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Southie contingent of the BSC Welcoming Team not so welcoming

The ever present, always hilarious Southie Yuppy/Local feud erupted again last week over at Caught in Southie's Facebook page with an anonymous letter to the editor from a wayward, misunderstood yuppy. As expected, the ensuing comments erupted into spirited vitriol from both sides, eventually breaking the 200 comment line.

Perhaps the most entertaining post of the thread was fittingly the last, where self proclaimed South Boston local and member of the Boston Sports Club's Welcoming Team, Bridget Lee, chimed in with her opinion of the socio-economic forces at play in South Boston's gentrification:

Bridget Lee : If you dont like living here, then move the f*** out! . No one wants you to stay. If you cant act like a human being and want to accuse SOuthie residents of stereotypes, your f****! YOUR WHICKED PISSAH... want me to translate? oh no people from southie are trash and talk like trash too ! f*** you ! Im 21 born and raised and so wasnt my whole family, I am not pregnant, I am not a junkie, and I dont use the Nword. Its funny how you assumed Joey Nascarella was ganna beat you up. Dont forget everyone knows everyone who are from southie. you wont be hard to find with your yankees hat on.. LOSSAH :) SOUTHIE IS MY HOMETOWN !!!!!!!!!!

Bridget Lee's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/bridget.lee.94

Boston Sports Club's https://www.mysportsclubs.com/default.htm

[Screen shots: http://tinypic.com/r/2m7vu51/6, http://tinypic.com/r/15365hl/6]

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Comments

As the person who wrote the article , I was blown away by the responses! Many"locals" said some nice things and wereappauled by what I go through every day even as an active member of my community . The part that blew mw away was all the negative people telling me "I will never be from Southie"...funny it is not want I want or ever asked for . I know where I am from. I am just sick of the yuppie hate !!! I can write so so much more but I will let the haters write here....

The real people from Southie are my friends not the people who just hate to hate !

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How about we address the fact that the globe loves to stoke this fire. The numerous, repetitive articles in the winter about southie parking spot battles are just absurd. In the article in last weeks Sunday Globe one guy was quoted as saying that Southie is now all "yuppies and puppies."

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The blame rests entirely on narrow, ignorant, provincial people with a chip on their shoulder, a propensity for violence, and a bitter resentment of anyone who's doing anything with his or her life.

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And I bet you dislike it when others stereotype you.

Look, the truth is MANY yuppies are obnoxious and many do tend to look down on non-yuppies, especially 'locals', so why all the shock or hurt feelings? But the real irony is many come from nothing special themselves, but they act like they're royalty.

I graduated from McGill University in Montreal. I'm a 'professional', but I also have a Boston accent. As soon as most yuppies [many from places that are nothing to write home about] hear my accent, they immediately start to treat me differently, less respectfully. It's true. Sad that in Boston a person with a Boston accent must try and change it or hide it because it's considered 'low class' or 'working class'. And the same thing happens in other places like NYC. Yuppies and 'hipsters' down there likewise think a real NY accent [a 'local' accent] is 'low class' and they treat the 'locals' differently than their own kind. This is all perfectly true.

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I didn't say that people from Southie were narrow, ignorant, etc. That would have been stereotyping, and it's not what I wrote, or certainly not what I intended. What I meant was that the blame for narrowness and ignorance rested on the shoulders of the narrow and ignorant, and not on some newspaper.

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So locals don't lump yuppies?
Assume they have some rich buying them their condos?
That they drive nice cars? Have had an easy life? That they are the reason
mom & dad moved?? Come on??? Stereotyping is not only what yuppies do
to locals???

The truth is there are idiots..arrogant..stupid..uneducated morons
on both sides

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People should never be ashamed of our accent. It's f*cking pissah kid!

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...got the Southie Shuffle once or twice.

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It's also equally fair to point out that the current breed of Yupsters have a very real tendency of starting to buy up stuff in an area, and making constant, very real attempts to alter the area all for them, and screw people who've lived their entire lives there.

I've already seen this occur in Allston and Brookline.

I had some asshat in Brookline once tell me that "we don't like that stuff in 'our' neighborhood" - because I was wearing a military hat. On a slight amount of probing, I discover the guy was originally from New Jersey. My family has lived around here for centuries.

Kinda preposterous, isn't it?

So don't discount that factor as well.

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but in another state. The high school sent out letters once a semester on how to get your name off of military recruiter's lists, and did everything they could to discourage kids from enlisting instead of going to college, including having teachers openly mock the military, because "We don't do that here."

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Something like that, except it was someone not originally from here, who was now "taking over" my neighborhood and was a jerk about it. I'm certain the Southies feel the same. That's a major factor in this "dispute." You move there and push them and they're going to push back.

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Opening new businesses, ect is a good thing. Locals property values are going up just as quick as their taxes. Old time Locals are making a very nice retirement check from the above average rise in land values, now aren't they?

And if the argument is renters are being pushed out, well... hate to say it but it's not "your house" then, is it? Renters are only entitled to what they can afford, and them's the breaks.

I feel for those getting displaced, but a rising local economy and rising business/property value is a good thing. Southie locals need to understand it, and co-opt it for their own good. Hit your kids over the head with schooling, get them into BLA, and make them go to college.

They're the ones who stand to benefit most from the growth of South Boston, as long as they plan ahead correctly and get a great education.

Cities change. I'm sure the Irish of the North End lamented all them wop's displacing them at the turn of 19th century.

(disclosure: ginny)

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Old time Locals are making a very nice retirement check from the above average rise in land values, now aren't they?

Not unless they are landlords. Everyone says how wonderful it is that your house value went up - and it's certainly better than the other way around. However, if you are an older person living in a home that you have lived in for years and all the houses around you go up in value (faster than the Boston as a whole), you start getting dispropotionately large increases in your taxes which can eventually push you out. The city has some programs to prevent that, but you have to pay the taxes eventually - I believe with interest.

That's a common misconception that rising land values are good for older Americans - if you plan to move, that may be true, but if you hope to stay put you may not have that option if taxes go up too much too fast when you are on a relatively fixed income.

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though the old school landlord approach--buy the three decker, rent out two units or have family living in one, etc. did work out well for many people--it provides some flexibility to expand or contract space as your family grows or shrinks and rental income is a great way for older people to get an income.

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I don't disagree. Rising house values is a very mixed blessing, especially if you want to stay in an area. As your value rises, so do those around you.

It's why housing as an investment for the layperson is impracticable and almost fraudulent in how real estate agents talk of it. If you can't afford more than one, or don't want to move around; it's only going to ever be a home. Because the second you sell it, you're now looking at higher prices for other homes in the region.

Unless you can realize the gains (cash out completely or move to a lower cost area for retirement), it's not an investment. Especially now, with tighter margins and a deflated bubble market.

That said, they can realize those gains if they so choose. Which is what you typically do going into retirement. After all, you can't bring anything with you on your way out. So give it to the family, or sell it and enjoy life.

And, higher property values do tend to bring with them better school, better services, less crime, more business, ect. People don't like change though.

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What difference does it make whether someone moved in yesterday or has had family there for centuries? Stupid is stupid regardless of the length of time of the stupidity.

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Wow...! Ever try spending any time in Southie or are you basing your opinion solely on Howie Carr and Hollywood movies?
I know about 5 or 6 people / couples who have bought in the South End over the past few years. They love it and all get along with the long-time local older folk and appreciate the tight-knit sense of community.

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Ever try spending any time in Southie... couples who have bought in the South End over the past few years.

Um, er, argh!

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Oh, duh. I mistakenly wrote South End since one of the couples I know were renting in the South End and then bought in Southie. Didn't proof-read. My bad.

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Maybe you were just being sarcastic, but the South End != Southie, although I enjoy the thought of tourists wandering down Washington looking for all the rough and tumble Irish bars they've seen in the movies.

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Erm...am I losing my memory? As I remember it, "pissa" was a good thing, so "wicked pissa" was a really good thing.

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..I'm not born-n-raised, so I need to STFU and GTFO! (there, just wanted to say that to myself before anyone else did).

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though my grandfather was and did the famous swim to Boston Light from the L St bath house which was apparently what all Southie boys worth their salt had to do in those days.

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It depends upon how it's said. It is usually a good thing, especially when in conjunction with the modifier "wicked", but it can be said sarcastically or disparagingly... "Oh, that's just pissa!"

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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was that swim really a thing? I've never heard of that, if it's true that is amazing.

I'm skeptical though, round trip that is 15 miles. I can't imagine legions of young kids just going out to do that. Swimming the English Channel is 21 miles.

Did your grandfather happen to mention if it was an uphill swim both ways?

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... if you time the tide right. Been a while since I looked at a chart, but I'm thinking the ebb and flood through Nantasket Roads and President Roads probably hit 2 or 3 knots at the peak. Jump in at high tide, swim out on the ebb (swim a knot a half + 2 knots tide and it's a 2 hour swim out there, rest for a bit, and, after the tide turns, swim back in on the flood.

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I don't know if it was really something that everyone did, but as I've heard it, it was some kind of rite of passage for scrappy young athletes from the neighborhood. I was shocked when I actually looked and saw how far it was. With the tides it must be pretty intense. But who knows if they did a round trip or if some fellas were waiting at the light with a boat! He passed away years ago--was born in 1898--so who knows if anyone else alive remembers this.

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so I feel qualified to rule on this issue:

Wicked Pissah is a good thing.

When the B's won the Stanley Cup? That was wicked pissah.

For the uninitiated, OFD = Originally From Dorchester.

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....that there exists an acronym, pertaining to being from Boston, where the F does not stand for any form of the word "fuck"!

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That'd be Dublin, where the locals refer to it as "Fookin' Dublin."

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If you ain't born here, you'll never be from here. Never. Many of our communities have gone through serious gentrification with the locals not always being tolerated. Some of the gentrification was great some of it not so much.

When you move into someone's community remember that they were there long before you and most likely will be there long after you. Show some respect and you might just get it return.

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Who are you - Michael Corleone?

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Yes I'm a dork.

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If you ain't born here, you'll never be from here.

Are you sure you didn't steal that quote from Yogi Berra? Who most certainly, ain't from here!

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Yuppies go away and take your rotten sypathizers from Southie with you!

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Be very afraid. What a bunch of childish nonsense on both sides. Grow up.

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It's a pissing match between a bunch of douchebags and turd sandwiches.

Although I'm somewhat amused that the guy trolling the facebook discussion didn't get one comment about his Yankees Hat. I think we can all agree on at least that.

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of comments about the hat. I mean--I think the guy said something stupid, got pig-piled on a little unfairly, but sheesh--the hat is just asking for it.

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I just skimmed the comments.

I did see towards the end he basically calls uncle and states that he acted the way he did to illicit the response he thought he would get. So he was trolling, but quite a few people did take the bait too.

As always, issues are not black and white. There's great long time locals, then there's the local kids that curb stomped some guy last year. There's good new yuppies working to make the community better, then there's douchebags in blazers at the bars acting like their Acura and overpriced condo means they own the area.

c'est la vie

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doesn't do the Yuppies any favors by perpetuating the mutual bad feelings.Stop the whining and try to get along with your neighbors.

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How many saying they are townies are really still living in South Boston anyway? Miracle of the internets is that you can still claim you live somewhere you don't.

Would be interesting to see how many of those IP addresses are in Wilmington or Lakeville.

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in Boston are in Charlestown.

And if you're from South Boston, you are not a "Southie".

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I say, dear Bridget, can't we just have a civilized chat in person to work this out? How about you come on up to my rooftop patio in City Point? I'll crack open a nice Chilean Chard and bring out some fab cheese and salami I got at Whole Foods, and we can patch things up.

Mkay?

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Does Boston Sports Club offer free memberships to its employees?

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Darling, do fill another crystal goblet of Chilean chard svp... I'll be over tout de suite after my 4 p.m. skin peel. Oh, and please do toss the salami from WF into the harbor, I'm from JP and ONLY the finest hand-crafted banana leaf tamales from WF-subsidized (praise Occupy Hi-Lo!) bodegas will ever touch my lips. Gracious me!

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As a SB yuppie, I have to ask, is this something we want this girl to get fired over? Cause this article could make that happen. I'm honestly not sure. I mean, I'm guessing she isn't the most welcoming there, but lots of kids are crap at their jobs. That's what shitty retail and service jobs are for.

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In my opinion, the only part of her posting that rises to the level of firing offense is the use of "So weren't" to mean "So were". I used to hear that all the time when I was a kid: Someone says, "We're going to the beach Sunday," and someone else chimes in "So aren't we!" Gawd, that's grating. Not to mention stupid-sounding.

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If someone brings it to the attention of her boss, she'll be fired or at least disciplined.

Sports clubs are very "into" their image and branding, and anyone who doesn't fit with the brand gets booted really quick.

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What you're really saying is sports clubs, especially 'urban' sports clubs [we called them gyms when I was a kid] are usually operated by douche-bags. Perfectly true. It's all about connecting your 'brand' with social status.

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Agreed, it's a little ridiculous to go on a witch hunt over what somebody said online, especially since they work for a private company and aren't an elected official.

Peterborough
http://www.bostontipster.com

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I don't think people assume natives of South Boston are trash...until they go on a rant like that. I mean come on Southie you took the bait.

It's cool her childhood home will be a condo in a few years.

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Condo? It will be a vegan doggie daycare and spa.

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Ah damn I forgot new businesses are bad.

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As an aside... the same screenshot that has her employed at the BSC also has her graduating from a California high school.

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Monument HS is pretty clearly in South Boston, as I can see it from my roof (deck... with open bottle of Chard). Facebook notwithstanding.

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But there is also a Monument High School in Twentynine Palms, CA (as described on Facebook)... it's probably just lazy FB profile management, but it wouldn't be too shocking if that was actually her beloved alma mater, would it?

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unless she was a military brat. Here's what happened:

She typed in Monument High School when she was setting up her profile and never noticed that it had an address and wasn't the one in Southie.

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No ones gonna mention that the above mentioned broad went to high school in California? Also anyone from Mass knows that "wicked pissah" would be a compliment. So the girl went to high school across the country and doesn't know how to use what is arguably the most stereotypical Boston phrase... sounds like a fake to me, maybe she could get on the Real World too.

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I know Bridget and she doesn't work at BSC and hasn't for a long time. She went to Monument in Southie. I don't think she bothered to update her fb, which is noones business! I think some people (the writer) have a little too much free time on their hands! Stop stalking peoples facebook and get a life!

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... to the degree that she chooses to publish it. Reading someone's published writing, whether on FB or in a column in the newspaper, is hardly 'stalking'.

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is a broadcast medium.

Never forget that, or it'll bite you in the ass. hard.

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It's unfortunate that this young girls reputation will be destroyed because she, along with many others, got insulted and defensive by the original comments posted by 'Patrick'.

The article itself could've resulted in some intelligent, civil debates about the topic but slid downhill when many residents of South Boston (not South End) became offended.

She's 21, and was angry. I think it's fair to say we've all been there before. I must say it seems excessive to throw her out there and isolate her, and in the process likely make it impossible for her to work anywhere else in the future since all this nonsense will now come up if her name is typed into a search engine. I believe 'Patrick' at some point implied he was egging people on. Well, when people get egged on they speak before they think about potential repercussions.

The powers that be could easily delete both articles and comments and keep this nonsense from escalating any further. Enough people have already been insulted and embarrassed don't you think?

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Now you want to play nice? After "YOU'S WILL NEVA B WELCOME AIR!" over on CIT about 50 times or so?

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Well, that would explain her profile pictures....

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Stupid things lifers say:
1. "This used to be a neighborhood where you knew everyone" - So a High School drop out knew all the other High School drop outs...fantastic!

2. "I've lived in Southie my whole life" - That is really sad. You should go out and explore the world.

3. "Drugs ruined the neighborhood" - No. They didnt. The idiots that decided to get into drugs ruined the neighborhood.

4. "Busing ruined the schools" - No, It didn't. The shcools sucked before busing, during busing and after busing. it's not up until recently when yuppies starting sending their kids to the schools in Boston that they got better.

Stupid this yuppies do:
1. Stumble home at night, yelling and screaming. Have some respect for your neighbors.

2. Urinate or Throw up on people's door step or in people's yards.

3. Leave their garbage cans overflowing with trash like they live in a college frat house.

4. Leave their dog's crap on the sidewalk. What kind of degenerate thinks 'yea, i am just going to leave this pile of shit right here.'

If we could get rid of the lifers and the yuppies my neighborhood would be so much better!

- A Normal Guy

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Both sides can be annoying.

So anyone have any guess what the South Boston gentrification end game looks like? Architecture and charm aside, I'd say it ends up as gentrified as the South End, which is to say completely yuppified with pockets of immigrants and low-income individuals that remain trapped in the housing projects. Some locals remain but are marginalized.

The building boom in the Seaport and the inevitable enlargement of the convention center will probably accelerate the process. Has anyone taken a drive on east/west 1st and 2nd streets? The pace of residential construction there is breathtaking. Who is going to live there? Yuppies...with their puppies.

Thoughts?

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I am part of the gentrifying force, but I consider myself a reasonable and respectful person. I sunk a ton of time and money into renovating a house that I think connects to the historical charm and relevance of Telegraph Hill, trying to keep the feel of a home that was little more than a squatter's tenement (per city records) when it was constructed in 1874, while improving my own position greatly.

What I would like to comment on is the architectural decisions of some of the new condos in the industrial fringe. Specifically, many of the new buildings remind me of Seattle. This isn't good or bad, in a vacuum, and I do appreciate the style, but it just doesn't fit. I really wish the developers had considered the neighbors up the hill when they started putting in steel and glass condos with wire and pole balconies.

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Yep. Those buildings are very different from the upper streets. I think E/W 1st and 2nd streets recently underwent zoning changes from industrial to residential. My hunch is that those streets down to the Seaport proper and parts of the Lower End (given the Macallen building, modern is probably acceptable in that general area) is where "modern" designs will proliferate, with the neighborhood's architectural integrity preserved everywhere else.

2 H Street, West Square, First and First, etc., are good examples of what is likely more to come, at least in those limited areas.

Kudos to you for building up a nice place in Telegraph Hill.

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I only have like ... 342 more payments and I'm golden. I picked out my lions and everything.

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Is a good thing IMO, and it seems they're doing a good job of packing in housing. There needs to be more space dedicated to floor retail and businesses though.

It's not just down there where construction in Southie is happening, it's just that down there is the easiest place to tear down and rebuild.

Pick any street and you'll find a triple decker that is being gutted and redone. Some are family units being split into smaller condos, while others are older apartments being opened up into 3 floor family dwellings.

I'm not too keen on the costs, but that's a problem with construction in Boston, and ultimately Massachusetts, that needs to be addressed. Talking to a buddy who lives in Hadley and commutes to Connecticut every day, rents out there are pushing $1000 for one bedrooms too.

Housing is horribly expensive in this state due to limited construction and large demand. It's hitting the lower and middle class just as hard as the recent college graduates.

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Home prices, whether rental or sale, are a critical issue facing Boston's (and Greater Boston's) growth. South Boston seems to be ground zero for home building in Boston, which is probably why you see the gentrification label thrown around so much.

Downtown Crossing is going through a similar spurt, but a lot of that housing will be very high-end and designed to be expensive.

JP is another place where triple deckers and mansard roof homes are being gutted and redone at a torrid pace.

Back to South Boston: simply walking the neighborhood, especially on the West Side, tends to reveal a brand new home or multi-family that wasn't there mere months ago. It's as if there were never any housing bubble there. The Globe, Herald and even the BBJ RE newsletter can't keep count of how many large-scale projects are going on in the Seaport and Fort Point. They largely ignore the smaller and medium size ones happening all over the rest of the neighborhood.

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