Boston Globe on brink of closure

Which neighborhoods do you think would be in danger? The core neighborhoods (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, N. End) were all spared even during the darkest days of Boston woes. While there is nothing to suggest they would be so lucky the next go-round, the idea of losing them is currently unthinkable.
 
Plus I don't think even Boston's politicians are dumb enough to think that the city's current problems are caused by suburban flight (if anything, they might have to do instead with the city not being able to keep up with the demand for more urban space).
 
I can't see any wholesale demolition of neighborhoods ever happening again here. All the trends are in the other direction, towards gentrification and infilling (as in SoWa, for instance).
 
What would you propose? South South End?
 
What was called before SoWa? Let's go with that.
 
It didn't have a name before it was SoWa -- it was just the part of the South End that was south (or east) of Washington Street. It was an industrial and warehouse area, not a residential district. Before that it was water -- but the names South Bay and South Cove are both already in use elsewhere.

Most names of this type are silly, but this one is genuinely useful.
 
SoWa is a branding effort by South End developer / landord Mario Nicosia and his GTI Properties.

Although I can't stand that type of thing, he actually has had some success. He puts out a quarterly advert in the South End News and hosts the SoWa Open Market during the summer and has a street of shops and stores w/ similar signs and designs.

He worked hard to brand it, he deserves some credit.

http://www.gtiproperties.com/
 
Meh...I prefer when these things evolve naturally rather than having them forced down peoples throats via marketing campaigns.
 
None of these acronyms began as anything less than branding efforts.

And many urban neighborhoods in cities around the world (even 17th century townhouse squares in London) began as subdivisions named by developers.
 
Even Beacon Hill was a branding campaign. That area used to be Mt. Whoredom, the red light district.
 
^^I think Beacon Hill got it's name from the large beacon that sat atop the hill during early settlement days. I'm sure the developers co-oped the name while selling the homes but it existed prior to the developers. Same with the North End, South End, Back Bay, etc. All terms used to describe an area prior to development. More the work of cartographers than marketers.

Not sure if you can say the same about SoWa, Ladder District, Downtown Crossing, etc...
 
'Bay Village' is a name that arrived long after the area was developed, but I don't know exactly when or how the name began.
 
Okay, so it's a trend that's relatively new to Boston. Still, we use branding terms all the time without thinking about it. "Downtown Crossing" as a term is only something like 30 years old. There have been other efforts that haven't caught on as well. The Ladder District, the "South Boston" Seaport...

Arguably we can include real estate agents' attempts to emphasize microneighborhood names over "Dorchester" as part of this phenomenon as well.

We're also now seeing a revisionist rebranding of Charles River Park back to the West End.
 
OK, I'll fess up.

I just don't like SoWa because it's a cheap imitation of SoHo, and (due to my lingering anti-NYC bias) I hate when we try to mimic things already done better in New York.
 
statler said:
OK, I'll fess up.

I just don't like SoWa because it's a cheap imitation of SoHo, and (due to my lingering anti-NYC bias) I hate when we try to mimic things already done better in New York.
Click to expand...

and Noho, Nolita, Tribeca, Dumbo. And every middling US city that is trying to establish an arts district where vanished industry has left empty warehouses. I agree with Statler, i'm biased against the acro-named neighborhoods for no other reason than we can be a bit more creative and original.

Though i think pack-mentality is pretty well coded into Real Estate genes, but hey ask one of your architects for marketing ideas!
 
we can be a bit more creative and original.
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North End, South End, South Boston, West End, East Boston, Back Bay, Bay Village, South Bay

Boston does not exactly have an amazing tradition of creatively named neighborhoods.
 
^^Yeah but most of those are just geographic references. If you are going to attempt to be clever, the least you can be is original.

SoHo: clever & original. SoWa: neither.
 
'Boston Garden' was a shortened form of the original name 'Boston Madison Square Garden'
 
^^ I did not know that. Huh.

Edit: Well, would you look at this.

The things you learn here.
 
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