General Boston Discussion

Citgo sign..... and so it begins: Citgo sign goes dark — temporarily

Citgo press release: PressRelease


From release:
"Community members are welcome to access weekly project updates, construction information and video footage documenting the historic repositioning process at BostonYoureMyHome.net"


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Looks kinda weird sticking up so high and with a thinner support structure underneath, looks top heavy.

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Didn't see too much about this topic - but - I think it's safe to say that we are about into the 15th or 16th month of a metropolitan recession. Total non farm employment is down from Jan '25 to '26 by about 30k jobs or a total of -1%. with our 2nd (Prof. & Business Services) and 3rd (Trade, transport and utilities) largest employment sectors leading the fall.

We're still shielded from the worst of energy inflation (we don't really drive as much as other regions in the US). But, the picture isn't looking good for the near future for consumer spending activity which drives most economic activity. It's odd because we may not be in a "technical recession" because GSP/GDP keeps growing due to AI or inflation-impacted dollar valuations, but all other indicators show "recession".
 
The Tartan Army may have taken over Boston for the World Cup, but Boston and Scotland’s love fest appears set to stretch long after the tournament wraps up this summer.
Wearing a Scotland Women’s National Team jersey, Mayor Michelle Wu on Thursday signed a letter of intent to establish Boston and Glasgow, Scotland as “sister cities” next year, with the goal of extending the cities’ trans-Atlantic partnership beyond this year’s World Cup.
Wu made the announcement Thursday at The Haven, a Scottish restaurant in Jamaica Plain, where she was greeted by a hearty contingent of Tartan Army members — as the national team’s fans are known — as well as David Clay, the British Consul General to New England. The Scottish fans chanted “No Scotland, no party," and then, “No Wu, no party,” as Wu signed the letter.
Over the next year, Wu said the two cities’ leaders will finalize details of how they will invest resources and collaborate on shared initiatives — likely related to innovation, higher education, climate, or arts and culture.
The leaders will formalize the agreement when Glasgow’s Lord Provost, Jacqueline McLaren, visits Boston next April for “Tartan Day,” Wu said. With 650,300 people, Glasgow is Scotland’s most-populated city.
 
The Boston Fleet in the PWHL has played their first few seasons at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. For this coming season they'll play at Agganis at BU.

This is great! The games are a lot of fun, but it's been hard to regularly make it up to Lowell. The league started with 6 teams just a few years ago and quickly expanded to 12 for this coming season. Seven of the teams will play in their city's NHL arenas. The Fleet played their first game at the Garden last season and sold it out, so I was hoping that would be their new home. No luck there. The Fleet will continue to play in the smallest arena in the league. But still, moving into the city is great.

The wikipedia page hasn't been updated for this yet, but here are the teams and stadium capacities. Tsongas and Agganis are basically the same size.

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The Boston Fleet in the PWHL has played their first few seasons at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. For this coming season they'll play at Agganis at BU.

This is great! The games are a lot of fun, but it's been hard to regularly make it up to Lowell. The league started with 6 teams just a few years ago and quickly expanded to 12 for this coming season. Seven of the teams will play in their city's NHL arenas. The Fleet played their first game at the Garden last season and sold it out, so I was hoping that would be their new home. No luck there. The Fleet will continue to play in the smallest arena in the league. But still, moving into the city is great.

The wikipedia page hasn't been updated for this yet, but here are the teams and stadium capacities. Tsongas and Agganis are basically the same size.

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I think it's relevant to post the 2025-2026 attendance stats:
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These are, by and large, just above AHL numbers. Which is fine, and I think a reasonable expectation for the league at this point. Both Montreal and Toronto's arenas' primary tenants are the AHL. I think it's better both for gameday experience and optically to be playing close to capacity in smaller buildings versus half-full larger venues.

The perfect sized building for the Fleet is probably something around 10-12k seats, like Place Bell. The problem is that Providence, Worcester, and Manchester all have arenas around that size, and any new Boston arena is going to be fighting to cannibalize business from those venues. Unless you move the Fleet to one of those buildings (Manchester has no primary tenant right now), but I don't think the league and the owners are interested in going any further away from the heart of the city.
 
I think it's relevant to post the 2025-2026 attendance stats:
View attachment 73884

These are, by and large, just above AHL numbers. Which is fine, and I think a reasonable expectation for the league at this point. Both Montreal and Toronto's arenas' primary tenants are the AHL. I think it's better both for gameday experience and optically to be playing close to capacity in smaller buildings versus half-full larger venues.

The perfect sized building for the Fleet is probably something around 10-12k seats, like Place Bell. The problem is that Providence, Worcester, and Manchester all have arenas around that size, and any new Boston arena is going to be fighting to cannibalize business from those venues. Unless you move the Fleet to one of those buildings (Manchester has no primary tenant right now), but I don't think the league and the owners are interested in going any further away from the heart of the city.
Wow, that pretty perfectly answers all my questions I meant to look up later. Thanks!

I think you're right. Moving into the city is top priority, followed by playing in an arena close to capacity. Those attendance numbers for the New York Sirens are kind of bad, and seem about right. That's got to be the emptiest stadium, and it looks sad whenever I tune in to those games.

For the Fleet, playing at the Garden would have some other benefits, though: It feels like it would give some more legitimacy to the team and the league; it's easier to get to; there are lots more food and drink options around; people wearing the Fleet jerseys downtown becomes its own kind of advertising; etc. Regardless, the PWHL has broadly been doing a really good job, so I don't doubt Agganis was the right call here.

Now we just need a wnba team. There was talk around the connecticut sun moving to boston but now I think last I heard was theyre going to do an expansion team instead.
Yeah, this is part of why I'm thinking about this, too. I think it's expected Boston will get a WNBA team soon-ish. They'll probably play at the Garden, but WNBA teams mostly don't seem popular enough to sell out a venue like that. So there could be multiple Boston teams looking for a ~10k seat arena. Ideally closer than Worcester.
 
Mayor Wu: Lemme save you some rumination time, the need to establish committees to study the subject, the taxpayer expense to create algorithms and citizen feedback meetings:

The answer is Yes. Now get on with it.

(Post edit: Looks like Wu is on board - - it’s the Boston Police Union that’s the obstacle - - they’re playing “Art of the Deal” to fully maximize their take). Seriously, when it comes to the BPD and their union, it’s time for the AI robots to replace these “Make Boston 1950 Again” Luddites NOW.

 
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Mayor Wu: Lemme save you some rumination time, the need to establish committees to study the subject, the taxpayer expense to create algorithms and citizen feedback meetings:

The answer is Yes. No get on with it.

(Post edit: Looks like Wu is on board - - it’s the Boston Police Union that’s the obstacle - - they’re playing “Art of the Deal” to fully maximize their take). Seriously, when it comes to the BPD and their union, it’s time for the AI robots to replace these “Make Boston 1950 Again” Luddites NOW.


Honestly, if the BPD has problems with the later closings, it’s time to mechanize - it’s 2026, we longer have toll takers, tellers, gas station pump attendants, etc. This solves much (not all, of course) of the late night ride-along worries of the good folks at the Boston Patrolmen’s Association. ***And it would save money on OT, pensions, etc. while increasing revenue.
 

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