'the Ghettos of Massachusetts..including towns'..100+ photos that will likely change your perception of Massachusetts (Boston: 2014, rent)

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by wror

I live in a real ghetto dump cr-p community. A real sh-thole.
Guess that would make me an expert on what is and is not a ghetto. I have hands-on practical experience.

So you dont live in Mass?

[mdovell]

Eh I've worked in Brockton a bit it doesn't really phase me.

My take on bad/good areas is the following:

1) If you are looking for trouble you can find trouble, even in the suburbs. right now drug abuse seems to have dealers in cities but users in rural and suburban areas. Drugs are all over the place now, nowhere is immune

2) We're more connected than before. smart phones and GPS's pretty much mean the idea of being lost isn't that big of a factor. I lived in a town where someones ex hired a hitman from CT to drive up and start shooting (he did but missed). Criminals don't care where you live, there is no imaginary wall that keeps people in or out.

3) Things are recorded much more than in the past. Why is this important? Well thanks to GPS locations can be determined from photos and video of areas is pretty simple. I won't say that it prevents crime but it does make it easier to incriminate as evidence.

4) This is outside...what about *inside*. On weekends during graduate school I frequented libraries. Well one time I saw this priest near the end. Not only did this guy read but he read to the point of falling asleep...and snoring..and burping and breaking wind. Not cool. Can you tell a horder house from outside? Sometimes yes but sometimes no. Can you tell much just by the outside? Not really. I grew up in middle class suburban suburb of south east Mass. There was one house I remember that was very quiet. There were no grandkids, no kids..just quiet. Now the rest of the block had a fair amount of kids, some had pools, hobbies etc. A fair amount were grandparents and you could tell when the kids came over etc. Eventually when I was older I was told why it was quiet. Guy there was a cop and long ago the kid took his gun and committed suicide. Quiet ever since. Sure we know about high crime areas due to the news but not everything has to be on the news all the time.

[riblue]

As others have said, almost every town has a less desirable section, the wrong side of the tracks as they say. I enjoy looking at so called blighted areas, especially the once magnificent brick mill buildings.
It makes me appreciate what I have. You do not have to have a lot of money to have pride of place. I bet most of the streets shown in this photo essay are not owner occupied.
I found this piece a refreshing antidote to all these posts here debating the merits of Cohasset vs Hingham or Weston vs Wayland.

[thenewtexan]

It's all relative I guess. I grew up just outside Worcester, and always thought places like Great Brook Valley and Main South in Worcester, the 600 block of Southbridge, and South Main in Webster were the worst ghettos imaginable. "Never go there ", I was told. Now that I live in Texas, and have been to the east side of San Antonio, and the 5th Ward in Houston, I realize how funny that was. Would I want to live in those specific areas around Worcester? No, but I know what a real ghetto is now. After seeing documentaries about the favelas in Rio this summer during the Olympics, I realized it's just about perception. Btw, I don't think Turtleboy meant anything scientific about the article. I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

[mwbms28]

Fitchburg has great old brick mill buildings if you're into that, as do Lawrence and (of course) Lowell.

The Dennison Building in Framingham is another good one, though that building has been rehabilitated and repurposed to a great degree.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by bolehboleh

And you still haven't told us where you live.

Your move, chief.

Originally Posted by wror

I live in a real ghetto dump cr-p community. A real sh-thole.
Guess that would make me an expert on what is and is not a ghetto. I have hands-on practical experience.

My vote is Easton.

[mwbms28]

Maybe he lives by Nuttings Lake in Billerica - that place gets great reviews on here.

Great thread to dredge up if you have time to kill.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

I live on the Cape and we have bad areas mostly in Hyannis that are dens of druggies.

I lived on Marthas Vineyard for a few years and even on that wealthy island there are troubled spots.

I grew up in a town that bordered Brockton and it started to go downhill in the 70's. I worked there in the 80's. It is now a dangerous place that I avoid.

And what's the common denominator? YOU!!

(Just kidding. You're right -- no place is perfect.)

[wror]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

There are good and bad sections of most any town. I live on the Cape and we have bad areas mostly in Hyannis that are dens of druggies.
I lived on Martha's Vineyard for a few years and even on that wealthy island there are troubled spots.
I grew up in a town that bordered Brockton and it started to go downhill in the 70's. I worked there in the 80'sIt is now a dangerous place that I avoid. If we can be honest many of these towns that are listed here have 3 things in common. A majority of minorities that don't seem to care about their neighborhoods. An underlying drug problem and poverty.

For the first time in decades, recently took a drive down Route 28 ,West Yarmouth,Yarmouth. Usually in the winter the motels are dead quiet, boarded up, or lightly patronized with motel guests. This time the string of Yarmouth motels along Route 28 seemed quite busy with, layabouts maybe? Just motel occupants hanging outside their motel room doors looking territorial,if you get the drift. What up? going on there at the motels? Welfare motels in the winter?

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by wror

Welfare motels in the winter?

Yes.