Recent comments in /f/CambridgeMA
HaddockBranzini-II t1_itpovw1 wrote
Reply to comment by guimontag in Starbucks in Central Square by vbm-seaside-71
I walked home past the Central Library branch the other night and there were three guys shooting up in plain sight.
HaddockBranzini-II t1_itpog9a wrote
I am not sure where in Cambridge that construction is being stopped. Maybe affordable housing development, but otherwise you can't walk a block in Cambridgeport without seeing some new development for pharma-bros and gals.
Master_Dogs t1_itpmfsc wrote
Reply to comment by ClarkFable in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363
I said Sweden, not Denmark. But regardless Sweden's Capital of Stockholm actually has a lower temperature than Boston, while Copenhagen has roughly the same average temperature as Boston.
If you want another example, see how Montreal (a city a few hundred miles north of us) actually clears their bike lanes at the same time as they clear the streets: https://montreal.ca/en/topics/cycling-and-bike-paths
Again: IT'S INFRASTRUCTURE AND MAINTENANCE. You may personally be a wimpy car driver but there's plenty of people out there that will bundle up and walk, bike or transit if we fucking bothered to clear snow off our sidewalks and bike paths. Those people may be car drivers today who add to traffic when they'd be perfectly fine using an alternative if we bothered to build and maintain it year round.
ClarkFable t1_itpkarx wrote
Reply to comment by Master_Dogs in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363
At the risk of sounding like a complete wimp, Boston’s average winter low temps are much lower, we get significantly more winter precipitation, and the wind is way worse than a place like Copenhagen.
thedude2024 t1_itpgxtb wrote
Reply to comment by Hyperbowleeeeeeeeeee in Starbucks in Central Square by vbm-seaside-71
Late 80’s and early 90’s- the crime rate was triple what it is nowadays.
[deleted] OP t1_itoxddk wrote
Reply to comment by ooolooi in Why do people choose Cambridge and Boston over places like Holden? by [deleted]
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ooolooi t1_itown4w wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in Why do people choose Cambridge and Boston over places like Holden? by [deleted]
Look at it. Your house would be a waste of space for a childless couple. Most families are one couple in the city and a small cat or dog. You have to ride your "luxury" car prone to explosions and deal with the distance and the traffic while I have the luxury of my cool bike and getting exercise while I commute in Cambridge in my prime-location 1000 sqft condo.
[deleted] OP t1_itowcni wrote
Reply to comment by ooolooi in Why do people choose Cambridge and Boston over places like Holden? by [deleted]
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ooolooi t1_itow0rp wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in Why do people choose Cambridge and Boston over places like Holden? by [deleted]
Look at this:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41-Somerset-Ln-Holden-MA-01520/57600118_zpid/
Looks garbage
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3-Crawford-St-APT-9-Cambridge-MA-02139/56430820_zpid/
Majestic and beautiful
While you have to see your ugly and crappy too-large house in nowheresville and being broke from rising gas prices, I get to do a monthly payment on this beautiful condo, ride my bicycle and commute less than 30 minutes, and still pay less than your suburb house and car and gas payments. I even get to not create meaningless e-waste
[deleted] OP t1_itovq15 wrote
Reply to comment by ooolooi in Why do people choose Cambridge and Boston over places like Holden? by [deleted]
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ooolooi t1_itov5eq wrote
I live in the Boston area and love Cambridge as not only is houses there so great location, they also have very good public schools, apartments of many sizes depending on your need, bikeway access to Somerville, Boston, and Brookline, close to Boston, close to work, as well as having a lot of decent parks and walking spaces and biking spaces.
Why would people buy a house in Holden, MA that is way too big for them, takes forever to clean and to mow the lawn, and that has 100 rooms they’ll never use since all their friends live 50 miles away? Instead they could live in a walkable, center of industry, easily maintainable condo in the Boston suburb of Cambridge? In Cambridge, you basically get nearly the same benefits, but even more so including the fact that there is a better public school system, bigger houses, more bike paths, more walkability, fresh air, close to the city, close to work, close to the highway, as well as no need to own a car, so no need to worry about parking meter maids. Also, there is that place in Central i forget the name of as well so you could buy organic food without having to worry about Whole Foods being expensive and Holden, MA ditching all mom and pop food stores in favor of Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart.
Holden is too overpriced, given it is a wasteland of suburban sprawl and the public school is absolutely trash, parking is expensive, prices are so damn high for housing, it has no fresh air, nothing. No reliable old cars, only spending $2k/mo on a new car payment, while in Cambridge (Boston suburb), people get a cool 1996 Honda Civic.
[deleted] OP t1_itov5d2 wrote
Reply to comment by analogscientist in Why do people choose Cambridge and Boston over places like Holden? by [deleted]
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analogscientist t1_itoupdw wrote
Are you posting this on every sub for the Boston metro area?
boblothrope t1_itos0jz wrote
Reply to Starbucks in Central Square by vbm-seaside-71
Everyone who is concerned about crime in Central Square, please contact your city councillors!
j_parkour t1_itor0tp wrote
Reply to comment by noob_tube03 in Email City Council to Abolish Minimum Parking Requirements! City Council is meeting at 5:30pm on Monday, October 24th to discuss making it easier and cheaper to build new housing by eliminating requirement for unneeded parking spaces by Responsible-Bath2778
The same place people park in existing buildings without off-street parking: on the street, in a nearby rental space, or nowhere.
j_parkour t1_itoqu78 wrote
Reply to comment by wittgensteins-boat in Email City Council to Abolish Minimum Parking Requirements! City Council is meeting at 5:30pm on Monday, October 24th to discuss making it easier and cheaper to build new housing by eliminating requirement for unneeded parking spaces by Responsible-Bath2778
There are plenty of homes in Cambridge which have off-street parking if it's important to you. Or you can rent a space. Or you can decide to deal with street parking.
With this change, there will gradually be a little more competition for street parking in certain areas. If that's a problem for you, feel free to rent an off-street space.
Meanwhile, the city gets more housing for people who don't require off-street parking.
jgghn t1_itom1pm wrote
Reply to comment by Hyperbowleeeeeeeeeee in Starbucks in Central Square by vbm-seaside-71
It's not even how it was in the 90s.
Master_Dogs t1_itom06g wrote
Reply to comment by crazicus in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363
Blue Bikes System Data shows year after year of growth. They've added a few hundred stations over the last decade and it's paid off with millions of miles biked each year. And critically they've started to leave bikes out year round in many spots so people don't have to stop biking in the winter if it's reasonable out or if people bundle up for a short ride. And if we plow our sidewalks and bike paths too.
Master_Dogs t1_itolphi wrote
Reply to comment by ClarkFable in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363
Winter isn't a factor in many northern European countries where they:
- Actually have bike infrastructure which is more convenient than driving
- Actually maintain their bike infrastructure year round, like plowing bike paths and lanes
- Maintain their paths properly; for example, they're able to keep paths mostly ice free in Sweden by not salting the path but instead packing the snow down while plowing.
Those 2/3 things are key. We're hardy New Englanders, a bit of cold and snow doesn't bother us IF it's out of our way. Otherwise why would people continue to drive all winter long? Why is skiing, snow boarding, ice skating, hockey, etc such big things for us? Clearly we don't mind the cold if it's fun. Biking on a freshly cleared bike path IS fun. What's not fun? Riding in a snow filled roadway because the bike lane wasn't cleared and fighting with motorists who don't want you there. Maintenance and infrastructure are key if we want to provide alternatives to driving. And that goes for everything: people won't walk if the sidewalks aren't cleared and won't want to take public transit if the bus stop is filled with snow.
crazicus t1_itofnvu wrote
Reply to comment by ClarkFable in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363
It’s not really related to what was said though. OP didn’t claim it was solely a Cambridge issue nor that Cambridge alone can fix it. The point was just that it’s a small number of people blocking things for everyone else. Splitting hairs over nothing here really
IntelligentCicada363 OP t1_itocnpw wrote
Reply to comment by axeBrowser in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363
Dedicated bus lanes are extremely difficult to enforce since car drivers will just drive in them, and MA doesn't allow traffic cameras
IntelligentCicada363 OP t1_itoc4lt wrote
Reply to comment by ClarkFable in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363
Right, so the state needs to step in.
BuckyWunderlick007 t1_itoblv3 wrote
Reply to comment by coweatman in Starbucks in Central Square by vbm-seaside-71
Down Mass Ave toward MIT, yes. Not that immediate area around Carl Baron Plaza, it’s gotten much worse.
BuckyWunderlick007 t1_itoaate wrote
Reply to Starbucks in Central Square by vbm-seaside-71
I guess that police substation directly across Mass Ave isn’t helping much. Maybe if it was ever staffed.
HaddockBranzini-II t1_itpoziv wrote
Reply to comment by vbm-seaside-71 in Starbucks in Central Square by vbm-seaside-71
No, the CPD are napping in their cars in the parking lot by Fort Washington. Every time I walk my dogs there's like three or four cruisers.