Category Archives: Boston

Within the next 24-48 hours not a single Uhaul van or truck will be available in metro Boston as the city braces for an event locals refer to as “Allston Christmas”.

Because most city apartment leases start September 1st, the streets become chalk full of double-parked cars, vans and trucks starting August 31st as tenants start the arduous task of moving from one apartment to the next. The result of having literally tens of thousands of people all moving on the same day is that the city sidewalks become littered with unwanted items. This ‘littering’ of every piece of furniture and furnishing imaginable is what is referred to as an Allston Christmas. Although this city-wide move impacts  nearly all of Boston’s neighbohoods, nowhere is the experience more intense than Allston, although many neighborhoods will likely experience their own form of an Allston Xmas.

In case you think I’m making this up, Urban Dictionary added this term in 2008 here and one only needs to type in the phrase in Google and select images to see what the streets of Boston will look like starting August 31st.

Travel + Leisure magazine readers have ranked Boston one of the best cities in America. As part of the magazine’s annual World’s Best Awards, the publication released its list of the top 15 cities in the United States earlier this month. Boston squeaked in at a cool number 14.

Cities were scored for their sights and landmarks, culture, food, friendliness, shopping, and value, then given a numerical score based on their ratings.

Thanks T+L readers.

It is no secret that Boston is a very expensive city to call home, and more needs to be done to ensure that this city can be a home for anyone – no matter what their career, compensation or bank account looks like. I can’t think of a more dreary, vanilla, boring city than one which is filled only with “luxury condos”.

But I digress. It was recently reported by Zumper that the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Boston is holding steady at $2,200. That makes Boston the nation’s fifth most expensive for renting a one-bedroom. Additionally, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Boston increased only 1.2 percent, to $2,630, making it also the nation’s fifth most expensive for renting a two-bedroom. For the longest time, Boston ranked behind only San Francisco and New York for one and two-bedroom apartments in the Zumper analysis, which tracks rents on vacant or available apartments.

I’d like to see more affordable and mixed income properties being built so Boston can be more attractive to more people. While cheering that median rents are only $2,200 and $2,630 for one and two-bedrooms respectively may seem odd, I’m just pleased to see that as a community we are working to fall lower on this list of skyrocketing rents.

Earlier this week Adam who publishes the excellent blog, UniversalHub, shared this map from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library.  I found this particularly interesting, because although I was only born a few miles from Boston in the tiny town of Winchester, MA, Sergio was born about 4,500 miles to the south in Brazil. You can get a better look at the map and zoom in to see some of the smaller printed nationalities if you click here.

If you like this sort of thing you should stop by the BPL to check out their exhibit Who We Are: Boston Immigration Now and Then.

On a related note, Pew Research’s map shows how different nationalities came to the United States, starting in 1850 up through 2013.

For more information visit Pew Research here.

Over the past few years the opportunity to purchase fresh meats, breads, fruits, produce and other food from local vendors has become easier in Boston. It was two years ago next month that the very nice Boston Public Market opened, but that is hardly the only option in and around the city.

I stumbled upon a Greater Boston Farmers Markets Google calendar that lists so many area farmer’s markets you are bound to find one near you. It does omit one of the larger Farmer’s Markets: The SoWa Farmer’s Market, which is in my neighborhood and is open every Saturday and Sunday from 10AM – 4PM May through October.

Shop Local  ||  Buy Local

Boston’s bike sharing service, The Hubway, continues to thrive as Boston and surrounding communities work to be more bike-friendly. Last week Hubway announced they would be adding more than 70 new bike-rental stations over the next two years (currently there are 127 bike-rental stations) in the city of Boston.

They will focus on opening new stations in unserved and under served Boston neighborhoods like Roslindale, Dorchester and Mattapan. Hubway noted that they would also add additional stations in existing service areas to better handle demand as well as add new stations in Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline.

If you’d like to learn more about Hubway visit their website thehubway.com.

For those of you who live in Southie, news of Hilco Global and Redgate developers filing to transform 15+ acres of waterfront by the South Boston Edison Power Plant has been long anticipated.

The project site is located at the corner of First and Summer Streets in South Boston, very near East Broadway and Boston’s Innovation and Design Building. Construction of the proposed development would occur over the next 10 to 15 years with the first phase, which could start in 2018, involves the demolition of existing buildings, preservation of turbine halls and construction of new housing along East First Street.

According to recent plans filed with the city, the developers are proposing a 2.1 million-square-foot development that includes seven new buildings (with three of those buildings at least 200 feet high), 1,588 apartments and condos, plus a 150-room hotel, 339,000 square feet of office space, and 68,000 square feet of retail.

More about this development here:
South Boston Power Plant – Bldup
South Boston’s biggest development ever? – Curbed Boston
South Boston project could offer views of water and 18-wheelers – Boston Globe