Hey, there! Log in / Register
Further proof Roslindale is Boston's forgotten neighborhood
By adamg on Mon, 05/20/2013 - 9:00am
You'd think somebody like John Nucci would be familiar with Boston neighborhoods. After all, he spent several years on the School Committee and then got himself elected an at-large city councilor. He used to work for ABCD. Most recently, he served on the committee that came up with a new BPS school-assignment system. And yet, in a column today in the Herald on why suburbanites should care about the Boston mayoral election, he writes:
Boston is not just the commonwealth's capital city. It's the state's economic engine and the very heart of the region. So whether you live in Harvard Square, Quincy Center or Roslindale Square, this mayoral race is your race, too.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Nucci is a huge Beatles fan,
Nucci is a huge Beatles fan, as I understand it, but probably knows little about much else.
Still, let's give him credit for not writing "Roslindale Village" (although maybe he's never heard that term).
Thank You!
I absolutely despise anyone who calls the Square "Roslindale Village."
Another reason...
...to despise the MBTA which calls the commuter rail station Roslindale Village - not Roslindale)
Village
The name Roslindale Village actually came before Roslindale Square.
I don't know when it changed, but it was known as Roslindale Village in the early 20th century but was Roslindale Square by the 1960s.
Not true!
!!!
True!
Plenty of contemporary accounts from 18th century onwards show that "village" long predates "square" and was most common designation until after WWII. Go check out some of the stories and links on roslindalehistoricalsociety.org.
Also more accurate - only a fraction of the businesses actually front on Adams park. People driving thru just see the square - the rest of us make use of the whole village.
"the rest of us make use of the whole village"
What in the past 3 or so years you've live here. You'll leave with the rest of your goofy friends once you deem another part of the city trendier.
Bzzt! But thanks for playing, Mr. Troll!
Lived In this neighborhood for about 20 years now, own a house, raised a family. I bet I'm on a first name basis with more of my neighbors than you are, and I'm sure I contribute a heck of a lot more to the Rosi community than you do. You can call it whatever you want - square or village, but you're just fooling yourself if you think the influx of new residents of the last decade or two are transient.
The people who call it Roslindale Village.....
Are the same people who call J.J. Brannelly's: "Brannelly's Cafe"....
It just isn't right.
<eye roll>
No one calls it Brannely's Cafe, Pete. All the silly boomer farts making a big deal about this Square vs. Village sneechfest are just reinforcing the unfortunate stereotype of middle aged Bostonians who think the world started the day they were born and stopped the day they turned 18.
Call it Rosi Square if you prefer - no one seems to say that's not 'allowed'. But clearly the business and cultural activity centered around Adam's Park has prospered and grown in the last few decades - even bucking the trend during recent economic downturns - and refering to it as Rosi Village to connote its increased importance and vitality clearly resonates for many locals. It's a form of neighborhood pride, and should be welcomed, not grumped about like a bunch of wankers.
I'm only joking Jeff
I couldn't care either way,
But I don't want to hear that people are calling it a "village" because there are nicer/better things in the area. I mean, let's hope those Mattapan people can shape up their square so someday they can have a "village" too.
Gimme a break.
I've always just called it Brannelly's
so what does that make me? Then again, I've only lived here for 17 years, so I'm probably not qualified to speak of Roslindale :rollseyes:
Village not first
According to my mother, now 86, and before her my late grandmother, the business district was sometimes called "The Village" simply to designate the cluster of businesses located there. Not "Roslindale Village." It was always "Roslindale Square" or simply "The Square," to those who have made a life commitment to living here.
In those days (post WWII and through the 60s) you could find a grocery store with fresh meats and produce every couple of miles with other storefronts, but the cluster in the SQUARE was somewhat larger.
It is, was, and always will be Roslindale Square.
The term "village" came about through the establishment of Roslindale Village Main Streets in the 70s when it had to define the enterprise zone where it would focus its mission of business redevelopment. It was that organization that coined the phrase to be used for that purpose. From that point forward they used the term to speak of the core business district of Roslindale Square, and used it for purposes of filing for various legislation and grants.
As a life-long resident I reflect that at no time in my life as a voter, nor that of my ancestors, did I/we ever participate in a vote or other referendum to rename it "Roslindale Village."
It is, was, and remains a business redevelopment term coined by a specific non-profit with strong ties to municipal government, and at no time were a broad range of residents ever consulted to adopt that name permanently.
Its use by the MBTA is the result of political chicanery and pressure.
Those repeating it, not knowing the history are often the "newbies" (less that 25 years living here - of which there a lot) who simply do not know any better.
I can always pick out the newbies from the "lifers" in Roslindale just by taking to them about "the square."
As to the "earthy-crunchies" who want to gentrify Roslindale and turn it into "Little Cambridge," please don't correct me when I say "square." A rant will follow - and usually does.
My ancestors
My grandparents, who lived in Roslindale in the 1920s, called it the Village back then and later called it Roslindale Square, or just the Square.
Couldn't
Agree more, i have never in my life heard my grandparents refer to The Square as "Roslindale Village", nor any of the families i grew up with.
A hair well split
So your grandparents called it "The Village," but not "Roslindale Village?"
But you use interchangeably "The Square" and "Roslindale Square?"
And if you meet someone who refers to it in the term your grandparents used, or the other one they didn't use but is almost identical, you know they're newbies and not lifers. Because lifers have stopped using the term your grandparents used, and now use the terms you use.
And by the way, nobody asked you if you wanted any goddamn urban planning.
This raises the question for me: are blogs largely a replacement for yelling at your television set?
Sigh
Sigh
But, but, but Rozzie isn't
But, but, but Rozzie isn't even on the border.
Harvard Square is in...
...Cambridge, or as it is commonly known, North Allston.
I don't think that a failure
I don't think that a failure to use a cutesy neologism on the part of a once and future hack has any bearing on whether a neighborhood is "forgotten".
The point is
That, unlike Harvard Square and Quincy Center, it actually is Roslindale Square's/Village's/Center's, or what-have-you's mayoral election.
D
'OH
missing the forest for the trees?
How did you miss the basic point? It might be a good idea to read a little slower to be sure you understand before commenting.
Forest?
I thought it was an Arboretum.
No, that's on the JP side
On the Hyde Park/West Roxbury side, you can't see the forest for the trees.
That's why...
...it's good for Rozzy to have JP...some place to put all those trees! JP is Rozzy's Tree-Eater!
Already removed
They've already updated the article online.
Hmm, not in the version I'm looking at
Second to last paragraph (and yeah, I refreshed the page and, just to be on the safe side, tried the URL in a completely different browser).
Strange
Yeah, I see it there now too, but I'm sure that when I read the article before it just said "Harvard Square or Quincy Center".
I wonder if
he has visited any of our "suburban" Roslindale schools when he was on the School Committee??
Could he be saying that even
Could he be saying that even if you don't live in Boston, the election of Boston's new mayor is important to you as well?
Do you understand that
Do you understand that Roslindale is Boston?
Orange Nucci
I see Nucci from time to time at Celtics games. His orange hair is more orange than ever and I swear it glows in the dark.
laughable
Besides his geographical blunder, we should laugh at the overall premise of this piece. If you live in Lexington or Saugus
or Roslindaleor Marblehead, and you make your living in Boston, tough cookies. If you want to have a stake in city government, there's a house for sale on my block. We'll be happy to have your tax revenue.>ahem<
You really want Saugonians moving in on your block...?
I'll admit...
to a little artistic license. Neither Saugonians nor Lexingtonites would be all that welcome on my block.
Is it just me?
Or does "Saugonians" sound like a race of reptiles from early '70s Doctor Who?
jelly baby?
Like a Sontaran in an IROC...
I thought the Saugonians all
I thought the Saugonians all came from Eastie anyway!
Saugus and East Boston
"I thought the Saugonians all came from Eastie anyway!"
They do. All old time white people from East Boston who "go upscale" move to the North Shore, places like Saugus and Lynnfield. Likewise, similar people from Dorchester move to places like Milton and Braintree on the South Shore. It's an absolute rule. This is also why people from Saugus always seem to have a heavier "Boston accent" than people from Boston itself.
and what's worse....
...is when the foul offspring of those émigrés move back to Eastie from Saugus!....oh, wait....
And Cambridge -> Woburn is another one
At least when I bought my place there the previous owner was moving out to Woburn. Later I heard of a few other old timers who made that migration.
You can still care
I've worked in Boston for nearly 14 years but haven't lived in the city proper for the last ten. I'm not suggesting that I should have a vote in the election but I certainly will be following the race and care who gets elected. I might even donate to someone if they have a really compelling plan, unlike this turkey.
Seeing as how I spend nearly 16 hours a day in the city and get paid by businesses which are located in the city, the actions of the Boston government will affect me more then the actions of the Medford government. I deal directly with Boston employees frequently but I can't recall the last time I needed to speak to someone who works for Medford.
Your interest is...
understandable and more than welcome.
Over the past 15-ish years I have lived in Boston about half the time and in Somerville and Watertown for the rest. When I lived out of Boston, I was clearly still interested in Boston politics (Hub of the Universe, someone told me). But when it comes to trying to influence the race, even in a fairly small way like a donation, I get resentful of meddling outsiders. No offense or anything. But it's our taxes, our building permits, our zoning, our city services, our lives that this person gets control of.
I realize it has some impact on you, but not to nearly the degree it has on residents, and I hate the concept of our mayor being beholden to people who live elsewhere. Not that it would happen, but the idea of negatively impacting residents on behalf of commuters makes me see red.
John Nucci
John Nucci couldn't find Roslindale with a GPS if he had to!
Danger error
OOPS ,wrong dude , thought you all meant DeNucci , who is this other dude anyway ?
He's probably clueless, but
it's just barely possible that he's saying "whether you live in Harvard Square, Quincy Center or Roslindale Square," with the idea that we might assume only the last place listed should care, as in "whether you live in Harvard Square, Quincy Center or Boston...."
But as I said in the subject line, he's probably just clueless.
Is this really difficult? The
Is this really difficult? The quote above comes at the end of the article. He's simply saying that whether you're a resident of Boston (Roslindale) or you live nearby (Cambridge, Quincy), the outcome of the election will affect you. The 'or' in the quoted sentence separates the communities outside Boston from the one within the city. The 'too' at the end is ambiguous, but context should take care of it.
Or do you seriously believe that Joe Nucci doesn't know where Roslindale is? Seriously? Sometimes the pleasure of righteous outrage seems to overcome good sense.
So whether you live in Harvard Square (or) Quincy Center or (in) Roslindale Square, this mayoral race is your race,
too.There, fixed.
No, I believe it was sloppy writing
Compounded by a lack of editing.
Sometimes the pleasure of nitpicking is what gets me going in the morning, I guess.
See post # 21
And get off your high horse, as you too, are allowing the pleasure of outrage to overcome good sense.
Make that John Nucci. Edit's
Make that John Nucci. Edit's not working.
Benefit of the Doubt
Considering that at least two, and possibly three, posters here seem not to have realized that Roslindale is, in fact, part of Boston, I think Adam's initial point is valid, and it is just as likely that Nucci - or whomever wrote that - didn't know either. Also, what's wrong with calling it Roslindale Villiage? That's what the station is called, and that is what the Main Streets program is called.
Village vs. Square
This is not something over which I'd engage in a battle to the death, or even risk a paper cut (unlike the kidlet, who is now chasing the mailman down the street in the hopes of him taking the angry letter she just wrote Nucci about how she's as much a Bostonian as he is, and I can't imagine where she got that from).
But I like "Roslindale Square" because it sounds like something you'd see in a city, which is where it is, while "Roslindale Village" sounds like, oh, some overly fussy stop on a commuter-rail stop somewhere well past 128.
I'm
a Readvillain (spelling intentional), so I have no dog in this fight. But I've always thought that "Roslindale Village" sounds like a charming place to walk around, maybe get a bite to eat, go to the farmers market, etc. "Roslindale Square" sounds like every other square in the greater Boston area.
The bus goes to the Square...
... The Commuter Rail goes to the Village.
I do find a socioeconomic divide in what one calls it (old timers aside), and I love how the MBTA backs it up.
On the original topic, I went to a private school in the city, but with mostly suburban students, in the 80s. I would mention being from Roslindale, only to get blank looks like I said Minot ND.
2 places in 1
I tend to think of the Village as the part near Birch St. with the newer shops & restaurants, and the Square as the rest of it, more like it was when I grew up in Roslindale.
Square vs. Village
Harvard Square
Peabody Square
Mattapan Square
Cleary Square
Egleston Square
Maverick Square
Roslindale Square
Works for me.
When people say "Village" I reflect that is where you find the blacksmith, the drunk, and the idiot, all associated with that term.
And not necessarily under the spreading chestnut tree.
Apparently we're a village since we've got a village idiot.
And may I just say - you're doing a bang-up job, dmk!
Actually the blacksmith was
Actually the blacksmith was down by archdale, maybe near where the ice cream place was, + / - .
http://www.blackiron.us/graphics/shop-roslindale-m...
And it's still there
Although you'd never know by the way it's all boarded up (scroll to the very end).
Maybe he's referring to the
Maybe he's referring to the squirrels who live in Adam's Park.