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1) Section 8 is a voucher. It doesn't pay for 100% of the rent and frankly it can be terminated. I know this because I have some training for public housing in Mass. Generally governments services are either direct (public school, public housing) or a voucher (charter school, section 8). You still pay some of the rent if you have section 8. Living in public housing is no walk in the park either but there has been some changes away from the local list which pretty much trapped people.
2) I'd argue that urban areas can be fine but unless there's some way of getting home ownership can get pretty tiring. I lived in a city for five years. Don't get me wrong I liked living there (downtown springfield) but the rents kept going up. I'm about a half hour away in a more suburban area in CT. My mortgage is 28% less than renting. I can add in the cost of my water/sewer, electricity, home heating, internet and cell bill and this more than covers it and I'm building equity.
The problem I see for boston is it does a good job attracting younger people but there's only so far that goes. If you want bars and clubs by all means go. But most of the people there really don't live there and many people just say they live in boston or work there if they are in the 128 area. If you dropped Mass in the middle of Texas Pittsfield would be considered a suburb of Boston.
Balancing a place to live, work and play (so to speak) isn't easy. Some people have an obversion with doing everything in Boston. I know of companies that literally will rent one floor in one building to show to clients and then get out because they don't want to pay the rents. Don't get me wrong Boston looks pretty but is someone really going to move there is raise a family and send their kids to boston public schools? Probably not. So the cost of living has to have that factored in. Then there's the obvious. If there's public transit all over the place you don't really have to live in there to enjoy what's there.
In my mind I have little need to ever go to boston. There's plenty of healthcare out of the area, I actually made MORE money by going to western Mass, I own a house that's going up in value that I could afford, boston teams have won enough to the point where I don't need to watch them and education is online now. I could see the argument decades ago but now not nearly as much.
Gay bars/clubs have died off it's been that way for years if not decades nationwide. Andrew Sullivan even wrote about it.
Cost of living is high..way high. How many people honestly can live on their own in Boston? How many apartments have more than one roommate? That's another issue. If someone skips town that can create a house of cards. Who wants to be on the hook for another half of the bill? Ok how long is that going to last?
It used to be back in the day that you had to go to Boston to get a good job in New England. Now it's much less clear. I mean if you are down with higher ed, you don't watch sports and don't need special medical care why bother? You don't have to go to a city for shopping the internet changed that. Concerts are temporary and bars and clubs can be found in other areas.
2) I'd argue that urban areas can be fine but unless there's some way of getting home ownership can get pretty tiring. I lived in a city for five years. Don't get me wrong I liked living there (downtown springfield) but the rents kept going up. I'm about a half hour away in a more suburban area in CT. My mortgage is 28% less than renting. I can add in the cost of my water/sewer, electricity, home heating, internet and cell bill and this more than covers it and I'm building equity.
The problem I see for boston is it does a good job attracting younger people but there's only so far that goes. If you want bars and clubs by all means go. But most of the people there really don't live there and many people just say they live in boston or work there if they are in the 128 area. If you dropped Mass in the middle of Texas Pittsfield would be considered a suburb of Boston.
Balancing a place to live, work and play (so to speak) isn't easy. Some people have an obversion with doing everything in Boston. I know of companies that literally will rent one floor in one building to show to clients and then get out because they don't want to pay the rents. Don't get me wrong Boston looks pretty but is someone really going to move there is raise a family and send their kids to boston public schools? Probably not. So the cost of living has to have that factored in. Then there's the obvious. If there's public transit all over the place you don't really have to live in there to enjoy what's there.
In my mind I have little need to ever go to boston. There's plenty of healthcare out of the area, I actually made MORE money by going to western Mass, I own a house that's going up in value that I could afford, boston teams have won enough to the point where I don't need to watch them and education is online now. I could see the argument decades ago but now not nearly as much.
Gay bars/clubs have died off it's been that way for years if not decades nationwide. Andrew Sullivan even wrote about it.
Cost of living is high..way high. How many people honestly can live on their own in Boston? How many apartments have more than one roommate? That's another issue. If someone skips town that can create a house of cards. Who wants to be on the hook for another half of the bill? Ok how long is that going to last?
It used to be back in the day that you had to go to Boston to get a good job in New England. Now it's much less clear. I mean if you are down with higher ed, you don't watch sports and don't need special medical care why bother? You don't have to go to a city for shopping the internet changed that. Concerts are temporary and bars and clubs can be found in other areas.
Finally, someone can agree with me that Boston is not the center of Massachusetts. There is much life in the suburbs, and dating apps have made meeting new people out of the city easy. Even when I live next to the orange line station in Malden Center, I now look for any excuse not to go to Boston. There is always a drama with the orange line. It could be a problem with a signal, a derailment, a delay due to a disabled train, police activity, a medical emergency, or you name it.
The orange line starts in Malden with regular and quiet people and remains silent in Wellington (Medford) and Assembly (Somerville). All the inner-city undesirable characters start getting on the train from Sullivan Square to the last stop in Forest Hills. I’m saving money to buy a car. Meanwhile, I avoid the city at all costs.
City dwellers believe they have the best, but it’s not the best quality of life. The difference in social class is abysmal, and the poor lives at the rich’s feet from financial breadcrumbs. That’s not a sign of an exemplary city as Bostonians rave. I think people with modest incomes like me are doing much better elsewhere.
Bostonians are so arrogantly ignorant that I haven’t met a city resident who can locate the 14 counties of Massachusetts and mention at least one city or town in each of them, not even what cities are part of Suffolk County.
Finally, someone can agree with me that Boston is not the center of Massachusetts. There is much life in the suburbs, and dating apps have made meeting new people out of the city easy. Even when I live next to the orange line station in Malden Center, I now look for any excuse not to go to Boston. There is always a drama with the orange line. It could be a problem with a signal, a derailment, a delay due to a disabled train, police activity, a medical emergency, or you name it.
The orange line starts in Malden with regular and quiet people and remains silent in Wellington (Medford) and Assembly (Somerville). All the inner-city undesirable characters start getting on the train from Sullivan Square to the last stop in Forest Hills. I’m saving money to buy a car. Meanwhile, I avoid the city at all costs.
City dwellers believe they have the best, but it’s not the best quality of life. The difference in social class is abysmal, and the poor lives at the rich’s feet from financial breadcrumbs. That’s not a sign of an exemplary city as Bostonians rave. I think people with modest incomes like me are doing much better elsewhere.
Bostonians are so arrogantly ignorant that I haven’t met a city resident who can locate the 14 counties of Massachusetts and mention at least one city or town in each of them, not even what cities are part of Suffolk County.
Only in your very limited adult lifespan would you think that today's Boston represents the full flavor of what a truly diverse (demographically and economically) city has to to offer.
Bostonians are so arrogantly ignorant that I haven’t met a city resident who can locate the 14 counties of Massachusetts and mention at least one city or town in each of them, not even what cities are part of Suffolk County.
Counties have very little use and meaning in Mass., in everyday life. That is a peculiar statement to make.
No one ever said Boston is the center of MA. it is however a major city that has a lot going for itself. If you dont like it, you dont have to. But many people love Boston and are proud to be from Boston.
There are things I hate about Boston. Mostly the traffic and how difficult it can be to get around. I also find it overcrowded. There's just too many people for me. I enjoy peace and quiet, not waiting long periods of time to get around, get into a restaurant, etc. So I don't live in Boston. I could care less if other love it and think it's great. Who cares? It is in theory a great city...I just don't want to live in it or have to deal with it.
'The difference in social class is abysmal, and the poor lives at the rich’s feet from financial breadcrumbs.'
I’m done with the classism and racism of the wealthy disguised as liberal care for the poor when that’s what keeps Boston as a rich-poor city without middle class. The poor at the bottom of society living from financial breadcrumbs while the millionaire limousine liberals remain in power. Boston is guilty of the gang violence the city suffers, and I’m done with that.
Remember this is the block you are talking about ... ?
Surrounded with art galleries, wine shops, french bistros, pocket parks, Jewlery boutiques, and across the street from stately elegant Blackstone Square.You said yourself the public/subsidized housing in the area attracts gang activity, drug dealers and addicts that make you feel unsafe. Then you blame your rich former neighbors for feeling the same way you do about those people. Now imagine you were paying six figures per year in payments to put up with that riff-raff, like your neighbors were doing about 100 meters away on the same street.
Some orthodontist living in Rutland Square has nothing to do with the vanishing middle class in Boston and has nothing to do with Boston's gang violence. Even being rich regular residents in these neighborhoods have no special ability to impact those kind of things
Cities like Boston, Seattle, SF, NYC, DC need to make the world turn.
Not really.
The world has been turning for billions of years before those cities were even conceived and will continue to turn long after the ruins of those cities are buried and long forgotten.
The world has been turning for billions of years before those cities were even conceived and will continue to turn long after the ruins of those cities are buried and long forgotten.
I mean, come on, it's conservation of angular momentum that makes the world turn.
It has no meaning outside of it's strictly literal, physical interpretation.
Surrounded with art galleries, wine shops, french bistros, pocket parks, Jewlery boutiques, and across the street from stately elegant Blackstone Square.You said yourself the public/subsidized housing in the area attracts gang activity, drug dealers and addicts that make you feel unsafe. Then you blame your rich former neighbors for feeling the same way you do about those people. Now imagine you were paying six figures per year in payments to put up with that riff-raff, like your neighbors were doing about 100 meters away on the same street.
Some orthodontist living in Rutland Square has nothing to do with the vanishing middle class in Boston and has nothing to do with Boston's gang violence. Even being rich regular residents in these neighborhoods have no special ability to impact those kind of things
Being sealed off from riff raff is one of the most important considerations when I pick a place to live. That's why I love Boston as a place to visit but not to live.
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