazine ranked Sharon, MA the best place to live in the entire country this year. It's a lovely place but I have absolutely no interest in living there. I have my own "Mike" rankings but they apply only to me so I don't publish them anywhere.

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

Sorry but as much as I love golf, I cannot play when the temp is 88 with the humidity to match.

True in some places but quite often 60's with low humidity in Dec., Jan., Feb. in those same places so it is a trade off. I can take 90* with high humidity in July and Aug. for the 60's during the winter.

I play golf year round in SC but I do draw the line. I will not play when it is below 50* (usually only some days in Jan and Feb) and only in the 50's when it is sunny.

Hottest part of the day in SC is about 3-5pm. Temps start climbing about 1pm. In July and Aug we tee off about 8am so done before Noon. In Jan and Feb we tee off about 11am. Usually 9-10am tee times the rest of the year.

I am from Boston

[BitofEndearment]

[quote=FCMA;35938637]

Originally Posted by BitofEndearment

And let's not skip over that touchy subject of racism. This is a critique, I'm not here to point out the positives (as there are in many ways in regards to race relations) but the negatives. In addition to the desegregation issues (and the rock-throwing of actually not that long ago, within, I'm guessing, most poster's lifetimes) there is racism-by-proxy of zoning laws, lack of new development that might *gasp* increase middle class housing stock (luckily places like Randolph, Malden, Revere, and Quincy exist to become some of the rare stepping stones middle class poc citizens have), and various direct and indirect forms of verbal racism[/QUOTE}

Remember election night, 2008, and the torching of a black church in Springfield?

Or the ongoing harrassment of a black teacher in Amherst? http://www.gazettenet.com/home/11249...-found-amherst

Or that whole Bruins incident? Boston Bruins slam 'racist, classless' PK Subban tweets from fans | Mail Online

This is not to say that most people in MA or Bruins fans are racist, just that we shouldn't deny that these scumbags are out there (HERE!) licking turds off the bottom of the barrel. Sometimes indignant sheltered Cantabrigians or Pioneer Valley folk like to argue with me that overt racism doesn't happen here, but sorry it does! Read the headlines, or come out of your liberal cocoon to Central Mass sometime and I'll give you a fun tour of Confederate flags (again, not prevalent, but HERE!). And I'd argue that our pattern of segregated lily-white suburbs and small towns and concentrating nearly all diversity in crumbling Gateway Cities and the "bad" neighborhoods of Boston, doesn't really help nurture better race relations.



Yes, complete fear. Poor Western Mass has been trying for years. it has a highly educated workforce of graduates from UMass and surrounding schools, many of whom would love to stay out there (well on the flipside the others can't wait to get back to Baaahston, err I mean mom's basement in Danvahhs...) but with the myopic Boston goggles dominating both the private and public sectors, never even conceiving that one of the most beautiful and cheap parts of the state could also be a good location to set up businesses (fiber optic is there, an educated workforce, and vacant office and industrial park space too, arts and culture too), that opportunity is largely squandered. Same thing with every Gateway City other than maybe Worcester, which does get some economic development scraps here and there.

Definitely remember the torched church as well as the tweets, but had not idea about the teacher in Amherst. Yet another damn shame. And absolutely they concentrate it all in the crumbling Gateway Cities. They bring some of the Central American child migrants up to Massachusetts, and were, AKA which SCHOOL DISTRICTS, do they put them in? Yeah...Chelsea, New Bedford, Lawrence. Lord knows they wouldn't be hosted anywhere else. Not that I'm demanding Dover-Sherborn or Lincoln-Sudbury take them, but not even Peabody or Franklin or Braintree or something? Really?

Worcester does get a few scraps, and then the city gov does all in its power to make the process of investment as slow, bureaucratic, and painful as possible. I used to work in Worcester last year, and was in downtown every day I worked. It 40 miles west of Boston and you'd think it was 40 years behind. Straight outta American Hustle. But I actually kind of like that.

[johngolf]

I am an native Bostonian married to a women from SC. Along the way we have lived in MA, CA, NYC, OH, IL, MA (again), and presently in SC. We have had the racism discussion many, many, many, times.

Bottom line is most people are racists as much as they say/think they are not. Sorry to say, it is inbred in most cultures and something we need to get over and move forward on. The same as gay marriage. It is what it is. Move on folks.

[pennyone]

Just my two cents for what they are worth, but I think racism will still be here and going strong long after we are all over the gay thing. Homophobia seems to me easier to overcome and eradicate than racism precisely because everyone think they are NOT racists, when in reality, they are all racist to varying degree.

[mdovell]

I do not believe it is so much racism but rather the lopsided amount of development in the state.

I think the state is too Boston centered for the most part and that hurts both people and businesses.

The wheels of this are turning albeit slowly
Nuclea Biotechnologies in Pittsfield hopes to relocate manufacturing to old GE site from Cambridge | masslive.com

Make no mistake going from $60 to $12 a square foot is a huge decrease. Of course there are those that might point to population and transit and say well it's just easier to operate in Cambridge. Sure...if you want to spend more.

The comment about providing employees with an area that they can afford to raise a family is pretty striking.

There is also this: Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center

Yes it does not have that much for employees but gradually it will shift.

The traffic in Boston is just too much. 128/95 is horrible to say the least. 93 is not that much better. It makes more sense to relocate to other areas such as gateway cities and western parts of the state.

Businesses do not have to move to China to save on costs, they do not even have to leave the state!
Springfield is what..20-25% cheaper then Boston. Still have highway access, still have access to higher education, still have museums and sports, still have water access granted it is a river.

The other thing is frankly people complain when places drop in value and rise in value. We can't have it both ways. When properties drop in value people complain they paid too much (say Detroit) and when they raise people complain they are getting priced out of the market (think SF). Development has to happen in order to maintain jobs which maintains taxes which maintains services.

[TAM88]

Lets say a biotech company that conducts a lot of research located in Watertown, or Cambridge moves to Pittsfield. Right off the bat there's probably a high chance a good amount of their current employees don't stay with the company. Then you have to factor in the Pittsfield area does not offer the large amount of educated workers the company needs/wants. Lets not forget being close to Logan Airport is a great asset given you can get non-stop flights to Asia, the Middle East, Europe and all of the US.

Companies do not always move, or increase operations solely on the basis of the cost of operations. There are plenty of other factors involved.

[K.Uni]

If you hate the high COL, you must also hate every other big thriving cities in the U.S. (NYC, Chicago, LA, SF, DC).
I recently moved from Bos to a city with lower COL down South. I'd move back to Bos in a heartbeat.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by K.Uni

If you hate the high COL, you must also hate every other big thriving cities in the U.S. (NYC, Chicago, LA, SF, DC).
I recently moved from Bos to a city with lower COL down South. I'd move back to Bos in a heartbeat.

Everyone I know who has done that says the same exact thing, save one, a couple that moved to Asheville.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by TAM88

Companies do not always move, or increase operations solely on the basis of the cost of operations. There are plenty of other factors involved.

Availability of capitol was a huge one in a field I worked with, in addition to the educated workforce.