What Pittsfield area like ? (Boston, Springfield: 2015, apartments, city hall)

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by massnative71

You say that like it's a bad thing. Aren't there enough overcrowded parts of the state as it is? I mean God forbid there is one last place to get away from all the traffic congestion and BS. Like you said, ya want cities on top of cities there are no shortage of other options and you dont even have to leave Western Mass.

Well it is a bit of a bad thing because they can someone lead to stereotypes and places being a bit more isolated. For example look at Brockton. The trouble with Brockton is it's an urban area but it's surrounded by much more affluent Suburban areas. There's a disconnect there where most people aren't going to say that they live from or at work in Brockton nobody in the South Shore says theylive in the Brockton metro area. It takes much longer to develop rather than redevelop. So if you don't like it's filled chances are if you go to some suburb you're going to probably end up with much less access to public water and sewer. You're going to have a harder time getting Broadband access. You're going to have a harder time getting grocery delivery. You're going to have a harder time with public transit and so on.

It's much easier to deliver services in a higher populated area because otherwise your cost is going to go up exponentially as you tried to go back and forth. Virtues as a region only has about a hundred thirty thousand people pretty much the same population is Hartford but your distribution is over an area the size of Rhode Island. People can grow up in North Adams and not have anything to do with people from great Barrington so your sense of unity within the region is pretty low.

If people want to do business with a business they're going to have to either have that be an online entity or if it's face-to-face they're going to have to have that in an urban area. Business in suburbs really aren't expanding. I live in a part of Connecticut that doesn't exactly have a whole lot. But people will drive to the Springfield area to go shopping. If you don't give people things that they want they'll probably go and get that somewhere else

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Pittsfield is like a whiter version of Utica at 1/3 the size. I get very similar vibes from the two.

Are people that familiar with Utica that is a good city to use as comparison?

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Well it is a bit of a bad thing because they can someone lead to stereotypes and places being a bit more isolated. For example look at Brockton. The trouble with Brockton is it's an urban area but it's surrounded by much more affluent Suburban areas. There's a disconnect there where most people aren't going to say that they live from or at work in Brockton nobody in the South Shore says theylive in the Brockton metro area. It takes much longer to develop rather than redevelop. So if you don't like it's filled chances are if you go to some suburb you're going to probably end up with much less access to public water and sewer. You're going to have a harder time getting Broadband access. You're going to have a harder time getting grocery delivery. You're going to have a harder time with public transit and so on.

It's much easier to deliver services in a higher populated area because otherwise your cost is going to go up exponentially as you tried to go back and forth. Virtues as a region only has about a hundred thirty thousand people pretty much the same population is Hartford but your distribution is over an area the size of Rhode Island. People can grow up in North Adams and not have anything to do with people from great Barrington so your sense of unity within the region is pretty low.

If people want to do business with a business they're going to have to either have that be an online entity or if it's face-to-face they're going to have to have that in an urban area. Business in suburbs really aren't expanding. I live in a part of Connecticut that doesn't exactly have a whole lot. But people will drive to the Springfield area to go shopping. If you don't give people things that they want they'll probably go and get that somewhere else

So in other words, rural life is different from urban life?

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by massnative71

So in other words, rural life is different from urban life?

Well yes but my point is if a urban area is spread across multiple towns and cities it isn't some us vs them mentality. The lack of planning and development for areas around pittsfield hurt.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Well yes but my point is if a urban area is spread across multiple towns and cities it isn't some us vs them mentality. The lack of planning and development for areas around pittsfield hurt.

mdovell there is nothing unique to a small city surrounded by rural countryside. People who live in the outlying areas are accustomed to traveling to "town" for many services. They choose to live there, knowing that some convenience will be sacrificed for the scenery and peace and quiet. If you'd rather live in Springfield so you have the "assets" of Chicopee and Holyoke being nearby, that is your choice.

[OutdoorLover]

I will say one thing, Pittsfield seems to have the best hospital in western Mass (Berkshire Medical Center). No, it's not Mass General, but they have a designated primary stroke center and a cardiac catheterization lab - that's pretty good. If you're retired, and you're living in the Berkshires, it wouldn't be a bad idea to live in the Pittsfield area at least.

[FCMA]

Originally Posted by massnative71

mdovell there is nothing unique to a small city surrounded by rural countryside. People who live in the outlying areas are accustomed to traveling to "town" for many services.

Yep not unusual at all. Much of the country is comprised of counties with a small (by Massahole standards) but sometimes dense central city/town with surrounding rural areas. In MA, pretty much only Berkshire and Franklin counties are uncrowded enough for this pattern to be discernible. In the rest of the state we’re in too jumbled of a post-industrial suburbanized megalopolis clusterfork for most large towns to stand out much since the next equal sized or larger one is pretty close by.

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

I will say one thing, Pittsfield seems to have the best hospital in western Mass (Berkshire Medical Center). No, it's not Mass General, but they have a designated primary stroke center and a cardiac catheterization lab - that's pretty good. If you're retired, and you're living in the Berkshires, it wouldn't be a bad idea to live in the Pittsfield area at least.

I would still rather go to Baystate probably for any non-emergency TBH

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by FCMA

Yep not unusual at all. Much of the country is comprised of counties with a small (by Massahole standards) but sometimes dense central city/town with surrounding rural areas. In MA, pretty much only Berkshire and Franklin counties are uncrowded enough for this pattern to be discernible. In the rest of the state we’re in too jumbled of a post-industrial suburbanized megalopolis clusterfork for most large towns to stand out much since the next equal sized or larger one is pretty close by.

Not really. The east end of my zip code is the New Bedford city line. The western half of the zip code is farmland and conservation trust land. Westport is the same way. The northern part of town is on the Fall River line. It quickly becomes rural as you go south. Dighton-Rehobeth is like that with Providence. Cows and cornfields 5 miles from urban is pretty normal around here though the cows are less prevalent than when I was a kid. My uncle had a dairy farm in Acushnet. Also on the New Bedford line. It’s only Boston where it’s sprawled into what used to be farmlands.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by Lampert

I would still rather go to Baystate probably for any non-emergency TBH

Agreed, Baystate-Springfield is the most advanced hospital west of the Boston suburbs, but it's a haul from much of the Berkshires - you can have a lot of two-lane secondary roads just to get to Rte 90, and then still a good drive on Rte 90. If you're choosing solely based on minimizing health risks, you'd live within a half hour of Springfield. My prior comment was assuming though that someone wants to live in the pretty countryside of the Berkshires, and then still wants timely access to first level emergency care for heart attack and stroke.