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The sharing economy leaves Dorchester behind
By adamg on Thu, 01/28/2016 - 1:54pm
The Dorchester Reporter reports that when it comes to "Uber of [Fill in the Blank]" companies flooding Boston, most react like Dorchester is on the dark side of the moon.
Among the Dot rats irked by that: Mayor Marty Walsh, who says enough's enough.
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Comments
I hope something comes of this.
I'd really love drizly to deliver to me.
I work for Instacart
And we're proud to announce alcohol delivery in our boston area starting very soon. We serve most of boston; excluding Hyde Park, West Roxbury, East Boston, and (unfortunately) South Dorchester.
On a side note, our company chooses areas where we believe revenue will be highest. with instant on-demand service we have to plan out some very complicated routes, times, and orders for our customers. we have a limited supply of warehouses (grocery stores) at our use. We also have to know what is in the store before we can sell it to you. Boston has an odd shape to it as well. Population density in the city is odd and that's where we make our money. The idea that marty walsh has the authority over individual companies and exactly where we go is preposterous.
Please don't use the geopgraphy excuse
I get things like population density and concentrating on college students and rich people in high rises. But never speak of "odd shapes" again, please. Boston isn't surrounded by walls and doesn't have border controls, so if you're serving out of some distribution center or store in Brookline, say, you can just as easily serve several Boston neighborhoods.
And stop fretting about Marty Walsh. He's no Tom Menino and he's yet to act to keep any business (WalMart) or type of business (minute clinics) out of Boston. He's expressing the same frustration as any resident of the parts of Boston that have been ignored for years by delivery companies and media outlets.
Drizly weird ads
I like those ads but there is something about them... the people are all dressed up old-style but there is something about the photography that's not old-style. Also nobody's smoking in the ads and people smoked all the time back then.
They also seem to appeal to binge drinkers
They all basically seem to say "Yay, get the door, we can get our drunk on!"
Amazingly, Drzly serves
Amazingly, Drzly serves Quincy. Though, there was already a packie that delivered in Quincy, so you know where our priorities are.
There are facts on both sides
You can't expect a new company to roll out equivalent service to every corner of the city at once. It's reasonable of new delivery apps to say, "We're coming! Just give us a little time."
On the other hand, if the under-served areas don't pipe up, they may well be forgotten, so it's fair to say, "Don't forget about us over here!"
Uhh yea.
Same goes for Mattapan, Roslindale, and Hyde Park. Just for comparison do a side by side comparison of the racial makeup of boston (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race-map.html?_r=0) with say... a hubway bike share map. Take away what you will.
Take a look at a population
Take a look at a population density map.
Those neighborhoods are less dense and more suburban than the core.
Fewer people = less customers =less incentive for startup companies to take a risk over expanding into a market with limited potential for shear #s of customers.
Uber in Brooklyn and Harlem in NYC doesn't have this issue because the density is there.
the real map
relating to the reaction of people in transport business
is here on uhub
click on the tab at the top labeled crime.
that map will tell you what you need to know
Wow, that map
It's crazy how segregated this city is! When I first moved here, within hours I learned people will walk in front of my car no matter how fast I was going, and that this town was white white white white white. I get that Dot is big, but North Dot (my hood) borders on the south end and southie, but still, delivery is limited and all those rent and house value maps seem to think that Boston starts in Belmont and ends at Andrew Sq! To quote Molly Shannon "I'm sick and tired... of being sick and tired!" And to all those business people who see those rainbow of dots and think 'well f those people' may I quote dame Julianne Moore in her acclaimed role in Magnolia "SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON BOTH OF YOU!!
Don't really see that
The Boston map doesn't look particularly more segregated than any of the other big cities listed in that article - just look at New York - it's a delinieated patch-quilt!
In particular, a looong stretch of eastern Dorchester, Roxbury, Roslindale, Hyde Park and Readville are all pretty heterogeneous - that's probably close to half the city's population right there.
And as others have already pointed out, parts of the city that are (in your words) "white white white white white", are also pretty poorly served by these services - despite being more densely populated than the vast majority of the greater Boston area.
Atlanta is black black black,
Baltimore is black black black.
Boston IS NOT 'white white white white', the city is around 50% white, around 25% black, WHICH IS TWICE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE OF 12-13%. Boston also has a larger than average Asian population, and a large so cslled Hispanic population.
By comparison, NYC has a similar proportion of black people as Boston, Lo s Angeles is around 7.5 % black (well below the national average or of Boston ), San Francisco is the same, around 7%, The State of California is around 7.5% black. Toronto is 7-8% black, Ontario and Canada itself far below that, around 2-3% black.
The same kinds of maps show
The same kinds of maps show similar things in a lot of cities, it's not significantly here.
You are a transplant but
You are a transplant but calling it Dot and your hood, you aren't a local.
yeah.... Molly Shannon
"i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired"....I wish I'd said that.
signed,
Fannie Lou
You are right!
Let's hope all Uber and Lyft services get cut off to St. Paul Street in Brookline.
Conveniently left out West
Conveniently left out West Roxbury which is in the same boat, and oddly enough Rozzie is pretty mixed, too. Roxbury, on the other hand, seems to get serviced as well as say JP - I mean Drizzly for instance delivers to Roxbury, and there are hubway stations there.
Uhh yea, props to the Dot Reporter
I don't doubt this is an issue in other parts of the city.
It's being reported in Dorchester b/c the Dorchester Reporter is an outstanding local newspaper. Props to the Forry family.
Hubway, I get
The service is premised on the fact that you need Hubway stations an easy ride away from other Hubway stations, so people who use Hubway bikes can ride without having to return to their starting point when done. It makes sense to start in the dense downtown area and expand outward.
And that's what they've been doing, if maybe not as fast as somebody might like. There's a Hubway station by the Monument in JP now and their map shows stations at Blue Hill Avenue and Columbia Road and UMass Boston.
But Hubway's a completely different model from, say, a delivery company with drivers and cars/vans and stuff. Boston is just not that big of a city when you have four wheels.
Try living
in my neighborho...wait, nevermind, we're "hot" now. Your time will come, Dot, your time will come.
Lol, Dot has been hot for
Lol, Dot has been hot for awhile now - much more so (real estate wise) than Eastie is now.
Is it a surprise to anyone?
Is it a surprise to anyone that businesses cherrypick service areas for those that they perceive as most lucrative? Go talk to someone in western MA about high speed internet service, then come back and complain about how you can't get Drizzly in your neighborhood.
Not at all
Businesses are not charities, they're in for the money.