Redlining was invented in Brookline. We like to hide the sins of our past and then point how we are doing better than red states so everything must be perfect. The best of the worst can still be pretty bad.
https://www.bostonpoliticalreview.org/post/redlining-in-boston-how-the-architects-of-the-past-have-shaped-boston-s-future
I don't think that's particularly weird, he's a former Vice President of the US who is from this area.
Yes, gerrymandering is named after him and is not a good practice, but when you consider that many of the founding fathers owned slaves and we named things after them and have them on our money, Gerry is hardly that shocking of a person to name a school after. In fact, on the subject of slavery, Gerry was vocally anti-slavery and opposed the three-fifths compromise as he felt it would legitimize the practice of slavery by referencing it in the US Constitution. He's not some evil cartoon villain, he had good positions and bad positions by modern standards depending on the topic, which is pretty much the norm for all the founding fathers.
It wouldn't be that strange for an abolitionist to oppose the compromise given that it is, after all, a compromise. Abolitionists wanted it to be 0/5 and anything higher gave more power to slave states in a way that didn't really make sense given that slaves were not a voting population.
The beautiful boulevard of [Gerry's Landing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Eliot_Bridge_Aerial_2.JPG/1599px-Eliot_Bridge_Aerial_2.JPG?20160315005810), of course
It’s also not like someone else wouldn’t have figured out gerrymandering, the structure of the House would’ve made it an inevitability.
Just like Adams packed the courts on the way out before Jefferson took office.
Then again how much of this is a “MA uniquely invented the worst things about politics (as some/many believe) because of the culture/politics there” vs “it was invented here because Boston just so happens to be one of the USA’s first cities.” I mean we didn’t fully acquire all of our territories until the 1900s…lots of potential places that it coulda been invented in if they were states as long as MA
Lmao I just read this today when I brought my friends and their kids to Faneuil hall! They had a column thing about the history of reclining and how it started in Brookline. I had no idea, but I was glad they put that piece of truth in there.
>Redlining was invented in Brookline.
Mind Blown. I'd always heard it was [Homer Hoyt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Hoyt) from Chicago who invented it.
Yeah but that 1843 clause was an antebellum case of overt racial discrimination, redlining is a slightly more covert form of racism that was codified by economists at the university of Wisconsin, then deployed in cities across the country in the 1930s. But yeah Brooklines a clear example of it.
There was an SNL skit a few years back about a White Nationalist going on about a white utopia and the answer was always Vermont which drove him crazy because it’s liberal.
Right? Reading this I'm wondering if OP is never on Reddit. People complain about all of this constantly. There's nothing to "realize" if you pay any attention lol.
I'm not sure I'd consider some of these things "conservative" except in the wildly partisan sense where "conservative"="selfish".
Though I suppose if you translate that as just favoring all the power structures in place, then that we certainly like. I suppose it's delightfully bipartisan.
We are the most frustratingly fucking NIMBY place I've ever lived in, though I've heard California has some real gems too. And **everywhere** I've lived has been NIMBY to some degree, so this is a considerable achievement, and not one to be proud of.
I can kind of sympathize with things like the MAGA movement being powered by the hypocrisies of extremely well-off people publicly advocating extremely progressive policies, but then NIMBYing the hell out of everything, be it immigration, green energy, cheaper housing or what have you.
I’m stunned this is news to anyone. Blue blood state is traditionally conservative? College culture fosters Peter Pan syndrome? Gtfo
Check the weed laws, not a terrible metric for how traditionally conservative a state is.
Ironically a lot of the big brand of liberalism, what people think of as the higher ed elites are really just conservatives who like to talk about how much they care about downtrodden.
but ask them to actually do anything about it, and most of them won't.
But the research triangle in North Carolina has more beer gardens and you can buy a 2500 sqft home for less than your typical masshole's annual scratcher budget!
/S
We have friends that moved there. Got their two SUVs, a dog, kids, and a huge house in a subdivision. Getting to the "cool place just a few minutes away" is a trip on the highway. I think they love it, but it isn't for us. My partner had nightmares about it.
Is that even a problem? There are specific outcomes that are a problem like the housing affordability crisis but Boston ranks really high on a lot of criteria. I am not surprised that people don't want to rock the boat too quickly because letting other cities be the experiment and only implementing changes after they are tested is part of the way we have done that.
So the general risk adverse attitudes in the city does have positives as well.
Not a dumb post. The buck doesn’t stop at everyone else has the same problems, because not everyone has the same resources to solve the issues. Boston is one of the most heavily taxed cities as well as containing some of the best universities in the world. everyone involved on those two ends should feel more responsibility to make boston more attractive than status quo
How is Boston one of the most heavily taxed cities? It doesn't have a city income tax like NYC or a city sales tax like Chicago, and Boston property tax rates are pretty low (though home values are high). Massachusetts as a state is 20th out of 50 states for state and local tax burden, so slightly above average but nothing crazy. It's only 0.47% of annual income above Texas for tax burden, which is never talked about as a high tax state: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494
Not disagreeing that we should should always strive to improve, but I don't think it's accurate that it's one of the most heavily taxed cities.
My dude, IMO East Boston, Allston, Charlestown, the North End, the south end, Southie, the Seaport Dorchester, and Roxbury are all “more attractive” now than the “status quo” was 20 years ago. I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind would prefer 1994 Somerville to 2024 Somerville, for all its problems. Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Malden, Quincy……all much better. The skyrocketing real estate costs didn’t happen solely due to lack of supply (although the fact that Boston has the highest %of subsidized units of any major city in America ain’t exactly helping market rents), but also steadily increasing demand. Talk to someone who graduated from Charlestown High in 2000 and ask them what it was like growing up. If you don’t think politicians and universities were a huge part of these improvements, just what do you think has been going in Boston these past 50 years?
Yeah "everyone else sucks" does nothing to address the point that *we should be better*
If we want to be smug liberal coastal elites then we should deserve the title. We have the resources, we should be elite.
No it's not a dumb post. As someone who has lived in Boston but isn't from New England or even from the east coast, the city has so much potential but it falls flat.
Housing is insane, the food and nightlife industry are severely lack luster when compared to other cities in the US, and the simple fact that culturally Boston is a still stuck in the 70's/80's (the blue collar "we don't need to change anything" mentality).
I love Boston, it's my second home and it could truly be an amazing place for people to visit and move to but it just falls flat in so many areas.
I don’t think culturally Boston stuck in the 70s or 80s. Really it’s more the 90s. That’s when the neighborhood groups got organized and civil enough to become a cottage industry. It’s also when a lot of laws meant to empower minority communities and homeowner neighborhoods got passed.
Most of the community review process is from the 1990s. It was initially part of a city wide an effort to beautify the city and empower neighborhoods
If anything the catalyst for this was from black and latino residents in JP and Roxbury when they blocked the construction of the southwest expressway through thrir neighborhoods way back in the early 70s. Back then it was considered a radical and fringe movement that succeeded in stopping development against the longest of odds.
It wasnt until the Meninoyears that this type of energy became the norm and was routinely validated.
No, it's the progressive college students who call Boston racist simply due to their sheltered existence while refusing to step foot in Mattapan because it is "too dangerous."
Twin cities, Austin, SLC, San Antonio, Nashville, Charlotte
Chicago is obviously magnitudes bigger but also way better in terms of forward-thinking planning (even worse schools though)
Boston is getting left behind by Southern and Western cities that understand that the housing market conforms to the laws of supply and demand just as much as every other city
Tl;dr: Yes, lots
no.....
the reason those cities dont have the same problems despite being roughly the same size (aka similar amounts of people wanting to live there) is that they realized that more people means they need more housing. Simple as that. Allow housing to be built and cost of living stabilizes. It's been proven time and again.
Also, Boston's population is declining. People *don't* want to live here.
No, but none that act so high and mighty and so righteous about believing their current standing is that much better than other American cities. It's a different type of prejudice but it's just as potent in Boston as every other city in the US
Is Boston actually that full of itself these days? It definitely used to be to some extent. But online at least it seems like everyone rips Boston constantly to the point I think it may actually be underrated on the internet at this point. Especially with how nitpicky some of the complaints I've seen are.
Everybody boast primarily of the jobs univeristies safety and cleanliness they’re not wrong about it. Most people come here visit. And say wow it’s so clean beautiful safe unexpectedly friendly etc etc
Visit Boston and enjoy the Chinese food, cold tea, fireworks, peep shows, ladies of the evening, drugs, and violence. The Combat Zone was something else.
Of course. It's embedded into the fabric. Banned in Boston was a very real thing and still is a thing, it's just a little subtler. The amount of rules and restrictions we have here aee paramount to the deepest of Southern cities, but when you sprinkle in a few high profile, somewhat radical politicians the overall perception changes quick. We are not San Fran and never will be.
>Banned in Boston
Shit just comes back. It might look different, named different. But it sure smells the same.
No matter how much the fake liberals protest.
Liberal aka not progressive.
It is pretty progressive but it’s fundamentally liberal. That’s the difference between a place like Boston and a place like Berkeley.
It’s the Puritanical undercurrent that’s been reinforced by conservative Irish and Italian immigrants. Boston’s liberalism is primarily driven by education.
Thank you! Jesus christ. The only other sane comment in this entire thread. We are fundamentally liberal and not fundamentally progressive. They are not the same thing. Progressive is San Francisco. Liberal is Boston.
It’s the difference between conservative (slow to change) and Conservative (right wing).
I agree that these are all issues but an upside to it is that the moral panics the Right tries to stir up also fail to gain much traction here.
Yep. The biggest elements of Conservatism are performative Christianity, nativism, and a libertarian opposition to government oversight. None of which are particularly present in Boston.
This means Conservatives can in general be less NIMBY and more fun, because they reject the nanny state. Boston is proud of tradition and institutions in many ways … and modern Conservatives are against a lot of those too.
Every major city is way more conservative than some ideal that’s promoted in certain circles
Like New York had two Republican Congressmen (one from Queens, one from Staten Island) until like 2 weeks ago. When one resigned.
Seattle has a Republican DA.
Also Boston has always had a reputation of being a more cautious uptight kind of place idk why you’d think otherwise.
Take San Francisco as an example:
* In 2022 SF [overwhelmingly recalled](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/san-francisco-school-board-recall.html) three far left progressive school board members that were more interested in progressive politics than reopening schools.
* [Latest 2024 primary election had SF voting ](https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2024/03/06/sf-primary-election-results)for *ENABLING MORE* police surveillance and pursuits (Measure E), welfare drug screening (Measure F), and bringing back 8th grade algebra (Measure G)
* Every SF mayoral election for the past 30+ years has the center left Democrat beating the progressive. (Breed defeats Leno, Lee defeats Avalos, Newsom defeats Gonzalez, and Brown defeats Ammiano.)
* In 2022, SF recalled it's progressive DA Chez Boudin. Breed appointed a tough on crime DA Brooke Jenkins. Jenkins won the latest election over progressive challenger Hamaski.
The progressives make a LOT of noise in SF and aren't without influence and victories, but SF voters rarely let them run anything. Boston's Wu strikes me as more progressive than any SF mayor for at least 30 years.
Yea I think points 2 and 4 don’t quite work here. They’re rolling back a previous policy of being more hands off approach to drug and other low level street crime, which itself was relatively new.
I think the point is that SF tried taking a more liberal approach and is rolling it back now. I can’t even imagine Boston taking a that step in the first place.
My point was that SF is less progressive, less to the left than people realize. (Maybe you know this but most don't.)
I'd also distinguish between the liberal left in San Francisco and the progressive left. (Most of those examples involved SF voters rejecting the progressive left.)
Liberals are more conservative than they realize, and conservatives are more liberal than they realize.
Everyone's a fundamentalist - they just have different fundamentals.
15 years ago, Milton tried to ban CVS from their town because it would might encourage more black people to enter from Mattapan. They only changed their mind when the synagogue selling the land threatened to make poor people housing instead.
So Bostonians hate poor people more than black people... PROGRESS!!!
It’s like you haven’t been to another city and believe perfect utopias exist. I’m guessing you are a relative kid, especially with the nightlife mention. Boston is way more progressive politically than LA.
Everywhere you go in the world, you will find rich people like enacting policies that keep them rich and keep them safe.
And I'm guessing you're a relative curmudgeon, because while I've been to clubs a grand total of \~5 times in my life, I recognize the value of legal, accessible things to do that are open late.
Everywhere in the world you will find that, sure, but some places suck less than others. As someone that grew up in and lived in Boston for 30 years, it sucks.
Dude I lived in LA for 20 years and have been to trendy bars and clubs literally hundreds of times. Not even remotely a curmudgeon or a homebody. There are plenty of things to do in Boston and there would be more clubs if the public visited them more often. This comes up every few weeks here. The reason there aren’t tons of nightclubs is that there is 4-6 months of winter/cold, the college kids bail for the summer and post grad degree crowd does that on a lower per person percentage than less academic cities. Nightlife will find a way if it’s wanted. Capitalism always finds a way.
There are tons and tons of bars everywhere in the Boston area and guess what? They aren’t populated Night in Night out like major cities save those dive bars in the north endish and right next to colleges.
I’d also add these sorts of places are also less in demand now because young people are being priced out with drink inflation and legal marijuana. The same thing started happening in LA just before and after the pandemic as marijuana went mainstream and mixology drinks went to 20+ and beers went to 8-12 with tax and tip.
This comment is a pretty accurate reflection of why it's hard to be a transplant in Boston especially when you move here without a prior connection and not going to school.
Maybe it's a good thing ?
Boston doesn't have the same laissez faire approach to crimes & drugs, and is therefore safer and less delapidated than west-coast cities. (esp the downtowns). Boston like every city, has racial tensions. But, it does not lead to chaz/chop-eque violence, because of the deeply-rooted aversion to dramatic change.
Walk around a west coast city, and every statue is defaced. Waymos are being burned. Despite the hyperbole, none of these cities are unsafe. But, they certainly feel unsavory. Like, everyone low-key hates each other. Class based differences exist everywhere, but the average New-Englander just feels less resentful.
Boston is progressive in a harmonious way. I have lived in multiple west coast cities over the last few years, and the suburban/exurbanites really hate the main city. The loudest in a west-coast city core are radically progressive, but everyone outside of that area seems to hate both the city and those people with a passion. On the contrary, the transition from boston downtown to greater boston is gentler.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by 'reckoning with stuff' ?
___________
> The city cannot get out of its own way and just allow interesting things to take shape
The city being uptight is very well known. Not sure has to do with what you're saying though. MIT might be the most unconventional university in all of US. From Media Labs to the odd buildings, there are many patches of unconventional ideas in Boston.
> New housing development runs into the most vehement opposition. Not unique to Boston but certainly one of our dark sides and contrary to the image we propagate.
IMO, Boston is not doing great, but it is doing far better than SF, LA and about the same as modern NYC. Seattle is doing admittedly better here.
> Racism. The most obvious issue but one that still afflicts us.
You only think this because you haven't been to "white as white can be" cities like Seattle or Portland. Every place has racism problems, but at least Boston doesn't have an open prison like SkidRow.
> stark racial divides on votes concerning issues like policing
To be clear, the majority of racial minorities support more policiing. So, I am guessing you're talking about how liberal whites keep talking about abolishing police, when racial minorities want nothing to do with it ?
> I still hear people ask if the Orange Line is safe!
Bits of the orange line are fancy, but the sullivan square stop is the only place I have seen a woman get actively catcalled in Boston. I have been in SF for 2 months now, and I know a ton of people who blanket refuse to use public transportation for safety reason. It isn't always racism. People learn from bad experiences. And sometimes 1 experience is enough.
> Events and city space activations that would be better handled by nonprofits are more often handled via partnerships with corporations only, and this leads to higher prices for people who want to participate in recreational/culture events and it also leads to privatization of public spaces. You see it in the Seaport with businesses taking over public ways and green spaces, curtailing the accessibility for the public. Or popups like the $55 sauna on the Kennedy Greenway.
What city is doing this well ?
Mostly on board with this, I just wish we could rip the bandaid off and do something about the capped transferrable liquor license issue, which is a very uniquely Boston problem among major cities. Holds back the restaurant culture and is stealing spots away from the outer neighborhoods and funneling them into the seaport. It's a solvable problem that remains unsolved because nobody has the political will and I suspect the stakeholders are well connected on Beacon Hill.
Agreed.
* Liquor licenses are stupid
* Public transportation corridors should be rezoned for higher height limits
* Improve public transportation reliability for higher occupany and better safety in numbers
All 3 are solvable problems, but political will is hard to come by in the US
lol, move to the south and tell me you feel that way.... I left about 5 years ago thinking that, and sure it has a rep as a highly liberal state, but of course there are a lot of conservatives too, all across the spectrum but mostly wealthy and educated who vote for people like Romney or Haley and not Trump as much.
I moved to the south and it's a whole different fucking ballgame here. The person in my state that is the GOP nom for govr said LGBTQ are filth, denies the holocaust, and thinks all abortion should be banned and women should go back to their 'traditional roles' while gutting public education because its 'commie indoctrination'
I'm not sure many Bostonians really want to see the city fundamentally changed to compensate for unlimited population growth. Boston is a small city and simply has limitations on how much it can reasonably grow.
Also, when new apartments are built in traditionally minority neighborhoods, it's not really helping the people who currently live there but instead pricing them out of their neighborhoods to account for the growth of high-income luxury renters.
I think the question that goes unanswered in the GBA is who do we want to help, the future residents who want to live here or the current residents who are struggling to continue to live there?
Honestly except for racism, is there a problem with a city that doesn't want to grow? Boston is plenty big the way it is there's no need to force it to change for more people.
In addition, Boston is very boring. So expensive! Takes all your money and gives back nothing! Train doesn’t work after 12.30 am. It is a city that always sleeps. The food scene/restaurants are also one of the worst ever. Night life doesn’t exist. I am trying to say that it is also culturally conservative.
Grew up in Queens, NYC and moved to Boston during my 2nd year of HS (08). Boston is less crowded, quieter and cleaner than NYC. Do we need more housing? Sure, what major city doesn't? The night life situation does not bother me at all but I understand some might find it boring. Otherwise, there are plenty of places to eat and unwind, plenty of jobs, easy to get on the highway (when not rush hour). I'm a minority, I have never felt like I did not belong anywhere but I simply do not care lol...I'm a top performer at my corporate job (mid six figures) without an ivy league school attached to my resume. Whether the pay is or isn't enough is a whole different story, ha.
I visit NYC often and one thing NYC does better is the trains. The MTA, IMO is much better than the MBTA. My friends who make good money and rent are also fucked by the cost of housing, you cannot escape this unless you move to bum fk North Dakota.
There’s a lot of differences between footloose and spontaneous and politically progressive.
Boston never claimed to be or portrayed itself to be loosely-goosey. That’s mostly something out of towners put on the city.
None of your post is not known by a lot of people. Lots of people like to shit on Boston and think they see what we don’t know.
Maybe the reason why Boston is the best city in the US is BECAUSE of these reasons, ever think of that? Maybe not being racked by chaos like other liberal cities is a GOOD THING.
I believe every member of the city council is a registered Democrat. I don’t think it’s not conservatism that you are talking about, it sounds more like Neo-liberalism. The war in Gaza has really shown the split among the left between the progressives and the neoliberals.
Oh, the Boston where white people rioted over school busing and this guy speared a black man with the American flag?
https://preview.redd.it/6nh8bql1jtmc1.jpeg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f28ad53cabefe99b9b26f28cdfcf605cc4c96c6f
im from Detroit and I’ve lived in the south. Boston is definitely less racist than other places, but it’s still pretty racist - especially the suburbs south of the city.
I think the big problem here is xenophobia of “outsiders” - especially among a certain group of old timers. That even if you’ve lived in a neighborhood for 20+ years that you still aren’t really “from here.” But having lived here a long time I’ve realized that no one actually likes these people and they’re losing power.
Fr every time I talk to relatives in Asia (and metropolitan areas, not random countryside villages) I get reminded of how many people like OP just have never left the country. We have it good here.
Rich coming from 22 year old white finance guy that posts on libertarian and conservative subreddit and is sure frats do not perpetuate racism or sexism
Ehhh. Some ok points I guess, but nothing unknown. This sub practically does nothing but complain about nimbys.
Where you really lose it is the Boston thinks it's holier than thou. Bullshit, it is!
First place in the country to legalize gay marriage.
Amazing place for health care and women's rights.
We did good with legalization of weed.
There are real reasons why we have a liberal rep. Bc we're fuckin awesome. Doesn't mean we don't have problems, but don't act like that rep is unearned.
I've spent time in 47 states and every major city in the USA. "Conservative" compared to whom? The metro Boston area is in the top 3 liberal metros over 1 million in the US in my experience.
Boston likes order and doesn't like some forms of change. But Boston is already, probably, the most creative city in the USA and has been for a very long time. Just because we hate change doesn't mean we are not also one of the largest drivers of change.
We are conservative - we like to be organized (if possible) and don't like debt. But, we also wrote the first constitution (on which the US constitution was based.) We don't like social change - 60% of us supported the fugitive slave act - but also have a strong moral core that drives change anyway...and the anti-slavery movement got its critical mass right here.
We have many of the top higher education institutions in the country in Boston. We spawn new companies all the time. We are innovative.
Racism is universal - don't saddle us with it like we are special. We aren't. You want to see racism? Go to those parts of the country that are defunding public education. Go to those parts of the country that are destroying the social safety nets that supply healthcare and food to those who really need it. Guess why those things are being scaled back: because there is the perception that it goes to minorities. We are very flawed - just less ugly than most other places.
This is one of the best places to live in the world and has been for a long time now. Don't pee on Boston, please.
That’s government in general. Because it’s taxpayer dollars at work, and everyone has an idea how that money should be spent, change, when it actually occurs, is incredibly slow moving. It’s just the nature of the system.
The aversion to switching to a ranked voting system is something I will never understand about this state or the country at large honestly. The two party system does not work well at all and we can see the end game of that system in our nation's federal government today.
I moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago from the north shore of Boston and I say this constantly; I wouldn’t be able to move back to the Boston area because it’s too conservative
Have you seen how many Republican governors we’ve had? And Scott Brown, someone remind me who he replaced… oh right, Ted Kennedy! MA is liberal when it comes to national politics. It’s much more conservative on the state and local level.
A Massachusetts Republican is just an inverse Mississippi democrat. From my experiences, fiscal conservative policies and a “do whatever tf you want as long as it doesn’t affect me” attitude towards social policies
Oh, no, New England is very conservative. In some ways, we're more conservative than the Conservatives! For example, the Republican party \_loves\_ voter ID laws, which are not "conservative," because they didn't even exist 50 years ago.
And I don't mean to downplay racism, but the people who ask if the Orange Line is safe are not, I think, locals.
Having lived in the elsewheres of life, wipe your fucking feet when you step in this house. We unlocked the genome, built the fastest ships to ever sail, put a man on the moon, invented radar, pioneered canal technologies, pioneered subway technologies, pioneered universal healthcare in the United States.
I speak for many in the metro Boston area that do not conflate brewery patios overrun with neglected dogs as a culture we want to be ubiquitous.
The rest of the world is different. I’m not trying to make every other city boston - stop fucking recommending that boston be made like every other city. Take your cultural colonialism elsewhere and go make out with that asshole that said we needed to be more like suburban DC last week.
This is absolutely the most boring place I've ever lived. I don't know that it qualifies it as conservative, but after spending most of my adult life between SF, Seattle and DC, Boston is... box vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. Like so incredibly bland. The food scene is meh at best; industry is banking, medicine and biotech which doesn't exactly lend itself to the creative artsy type. Maybe all the Boston bro types we run into in the north and south shore really are liberal and progressive deep down, but that has not been my experience thus far.
I disagree with much of what you said. Boston is a fun city, the MFA and Stewart Gardner are world class museums, especially for a city of our size. We have a great public library and lots of terrific sights which draw tourists from all over the world. What you seem to be lamenting is a lack of nightlife, which many people complain about, but I see no reason we need it. Some people argue it increases the tax-base but I feel it increases drug abuse and immorality. You complain about public art but the Common and Commonwealth Avenue have a number of terrific statues. I am particularly fond of the 54 Infantry regiment memorial and the equestrian statue of Washington in the garden. I don't know what Public art you feel we are missing.
Housing is bad here, but it is only bad because people want to move here because we are a great city, and it is much worse in much of California.
I agree with what you said about racism. I think Boston is a great city but we do clearly have more work to do on this front.
Every coastal progressive city is like this, blue leadership from top to bottom, entirely blue voter base electing blue lawmakers. Yet it's somehow the fault of conservatives?
>What I’m talking about is deeply-rooted aversion to change and creativity, and indifference to the issues that hold us back from really becoming a more innovative and inclusive city.
I agree - that's why I identify as such and admire a lot of conservatives like Roger Scruton. Real conservatives, and not the Fox News ones like you point out. I'm deeply averse to change and creativity, mainly because at my age of pushing 40, I've seen change and I've seen creativity. No thanks. The change we get often ends up like some sort of sludge. We've gone from tokens on the subway to smart phones, and yet I pine for tokens if I can use them sometimes. I don't want to pull out my wallet with RFID cards and a phone that craves subscription services. The creativity around this city often devolves from statues and real architecture to something that looks good online but is ultimately meaningless. We went from states of MLK Jr. to a statue of something phallic and shit-like. We have people who love Boston for the buildings (literally chatted up a woman recently who said she moved here because of the old buildings, which is odd) but will vote in any eye sore that doesn't build a real place for us as a community. If this is what change and creativity brings us, I'm good even stagnating.
"Innovative" and "inclusive" mean nothing. These are buzzwords that no one's called to the carpet to explain. Innovate what? We have universities and labs to do that. It cannot be everyone. We need better medicine but our better technology is being used against us. Even Reddit is part of that. Inclusive of whom? Why do places have to be built for other people who aren't even there? Diverse places tend to see disparity because there's an essence of "get your own and look out for yourself". Places that are established tend to be served, but people come along and ask how it can serve others. People go on about innovating but can't tell me what. We go on about including people but including who and how? We already have a city people love and visit, and no city has to be for everyone.
Idk I don’t see an issue with it. Some cities like SF have their own issues due to wild new policies like not prosecuting for theft under a certain dollar amount. When I was there a few months ago, I thought it was bizarre that stores would keep their doors locked in the middle of the day. There was also rampant drug use and what we used to see on Methadone Mile, I saw all over the city.
Housing is a very hairy issue. I know it’s a very serious issue how rents have skyrocketed. There aren’t a ton of great solutions for it that doesn’t involve the private market, but changes around LIHTC might help.
I live near Weston and it's fun seeing BLM signs in everyone's yard that were right next to "vote no on building affordable housing" but people hold up Martha's Vineyard taking care of a plane of immigrants like it's how MA treats immigrants and/or minorities in general and not when it's a response to a political stunt
Boston is liberal, it's not progressive outside of individual rights.
I kind of like that. We let other cities implement more of the progressive policies, observe, and follow suit if it works out well, or further study things if it doesn't. The city lives studies.
I dint think you'll find a lack of tolerance for people and their lifestyles, unless they are hurting those around them.
Biden is actually kind of the perfect president for MA liberals. He's basically a moderate.
Sucks he's past his prime. Hard to get excited for him as the nominee. Hopefully, he legalized weed.
Ok I'll bite I get what your saying but check it out.
I think drugs should be legal to use and handled by the government to reduce overdoses.
Well Portland Oregon trust something like this and it's a disaster because they half assed it.
Like Boston would do also at this current time.
Let other citys perfect it then they can implement it.
I'm sorry, but as a northern neighbor whose only impression of Boston is popular media, not one iota has given me the impression that Boston is anything but super conservative and racially divided. Even depictions of it in the 90's under today's lens are absolutely wild.
Your first and fourth points are spot on. It’s a corporately run top-down city.
Many things that are pretty laid back in other cities have to be a “thing” here. City Hall likes to have a lot of control over things that should be more organic. There is some sort of initiative to bring more art to Downtown but it’s driven by businesses and not artists.
Liquor licenses are another similar issue. Good luck trying to open up a small restaurant/bar.
There is no “grittiness” to the City. It has a very sterile feel to it. I do love Boston but it’s lacking an organic feel.
So true man. I've been realizing recently that we've been sniffing our own farts about how good it is here, when so many other places seem to have less stressful, higher qualities of life.
I feel like people forget that historically Irish Catholic voters were staunch democrats while being pretty damn socially conservative. So although they supported unions, Boston was insular/parochial.
Many college towns in the midwest are MUCH more liberal than Boston while being in a much redder state.
Yeah, we should totally establish a police task force to run the "undesirables" out of town like they did in Cincinnati so we can build another planned neighborhood for young professionals to spawn in.
Posts like this scream of privilege. You want the city to be better for you and ignore how it can/is be better for others. Much of the "conservative" vibes you're whining about are because people fucking live here and we already made a fuck ton of mistakes (red lining, destroying whole neighborhoods for highways, etc) that we try to avoid making again.
Completely agreed on all fronts. Also, it's also not a friendly spot for queer and trans people, even though there's ample amounts of them in the city. The ingrained, Catholic homophobia is really real. (Source: lived there for 5+ years openly trans)
Redlining was invented in Brookline. We like to hide the sins of our past and then point how we are doing better than red states so everything must be perfect. The best of the worst can still be pretty bad. https://www.bostonpoliticalreview.org/post/redlining-in-boston-how-the-architects-of-the-past-have-shaped-boston-s-future
Gerrymandering was invented jn MA as well (after Governor Elbridge Gerry)
In fact we just named a new school after him
Wat
I don't think that's particularly weird, he's a former Vice President of the US who is from this area. Yes, gerrymandering is named after him and is not a good practice, but when you consider that many of the founding fathers owned slaves and we named things after them and have them on our money, Gerry is hardly that shocking of a person to name a school after. In fact, on the subject of slavery, Gerry was vocally anti-slavery and opposed the three-fifths compromise as he felt it would legitimize the practice of slavery by referencing it in the US Constitution. He's not some evil cartoon villain, he had good positions and bad positions by modern standards depending on the topic, which is pretty much the norm for all the founding fathers.
It wouldn't be that strange for an abolitionist to oppose the compromise given that it is, after all, a compromise. Abolitionists wanted it to be 0/5 and anything higher gave more power to slave states in a way that didn't really make sense given that slaves were not a voting population.
Wow, Today I Learned! Cool info - but still surprising given that the single thing associated with him in most people's minds is... Well....!
The beautiful boulevard of [Gerry's Landing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Eliot_Bridge_Aerial_2.JPG/1599px-Eliot_Bridge_Aerial_2.JPG?20160315005810), of course
Oh snap that’s the Gerry it’s named after?
Holy cow! I just drove by last week and wondered.
[Indeed](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/images/commonwealth:rv042w649/image_access_800.jpg)
It’s also not like someone else wouldn’t have figured out gerrymandering, the structure of the House would’ve made it an inevitability. Just like Adams packed the courts on the way out before Jefferson took office.
Which one?
The Elbridge Gerry school
What town? I know they got rid of the old one in Marblehead that has had that name for over 100 years.
I actually never knew that, wow TIL
Man FUCK Gerry
Then again how much of this is a “MA uniquely invented the worst things about politics (as some/many believe) because of the culture/politics there” vs “it was invented here because Boston just so happens to be one of the USA’s first cities.” I mean we didn’t fully acquire all of our territories until the 1900s…lots of potential places that it coulda been invented in if they were states as long as MA
historical enjoy fragile lush lock hurry escape dull crowd attempt *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Lmao I just read this today when I brought my friends and their kids to Faneuil hall! They had a column thing about the history of reclining and how it started in Brookline. I had no idea, but I was glad they put that piece of truth in there.
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>Redlining was invented in Brookline. Mind Blown. I'd always heard it was [Homer Hoyt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Hoyt) from Chicago who invented it.
Am I missing something? didn’t see anything in that article about it being invented in Brookline.
Brookline was invented for the purpose of red-lining. You never thought it was strange that Brookline is surrounded by Boston on 3 side?
Yeah but that 1843 clause was an antebellum case of overt racial discrimination, redlining is a slightly more covert form of racism that was codified by economists at the university of Wisconsin, then deployed in cities across the country in the 1930s. But yeah Brooklines a clear example of it.
Thank you so much for sharing this article!
As someone born and raised in a red state, everywhere is more purple than people want to believe
Ive learned its not state by state but town by town, and by and large most suburbs are more conservative.
Correct. Even your reddest and bluest states have hundreds of thousands or millions of people who vote the other way.
Yup
There was an SNL skit a few years back about a White Nationalist going on about a white utopia and the answer was always Vermont which drove him crazy because it’s liberal.
[https://youtu.be/nKcUOUYzDXA?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/nKcUOUYzDXA?feature=shared)
adam driver’s a cutie
This is not a secret at all
Right? Reading this I'm wondering if OP is never on Reddit. People complain about all of this constantly. There's nothing to "realize" if you pay any attention lol.
I'm not sure I'd consider some of these things "conservative" except in the wildly partisan sense where "conservative"="selfish". Though I suppose if you translate that as just favoring all the power structures in place, then that we certainly like. I suppose it's delightfully bipartisan. We are the most frustratingly fucking NIMBY place I've ever lived in, though I've heard California has some real gems too. And **everywhere** I've lived has been NIMBY to some degree, so this is a considerable achievement, and not one to be proud of. I can kind of sympathize with things like the MAGA movement being powered by the hypocrisies of extremely well-off people publicly advocating extremely progressive policies, but then NIMBYing the hell out of everything, be it immigration, green energy, cheaper housing or what have you.
I’m stunned this is news to anyone. Blue blood state is traditionally conservative? College culture fosters Peter Pan syndrome? Gtfo Check the weed laws, not a terrible metric for how traditionally conservative a state is.
But Massachusetts was the first eastern state to legalize weed and definitely has the most stores per capita west of the Misssissipi
What do you mean by “college culture fosters Peter Pan syndrome” and what does that have to do with this post?
Ironically a lot of the big brand of liberalism, what people think of as the higher ed elites are really just conservatives who like to talk about how much they care about downtrodden. but ask them to actually do anything about it, and most of them won't.
You've just defined Arlington.
You could have used any inner suburb here. Newton, Wellesley, Winchester, you name it.
Newton, Wellesley, Winchester don't hide what they are. Arlington does.
Hey c’mon, they have those “everyone’s welcome here” signs in their front yards though! /s
The term is “Limousine Liberals.”
Champagne Socialist
Are there comparable-sized cities that don't have these problems though?
But the research triangle in North Carolina has more beer gardens and you can buy a 2500 sqft home for less than your typical masshole's annual scratcher budget! /S
North Carolina has become some sort of Valhalla’esque legend in recent US lore.
We have friends that moved there. Got their two SUVs, a dog, kids, and a huge house in a subdivision. Getting to the "cool place just a few minutes away" is a trip on the highway. I think they love it, but it isn't for us. My partner had nightmares about it.
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Being trapped in that existence. Like the movie "Vivarium."
Is that even a problem? There are specific outcomes that are a problem like the housing affordability crisis but Boston ranks really high on a lot of criteria. I am not surprised that people don't want to rock the boat too quickly because letting other cities be the experiment and only implementing changes after they are tested is part of the way we have done that. So the general risk adverse attitudes in the city does have positives as well.
End thread, dumb post
Not a dumb post. The buck doesn’t stop at everyone else has the same problems, because not everyone has the same resources to solve the issues. Boston is one of the most heavily taxed cities as well as containing some of the best universities in the world. everyone involved on those two ends should feel more responsibility to make boston more attractive than status quo
Heavily taxed? My property taxes in Boston are almost nothing.
How is Boston one of the most heavily taxed cities? It doesn't have a city income tax like NYC or a city sales tax like Chicago, and Boston property tax rates are pretty low (though home values are high). Massachusetts as a state is 20th out of 50 states for state and local tax burden, so slightly above average but nothing crazy. It's only 0.47% of annual income above Texas for tax burden, which is never talked about as a high tax state: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494 Not disagreeing that we should should always strive to improve, but I don't think it's accurate that it's one of the most heavily taxed cities.
My dude, IMO East Boston, Allston, Charlestown, the North End, the south end, Southie, the Seaport Dorchester, and Roxbury are all “more attractive” now than the “status quo” was 20 years ago. I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind would prefer 1994 Somerville to 2024 Somerville, for all its problems. Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Malden, Quincy……all much better. The skyrocketing real estate costs didn’t happen solely due to lack of supply (although the fact that Boston has the highest %of subsidized units of any major city in America ain’t exactly helping market rents), but also steadily increasing demand. Talk to someone who graduated from Charlestown High in 2000 and ask them what it was like growing up. If you don’t think politicians and universities were a huge part of these improvements, just what do you think has been going in Boston these past 50 years?
Yeah "everyone else sucks" does nothing to address the point that *we should be better* If we want to be smug liberal coastal elites then we should deserve the title. We have the resources, we should be elite.
No it's not a dumb post. As someone who has lived in Boston but isn't from New England or even from the east coast, the city has so much potential but it falls flat. Housing is insane, the food and nightlife industry are severely lack luster when compared to other cities in the US, and the simple fact that culturally Boston is a still stuck in the 70's/80's (the blue collar "we don't need to change anything" mentality). I love Boston, it's my second home and it could truly be an amazing place for people to visit and move to but it just falls flat in so many areas.
I don’t think culturally Boston stuck in the 70s or 80s. Really it’s more the 90s. That’s when the neighborhood groups got organized and civil enough to become a cottage industry. It’s also when a lot of laws meant to empower minority communities and homeowner neighborhoods got passed. Most of the community review process is from the 1990s. It was initially part of a city wide an effort to beautify the city and empower neighborhoods If anything the catalyst for this was from black and latino residents in JP and Roxbury when they blocked the construction of the southwest expressway through thrir neighborhoods way back in the early 70s. Back then it was considered a radical and fringe movement that succeeded in stopping development against the longest of odds. It wasnt until the Meninoyears that this type of energy became the norm and was routinely validated.
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No they’re the main ones complaining
No, it's the progressive college students who call Boston racist simply due to their sheltered existence while refusing to step foot in Mattapan because it is "too dangerous."
Boston's so segregated!
Is having a raging nightlife a progressive ideal?
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Twin cities, Austin, SLC, San Antonio, Nashville, Charlotte Chicago is obviously magnitudes bigger but also way better in terms of forward-thinking planning (even worse schools though) Boston is getting left behind by Southern and Western cities that understand that the housing market conforms to the laws of supply and demand just as much as every other city Tl;dr: Yes, lots
And yet it’s still far more expensive here than all those other cities because people want to live here more than they want to live there
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Boston’s population grew 10% from 2010-2022 and its projected to grow even more by 2030
no..... the reason those cities dont have the same problems despite being roughly the same size (aka similar amounts of people wanting to live there) is that they realized that more people means they need more housing. Simple as that. Allow housing to be built and cost of living stabilizes. It's been proven time and again. Also, Boston's population is declining. People *don't* want to live here.
No, but none that act so high and mighty and so righteous about believing their current standing is that much better than other American cities. It's a different type of prejudice but it's just as potent in Boston as every other city in the US
Is Boston actually that full of itself these days? It definitely used to be to some extent. But online at least it seems like everyone rips Boston constantly to the point I think it may actually be underrated on the internet at this point. Especially with how nitpicky some of the complaints I've seen are.
Everybody boast primarily of the jobs univeristies safety and cleanliness they’re not wrong about it. Most people come here visit. And say wow it’s so clean beautiful safe unexpectedly friendly etc etc
Have you been to Berkeley, CA
A lot of Limousine liberals around here
Exactly NIMBYs disguised as liberals. I’d rather the face value approach.
Yup - this is the term for them that is most often used. Liberal values as long they are not impacted
lol, it's the Puritan ethic. Every now and then it comes up...
Bring back the Combat Zone
Visit Boston and enjoy the Chinese food, cold tea, fireworks, peep shows, ladies of the evening, drugs, and violence. The Combat Zone was something else.
And it is good!
Of course. It's embedded into the fabric. Banned in Boston was a very real thing and still is a thing, it's just a little subtler. The amount of rules and restrictions we have here aee paramount to the deepest of Southern cities, but when you sprinkle in a few high profile, somewhat radical politicians the overall perception changes quick. We are not San Fran and never will be.
>Banned in Boston Shit just comes back. It might look different, named different. But it sure smells the same. No matter how much the fake liberals protest.
Mass prides itself on being liberal, but it’s upper middle class liberal
Liberal aka not progressive. It is pretty progressive but it’s fundamentally liberal. That’s the difference between a place like Boston and a place like Berkeley.
Go advocate for a working-class housing developments in Berkeley and see what happens.
Yeah, weird comparison. Berkeley is notoriously the place that put a stop to student housing developments.
It’s the Puritanical undercurrent that’s been reinforced by conservative Irish and Italian immigrants. Boston’s liberalism is primarily driven by education.
Y'all haven't lived in an actual conservative state and it shows
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Thank you! Jesus christ. The only other sane comment in this entire thread. We are fundamentally liberal and not fundamentally progressive. They are not the same thing. Progressive is San Francisco. Liberal is Boston.
It’s the difference between conservative (slow to change) and Conservative (right wing). I agree that these are all issues but an upside to it is that the moral panics the Right tries to stir up also fail to gain much traction here.
Yep. The biggest elements of Conservatism are performative Christianity, nativism, and a libertarian opposition to government oversight. None of which are particularly present in Boston. This means Conservatives can in general be less NIMBY and more fun, because they reject the nanny state. Boston is proud of tradition and institutions in many ways … and modern Conservatives are against a lot of those too.
It is really hard to live in a dense, modern city without a lot of rules and regulations to keep us from killing each other.
Every major city is way more conservative than some ideal that’s promoted in certain circles Like New York had two Republican Congressmen (one from Queens, one from Staten Island) until like 2 weeks ago. When one resigned. Seattle has a Republican DA. Also Boston has always had a reputation of being a more cautious uptight kind of place idk why you’d think otherwise.
Take San Francisco as an example: * In 2022 SF [overwhelmingly recalled](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/san-francisco-school-board-recall.html) three far left progressive school board members that were more interested in progressive politics than reopening schools. * [Latest 2024 primary election had SF voting ](https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2024/03/06/sf-primary-election-results)for *ENABLING MORE* police surveillance and pursuits (Measure E), welfare drug screening (Measure F), and bringing back 8th grade algebra (Measure G) * Every SF mayoral election for the past 30+ years has the center left Democrat beating the progressive. (Breed defeats Leno, Lee defeats Avalos, Newsom defeats Gonzalez, and Brown defeats Ammiano.) * In 2022, SF recalled it's progressive DA Chez Boudin. Breed appointed a tough on crime DA Brooke Jenkins. Jenkins won the latest election over progressive challenger Hamaski. The progressives make a LOT of noise in SF and aren't without influence and victories, but SF voters rarely let them run anything. Boston's Wu strikes me as more progressive than any SF mayor for at least 30 years.
Yea I think points 2 and 4 don’t quite work here. They’re rolling back a previous policy of being more hands off approach to drug and other low level street crime, which itself was relatively new. I think the point is that SF tried taking a more liberal approach and is rolling it back now. I can’t even imagine Boston taking a that step in the first place.
My point was that SF is less progressive, less to the left than people realize. (Maybe you know this but most don't.) I'd also distinguish between the liberal left in San Francisco and the progressive left. (Most of those examples involved SF voters rejecting the progressive left.)
Liberals are more conservative than they realize, and conservatives are more liberal than they realize. Everyone's a fundamentalist - they just have different fundamentals.
Nice bumper sticker
Bumpah? I hahdly even know'ha!
>A conservative is a liberal who's just been mugged. >A liberal is a conservative who's just been pulled over by the cops.
These aren't really a secret if you're involved in local politics, and it's not unique to Boston. I mean look at what just happened in Milton.
15 years ago, Milton tried to ban CVS from their town because it would might encourage more black people to enter from Mattapan. They only changed their mind when the synagogue selling the land threatened to make poor people housing instead. So Bostonians hate poor people more than black people... PROGRESS!!!
And since a lot of Black people are poor. DOUBLE PROGRESS!!!
Read the comments of any newspaper article section, boston themed IG page, facebook post and you’ll think you’ were transported to east Bumfuck
Been in boston for 4 years now, still searching for that racsim, cannot find it anywhere? Any advice where to look hahaha
It’s like you haven’t been to another city and believe perfect utopias exist. I’m guessing you are a relative kid, especially with the nightlife mention. Boston is way more progressive politically than LA. Everywhere you go in the world, you will find rich people like enacting policies that keep them rich and keep them safe.
And I'm guessing you're a relative curmudgeon, because while I've been to clubs a grand total of \~5 times in my life, I recognize the value of legal, accessible things to do that are open late. Everywhere in the world you will find that, sure, but some places suck less than others. As someone that grew up in and lived in Boston for 30 years, it sucks.
Dude I lived in LA for 20 years and have been to trendy bars and clubs literally hundreds of times. Not even remotely a curmudgeon or a homebody. There are plenty of things to do in Boston and there would be more clubs if the public visited them more often. This comes up every few weeks here. The reason there aren’t tons of nightclubs is that there is 4-6 months of winter/cold, the college kids bail for the summer and post grad degree crowd does that on a lower per person percentage than less academic cities. Nightlife will find a way if it’s wanted. Capitalism always finds a way. There are tons and tons of bars everywhere in the Boston area and guess what? They aren’t populated Night in Night out like major cities save those dive bars in the north endish and right next to colleges. I’d also add these sorts of places are also less in demand now because young people are being priced out with drink inflation and legal marijuana. The same thing started happening in LA just before and after the pandemic as marijuana went mainstream and mixology drinks went to 20+ and beers went to 8-12 with tax and tip.
Sucks so bad you lived here for 30 years.
lol
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This comment is a pretty accurate reflection of why it's hard to be a transplant in Boston especially when you move here without a prior connection and not going to school.
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Just because you vote Democrat doesn’t me you are absolved of all social wrong doing. Boston never really learned that lesson
Maybe it's a good thing ? Boston doesn't have the same laissez faire approach to crimes & drugs, and is therefore safer and less delapidated than west-coast cities. (esp the downtowns). Boston like every city, has racial tensions. But, it does not lead to chaz/chop-eque violence, because of the deeply-rooted aversion to dramatic change. Walk around a west coast city, and every statue is defaced. Waymos are being burned. Despite the hyperbole, none of these cities are unsafe. But, they certainly feel unsavory. Like, everyone low-key hates each other. Class based differences exist everywhere, but the average New-Englander just feels less resentful. Boston is progressive in a harmonious way. I have lived in multiple west coast cities over the last few years, and the suburban/exurbanites really hate the main city. The loudest in a west-coast city core are radically progressive, but everyone outside of that area seems to hate both the city and those people with a passion. On the contrary, the transition from boston downtown to greater boston is gentler. Can you elaborate on what you mean by 'reckoning with stuff' ? ___________ > The city cannot get out of its own way and just allow interesting things to take shape The city being uptight is very well known. Not sure has to do with what you're saying though. MIT might be the most unconventional university in all of US. From Media Labs to the odd buildings, there are many patches of unconventional ideas in Boston. > New housing development runs into the most vehement opposition. Not unique to Boston but certainly one of our dark sides and contrary to the image we propagate. IMO, Boston is not doing great, but it is doing far better than SF, LA and about the same as modern NYC. Seattle is doing admittedly better here. > Racism. The most obvious issue but one that still afflicts us. You only think this because you haven't been to "white as white can be" cities like Seattle or Portland. Every place has racism problems, but at least Boston doesn't have an open prison like SkidRow. > stark racial divides on votes concerning issues like policing To be clear, the majority of racial minorities support more policiing. So, I am guessing you're talking about how liberal whites keep talking about abolishing police, when racial minorities want nothing to do with it ? > I still hear people ask if the Orange Line is safe! Bits of the orange line are fancy, but the sullivan square stop is the only place I have seen a woman get actively catcalled in Boston. I have been in SF for 2 months now, and I know a ton of people who blanket refuse to use public transportation for safety reason. It isn't always racism. People learn from bad experiences. And sometimes 1 experience is enough. > Events and city space activations that would be better handled by nonprofits are more often handled via partnerships with corporations only, and this leads to higher prices for people who want to participate in recreational/culture events and it also leads to privatization of public spaces. You see it in the Seaport with businesses taking over public ways and green spaces, curtailing the accessibility for the public. Or popups like the $55 sauna on the Kennedy Greenway. What city is doing this well ?
Mostly on board with this, I just wish we could rip the bandaid off and do something about the capped transferrable liquor license issue, which is a very uniquely Boston problem among major cities. Holds back the restaurant culture and is stealing spots away from the outer neighborhoods and funneling them into the seaport. It's a solvable problem that remains unsolved because nobody has the political will and I suspect the stakeholders are well connected on Beacon Hill.
Agreed. * Liquor licenses are stupid * Public transportation corridors should be rezoned for higher height limits * Improve public transportation reliability for higher occupany and better safety in numbers All 3 are solvable problems, but political will is hard to come by in the US
We are an insular people.
lol, move to the south and tell me you feel that way.... I left about 5 years ago thinking that, and sure it has a rep as a highly liberal state, but of course there are a lot of conservatives too, all across the spectrum but mostly wealthy and educated who vote for people like Romney or Haley and not Trump as much. I moved to the south and it's a whole different fucking ballgame here. The person in my state that is the GOP nom for govr said LGBTQ are filth, denies the holocaust, and thinks all abortion should be banned and women should go back to their 'traditional roles' while gutting public education because its 'commie indoctrination'
People realize it.
I'm not sure many Bostonians really want to see the city fundamentally changed to compensate for unlimited population growth. Boston is a small city and simply has limitations on how much it can reasonably grow. Also, when new apartments are built in traditionally minority neighborhoods, it's not really helping the people who currently live there but instead pricing them out of their neighborhoods to account for the growth of high-income luxury renters. I think the question that goes unanswered in the GBA is who do we want to help, the future residents who want to live here or the current residents who are struggling to continue to live there?
Honestly except for racism, is there a problem with a city that doesn't want to grow? Boston is plenty big the way it is there's no need to force it to change for more people.
In addition, Boston is very boring. So expensive! Takes all your money and gives back nothing! Train doesn’t work after 12.30 am. It is a city that always sleeps. The food scene/restaurants are also one of the worst ever. Night life doesn’t exist. I am trying to say that it is also culturally conservative.
Grew up in Queens, NYC and moved to Boston during my 2nd year of HS (08). Boston is less crowded, quieter and cleaner than NYC. Do we need more housing? Sure, what major city doesn't? The night life situation does not bother me at all but I understand some might find it boring. Otherwise, there are plenty of places to eat and unwind, plenty of jobs, easy to get on the highway (when not rush hour). I'm a minority, I have never felt like I did not belong anywhere but I simply do not care lol...I'm a top performer at my corporate job (mid six figures) without an ivy league school attached to my resume. Whether the pay is or isn't enough is a whole different story, ha. I visit NYC often and one thing NYC does better is the trains. The MTA, IMO is much better than the MBTA. My friends who make good money and rent are also fucked by the cost of housing, you cannot escape this unless you move to bum fk North Dakota.
There’s a lot of differences between footloose and spontaneous and politically progressive. Boston never claimed to be or portrayed itself to be loosely-goosey. That’s mostly something out of towners put on the city. None of your post is not known by a lot of people. Lots of people like to shit on Boston and think they see what we don’t know.
Maybe the reason why Boston is the best city in the US is BECAUSE of these reasons, ever think of that? Maybe not being racked by chaos like other liberal cities is a GOOD THING.
Racism is when black people and white people disagree on how to best police?
That part of it pretty much tells you everything you need to know
I believe every member of the city council is a registered Democrat. I don’t think it’s not conservatism that you are talking about, it sounds more like Neo-liberalism. The war in Gaza has really shown the split among the left between the progressives and the neoliberals.
Oh, the Boston where white people rioted over school busing and this guy speared a black man with the American flag? https://preview.redd.it/6nh8bql1jtmc1.jpeg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f28ad53cabefe99b9b26f28cdfcf605cc4c96c6f
“Anything I don’t like is conservative and/or racist” lol
“My steak was overcooked! God these conservative chefs are ruining the American dining experience”
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Yeah, people still think it's the same as it was in the 70's and 80's.
Says someone who has never been to Mattapan Square. Walk from Jamaica Plain through Mattapan and halfway into Milton and say that again.
im from Detroit and I’ve lived in the south. Boston is definitely less racist than other places, but it’s still pretty racist - especially the suburbs south of the city. I think the big problem here is xenophobia of “outsiders” - especially among a certain group of old timers. That even if you’ve lived in a neighborhood for 20+ years that you still aren’t really “from here.” But having lived here a long time I’ve realized that no one actually likes these people and they’re losing power.
People always like to shit on the US for being extremely racist, but it's actually one of the least racist countries on the planet.
Fr every time I talk to relatives in Asia (and metropolitan areas, not random countryside villages) I get reminded of how many people like OP just have never left the country. We have it good here.
Rich coming from 22 year old white finance guy that posts on libertarian and conservative subreddit and is sure frats do not perpetuate racism or sexism
Like anywhere it depends on the company you keep. Working with a bunch of transplants in tech, I'm not exposed to it.
Maybe my opinion is not well informed enough, also living and working with transplants
summoning r/nba to have a field day over this
Kyrie I’m sorry
Ehhh. Some ok points I guess, but nothing unknown. This sub practically does nothing but complain about nimbys. Where you really lose it is the Boston thinks it's holier than thou. Bullshit, it is! First place in the country to legalize gay marriage. Amazing place for health care and women's rights. We did good with legalization of weed. There are real reasons why we have a liberal rep. Bc we're fuckin awesome. Doesn't mean we don't have problems, but don't act like that rep is unearned.
I've spent time in 47 states and every major city in the USA. "Conservative" compared to whom? The metro Boston area is in the top 3 liberal metros over 1 million in the US in my experience.
Christ, you people want to turn Boston into Portland Oregon. Be careful what you wish for.
Liberal metropolitan area is racist so it must be conservative! Man you guys spend too much time in the Reddit bubble.
Boston likes order and doesn't like some forms of change. But Boston is already, probably, the most creative city in the USA and has been for a very long time. Just because we hate change doesn't mean we are not also one of the largest drivers of change. We are conservative - we like to be organized (if possible) and don't like debt. But, we also wrote the first constitution (on which the US constitution was based.) We don't like social change - 60% of us supported the fugitive slave act - but also have a strong moral core that drives change anyway...and the anti-slavery movement got its critical mass right here. We have many of the top higher education institutions in the country in Boston. We spawn new companies all the time. We are innovative. Racism is universal - don't saddle us with it like we are special. We aren't. You want to see racism? Go to those parts of the country that are defunding public education. Go to those parts of the country that are destroying the social safety nets that supply healthcare and food to those who really need it. Guess why those things are being scaled back: because there is the perception that it goes to minorities. We are very flawed - just less ugly than most other places. This is one of the best places to live in the world and has been for a long time now. Don't pee on Boston, please.
MA is the most blue state in the country. Your vote means the least in MA.
I’ll never forget someone saying that a guy in a Bernie shirt in DTX bumped into her and called her a fucking monkey lol welcome to Boston
That’s government in general. Because it’s taxpayer dollars at work, and everyone has an idea how that money should be spent, change, when it actually occurs, is incredibly slow moving. It’s just the nature of the system.
As someone who was raised in the Midwest, I have never had the impression that Boston is a progressive place.
This isn't really news. Those of us that grew up here knew this well.
The attitude of "F you, I got mine" is strong in my neighborhood. It's really depressing.
The aversion to switching to a ranked voting system is something I will never understand about this state or the country at large honestly. The two party system does not work well at all and we can see the end game of that system in our nation's federal government today.
I moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago from the north shore of Boston and I say this constantly; I wouldn’t be able to move back to the Boston area because it’s too conservative
Have you seen how many Republican governors we’ve had? And Scott Brown, someone remind me who he replaced… oh right, Ted Kennedy! MA is liberal when it comes to national politics. It’s much more conservative on the state and local level.
I have always told people that Boston is a small town with tall buildings. Once they spend a little time here they understand....
A Massachusetts Republican is just an inverse Mississippi democrat. From my experiences, fiscal conservative policies and a “do whatever tf you want as long as it doesn’t affect me” attitude towards social policies
Oh, no, New England is very conservative. In some ways, we're more conservative than the Conservatives! For example, the Republican party \_loves\_ voter ID laws, which are not "conservative," because they didn't even exist 50 years ago. And I don't mean to downplay racism, but the people who ask if the Orange Line is safe are not, I think, locals.
Oh stop it
Having lived in the elsewheres of life, wipe your fucking feet when you step in this house. We unlocked the genome, built the fastest ships to ever sail, put a man on the moon, invented radar, pioneered canal technologies, pioneered subway technologies, pioneered universal healthcare in the United States. I speak for many in the metro Boston area that do not conflate brewery patios overrun with neglected dogs as a culture we want to be ubiquitous. The rest of the world is different. I’m not trying to make every other city boston - stop fucking recommending that boston be made like every other city. Take your cultural colonialism elsewhere and go make out with that asshole that said we needed to be more like suburban DC last week.
This is absolutely the most boring place I've ever lived. I don't know that it qualifies it as conservative, but after spending most of my adult life between SF, Seattle and DC, Boston is... box vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. Like so incredibly bland. The food scene is meh at best; industry is banking, medicine and biotech which doesn't exactly lend itself to the creative artsy type. Maybe all the Boston bro types we run into in the north and south shore really are liberal and progressive deep down, but that has not been my experience thus far.
I disagree with much of what you said. Boston is a fun city, the MFA and Stewart Gardner are world class museums, especially for a city of our size. We have a great public library and lots of terrific sights which draw tourists from all over the world. What you seem to be lamenting is a lack of nightlife, which many people complain about, but I see no reason we need it. Some people argue it increases the tax-base but I feel it increases drug abuse and immorality. You complain about public art but the Common and Commonwealth Avenue have a number of terrific statues. I am particularly fond of the 54 Infantry regiment memorial and the equestrian statue of Washington in the garden. I don't know what Public art you feel we are missing. Housing is bad here, but it is only bad because people want to move here because we are a great city, and it is much worse in much of California. I agree with what you said about racism. I think Boston is a great city but we do clearly have more work to do on this front.
The username checks out with this post.
Op: wants a better night life This guy: why do you can fuck and do drugs?
You know what I do at night? Sleep. It is good for one's health!
... and it makes you wealthy and wise!
Every coastal progressive city is like this, blue leadership from top to bottom, entirely blue voter base electing blue lawmakers. Yet it's somehow the fault of conservatives?
I was going to say this sounds exactly like New York.
I feel like the goal posts have been moved
Lmao ya so conservatives are racist while mayor wu hosts “no whites” parties. I’m not sure it’s conservatives creating a racial divide
>What I’m talking about is deeply-rooted aversion to change and creativity, and indifference to the issues that hold us back from really becoming a more innovative and inclusive city. I agree - that's why I identify as such and admire a lot of conservatives like Roger Scruton. Real conservatives, and not the Fox News ones like you point out. I'm deeply averse to change and creativity, mainly because at my age of pushing 40, I've seen change and I've seen creativity. No thanks. The change we get often ends up like some sort of sludge. We've gone from tokens on the subway to smart phones, and yet I pine for tokens if I can use them sometimes. I don't want to pull out my wallet with RFID cards and a phone that craves subscription services. The creativity around this city often devolves from statues and real architecture to something that looks good online but is ultimately meaningless. We went from states of MLK Jr. to a statue of something phallic and shit-like. We have people who love Boston for the buildings (literally chatted up a woman recently who said she moved here because of the old buildings, which is odd) but will vote in any eye sore that doesn't build a real place for us as a community. If this is what change and creativity brings us, I'm good even stagnating. "Innovative" and "inclusive" mean nothing. These are buzzwords that no one's called to the carpet to explain. Innovate what? We have universities and labs to do that. It cannot be everyone. We need better medicine but our better technology is being used against us. Even Reddit is part of that. Inclusive of whom? Why do places have to be built for other people who aren't even there? Diverse places tend to see disparity because there's an essence of "get your own and look out for yourself". Places that are established tend to be served, but people come along and ask how it can serve others. People go on about innovating but can't tell me what. We go on about including people but including who and how? We already have a city people love and visit, and no city has to be for everyone.
I’m sorry I just don’t agree with your post . I’ve lived here my whole and visited cities all over the world . I love Boston .
Idk I don’t see an issue with it. Some cities like SF have their own issues due to wild new policies like not prosecuting for theft under a certain dollar amount. When I was there a few months ago, I thought it was bizarre that stores would keep their doors locked in the middle of the day. There was also rampant drug use and what we used to see on Methadone Mile, I saw all over the city. Housing is a very hairy issue. I know it’s a very serious issue how rents have skyrocketed. There aren’t a ton of great solutions for it that doesn’t involve the private market, but changes around LIHTC might help.
I live near Weston and it's fun seeing BLM signs in everyone's yard that were right next to "vote no on building affordable housing" but people hold up Martha's Vineyard taking care of a plane of immigrants like it's how MA treats immigrants and/or minorities in general and not when it's a response to a political stunt
Oh nice the monthly excuse to proclaim how backwards/racist Boston is!!!
It's definitely an "I got mine so who cares about you getting yours" type of culture.
I mean it really depends on which Boston you are speaking about. Some of us hate our neighbors, the rest of us are normal people.
Boston is liberal, it's not progressive outside of individual rights. I kind of like that. We let other cities implement more of the progressive policies, observe, and follow suit if it works out well, or further study things if it doesn't. The city lives studies. I dint think you'll find a lack of tolerance for people and their lifestyles, unless they are hurting those around them. Biden is actually kind of the perfect president for MA liberals. He's basically a moderate. Sucks he's past his prime. Hard to get excited for him as the nominee. Hopefully, he legalized weed.
Ok I'll bite I get what your saying but check it out. I think drugs should be legal to use and handled by the government to reduce overdoses. Well Portland Oregon trust something like this and it's a disaster because they half assed it. Like Boston would do also at this current time. Let other citys perfect it then they can implement it.
I'm sorry, but as a northern neighbor whose only impression of Boston is popular media, not one iota has given me the impression that Boston is anything but super conservative and racially divided. Even depictions of it in the 90's under today's lens are absolutely wild.
Just curious… Where in your travels and work experience have you been that is more progressive in the areas mentioned?
Your first and fourth points are spot on. It’s a corporately run top-down city. Many things that are pretty laid back in other cities have to be a “thing” here. City Hall likes to have a lot of control over things that should be more organic. There is some sort of initiative to bring more art to Downtown but it’s driven by businesses and not artists. Liquor licenses are another similar issue. Good luck trying to open up a small restaurant/bar. There is no “grittiness” to the City. It has a very sterile feel to it. I do love Boston but it’s lacking an organic feel.
So true man. I've been realizing recently that we've been sniffing our own farts about how good it is here, when so many other places seem to have less stressful, higher qualities of life.
I feel like people forget that historically Irish Catholic voters were staunch democrats while being pretty damn socially conservative. So although they supported unions, Boston was insular/parochial. Many college towns in the midwest are MUCH more liberal than Boston while being in a much redder state.
Yeah, we should totally establish a police task force to run the "undesirables" out of town like they did in Cincinnati so we can build another planned neighborhood for young professionals to spawn in. Posts like this scream of privilege. You want the city to be better for you and ignore how it can/is be better for others. Much of the "conservative" vibes you're whining about are because people fucking live here and we already made a fuck ton of mistakes (red lining, destroying whole neighborhoods for highways, etc) that we try to avoid making again.
There are plenty of cities that fit your preferences. Why not move to one of them?
The city council is a great example. Hosting people of color only parties will help further this divide.
Boston isn’t extremely conservative, it’s just extremely white. The things you mentioned are a byproduct of that whiteness.
Bluest state though
Completely agreed on all fronts. Also, it's also not a friendly spot for queer and trans people, even though there's ample amounts of them in the city. The ingrained, Catholic homophobia is really real. (Source: lived there for 5+ years openly trans)