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Many towns have done the math, and have decided that the benefit of increased tax base from more housing is not worth the hassle of more housing. And “a few more people” is a rather understated way to describe larger developments being built in low density suburbs.

Off the top of my head, you have the general change in the character of a town as the population density goes up - particularly when comparing single-family homeowners vs other residents - as well as the various strains on public services and utilities. To use Kingston as an example again, in...

I don’t think anyone is concerned about bad elements taking the commuter rail. They are concerned about a bunch of other issues related to density. (I appreciate that Milton is a different case) But if they don’t want increased frequency, there’s gotta be something else the state or MBTA could...

I think you underestimate just how resentfully intransigent suburban voters can (and are) be about this. Which means the state has burnt political capital to achieve… nothing. Brilliant.

It would seem to me that it would be far better to incentivize communities to do what the state wants through positive means than through mandates. Far less likely to encourage pushback, and far less likely to have unintended consequences. Just spitballing an idea: if communities along a...

I appreciate that this might be a very niche question, but its something that has been bouncing around in the back of my head for almost two decades: South of downtown Hingham, the sidewalks on main street are set back about 50 feet from the street, particularly south of high street and north...

You sure about that number?

No populated place in the United States is any longer an internet monopoly. Cape Cod residents can easily get Starlink.

I would say that case being fortunate is not proven.

I think if you were to poll the citizenry, they’d disagree.

Apparently, people will stop wanting to live by the water.

Death to spending multiple hours each week in a commute, death to spending loads of money on a commute, death to paying someone else to take care of my kids, death to not being able to get anything around the house cuz I'm in the office. This is just an aside that I wanted to share, at the...

How difficult would it be to deck over Rte 2? Even just with a park or, where the locals don't mind, some nice mixed used medium density development. (in all fairness, my solution to all our highways is: deck them over or trench them, and then build enough that would make Robert Moses blush...

Whatever is done, it seems that expanding rail access *prior* to considering reducing road access (just as a general rule) is the proper course of action. I get that there’s a general concern about highway overbuild, but I’d say controlled access highways are not the problem. Its uncrossable...

Anyone know what the profitability of the commuter rail looks like, compared to the subway? If the complaint is that it services wealthier communities, then it might follow that there’s more economic benefit to the T itself to improve CR.

Quick question unrelated to current discussion: do any of the plans for the NSRL include utilizing it as a backup for any of the subway lines during maintenance/upgrades?

Yeah, found the idea that Quincy is beholden to commuter rail amusing. Also, neglecting to even mention NSRL is egregious.

I should clarify: entire property. If its a condo, its the person’s entire condo. Not necessarily the entire building.

I’m not sure that is the case. I don’t have the percentage handy, but the overwhelming majority of AirBnB rentals are whole house rentals.

A lot of good discussion. My question about service overall was actually more focused on how far south such a service could go. Not necessarily on whether high-speed or higher speed is appropriate. For example, could the Downeaster make sense as a Portland to Providence route?