Cheap and easy Boston improvement ideas

I'm astounded by complaints about dirt and vagrancy in Boston. Have those making such comments been to New York? The sidewalks in Boston are practically lickable compared to those speckled with gum and festering food spillage in Manhattan. The T, for all its age, is sparkling compared to the grimy walls and urine-stenched subways in New York. In Boston, the homeless shuffle along with their shopping carts, and are relatively few and far between. In New York, they make endless, guilt-inducing speeches in moving subway cars and sometimes hurl insults at those who don't contribute (this is virtually guaranteed once in a subway journey).
 
czsz said:
I'm astounded by complaints about dirt and vagrancy in Boston. Have those making such comments been to New York? The sidewalks in Boston are practically lickable compared to those speckled with gum and festering food spillage in Manhattan. The T, for all its age, is sparkling compared to the grimy walls and urine-stenched subways in New York. In Boston, the homeless shuffle along with their shopping carts, and are relatively few and far between. In New York, they make endless, guilt-inducing speeches in moving subway cars and sometimes hurl insults at those who don't contribute (this is virtually guaranteed once in a subway journey).
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Oh believe me that happens here too.... I actually one of your fellow new yorkers up for a visit, (she's from queens) and I'm all trying hard to wine and dine her and we get off at newbury and mass ave on the green line and a black homeless dude starts calling her a cracker whore and a cunt and all this shit. She was pretty surprised, which i was surprised by, seeing how she's from queens and all.
 
Oh I'm sure it does. I've had my share of weird run-ins with the homeless in Boston. They're mainly exceptions to my experiences of the city, however, rather than the rule (as they are in the NY subway).

In Berlin, by contrast, every subway journey involved a musical performance or poetry reading. There's a model for Boston's poor students/vagrants to emulate!
 
In downtown Boston you have in my opinion an average amount of homeless people. However there is an increasing amount of near homeless people who beg for your money(or have some scam to get your $) then go buy crack, steal anything that looks valuable inside your parked car, and break into business at night to support their drug habits.
 
Having not been in NYC since last November, I'm quite curious to get back down there again to view with fresh eyes just how many beggars there are and how they act in comparison to Boston's crop, 'cause I'll tell you, at times it seems like you can't go 150 feet without running into another person shaking a cup, and I mean that number literallly--I estimate it to be about 150 ft of space in between each one of 'em. now I realize it's only in the general Washington and Summer St corridors where it's this populated, but how does it compare with NYC's more touristed/commercial areas? Are there beggars every 100-200 feet down there too? It's a bit overwhelming/annoying to have them so concentrated like that.

And @ czsz, the first thing I think of when someone mentions New York and grime are those bubble gum-speckled sidewalks..
 
Harvard Square is where I tend to encounter large numbers of beggars. Sometimes they make their way up to Davis.
 
kz1000ps said:
Having not been in NYC since last November, I'm quite curious to get back down there again to view with fresh eyes just how many beggars there are and how they act in comparison to Boston's crop, 'cause I'll tell you, at times it seems like you can't go 150 feet without running into another person shaking a cup, and I mean that number literallly--I estimate it to be about 150 ft of space in between each one of 'em. now I realize it's only in the general Washington and Summer St corridors where it's this populated, but how does it compare with NYC's more touristed/commercial areas? Are there beggars every 100-200 feet down there too? It's a bit overwhelming/annoying to have them so concentrated like that.

And @ czsz, the first thing I think of when someone mentions New York and grime are those bubble gum-speckled sidewalks..
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I last spent "toursit time" in NYC about a year and a half ago and I don't recall almost any beggars, and I did all the major tourist things.....Empire State Bldg, Times Square, Ground Zero, Central Park, SoHo, 5th Ave. I spent two solid days walking between about 75th St. and Battery park and think I was asked for change twice...once at Penn Station and once on Bowery in the LES...maybe once on Canal in ChiTown. I did see a few crazies though verbally assaulting people.

In Boston by contrast, I am asked constantly for change....at least 5 times a day, and my home and my office are both less than 2 blocks from the T stations I use. I got in a huge verbal altercation a couple of weeks ago with some homeless guy that told me I wouldn't help him because he was Black....I thought it was going to come to punches, but he finally through out one last "fuck you" before walking into Finagle Bagle and asking every patron seated in the place for change, then storming out of there and cussed out some tourists that didn't give him change.

It's shameful....also the portion of the Common along Tremont between the visitor center and Boylston is just deplorable.....people passed out all over the grass, homeless men cussing out women, guys getting up in each others face threating to kick each other's ass. I see women with children pass by frequently and look noticeably concerned.

All that said, I haven't heard of a homeless person attacking a non-homeless person, but its the perception of danger that results in families chosing to flee to the burbs, tourists staying away, and people not utilizing mass transit.
 
The beggars that assemble like clockwork at the back-ups at the Route 2 - Mass. Ave intersection near Alewife are quite annoying and pose a danger to themselves and drivers.

On the subject of improvements - fix that bottleneck of an intersection as well.
 
I'm not sure what you could do to fix it. There isn't really enough room to install a rotary.
 
Has anyone here been to San Francisco recently? You think the homeless are bad in Boston or NY, pfff! SF has everyone beat hands down. It was unnerving to walk down the street. In NY you just walk by with your iPod on and don't think about it.

As for the Alewife interchange, I say don't change a thing. If you make it easier for people to drive more people will.
 
I agree completely, SF's homeless problem is out of control. They are literally everywhere, even worse than some European cities. At least here in the US, they just beg instead of constantly trying to pickpocket you like in Europe. But before you complain about homelessness here, visit India's major cities....the amount of poverty is overwhelming, and their style of begging is VERY aggressive.
 
I guess the point is, the city needs to actively enfoce whatever guidelines in place and possibly enact new laws. I mentioned these earlier, but.

No Panhandling within 50 feet of:
Banks/ATMs
Schools
T stations
Liquor stores
Libraries
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Has anyone here been to San Francisco recently? You think the homeless are bad in Boston or NY, pfff! SF has everyone beat hands down. It was unnerving to walk down the street. In NY you just walk by with your iPod on and don't think about it.
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I agree with this. I found it to be unbelievable -- just in terms of the population sizes -- that there were that many homeless people compared to NYC
 
I was going to bring up SF as well.

In Boston there are many but Ive never been harrased.

In SF they walk up to you and actively block your path.
 
I actually witnessed homeless camp-outs at night along Market Street in SF...people splayed out in circles along the wide sidewalk, gathered around transistor radios. It was surreal.

In New York, the homeless problem isn't obvious in Midtown, which Giuliani and his successor keep a fairly sharp eye on. It's omnipresent, though, in the subway and in some residential neighborhoods. In my part of Manhattan, they hung out in front of any place open 24 hours or late, harrassing anyone who went in or out. Occasionally they would come up to windows, tapping on the glass, or simply staring at you blankly. Dining outside was always challenging if you were directly next to the sidewalk. Church steps and doorways were always filled with sleeping bodies at night.
 
Whats the big deal with homeless people again? Unless they pull out a shank, which is quite possible, i could kick the shit out of all of em, because mainly, i eat 3 healthy meals a day. and im sure most of the rest of you could too. dont be so scared. Dont make eye contact, shake your head no and keep moving.

Believe it or not, I've talked to many a homeless person. Those people have stories like you wouldnt believe. Nothing compares to these people's stories. They've seen some shit in their day. Pretty entertaining actually.

Homeless people are like anybody else, their still PEOPLE. of course more of em are fucked, but their generally have the same respect for others. except for the dicks, which normal people can be too in large numbers.
 
Bobby Digital said:
Whats the big deal with homeless people again? Unless they pull out a shank, which is quite possible, i could kick the shit out of all of em, because mainly, i eat 3 healthy meals a day. and im sure most of the rest of you could too. dont be so scared. Dont make eye contact, shake your head no and keep moving.

Believe it or not, I've talked to many a homeless person. Those people have stories like you wouldnt believe. Nothing compares to these people's stories. They've seen some shit in their day. Pretty entertaining actually.

Homeless people are like anybody else, their still PEOPLE. of course more of em are fucked, but their generally have the same respect for others. except for the dicks, which normal people can be too in large numbers.
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please go away.
 
No Panhandling within 50 feet of:
Banks/ATMs
Schools
T stations
Liquor stores
Libraries
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It is illegal to panhandle within 50'-0" of several of these places, but the laws are never enforced.

San Francisco has a much larger homeless population because the idiot city council decided giving free showers and cash stipends (up to $600 to sit around in their own filth all day, how nice to all the hard working taxpayers) to the homeless would solve the problem instead of attracting them like flies.

If the police enforced the existing panhandling laws and the city/church shelters required a minimum standard of behavior (in the case of private agencies I don't know if this could be enforced), such as requiring people to be alcohol or drug free, and to partake in some hygiene at their facilities, fill out a job application, before providing food and shelter, (no help until they attempt to help themselves) it would make a difference. If someone can stand on a corner all year asking for money, they are perfectly capable of standing behind a cash register or a desk answering phones in a nice heated and air conditioned building.

Except for the mentally ill, which really need to be with family or put into reopened state hospitals, the homeless deserve what they. Their attitude that society owes them is disgusting, being a lazy or substance dependent lout is their own fault and no one else should have to deal with it. Their lives should suck in order to motivate people to avoid getting themselves into an awful situation.
 
Steve Bailey said:
Speaking of improvements, the civic-minded attorneys at Goulston & Storrs, right next to Rowes Wharf, should help take down the six-foot fence and hedge out back and let the rest of us in.
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Ever been behind that fence-and-hedge? It's a definite perk to the otherwise stubby little building I wouldn't want to give up if I were them.

They could consider expanding the public space on the other side, though.
 
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