Population slightly down in MA 2022 (Boston, Amherst: find a job, bankrupt, cost)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Why haven't they widened that road ? Not just for every day traffic but the summer cape traffic is horrific

Because we let our politicians get away with not doing their job. I wish I had bosses like the Massachusetts electorate.

[Southshorebound]

Originally Posted by msRB311

They pay for many other useless things, lol. Seems like that would be something worth paying for. In the end there would still be traffic I'm sure...so maybe that's why they don't want to bother?

Definitely something worth paying for. Unfortunately, expanding road goes against the green agenda. Although all those cars idling by the Derby Street exit can't be great for the environment. It is crazy to me that instead of expanding the road they just let people drive in the breakdown lane during rush hour

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by Southshorebound

Unfortunately, expanding road goes against the green agenda.

I mean, it's not like the gov is doing a great job with our trains either.

It's not wrong to say there'd be plenty fewer cars on the road if we had alternatives that ran more frequently than once an hour at 10mph with a 30% chance of being late and a 5% chance of derailing and/or spontaneously bursting into flames. If it does show up on time, there’s a non-zero chance that there’s no driver.

And that’s of course if you aren’t killed by the falling ceiling debris or crumbling, rusty staircases before you’ve actually had a chance to board the train. And there’s always the chance your limbs could get caught in a door and subsequently ripped off upon exiting.

[msRB311]

I'm on the south shore and it surprises me how many people choose to drive over taking the train....but then again i guess it doesn't. It seems like driving it faster despite sitting in traffic, the commuter rail is also not cheap down here and you never know what might happen on the train. People apparently prefer to be in some control of themselves on the road.

the problem with the commuter trains down here to is that you have to pay to park in the parking lot and sometimes the lots fill up? it's just nuts.

[newenglandgal123]

Take your pick....encounter a nutjob on the commuter rail or encounter one on your drive in on route 3. I'm not sure one is any better than the other!

[WestRiverTraveler]

The top two reasons I left the state were the cost of housing and not wanting to deal the the BPS lottery. Third was to be closer to family. COVID let my wife's work go permanently remote. That allowed the move. I got 2x the house for 1/2 the money in a highly rated district on the coast of CT. Blue state to blue state. High taxes to high taxes. In fact, I pay higher property taxes in my new town. To move out the city to get a suburban district like I have, I would have needed move so far out that I lost most of the benefits of being right in a major metro. I'll take being 20 minutes outside New Haven in a beach over 15 minutes outside Worcester in Shrewsbury to similar.

Lots of reasons are discussed here and most of them are secondary to the issue of cost of housing.

[massnative71]

A hundred years of choking housing growth catches up with Massachusetts




https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/real...ts/ar-AA19FSos

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by massnative71

A hundred years of choking housing growth catches up with Massachusetts




https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/real...ts/ar-AA19FSos

That's pretty much it. Housing has direct impacts on transit, education, commerce etc. So if every town wants to do things their own way thinking that it has no impact on neighboring communities, the region and state they are totally wrong. This goes for other states in the new england area as well. I'm pretty sure most states in it have removed county governments so it becomes more splintered. The fact of the matter is we dont need as many towns. I know some might say local control makes sense but much of what was written back then is when things were all local. Now you have areas where there are no shops, everything is online and housing is blocked. Add in now a low population growth if not negative and it adds up.

Growth is the ultimate symbol of importance. If you don't grow it's assumed something is wrong. If it drops then it means it is dying.

[msRB311]

Not every town and state needs to grow. Overpopulation is a problem to the world.

It's an overall problem that many parts of the world are places no one wants to live so everyone wants to live in the US. We certainly can't have everyone one in the US only wanting to live near major cities. That will become a major problem

I think it would be great if some employers left Boston and went elsewhere. Clearly there is a need elsewhere if too many jobs are sitting unfilled here.

[mikeugh]

Everyone wants to live in the U.S.? Traveling the world a decent amount, my perception and interactions with the people living there very much counters this opinion.