Pointing to the recent spate of murders, the Japanese consulate in Boston yesterday joined France in urging its citizens to avoid the three neighborhoods:
The number of gang-related murders so far this year in Boston is significantly higher than in past years, according to a Boston Globe report on Jan. 28, 2014. Consequently, we advise Japanese nationals to avoid areas such as Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, where violence has occurred.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
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Comments
Neighborhoods to avoid
By Bill White
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:27am
They should add East Boston to that list.
Are the planes now landing..
By apkmax
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:00am
Are the planes now landing in some other part of the city? Most visitors from Japan are going to have to touch down in East Boston. Now agreed that most visitors only see East Boston through the window of a moving vehicle, but our murder rate in Eastie of zero in 2013 would keep us off that list.
WHOOOOSH
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:57am
Hear that? That's the sound of the joke flying over your head.
Please use common sense and discretion
By Khatra
Mon, 04/28/2014 - 3:54pm
I studied at MIT during the early 2000s and went to Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury at night sometimes even on a bicycle for the love of reggae music. I never had any problems and I would come again even in these areas it is relatively clean compared to New York. Even the Upper East Side is relatively dirty compared to M/D/R. Dorchester has a huge Irish population around Ashmont even White people are living on Blue Hill Avenue. This is rubbish.
That's the number of gang
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:28am
That's the number of gang-related murders. The number of innocent tourists or foreign nationals caught up in targeted violence between gangs? It remains at zero.
I'm trying to imagine the Japanese national who was planning on spending an afternoon in Mattapan, but checks the consulate's web page first, finds the advisory, and decides against it. Seriously, would that ever happen? This strikes me as purely bureaucratic ass-covering. Consulates issue these sorts of warnings not because they expect them to produce any change whatsoever in the behavior of their nationals, but because should one of their nationals fall victim to a crime in one of these neighborhoods, they want to be able to tell the Foreign Ministry back home that it's not their fault, they issued a warning.
It's tough to imagine any conceivable benefit of this sort of warning, though, that offsets the loss of good-will. Half the purpose of consular offices is to strengthen relations. This substantially undermines them, instead.
many businesses are set to
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:41am
many businesses are set to automatically receive alerts from their consulates for the countries and/or cities their employees are traveling in and forward those to their employees. These alerts reach many more people than you might realize.
Malcolm X house
By Markk02474
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:47am
Perhaps tourists would want to see where Malcolm X lived during his time in Boston, 72 Dale Street, Roxbury.
Top of the list
By willisan
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 5:09pm
of sites to see by Japanese Tourists....
This "yeah but they're just
By davery
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:46am
This "yeah but they're just gang shootings" narrative is privileged BS. You wouldn't be saying that if you lived there and we shouldn't be trivializing brutal murders.
No one said "just gang shootings"
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:35am
But it is logical that targeted killings in mostly residential neighborhoods outside of downtown are probably not going to affect foreign tourists. Why you think this is "trivializing" murders is frankly beyond me.
That's right. There are NEVER
By tenfortyseven
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:35pm
That's right. There are NEVER any innocent victims of gang violence, say a teenager riding his bike home from school, or 2 year old sleeping in her crib.
Gawdamighty
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 2:12pm
Can you just read the post before you go off at the mouth? Not "innocent victims"--"innocent tourists and foreign nationals." No ones making sweeping statements here about the wider ramifications of gang violence, only making a common sense observation that tourists and gangland types rarely cross paths for obvious reasons of geography and so on.
Clearly it's that time of the
By tenfortyseven
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 4:19pm
Clearly it's that time of the month, for someone.
That said, girlfriend, excuse me, but I'm merely pointing out the FACT that gang violence RANDOMLY takes the lives of INNOCENT people, and doesn't care if you're a tourist, a little neighborhood girl, or an adult with her head up her Holier-than-thou butt.
Cut this sort of rubbish out
By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 5:21pm
> Clearly it's that time of the month, for someone.
Even if you want to be rude and dismissive, you can leave this sort of thing out.
Stop with the personal insults
By adamg
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 5:25pm
Enough already. Argue against the argument, not the person making it.
Thank you, gents
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 8:23pm
I thought that particular line of insult went out with wide ties and eight-tracks.
You
By tinabythesea
Sat, 02/01/2014 - 3:36am
You obviously don't travel overseas much. I always read the warnings and stay clear of any known areas. Finally, perhaps you never noticed, but other cultures actually walk quite regularly and at great distances; It would be easy to see someone unknowingly wander into Roxbury , Mattapan, Dorchester, or any number of other less desirable and potentially dangerous neighborhoods. Broaden your view...
And people complain about
By Judgemental For...
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:30am
And people complain about "ugly Americans"
If i
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:38am
Traveled halfway across the Earth to visit NE, id try and avoid visiting R/M/D anyways. Seriously who would list one of these neighborhoods as a "Travel Destination?"
Just because you're ignorant of what those neighborhoods offer
By adamg
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:58am
You have heard of the JFK Library, no?
OK, I admit it - if somebody only had a day to spend in Boston, or were coming here for the first time, I'd probably recommend they just stick to the Freedom Trail, but somebody who's been here before or has more time, well, there are things to see. You can even take walking tours.
Im ignorant? Adam youre from NY
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:10am
I went to the Dever, The McCorrmick (Both Shit Holes) and later UMB. My father had a office in Dot, i own a house in Mattapan (Rental) and probably travel through all three far more than you.
Just because your bleeding heart cant take the fact that all three are crime ridden neighborhoods covered in fast food trash, doesn't make me ignorant. It make you blind.
Typical: Somebody who lives in a place ignores things
By adamg
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:27am
I'm not blind to the problems in those neighborhoods, but saying there's absolutely nothing of value to a visitor in them is the sort of blind-eye provincialism I probably would have displayed when I lived in Brooklyn (back in the days before hipsters, back when Ford was telling us to drop dead) and somebody asked me what to do there.
Heck I admit it: The only reason I ever visited the Statue of Liberty or the New York Aquarium (in Brooklyn, no less) was because that's what you did when your parents were divorced and your father came for his weekly visit.
Please tell us you at least
By kvn
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:20am
Please tell us you at least visited Ebbets Field , and ventured to the Bronx to see the house of Mantle.................
Ebbetts Field was before my time
By adamg
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:26am
It had already been turned into a housing complex by the time I arrived on the scene, so no, never any reason to visit it.
As for the original Yankee Stadium, yep, went there a few times, but I was always a Mets fan.
Let's Go Mets!
By Saul
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:49am
Let's Go Mets!
F-A-N da-da-dah.
By jdrinboston
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 12:21pm
F-A-N da-da-dah.
Sorry...couldn't resist.
Yawn
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:54am
Yet another "local" who probably couldn't find their way through any part of Boston that isn't where they have already been, yet play the "local" card when all they've ever been told of those scary other places in the city they live in is challenged.
Other cities and towns have such people too, like the teacher who never had any idea that two places she knew from childhood were quite close together until one of her third graders stuck a map in front of her. But you probably haven't met them, since they exist off of the known world and there be dragons.
Thats funny Swirley
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:13am
I don't remember meeting you and discussing my travels and life story! But go ahead and make unwarranted assumptions about me and other "locals." It doesn't bother me because frankly it makes you look like a fool.
PS I'v have lived out of the city, state and country. So please, go fly a kite! Also seeing how hateful you are towards people from Boston, you may start thinking about moving It would be good for your blood pressure.
Which idiot anon are you again?
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:20pm
Sorry - I can't seem to keep you all straight for some reason.
Name-calling swirly, really?
By Another anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:27pm
Adam's gone to bat for you numerous times insisting that people don't name call to you but rather agrue the facts. and here you are calling people idiots.
Not to mention townines and Mass-holes.
Pretty hypocritical.
She must've been brandishing her u-lock again
By tenfortyseven
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:49pm
So people who LIVE in the neighborhood say don't go there or you're dead. Suburban Swirley peddles thru there and gets offers of sex. This is gotta be one of her kookiest BS comments in a long time (keeping in mind a long time with SG is roughly 1.5 days).
They told you that
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:58pm
Because they wanted you to stay the hell away.
It ain't dangerous on the Ave if you are passing through. If you get off the Ave looking for trouble, well, then you might find it.
Are you really shocked
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 3:13pm
by what freaky stuff people say to women on bikes and just walking around? Maybe you're the naive suburbanite here.
Some people don't hate Bostonians
By Betsy Bostonian
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:55pm
Some people just hate stupid bigots, wherever they hail from.
Keep up the stupid, even people who were born here will hate you.
So swirly
By Stevil
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:15am
You'd have no problem with your kid casually biking down Blue Hill Ave on a warm summer evening?
The warnings paint a broad brush - perhaps too broad if excluding the JFK library. But I can assure you, I wouldn't go wandering the streets of Boston west of Mass Ave, north of 93 and south of Huntington after dark. There are some nice neighborhoods and some bad neighborhoods - but if you don't live there, it's hard to know the difference. As a tourist - best to steer clear.
He is right, I have a
By kvn
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:23am
He is right, I have a tombstone mind and a grave yard disposition and look like a pitbull, and have had cargo lifted on the Ave and its surrounds. You need all your radar and ninja skills in that neck of the woods , or you are dead meat !
Actually, no
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:23pm
I've done it a number of times myself. Nobody bothered me.
Actually, one of my sons cut through there last summer on his way to his grandmother's house. Nobody bothered him.
Cycling is weird like that, though - people generally don't come off the sidewalks into the street. I've biked through much of the city and never had much more happen than a guy my age on a bike make me a nice offer of a good time in a nonthreatening way. I've had worse problems with either daft or aggro motorists in the "better" parts of town.
I've also gone on bike tours that went through all the supposedly "bad" areas of the city - and my sons were with me.
Read Past the Headline
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:59am
For Chrissake. The guy says he went to school in Dorchester and owns a house in Mattapan, two of the three neighborhoods we're talking about. I went to one of the same elementary schools as him and can vouch for his assessment of it. Anyway, don't you live in Oregon?
So … it sounds like you know
By anon1
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:00pm
So … it sounds like you know Dorchester circa, what, 1985? 1990? And given the fact that you think these neighborhoods are made up entirely of "trash strewn" streets (have you been to Savin Hill or Lower Mills lately? Yeah, I didn't think so), I'm going to make an educated guess that you're probably a slum lord who benefits from keeping Mattapan a land of rental properties and does next to nothing to benefit the community you're making money off of.
Typical.
Wrong
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 2:12pm
Im in my 20's and just recently graduated. Also wrong again, when i purchased the property i did a complete gut rehab of the building, everything is less than 2 years old. Slum lord, i am not. Also wrong again, i just ate dinner at The Blarney. Yes Savin Hill and Lowe Mill are unlike most of the area, because unlike most of Dot you have hard WORKING families that take pride in the neighborhood. Uphams Corner, full of trash.
If you want to be able to
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:14pm
If you want to be able to accept Section 8 vouchers (i.e. guaranteed monthly payment), you basically *HAVE* to do a gut rehab. It doesn't mean that you're adding anything to the neighborhood (or the tenants). Just means that you know how to work the system.
And after everything you've written about Dorchester, you're going to say that you just ate dinner in Field's Corner? Nice try. Thanks for playing.
point of clarification...
By badwolf13
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 3:03pm
I live in DOT...in that same area someone said they wouldnt walk after dark...and im not going to chime in on all these dangerousness asssesments because its mostly grotesque oversimplification either way...but for the love of god there IS trash everywhere. I've been requesting more public trash bins from the city for months. The ones I see are literally overflowing, and I watch it blow into the neighborhoods. If we can't even control litter how can we hope to control literally anything else?
I'm really disturbed that you
By Annika
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:57pm
I'm really disturbed that you consider your rental property in Mattapan to be surrounded by 'fast food trash' but whatever I am a bleeding heart. I do think attitudes like that are a part of the problem. I wish more landlords took pride in their properties in the Boston area.
So, you would warn a Japanese tourist against the JFK Library?
By Ron Newman
Fri, 01/31/2014 - 10:44am
(and, unfortunately, 'fast food trash' is everywhere, including tourist-heavy places like Boylston Street and Harvard Square. We need more covered trash cans that don't lose half their contents in the wind.)
I suspect
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:17am
that any tourist hep enough to want to visit Malcolm X's house will take any warning with a grain of salt. These warnings are no different from the ones American tourists get about roaming around Pigalle or Montmartre. Not a big deal and no reason for offense. And I can't really see anyone being put off visiting the JFK library because of warnings about Dorchester. Am I nuts to think that most travelers have a little more common sense?
I agree
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:07pm
These warnings are not a big deal. Every country, including the US, has similar warnings about pretty much every city out there. And many are overly cautious, sometimes to the point that it's laughable to those who know the area. Smart travelers know enough to look beyond the general warnings and do more research into an area.
PS--or bike tours.
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:18am
Much more fun than walking and you cover a lot more ground.
When you go on a bike tour of
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:37am
When you go on a bike tour of Blue Hill Ave., get back to us please.
I think you forgot to read my post in your rush to be a smartass
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 12:41pm
Try again. I'm not suggesting that any tourist head off blindly or bike, foot or bus to Blue Hill Ave. or Humboldt, but actually there are some good tours of Roxbury on bike and foot that I think most sensible tourists could handle.
Shows how much you know about Blue Hill Ave.
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:14pm
I've biked Blue Hill Ave several times when I worked in the medical area and needed to get to the south to my MIL's house or meet my family somewhere in the Blue Hills.
INCLUDING in the dark in the summer.
I was never bothered by anybody - I just had to be alert to the traffic because I wasn't familiar with the local traffic patterns, just like anywhere else, and not be afraid to take the lane where necessary (because it does vary in width).
I don't get what you are concerned about - it isn't in Syria or anything.
Ditto.
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 3:18pm
It's not my favorite place to ride or anything--too trafficky, too many drifting pedestrians and kids on bikes riding against traffic, etc. I can't think of any particular reason I'd send a tourist there, any more than I'd tell them to go hang out in Brighton Square or Tyngsborough but no--it's not Beirut either.
Things to see?
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:12pm
A few monuments, a large pear, a large rock and an ugly overpass - whoopty effin doo. I'm sure the tourists coming to Boston will forego all the downtown attractions just so they can see those.
So stick to Faneuil Hall
By adamg
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:14pm
Sounds more your speed.
Nobody here (that I can tell) is saying the giant pear should be on everybody's Must-See list for their five-hour stopover in Boston, but for somebody who does want to get beyond the stereotypical Revolutionary War/Giant Art Museum experience, there are things worth seeing and doing on the other side of Mass. Ave.
Hell, with the right guide (i.e., somebody who really knows the place), you could do an interesting little tour of Hyde Park. Maybe once the Fairmount Line gets true subway-like service ...
Haha, Fairmount line
By Matthew
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:21pm
The Japanese tourists can come and marvel at our dinky trains ("only runs once an hour!"): おもちゃの電車!
In my experience, Japanese tourists are much more interested in our beer. That's one thing we have up on Japan. Good beer. America, fuck yeah!
Oh, beer
By adamg
Fri, 01/31/2014 - 12:29am
You mean like at Sam Adams, which is, what, a couple blocks away from where some pretty violent stuff has happened?
Do you want to absorb the
By deepfreeze
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:08am
Do you want to absorb the local culture or not?
Dont forget to stop in to
By kvn
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 12:42pm
Dont forget to stop in to Simco''s !
"Roxbury? Why would anyone
By Hyde_Parker
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:21am
"Roxbury? Why would anyone want to go to Roxbury?"
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/recaps/#cat...
There was a time when all roads led to Dudley Square in Roxbury
By kvn
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:16am
There was a time my friend. My first cartage job was picking up meat on the hook from the railcars in Newmarket, the Bury.
ROXBURY’S HIBERNIAN HALL – MECCA FOR THE IRISH
There was a time when all roads led to Dudley Square in Roxbury for the Boston Irish. They began settling in Roxbury in the 1850s, and by the 20th century a bustling community was anchored around St. Patrick’s Church and the Mission Church, as well as Catholic convents, orphanages and schools.
In 1906 Irish groups like Ancient Order of Hibernians recognized the need for a building of their own to hold cultural and social activities. They formed the Hibernian Building Association of Boston Highlands, and sold $10 shares to over 500 shareholders to support the building fund. They purchased the lot at 184-186 Dudley Street, hired architect Edward T.P. Graham to design a building, and in January 1913 contractors broke ground for construction.
http://www.irishmassachusetts.com/Hibernian_Hall.php
Awwww...
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:37am
I know that my grandfather and his pals spent a lot of time going to dances and such at the Hibernian Hall.
Hibernian Hall is still in use
By Ron Newman
Fri, 01/31/2014 - 1:43pm
and does host events from time to time that could appeal to savvy tourists:
http://www.hibernianhall.org/
Of fer Chrissakes
By MissDee
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:27am
Tell them not to go to JP, Roslindale, Hyde Park, Charlestown, Downtown, South Boston, the list goes on and on. Tell them to stay away from any MBTA stations lest they get robbed/mugged/masturbated to, don't go to any convenience stores or banks anywhere because it will prolly get held up at gunpoint...etc, etc. Hell they might as well tell them not to come to MA at all. Shit happens everywhere, no place is immune.
"Masturbated to"
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:38am
ROTFL! Yuck.
Don't ROTF
By Stevil
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 12:03pm
In the T.
Ha!
By Sally
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 12:12pm
I don't even like to hold the hand railings these days...
That is what
By MissDee
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 1:40pm
hand sanitizer is for....that and bleaching your hands in hot water after you get home (and your doorknobs and anything else you touched on your way in). The T is gross. I recently caught a bus after not having done so in a while...I like how the announcer says something to the effect that if you have a complaint/concern about the cleanliness of this vehicle please call/email the T. Like yeah right they're really going to send someone out pronto to clean it. If they do they will prolly come with a dirty bucket full of germy water from the last buses they cleaned, and wipe the extra germs all over it. The T needs to cut it out. The only thing they do efficiently is hound passengers to pay that damn fare (FYI I'm no fare evader but I've witnessed many)....but I digress...sigh.
You are a piece of work
By anon
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 2:33pm
And you are crawling - absolutely crawling - with mites and stuffed with all manner of microbes.
Or maybe you aren't, which is why you are so nuts. You need this stuff to be healthy and stay healthy. Google "microbiome".
Cleaning buses
By BostonUrbEx
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 2:50pm
I think you're interpreting the message wrong. Nobody is going to run out and clean the bus... it will just get special attention when it's pulled into a yard for the night. I doubt every bus is cleaned every time it enters the yard for a night time layover, but they may be able to target specific buses based on cleanliness reports from riders.
I'm not too sure why you'd be opposed to that.
Not opposed at all
By MissDee
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 5:52pm
Just being realistic here. I'd love if special attention were paid to those (and ALL) buses, but based on past history and experience, I highly doubt it. Having the buses, T stations, trains etc, PROPERLY cleaned would cost the T too much money, and since they're always boo-hooing about how broke they are, costing taxpayers more and more $$, for the same shitty service, I don't think cleaning the right way is in any shape or fashion a priority of theirs.
I once found myself stuck on
By Annika
Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:05pm
I once found myself stuck on the Orange Line with a small mob of drunken (during the day) fellows who were of the 'rough' sort, if you know what I mean, and two of them were not at all shy about discussing their foot fetishes and discussing their preferences and pointing out other female passengers manicures. I was very glad that I had worn Doc Martens that day.
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