Dorchester Infill and Small Developments

Don't know if this had been posted...

...or even where to put this...but...

Lately things are changing. The real-estate market is out of control. Our city is being infested with high-priced condo units. Homeowners/renters have been raising the prices on apartments and to prices that require a huge salary to afford.

“Nobody has figured out how to build housing the middle class can afford,” Barry Bluestone, a Northeastern University professor who studies the region’s housing market, told the Globe. “We’ve got to come up with some new answers.”

The blue-collar workforce is being pushed out of the city, and all of the underground artist communities are being squashed. Boston is becoming the land of the rich yuppie — the students with overpriced apartments paid for by their parents. It’s hard to not feel like heavily paid city officials are looming over the city, which I love, with a giant fire hose and just washing out the underpaid.

They are washing away the character that I love and replacing it with one giant open-air mall.
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https://medium.com/@MikePecci/tuber...-students-and-yuppies-61518ea1e8d4#.r0whks8pe
 
I don't know why he's using the south bay development as an example. Were there artists who lived in the empty parking lots or were inspired by them? Yes it sucks that Boston is expensive but new development is not the reason for this.
 
It's always great when people talk about how cities are better with red light districts, high crime areas, and vacant lots. If people of his generation had allowed for more construction on those sites, we wouldn't have new apartments renting for the high prices he's complaining about.
 
kingofsheeba said:
Don't know if this had been posted...

...or even where to put this...but...



https://medium.com/@MikePecci/tuber...-students-and-yuppies-61518ea1e8d4#.r0whks8pe
Click to expand...

Sorry, but, I couldn't take anything seriously after "They are ruining my city. I have lived in Boston area my whole life.

Was born at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton and grew up in a suburb called Framingham (about 20 minutes outside the city)."

No, he is from Framingham, and Boston is not his city, and he has nothing to do with it, and he has no idea what it was like even 15 years ago. Its like when I meet someone on a plane:

Me: Oh, a Sox cap, where are you from?

Them: Oh, Boston.

Me: Really? Me, too. What part?

Them: Gloucester. You?

Me: ... yeah, um, grew up in Rozzie, but now live in Dot.

Them: Oh.
 
I just noticed that the used car place in Everett Sq was gone yesterday. Looks like there is a two building project being proposed with a total of 40 residential rental apartments and 1,500 square feet of commercial space. It's going to make the walk over to the Dorchester brewery a lot more pleasant.

http://www.bldup.com/projects/1258-1272-massachusetts-avenue

1258-1272-Massachusetts-Avenue-Edward-Everett-Square-Dorchester-Apartments-For-Rent-Retail-Douglas-George-Development-Project-Roche-Christopher-Architecture.jpg
 
bakgwailo said:
Sorry, but, I couldn't take anything seriously after "They are ruining my city. I have lived in Boston area my whole life.

Was born at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton and grew up in a suburb called Framingham (about 20 minutes outside the city)."

No, he is from Framingham, and Boston is not his city, and he has nothing to do with it, and he has no idea what it was like even 15 years ago. Its like when I meet someone on a plane:

Me: Oh, a Sox cap, where are you from?

Them: Oh, Boston.

Me: Really? Me, too. What part?

Them: Gloucester. You?

Me: ... yeah, um, grew up in Rozzie, but now live in Dot.

Them: Oh.
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Oh, fuck off. He said he's lived in the Boston area his whole life. He grew up in the suburbs and moved to the city when he was old enough to move out of his parents house. I don't agree with the sentiment of his article, but this "you're not a true Bostonian if you haven't spent you entire life within city limits" line is bullshit.

Are you also the asshole who posted the first response under the article?
 
If boston hadnt stopped annexation framingham would either be on the boston line or even in boston by now. The distance between them is like manhattan to far rockaway queens. But no its not in boston but absolutely is the boston area and very close. Not including annexxed towns means even chelsea isnt in Boston which we all know it is. Framingham isnt the same scenario but its well within the immediate boston area and many people from framingham spend a lot of time in the city because its so close. If i drive from framingham to my work in cambridge it takes less time than it does to get there from dorchester, same with the train. Bostons annexation history made it so places that are obviously in boston..arent technically, and the ny comparison is based off land area not population because jacksonville fl is much bigger than nyc.
 
stick n move said:
If boston hadnt stopped annexation framingham would either be on the boston line or even in boston by now. The distance between them is like manhattan to far rockaway queens. But no its not in boston but absolutely is the boston area and very close. Not including annexxed towns means even chelsea isnt in Boston which we all know it is. Framingham isnt the same scenario but its well within the immediate boston area and many people from framingham spend a lot of time in the city because its so close. If i drive to work from framingham to my work in cambridge it takes less time than it does to get there from dorchester, same with the train.
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Stick-n-Move -- this place was never going to develop like Houston or even Dallas -- there was too much history for the towns that were essentially as old as Boston to get absorbed

On the other hand a bit over 100 years ago with the Metropolitan Parks and then the MDC we had the birth of Metropolitan Government -- but because of a poor political structure it was botched

As I've said many times the whole of all cities and towns inside or intersected by I-495 should be a Metropolitan County with its own elected government and full Midwestern County powers such as taxing

Then the Commonwealth transfers all of the assets of the alphabet soup of M-this and M-that to the Metro County [e.g. TA, Port, Convention, Parking] and of course all the Boston Area DCR Parks, Beaches, pools, skating rinks

That would in one swoop do away with the bickering between the inner Hub and the middle and inner suburbs over things like the T, tolls on the highways, etc. -- and it would create a muscular "Boston City State" [approx 5 M+ 1500 or so sq mi] able to compete with any place on the planet

The residual Rump Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Essex counties would need to do some restructuring but they would be exurbs similar to Berkshire or Barnstable Counties in area and population -- Worcester would not be affected
 
^ Given how useless our county structures are currently, this is a good idea. Then again, the hyper-local governance of New England is probably why we don't have strong counties in the first place. Municipalities are loath to give up power to a regional government. The state having its hands in so many local issues does cause issues, but the biggest issue to regional planning is the municipalities refusing to play nice. Not the state.
 
Justin7 said:
Oh, fuck off. He said he's lived in the Boston area his whole life. He grew up in the suburbs and moved to the city when he was old enough to move out of his parents house. I don't agree with the sentiment of his article, but this "you're not a true Bostonian if you haven't spent you entire life within city limits" line is bullshit.

Are you also the asshole who posted the first response under the article?
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Nope, just some other asshole, I guess. But, sorry, but, claiming it is your city (and omg everyone else is ruining it by not making it a backwater shit hole) and the your first sentence is from the Boston area/Framingham is kind of what? The entire rant is asinine. So, at some point he moved to Boston to experience the oh so fun City and the great Combat Zone, which I guess didn't exist when he did (last vestiges died out in, what 2004ish when they installed the cameras from the DNC all over Chinatown, along with the Ritz?). The whole thing strikes me as a, oh, I am from around here, let me lament the loss of some old stuff that I missed and put on rose colored glasses and romanticized. I personally loved it when we dropped into the 30s for homicides. Not that my rant here isn't just as asinine, either, by the way. I miss quite a few things that used to exist - from arcades to theaters to pool halls to bars, etc, but its not like other things haven't taken their places and contributed to a much nicer overall city with much lower crime.
 
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stick n move said:
If boston hadnt stopped annexation framingham would either be on the boston line or even in boston by now. The distance between them is like manhattan to far rockaway queens. But no its not in boston but absolutely is the boston area and very close. Not including annexxed towns means even chelsea isnt in Boston which we all know it is. Framingham isnt the same scenario but its well within the immediate boston area and many people from framingham spend a lot of time in the city because its so close. If i drive from framingham to my work in cambridge it takes less time than it does to get there from dorchester, same with the train. Bostons annexation history made it so places that are obviously in boston..arent technically, and the ny comparison is based off land area not population because jacksonville fl is much bigger than nyc.
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Well, historically Boston didn't really chose to stop annexing - Brookline kind of made that decision for the city. Also, Boston did (admittedly half heartily) attempt to annex Chelsea back in '91, and Chelsea instead went to Receivership. The entire region is pretty hyper local/identity when it comes to the towns (just like New England as a whole).
 
^ Good to hear. I dont have pictures but the savin bar and kitchen seems ready to go also. I see crews up there every day working and the roof has been leveled out. It appears much of the demo work is over and it should rise shortly.
 
Savin Hill said:
I just noticed that the used car place in Everett Sq was gone yesterday. Looks like there is a two building project being proposed with a total of 40 residential rental apartments and 1,500 square feet of commercial space. It's going to make the walk over to the Dorchester brewery a lot more pleasant.

http://www.bldup.com/projects/1258-1272-massachusetts-avenue

1258-1272-Massachusetts-Avenue-Edward-Everett-Square-Dorchester-Apartments-For-Rent-Retail-Douglas-George-Development-Project-Roche-Christopher-Architecture.jpg
Click to expand...

While I like this proposal, I think it's worth pointing out that 3 of the 4 retail spaces are approx 150sqft. That's about the size of my bedroom. It's a nice gesture by the developer, but I don't know how useful they will be. The fourth retail space is 1000sqft.
 
sm89 said:
While I like this proposal, I think it's worth pointing out that 3 of the 4 retail spaces are approx 150sqft.
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What the hell can they put in a place that small. An ATM? Even a sub shop or something like that would need a space larger than that.
 
tysmith95 said:
What the hell can they put in a place that small. An ATM? Even a sub shop or something like that would need a space larger than that.
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TYSmith -- for the math challenged that would be about 12x12 or more usefully about 8x20

They used to have things called Diners that fit into spaces about that size because they were derived from things that moved on rails set 4'81/2" apart [i.e. the width was limited to about 8 to 10 feet]

So early diners were based on those kinds of dimensions -- today we have "Food Trucks" with similar dimensions
 
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