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Bright lights of the big city
By adamg on Wed, 08/28/2013 - 12:22am
One of the more dramatic approaches into Boston is up Blue Hill Avenue or Blue Hills Parkway in Milton at night. You're driving in a somnolent, darkened suburb when you approach the Neponset River, you look up and boom, there's Mattapan Square and it's like looking into China from North Korea: A city where electricity is plentiful and everything is lit up.
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Comments
When I was living in Boston
When I was living in Boston (South End) and couldn't sleep at night, I'd take out a ZipCar and put on NPR, and drive this exact same route. I remember how cool it was to be driving through these darkened suburbs and once you're in Mattapan it's like you're immediately transported to urban life. Very cool! Here in NYC, even the suburbs are urban. There's no easy way to escape the urban jungle here.
Many 'suburbs' of Boston are urban
Milton just isn't one of them.
I have always been stunned at the contrast
between Milton and Mattapan when you cross that bridge. It is amazing. Similar when the Mattapan trolley crosses into Milton and stops at Capen St.
Milton = North Korea as Mattapan = China. Stopppp it!
I always did well on analogies, SATS, topped the police exam, LSATS etc. So due to crime-driven street lighting, Mattapan (China) is plentiful and Milton (North Korea), with less street lighting, is apparently oppressed? Is the post tongue-in-cheek or have you lost me? I believe both Boston and Milton are supplied by N-Star and it's supply and demand. In other words, Mattapan is well known to have a serious crime problem, no relief after 20 years of Menino, and needs (demands) more lights than relatively peaceful Milton. I thought the full moon was last week, no?
I don't think Adam's saying
I don't think Adam's saying anything but what he said, but it's worth pointing out that Milton is not part of Boston...and that Boston could *really* use some light pollution laws. This incredibly over lit square pollutes the night sky and, as you say, hasn't appeared to cut down on crime.
You're reading way too much into the analogy
I wasn't trying to make any subtle comments at all and was being literal. Maybe it wasn't a good analogy, but there are places along the Yalu River where North Koreans in the near pitch black can look across to some brightly lit Chinese city. That's all, no politics, no comments on Menino or Milton, just an interesting view, and one that's pretty striking.
Maybe looking into South Korea
I ride Truman Parkway to there pretty regularly and it is a pretty start change. But I think the better analogy might be looking into South Korea from North Korea based on this view:
http://www.sibelle.info/koreas.htm
Heh,except ...
There's that pesky demilitarized zone, so it's unlikely any North Koreans will get to gaze into Seoul, short of making a successful escape. Here's a video from Dandong, a Chinese city across the Yalu from North Korea:
For all that lighting at night
All that street light doesn't seem to help the shooters who are putting stray bullets all over the place.
Stay classy, bro.
Stay classy, bro.
Milton vs Mattapan
Its even better in the daytime with Milton having border guards otherwise known as school crossing guards at every intersection along with Milton and MSP with checkpoints that resemble the DMZ. Every week there are protestors with signs against violence in Afghanistan but never are there any protestors with signs against violence in Mattapan.
Plenty of blue lights too...
Plenty of blue lights too...
Isn't that how Blue Hill Ave
Isn't that how Blue Hill Ave got the "Blue" in it's name? ;)
You're probably being
You're probably being sarcastic, but just for fun....
"The Blue Hills were so named by early European explorers who, while sailing along the coastline, noticed the bluish hue on the slopes when viewed from a distance. The blueish color comes from the presence of Riebeckite in the stone[1]"
- http://www.friendsofthebluehills.org/PDFs/FBH_Geol...
Back in the day
My dad grew up in Mattapan and back then (40s-50s) it was known as "Jew Hill Ave". The G&G (kosher) deli was pretty much a must stop for politicians running for city wide office.
http://www.dorchesteratheneum.org/page.php?id=662
http://www.dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org/blog/?p...
One of my favorites, next to
One of my favorites, next to the view down Washington Street from the Beech Street area in Roslindale.