• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • 5 DOUBLE-U’S
    • MASTHEAD
    • DISTRIBUTION
    • ADVERTISE
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

READER INPUT: WHAT’S WRONG WITH BOSTON?

Written by DIG STAFF Posted December 26, 2019 Filed Under: FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, NEWS+OPINIONS, Non-fiction

 

We asked, you barked

BY DIG READERS

 

Last month, we asked Dig readers—you—to share complaints about a slice or corner of the region that is in need of significant repair. It could be general, like something about a lack of computers in schools, or it could be more specific, like your feelings about a particular intersection, or the stench of natural gas on your corner.

 

We were happy to receive several dozen responses—many of which echoed each other, one of which was a poem, and some of which hit on subjects that we don’t think or write about enough around here. This wasn’t just some silly exercise; we will be using these answers, along with other input, to help guide our news and arts coverage moving forward.

 

For now, here are some standout responses, edited for clarity and space but not for politeness, since that would be no fun.

 

Ah, I have an urge!

But—alas!—in Boston, where

can I take a piss?

-Andy Gaus

 

A School Committee accountable to just one person: the mayor. And he’s not really accountable for the schools because mayoral races are about many other issues more than about schools.

-Anonymous

 

A month ago, I came back to visit friends in Somerville who I never wanted to move away from in the first place. I stayed in an AirBnB in the building that I used to live in. On the last day, I looked at the list of tenants by the buzzers to see if any of my old neighbors might be around. I moved out less than one year ago, and they’re already all gone. Every one of them.

-Alex U.

 

You would think that I would have a much better and longer answer to give you, since I spend half of my day stuck on the T, but I sadly have to spend all of that time applying for gigs since my landlord keeps raising the rent on the Brighton dump that I live in.

-Terry O’Kane

 

An ever increasing cost of living; disparities, systemic racism, and old patronage remain.

-Anonymous

 

Too many Paneras.

-Bob Tesorio

 

I’m sure a lot of people said this, but glass buildings are what’s wrong with Boston. Who the fuck designed this place? Narcissus? 

-GG

 

The slot machines at Encore Boston Harbor stole my money.

-Jason Riteman

 

The street lights aren’t timed. What’s up with that? I have lived in cities where they are timed, like New York, and it really makes a difference.

-Anonymous

 

The art scene remains classist and hard for lower-income people and people of color to enter. Only a lucky few get opportunities to showcase their work. The high cost of operating a gallery or event space also prevents those that want to give artists a space to showcase their work impossible. I dream of one day opening a space like that in my neighborhood of Allston but with the rampant development here, it feels impossible.

-Anonymous

 

Even as Boston has been a prime beneficiary of financial industry largess (free money for rich people), like New York, DC, SF, etc., unlike those other cities, Boston’s creative culture doesn’t seem to have scaled with the city’s fortune (few new small bars, small music venues, etc.).

-John Maden

 

The cost of living (the rent is too damn high!), the transit is crumbling, and artists (myself included) have been driven out for more hospitable cities (like Providence, where I live).

-Anna Feder

 

Unbridled new residential expansion with what seems to be no planning to help Boston keep its artists, working-class citizens, and others who make this an amazing place.

-Anonymous

 

There are too many people in Boston who have given up on life.

-Bil Lewis

 

Liquor licensing laws, cost of living

-Anonymous

 

Too expensive—not just expensive but value-wise, totally inflated, also racist, provincial, cliquey, and the T sucks ass.

-Anonymous

 

Boston will sell anything out to make room for big corporate money and the transient wealthy.

-Dana Jay Bein

 

The number of properties bought solely for investment is a huge drag on the city and the region. This has been well documented by the Boston Globe and others. We have people who should be able to stay here and can’t while new apartments are being built that are sitting empty. I’m sure there are conservative economists who think that is a great thing, but it doesn’t make much sense to me, and instead sounds like a dystopian hellscape out of some of my favorite graphic novels. I never thought that I would get to see them unfold in person though. 

-Anna Plaisdow

 

It has become strictly a playground for the rich, leaving affordable housing and robust public transit both pipedreams.

-Ian Judge 

 

Boston has become a city of almost no original live music clubs, and has a public that enjoys consuming national entertainment products more than cultivating a regional art and culture. This is fitting with the explosion of dull and expensive condos everywhere pushing working people and artists out and building franchises and luxury experiences for the upwardly mobile. Look at Northern California, that’s where we are headed.

-Jared Nathanson

 

The combination of horrible public transportation and horrible infrastructure for vehicles basically means there are no easy options to get in/out of the city.

-Marc Hurwitz

 

Nothing

-Dr. John

 

We talk a lot, but do not have more action.

-Anonymous

 

Marginalized communities can’t afford to live here.

-Claire Sadar

 

Casual racism and gentrification.

-Michael Mambrino

 

The culture of never talking to each other and operating in our own separate silos. 

-Anonymous

 

Many privileged people who only stay for four years or less who make Boston worse for its lifelong residents (gentrification/high rent prices, lack of investment in lifelong residents, and corruption of character).

-Anonymous

 

Madison Park should be one of the great schools not just in Boston but anywhere in the country. We should be the model of all trade schools everywhere. Our mayor even comes from the trades. Why is it so neglected? It’s hard to understand.

-Anonymous BPS teacher

 

Housing costs [are] pushing out everyone but the wealthy.

-Cagen Luse

 

The inability of our political leaders to keep the developers in check and make more space for real people.

–Samuel Potrykus

DIG STAFF

Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.

More from author
  • DIG STAFF
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-staff/
    VIDEO: MEET DOT-BASED ARTIST LUDGY JEAN-BAPTISTE OF COMIXSCAPE
  • DIG STAFF
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-staff/
    VIDEO: JACK'S ABBY X BOSTON CELTICS PRIDE AND PARQUET HOPPY LAGER UNBOXING & TASTING
  • DIG STAFF
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-staff/
    WALSH TO WASH; JANEY TO BECOME 1ST BLACK BOSTON MAYOR & 1ST WOMAN TO LEAD CITY
  • DIG STAFF
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-staff/
    What have Massachusetts conservatives said about mob violence in Washington DC?
    MASS CONSERVATIVES MOSTLY MUM ON DC MOB, THOUGH CARR PUSHES CRACKPOT CONSPIRACY

Filed Under: FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, NEWS+OPINIONS, Non-fiction Tagged With: #ArtsMatter, #mapoli, Art, arts, Cambridge, Housing, MBTA, Music, SOMERVILLE, transit, What's Wrong With Boston, WWWB

WHAT’S NEW

2021 Biden inauguration Boston

PHOTOS & RECAP: “NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN” RALLY IN BOSTON

2020 Indian farmers' protest - On a truck. Photo CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain by Randeep Maddoke, randeepphotoartist@gmail.com.

OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM?

WU ASSERTS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTS IN HER CAMPAIGN

WU ASSERTS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTS IN HER CAMPAIGN

STREET MEDICS BOLSTER PROTESTS IN MORE WAYS THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

STREET MEDICS BOLSTER PROTESTS IN MORE WAYS THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP

HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HONORED, SPEAKERS ADDRESS RACISM

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HONORED, SPEAKERS ADDRESS RACISM

Primary Sidebar

HEMPIRE FREEDOM PACK 25% OFF

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • APPOINTED SOMERVILLE OFFICIAL SPURS OUTRAGE WITH TWEETS FROM DC MOB SCENE by MARC LEVY
  • Aerial View Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common. CC BY-SA 4.0 2017 by AbhiSuryawanshi. NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM by MATTHEW ANDREWS
  • VIDEO: COP WHO BRAGGED THAT HE HIT PROTESTERS SHOWS HOW BAD APPLES THRIVE IN BOSTON by CHRIS FARAONE
  • PRISON HORRORS BY THE NUMBERS by SARAH BETANCOURT
  • IT’S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND A BATHROOM IN BOSTON. WHAT’S THE CITY DOING ABOUT IT? by ZACK HUFFMAN

READ CURRENT MEMBER EDITION

DIG Member 1.9 – 11/26/20

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

Footer

digbos

“Trump was voted out. However, this is not a man “Trump was voted out. However, this is not a mandate for #Biden and #Harris.” https://digboston.com/photos-recap-no-honeymoon-for-biden-rally-in-boston/ #photo #rally #march #left #protest #inauguration #Boston #Massachusetts
OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM? #Boston #protest for Indian farmers, Saturday 1/23/21, 12-1 pm at the #Massachusetts State House https://digboston.com/opinion-is-dissent-anti-nationalism-or-patriotism/ #India #politics #food #farmer #protest #justice #solidarity @monica_gill1
HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO A HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP https://digboston.com/no-justice-how-officials-in-one-mass-town-took-extraordinary-measures-to-appease-a-controversial-cop/ #ArlingtonMA #police #reform #cop #racism #controversy #BlackLivesMatter #Massachusetts
Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for host Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers … What happens to those #jobs if virtual kitchens continue to flourish? https://digboston.com/ghost-story-virtual-kitchens-appear-to-be-the-next-big-thing-but-at-what-cost/ #restaurant #labor #work #Boston #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
“I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan “I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan. 7 in the same country we went to bed in on the 6th.” https://digboston.com/former-mass-gubernatorial-candidate-predicted-violence-before-assault-on-capitol/ #politics #Massachusetts #national #Capitol #WashingtonDC #MAGA
RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL http RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL https://digboston.com/radical-and-relevant-the-life-of-harry-brill/ #obituary #organizer #radical #sociologist #democracy #politics @UMassBoston @BklynCollege411 @UCBerkeley #Boston #Massachusetts #NewYorkCity #Berkeley #California
NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 #PROTEST ON BOSTON CO NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 #PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM https://digboston.com/no-honeymoon-for-biden-1-20-protest-on-boston-common-4-pm/ #opinion #progressive #left #action #inauguration #Boston #Massachusetts
Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this lat Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this latest incarnation of a #beer that’s been in the making for months. https://digboston.com/video-jacks-abby-x-boston-celtics-pride-and-parquet-hoppy-lager-unboxing-tasting/ #fun #video #review #Boston #Massachusetts
Jostling for position and influence are the disadv Jostling for position and influence are the disadvantaged candidates, existing industry participants, and municipalities … https://digboston.com/the-road-to-home-delivery-pt-5-dogs-in-the-fight-identifying-the-players/ #cannabis #politics #analysis #Massachusetts
The candidates will be interviewed about the upcom The candidates will be interviewed about the upcoming race. https://digboston.com/wu-and-campbell-to-speak-at-mayoral-candidate-webinar/ #politics #mayor #campaign #Boston #Massachusetts
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Submissions

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]