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North vs. South, Rustbelt vs. Sunbelt


bobliocatt

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I didn't mean pull out the bulldozers and level the city.

I meant redevelop areas that aren't in use, and rennovate as much as possible, and what absolutely CANNOT be redeveloped - there should be more room to tear down and REBUILD. And it has to be rebuilt to better standards, not just left there.

Example of what I mean: the idea for the green space where the old central artery is, well, I think its a horrible idea to turn it all into green space. Why not tear down the Central Artery, and sure build a few parks, but put up tons of condos and businesses in the blocks where the central artery once existed. Reconnect the streets and develop that blank space. Don't leave it blank, its a city for crying out loud. Not some forest.

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The engineering challenges of tall buildings stradling the artery make them prohibitively expensive. I would like to see a touch more development in the corridor, but overall I'm pleased with it as is. The areas at the southern and northern ends of the artey (around North and South Stations) are likely to see some more highrise development. There is a spaghetti junction of exposed ramps at the southern end that will eventually be mostly covered by buildings. The tunnels aren't as wide, making the engineering less challenging.

There is an incomplete corridor in Boston. The Southwest Corridor was cleared in the 70s (60s?) to make way for I-95 to come straight into the city. Community oposition put a stop to all highway construction within the 128 belt and the Southwest Corridor was converted to a corridor for the Orange Line subway and expanded commuter rail and Amtrak service. The rail lines were put in a mostly open cut trench with a linear park alongside. The plan was to overtime, cover the tracks with development, housing, office, retail. The plan never got that far. The area served has been an economically depressed region of the city for decades and no developers were willing to touch. The area is no turning around, and hopefully we'll see developers revisiting those parcels. They are perfect for residential development on account of being right on top of a subway line.

There are other areas of the city (Allston-Brighton along the Pike comes to mind) that could be redone from the ground up, but serious transit improvements would be needed in order to introduce a large number of people to the area.

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I don't know why people think Boston is a rich, snobbish, elite area. There are tons of blue collar workers on the docks, trucks, and in construction, etc. There are immigrants from all over the world. It's true, there are some premier companies and institutions in the city, but the vast majority of us never went to harvard or sat in a corner office. Like most big cities there are many very rich people who live in exclusive areas (same as other cities e.g. beverly hills, 5th Ave, etc.) The average person has an average job and average income.

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  • 11 months later...

Sweetie, I'm so happy that you have so much pride in your city, but your flurry of posts on the matter are becoming tiresome. If you've come here to be nothing but a Philly homer, I think you may find yourself quickly ostracized by the regular members. This isn't a contest, we can all appreciate one city and that does not have to be done at the expense of another city. Boston and Philly have far more in common than you seem willing to give them credit for.

We would all love to hear and see more about Philadelphia, but your aimless boosterism, and childish cries of outrage are not going to improve anyone's view of the city, or educate anyone about it.

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  • 7 months later...

There are certainly exceptions, but I think regional groupings are fairly accurate. In the great lakes region, the only city that really stands out is Indianapolis, which looks much more like a sunbelt city. In the sunbelt, Birmingham probably has more in common with Pittsburgh than most of it's neighbors. Other cities in the region generally have very small urban cores, however, and mostly cul-de-sac and strip mall development along side major highways.

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SNOW[/size]

Thats the reason lots of the southern cities are going faster. Little or no snow.

Not all the southern cities are growing but some are losting population.

Econonics play a good part in these cities growth (location, wages, homes, energy, etc.) but our mild winters have a lot to do with this growth.

I have meet many people from the northern states saying little snow is one of the big reasons they move south.

Txtiles and furniture has taken a beating down here. They are our rust belt cities and towns if we let it. We must find something else to do.

Dole foods is putting a plant in Gaston county, and up in Kannapolis there is talk about doing a joint project with NCSU, UNC, UNCC and Duke on food research and other unname projects.

This is a start, but it takes people with a vision and big pockets to make these things happen. Sometimes, what we lose is not as important, as what we get to replace our loss, we could be better off.

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Growing up in the "rust belt" (Just west of the Iron Range), of course I have to say I like rust belt cities better.

Of course I love the hospitality of the south. And I love the sun-bleached oblivious attitude of southern Californians. But I'm a winter person. There's nothing that builds character more than -40*F with a biting wind and darkness by 4:30pm... or gellatinous fish that was soaked for a week in a chemical more suitable for cleaning a house and then boiled... Or celebrating the frigid temperatures by sitting on a frozen lake with a short stick with a string attached to the bottom.. hoping the fish will bite...

Or seeing the Aurora borealis, hearing the wolves howl, seing hares leaping across hte moonlit snow...

Coming in from the biting cold to eat a fresh serving of creamy wild-rice soup..

Or actually having snow on Christmas.

The climate plays a huge factor in where people want to live. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to weather. I like colorful leaves in September, snow for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines day, Easter, and occasionally Mother's day :)

Okay.. it gets a bit ridiculous... but I think if people actually braved their fears and bundled up, they'd find that winter has more to offer than a hellacious drive to work.

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Growing up in the "rust belt"  (Just west of the Iron Range), of course I have to say I like rust belt cities better.

Of course I love the hospitality of the south.  And I love the sun-bleached oblivious attitude of southern Californians.  But I'm a winter person.  There's nothing that builds character more than -40*F with a biting wind and darkness by 4:30pm... or gellatinous fish that was soaked for a week in a chemical more suitable for cleaning a house and then boiled... Or celebrating the frigid temperatures by sitting on a frozen lake with a short stick with a string attached to the bottom.. hoping the fish will bite...

Or seeing the Aurora borealis, hearing the wolves howl, seing hares leaping across hte moonlit snow...

Coming in from the biting cold to eat a fresh serving of creamy wild-rice soup..

Or actually having snow on Christmas.

The climate plays a huge factor in where people want to live.  I'm a traditionalist when it comes to weather.  I like colorful leaves in September, snow for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines day, Easter, and occasionally Mother's day :) 

Okay.. it gets a bit ridiculous... but I think if people actually braved their fears and bundled up, they'd find that winter has more to offer than a hellacious drive to work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i agree.. i made a similar post in the old "do warmer cities have an advantage over colder ones"

I think the rustbelt cities are better purely because of the variety of nature. That is one of the big reasons I love Rhode Island... with foliage filled autumns and nice weather, to a cold white christmas (and I love winter clothes from abercrombie) and then Spring is soo beautiful and refreshing to have a little warm weather again. Not to mention in the summer that beaches are an hour away TOPS.. for some it is just down the street.

I just wish we had mountains

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what a lot of people fail to realize about boston is that there are several large neighborhoods with relatively affordable housing not far at all from downtown. but too many people think their only options are in beacon hill, back bay, and the south end. of course if every single neighborhood were served by rapid transit more people would be moving to them and living there much more easily (hyde park, west roxbury, roslindale, parts of jp and roxbury)

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SNOW[/size]

Thats the reason lots of the southern cities are going faster. Little or no snow.

Not all the southern cities are growing but some are losting population.

Econonics play a good part in these cities growth (location, wages, homes, energy, etc.) but our mild winters have a lot to do with this growth.

I have meet many people from the northern states saying little snow is one of the big reasons they move south.

Txtiles and furniture has taken a beating down here. They are our rust belt cities and towns if we let it.  We must find something else to do.

Dole foods is putting a plant in Gaston county, and up in Kannapolis there is talk about doing a joint project with NCSU, UNC, UNCC  and Duke on food research and other unname projects.

This is a start, but it takes people with a vision and big pockets to make these things happen.  Sometimes, what we lose is not as important, as what we get to replace our loss, we could be better off.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have never been able to figure out what the big hangup with snow is. I'll take 4 months of snow over a years worth of bugs any day :w00t:

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I have never been able to figure out what the big hangup with snow is.  I'll take 4 months of snow over a years worth of bugs any day :w00t:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would take four months of snow too...but in Minneapolis we have five: December, January, February March --and maybe 1/2 April and 1/2 November.

The trick is to celebrate it. You never hear skiiers, snowmobilers, ice skater, hockey players etc. compalin about snow. I love all the seasons.

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