Northeastern to Build in Burlington

GW2500 said:
Malen's striaght, but Melrose is good for food. If you like sushi you really need to try Sushi Corner it's on the back side of CVS in the shaws parking lot. It's just a hole in the wall but really good and BYOB.
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For Pizza and sandwiches in Melrose, I would recommend The Corner Deli near the Wyoming (I think) train station. It's a storefront operation and doesn't have much in the way of seating, but it's a cut above most other pizza or sandwich shops (IE, fresh bread from a local bakery, Boars Head cold cuts, etc).
 
When I started this thread about Northeastern's proposed research building in Burlington I had no idea it would turn into a stream of consciousness thread on suburban development and dining!
 
Tangents happen, especially when not much is getting built.
 
^^Yes, yes it is. I ate there last night as a matter of fact!
 
bostononian1979 said:
I don't agree that these places have successful main streets. Most of these communities come to Burlington for shopping/restaurants/ammenities. I have friends/family that live in Arlington/Medford/Charlestown - they come to Burlington to shop - all of them. Maybe not all the time - but they often come to Burlington. With the exception of Belmont - because of the Watertown/Waltham restaurant scene - Stoneham/Woburn/Winchester/Lexington don't have the restaurant scene that Burlington has (Capital Grille, L'Andana, Escadrille, Dandelion Green, and a variety of others). Also - anyone that lives north of Burlington goes to NH to shop - save money on taxes. How many people from Billerica/Chelmsford/Tewksbury are going to be shopping in Nordstrom/Burberry? You might be correct about Burlington's center not being developed properly - that is all going to change in 10 years - it is already under major construction. However - your other opinions are way off.
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I hate to assume, yet it sounds as if you are confusing the idea of local amenities/restaurant/retail, etc., with the more general sprawl associated with chain restaurants and retail. Burlington is certainly the latter. It's not necessarily a bad thing in a controlled environment.

That said, each of these towns most definitely have successful main streets and centers, and from an urban standpoint, are superior to Burlington.
 
I used to think that Burlington was sprawling, but then I went to visit my sister's family in Oro Valley, Arizona (a suburb just north of Tucson -which I quickly rebranded as "Blanco Valley"), where they have to drive at least five miles down traffic clogged arteries in a fairly built up area to do any shopping or get services, etc. Also, they only seem to have South Bay Center style strip malls out there, and dozens of them. There really is no there there (but that's almost made up by the stunning natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert). I think the saving grace of most New England towns is that they have age defined borders that are unlikley to change and an individual identity that constrains development they see fit within their borders; each town is kind of like a pod.
 
bdurden said:
I hate to assume, yet it sounds as if you are confusing the idea of local amenities/restaurant/retail, etc., with the more general sprawl associated with chain restaurants and retail. Burlington is certainly the latter. It's not necessarily a bad thing in a controlled environment.

That said, each of these towns most definitely have successful main streets and centers, and from an urban standpoint, are superior to Burlington.
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I agree - the sprawl is post 1950's - 128 that created the American sprawl, and Burlington was certainly built up during this period. This is the reputation that Burlington is trying to get away from, and residents are all for it. The older residents that live in Burlington are all from our urban core, and moved to the community to get away from the grit of Boston during that time. Now realize - hey when we are older the ammenities of a walkable downtown are valuable. Like I've mentioned, within 10 years the landscape of Burlington is going to change. Not sure where the rural thing comes from - there are several locations in Burlington where you have a great view of the Boston skyline - sure it isn't the same as viewing it over the bay like Quincy, or a rooftop in Cambridge - but it is a great view.
 
To revive this thread and bring it back to its original theme:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/09/alum_donates_12.html

A former engineering student from Northeastern University has given his alma mater a $12 million gift to build a homeland security research facility on the university?s Burlington campus.

It is the largest donation the university has ever received for a similar project.

The multi-story building will be named after the donor, George J. Kostas, who graduated from Northeastern with a degree in chemical engineering in 1943 and went on to build a synthetic rubber manufacturing company called Techno-Economic Services Co.

University officials said the new institute would be built to Defense Department standards and will give Northeastern the ability and clearances to conduct secure research in areas including cryptography, data security, information assurance, detection of explosives, and energy harvesting.

?This gift expresses our gratitude to my alma mater and to those who crafted our democratic form of government,? Kostas said in a statement. ?It is our desire to assist in preserving our constitution for the benefit of future generations from terrorists who have demonstrated their increasing capability to destroy our democratic form of government.?

The university has made a push in recent years to increase its research on national security projects. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security selected Northeastern as one of 11 universities nationwide for a DHS Center in Excellence, providing a $10 million grant to establish the Center for Awareness and Localization of Explosive-Related Threats at Northeastern. Northeastern?s Marine Research Center in Nahant also works on robotic technology to detect underwater mines.

?His generous gift ? will enable our engineers to broaden and deepen their contributions to national and homeland security beyond the research funded in our national engineering centers,? said David Luzzi, dean of Northeastern?s College of Engineering.

Over the past four years, Northeastern has doubled the amount of federal money for research programs that focus on health, security and sustainability, university officials said.

Kostas previously donated $2 million to Northeastern to found and establish a nanoscale technology and manufacturing research center.
 
This sounds to me like it is a long way from Northeastern's mission as an educational institution. The donor sounds like a paranoid nut.
 
^^
One of Northeastern's mission is be a top research institution. This donation will help, regardless of what they are researching.
 
:mad:Kent
Northeastern has carved out a great nitch preparing students for immediate and practical employment (via co-op program). Are they seriously trying to take on Harvard, MIT, Tufts, BU, etc. (and that's just in this area) as a research institution? I feel like they should build on their strengths instead of trying to be everything to everyone.
 
Northeastern has already taken on BU in some areas...and won!

Stats for entering undergraduates are equal to or high than those at BU. Northeastern has built a fairly defined campus, BU continues to sprawl. BU has finally started to offer coop in its engineering school, after decades of looking down its nose at Northeastern for making its students work before graduation. Northeastern's acceptance rate for freshmen is 38%, BU is 58%. Etc.etc.etc.

In higher education, if you don't move forward, you are moving backwards. BU seems to be learning that lesson the hard way.

Carving out niches in graduate education is a logical next step for NU.
 
AmericanFolkLegend said:
:mad:Kent
Northeastern has carved out a great nitch preparing students for immediate and practical employment (via co-op program). Are they seriously trying to take on Harvard, MIT, Tufts, BU, etc. (and that's just in this area) as a research institution? I feel like they should build on their strengths instead of trying to be everything to everyone.
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Yes. By doing so they attract endowments from alumnis. Instead of being satisfied with where they are, NEU continues to improve its education and research system. It also grabs more attention. Unlike UMASS Amherst which tried to obtain attention with a sushi record, NEU can be more well known by completing scientific research. While Rankings are never a telltale sign of which universities are better, they are a good indicator of how well a university is doing. Since 2001, NEU has jumped from 150th to 69th, ranking on par with universities like UCONN and Virginia Tech. If they intend to be compared with the top universities, they have to improve in all areas.
 
Northeastern was ranked #1 by the Princeton Review for "Best Internships/Career Services" 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.[6]

In 2010 and 2011, US News & World Report rated Northeastern as the No. 2 "Best Up-and-coming" National University.[9] Northeastern ranked No. 4 in Forbes Magazine as one of "America's Most Entrepreneurial Campuses."[10] The School of Architecture was ranked #12 by the Key Institute National Rankings.[11]

n the 2011 edition of U.S. News and World Report's "Best Colleges Guide", Northeastern increased its ranking to 69th, up 11 spots from 2010.

All taken from wikipedia. So like you said, rankings don't mean too much, but still fairly impressive. Now if it just didn't cost me sooo much.
 
Back in my day (circa 1970) there were no rankings but it was BU>BC>Northeastern, or so the common wisdom went. Today it is BC>BU=Northeastern, at least at the undergraduate level.

Now if Northeastern could just get the delayed Residence Hall K underway!
 
Remember it's just as much about pampering the students as it is educating them. BU's student fitness center is probably one of the best in the world for colleges. Also BU brings really good acts into the Agganis center. Besides that I'd say they are pretty much equal.
 
The point in my earlier post is that BU has been stagnant for a long time. It suffered in the last decade of Silber's reign and under his hand picked successor, Westling (?). Then they had the botched presidential search. Meanwhile BC has shot past them in rankings, selectivity and endowment. Not bad considering that BC was facing bankruptcy and possible closure in the early 1970's. Now Northeastern is challenging BU, at least at the undergrad level.

The only reason BU built its Fit/Rec Center so elaborately was because Northeastern built the Marino Center a few years earlier and BU had to be bigger and better.
 
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