stinkycheese said:
You're getting the South End confused with Southie
(South Boston, very different from the South End.) The South End doesn't have any projects. It's beautiful and an historic district of Boston. Some of the city's best restaurants are there and there's plenty of fun stuff to do in the area and nearby (it is near the Prudential and borders the Back Bay, which is the hoity toity shopping district of Boston).
In the other post, the poster wanted to also live near the Charles River campus of BU (Arts and Sci campus), which is in a completely different section of the city. Kenmore and the Fens are convenient to both campuses, which is why I advocated living there. Also, the South End is wicked expensive, and the part that's near the medical center is near Roxbury, which is ghetto. The part near the med center is also further from Boston's restaurants and nightlife.
Well, allow me to comment on this. As someone who lives in the South End, allow me to confirm that there are INDEED projects in the South End. There are low-income housing areas throughout Boston, as it is mandated by law. For instance, Tent City in Back Bay, which is in an especially nice area, is essentially all low income housing. Projects in the South End can be found, for example, in the SoWa area, Aguadilla St. between Tremont and Washington, Worcester St.(not Square), and Methunion area up Columbus St. That's not to say that these areas make the South End less expensive, they don't. The South End's most expensive areas house a large gay male population (of which I'm not a member, not that there's anything wrong with that), hence the large amount of nice restaurants, shops, and boutiques because of the disposible income. With that, in the past 20 years, has come an increasing number of small families and students who like the refurbished brownstones. However, it still has (unlike the Back Bay) a large number of low income families and areas, and hence tends to be rather eclectic, much like Greenwich Village in New York.
Regarding living out in Brighton/Allston, or Brookline, let me tell you what it is like getting to/from the med school from/to the Charles River campus: Hell. If you get lucky, it will take 30 minutes. If you are unlucky, it can take well over an hour. Unlucky happens at least half the time, and you can forget rush hour in the morning or afternoon. I can tell you this because I have friends who have done the commute, and because I have had to go to the main campus several times for various reasons. There is a shuttle, however a)it only runs during the school year, and not during weekends b)it runs every 1.25 hours, so if you miss it (which happens because it doesn't always run on time), you are screwed. Yes, Brookline is a nice area, yes it is cheaper, yes it is fun, but my God, it is a pain the rear trying to get across Boston to the Med Center. If BUMC were on the T somewhere, it might not be so bad, but dammit, it's not. It's actually faster to get to Harvard Square in Cambridge than it is to get out to Brookline from BUMC.