New Bedford, give me the good, the bad, and the ugly

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Patticake123

If you are looking for a good school system move near a Jewish population. That is where you will find the best schools.

You mean like Randolph? LOL

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by massnative71

You mean like Randolph? LOL

There aren't many Jews left in Randolph anymore. It is true that in MA some of the towns with "good schools" tend to have a larger Jewish population but the two aren't really related.

Also, that stereotype is silly as Orthodox Jews don't use public schools anyway.

[CaseyB]

I was going to say the same thing - I'm not sure how many Jews live in Randolph anymore..

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

I was going to say the same thing - I'm not sure how many Jews live in Randolph anymore..

I guess many of the Jews left there are older; and lots have moved on to Canton, Stoughton, Sharon and Easton. Stoughton isn't known for good schools either though.

[CaseyB]

Yes I know that. My daughter went to kindergarten in Stoughton. That particular school was good then. We were warned about the high school (from teachers). We moved.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

I was going to say the same thing - I'm not sure how many Jews live in Randolph anymore..

And today, it's not only the Jewish culture that stresses education. The most expensive gold-plated suburbs with the superb school systems are a melting pot of all the cultures that stress education. Asians & Indians are proportionally over-represented as are Jews. Educated, engaged parents make for a successful school system. It says more about our total crap US culture where schools are watered down and sports is often more important than academics. Anywhere else in the world, school is much harder and has far less emphasis on sports. Elsewhere in the world, if you're bright and motivated, you can get a good education anywhere. That's not true in the US these days.

Circling back to New Bedford, it is a city with a failed school system. With engaged parents, it's possible to survive a failed school system but New Bedford has an awful lot of unengaged parents.

Ignoring the school system mess, about half of New Bedford by land area is totally adequate middle class single family homes. The southern part of the South End near Fort Rodman, the West End, and the northern parts of the North End don't have major crime or public safety issues. You don't want to leave valuables in your car but there's plenty going on downtown. A music scene. An art scene. Surprisingly good restaurants. Activities on the waterfront. If you don't have children or if you can afford private schools, there are certainly worse places to live. Sub-$200K buys you a decent starter home in a safe neighborhood. The extreme north part of the North End around Sasaquin Pond is 45 minutes from Boston (at 2am). A married couple starting out can afford that on working class service sector jobs with a $35K household income. Good luck finding that anywhere else in the state.

The demographics and crime statistics of the projects and Section 8 tenement building neighborhoods are awful. Very high poverty rate. Lots of single parents. Drugs. Prostitution. Unemployment. The things you expect in any Section 8 ghetto. Even there, I don't feel like I have a personal safety issue but I'm not walking around at midnight, either. As property prices have soared in metro-Boston, the permanent underclass has been displaced farther from the city. The bad parts of New Bedford are the dumping ground for those people.

[parentologist]

Yes, it is both fascinating and horrific. The genocide of a species. No one in the world should ever be allowed to hunt a whale again. We don't need anything from them anymore.

[el_greco]

I lived in one of the "good" neighborhoods of new Bedford and after our house got robbed, by our neighbor, we were systematically harassed by groups of thugs whenever we left our house aggressively questioning us as to why we were talking to police. I had to put my wife in a hotel and we broke our lease one month early (landlord was understanding). Its been one year and police have done nothing. "Detectives" on the case never once returned a single call we made, even though I found a pawn shop with video footage of our neighbor attempting to pawn our items

City is broken. And I doubt its going to be fixed anywhere soon. One of the most alarming things I saw is what was at best the complete acceptance by most people that the city is a ****hole and that there's nothing that can be done about it and whats worst there are a lot of people who have some perverted sense of pride about living in a "hard" or "rough" city. When almost everyone feels that way change is not going to come anytime soon

[BPt111]

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/artic...NEWS/150809594