Population slightly down in MA 2022 (Boston, Worcester: rooftop, move to, wealthy)

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by msRB311

There is a long thread on my town FB page now with a woman complaining about a restaurant moving in next to her house that will have an outdoor patio space. I feel for the person in that it was once a restaurant with no outdoor patio space but now the new restaurant moving in will have one. People can be loud, there will be music playing, more traffic in the area. It's just not what she signed up for when she bought her house so i empathize....but she's probably going to be overruled because other people are happy to have another place to eat out at.

This attitude keeps these places undesirable to young people productive and funnels them more into Boston which increases the cost of rents and COL in Boston, and thus raising land costs, thus making it prohibitively expensive to build anything moderately affordable. Because one condo cost 600k to build in Boston as opposed to maybe 400k in the suburbs.

Like I said- negative feedback cycle. Because what will happen and has been happening is lower-income Boston residents get priced out into the suburbs and subsidized housing is built to house them. So the town can either choose to embrace development and get a higher income newcomer, or negate developments and get a lower income newcomer. Either way-the newcomers will come from Suffolk County. They have no choice.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

This attitude keeps these places undesirable to young people productive and funnels them more into Boston which increases the cost of rents and COL in Boston, and thus raising land costs, thus making it prohibitively expensive to build anything moderately affordable. Because one condo cost 600k to build in Boston as opposed to maybe 400k in the suburbs.

Like I said- negative feedback cycle.

But that's what many people living in towns like these want. They want family oriented towns. Not everywhere needs to be a haven for young people, particularly a suburb that is 45 min from Boston without traffic.

Do people not deserve a quiet place to live anywhere in the area? I would think if you venture further away enough from Boston you should be able to find that.

Milton used to be a town that had no restaurants when i as growing up. That has changed but most of the restaurants are in already populated areas. They're not just popping up in neighborhoods next to homes that have been there for decades.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

But that's what many people living in towns like these want. They want family oriented towns. Not everywhere needs to be a haven for young people, particularly a suburb that is 45 min from Boston without traffic.

Do people not deserve a quiet place to live anywhere in the area? I would think if you venture further away enough from Boston you should be able to find that.

Milton used to be a town that had no restaurants when i as growing up. That has changed but most of the restaurants are in already populated areas. They're not just popping up in neighborhoods next to homes that have been there for decades.

People are not entitled to anything but what they can afford as someone else was saying yesterday. lol If you want a quiet place and a guarantee of no new development directly abutting your house, you need to pay up and buy a 10+ acre estate with a buffer of woods. Yes, that will probably cost you $4+ million around here.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

It’s far too congested for me. I never had any interest in moving there. LA is even worse. If you bought my house in La Jolla, I’d move in a minute but San Diego isn’t as absurdly congested. Of course, the Boston ‘burbs are too congested for me, too. That’s why I bailed out of Winchester and moved to Portsmouth.

Portsmouth is no walk in the park anymore....lots of MA folks have discovered it and is crowded and overpriced up there now too!

[Lampert]

I would ban any new construction below 5 or 6 floor inside 95. Less land consumption and more housing. More city, less suburbia.

[brightdoglover]

^^
One should always check the adjacent zoning when buying or building a house.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by Lampert

I would ban any new construction below 5 or 6 floor inside 95. Less land consumption and more housing. More city, less suburbia.

The permanent solutions to the housing crisis are (1) to urbanize everything inside 128/95 or (2) distribute Boston / Cambridge jobs throughout New England's other cities. Neither solution seems socio-politically doable as both ideas would be detrimental to the current politically connected class.

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

Neither solution seems socio-politically doable as both ideas would be detrimental to the current politically connected class.

Solving the crisis is not in the interest of anyone, but at this point the crisis has become so severe that is starting to affect not just the lower class but everyone all the way to the middle upper. So probably some sort of small correction is needed, but nothing that would actually solve the problem.

[msRB311]

So what is the correction you think should happen?

I would think Braintree and the surrounding towns there would be a good place for development. There already is little green space, it's commercialized, close to the city. I know weymouth has come up before also. I think people need to get over some of the 'good school' towns. Other towns need good schools too but if people continue to jam into the towns with good schools nothing will change.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by msRB311

So what is the correction you think should happen?

I would think Braintree and the surrounding towns there would be a good place for development. There already is little green space, it's commercialized, close to the city. I know weymouth has come up before also. I think people need to get over some of the 'good school' towns. Other towns need good schools too but if people continue to jam into the towns with good schools nothing will change.

Yea but Braintree is opposed to developing an empty parking lot by an interstate. This is the issue. They point to people in Hingham and say what about them they're not doing anything. Hingham point to Boston who says it should be on them. Boston does work then points to Braintree... who points to Hingham who points to Boston. It never ends because no one wants to do the hard thing.

The Boston area is too wealthy and homogenous to establish the kind of culture where groups are accustomed to and expected to sacrifice some level of comfort for the benefit/advancement of other groups. Not when they know they can just bully their way into conservative development and meet their own selfish desires. It would take forceful action from the state if the state decides to work in the interest of younger, lower-income and minority people. This won't happen in a major way with Healey as governor, but probably incrementally.