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The Economist don't know jack about Boston, apparently

The Economist writes about the revival of the Rust Belt, which is kind of interesting (the old tire town of Akron is now the new polymer science town of Akron), but they include Boston in their definition of "Rust Belt," say we have lots of cheap industrial properties and that:

The hunt for Lebensraum is driving young entrepreneurs to explore the neglected peripheries of big cities, such as Boston’s South Side (“Southie”) ...

H/t Erikk Hokenson.

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Comments

Perhaps they've confused the figurative Rust Belt with the literally rusting and neglected infrastructure which is the MBTA and most highways and bridges in Massachusetts.

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And I'm afraid you don't know jack about spellcheck. Check that headline, Econonist.

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Yes, OK, maybe they're not a football club, but it seemed to fit.

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The problem isn't "don't," it's "Econonist."

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Southie vernacular?

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Spell checkers are expensive in this econony.

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Maybe they read that the BRA sells $100,000 properties for $5,000 and considers the entire city blighted.

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SoBo

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Those whacky Brits and their 'dry' humo(u)r!

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What if the author said Seaport District instead of South Boston?

I believe the district lacks the soul of a rust belt revival story but does have the basic spirit and passes all textbook definitions in my opinion.

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But I thought "young entrepreneurs" aren't setting up shop there because the rents are too high, that the place to find this sorts of folks is downtown.

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Yeah nice job Adam, mock an article for a small slip up because the author does not a get the nuances of a particular area. God knows you never make that type of mistake. You run a website, why don't you try authoring a real piece of journalism. Ohh wait, that might take away from the snooty little click bait articles that populate your site. You should change the name to Universalwhine.

How much is traffic down this winter with so little snow with fewer chances to write about parking spot markers?

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It's always good to see new faces here. I'm sure you'll be joining in the generalized mocking and Boston-specific nitpicking as soon as you get comfy. Care for a good hearty discussion about neighborhood boundaries?

As for my traffic, your concern is touching. You're right - I didn't have any traffic spikes like last winter. But that's OK, traffic's still on an upward trajectory, and I appreciate the click you just gave me.

To answer your specific whine, yeah, one thing that bothers me is people who pretend they're experts on something, but aren't, such as know-it-all British economics magazines that act like they know what "Southie" is, only they don't. And, yes, I make mistakes all the time, and people call me on them. And then I correct them.

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Perhaps one of these fine publications would be better suited to your point of view:

http://www.bostoncitypaper.org/
http://www.southbostononline.com/

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To me this is the one of if not the best source of interesting, local news reporting about Boston. In addition to reporting on interesting issues and events the site provides a means for many people to express their opinions (as you just did). Add that what can be learned about Boston and the posting of beautiful photographs of from the Boston area, rhymes that add some humor to a frequently humorless transportation system, and the occasional flurry of puns...all for the cost of seeing a few advertisements.This is an example of the Web at its best.

But unlike writers such as Birdman, Adam, god forbid, makes mistakes. Yet instead of burying the mistakes in a tiny box that no one notices which most newspapers do, Adam corrects the error and generally states he corrected the article in the article itself.

So Mr or Ms Birdman don't even try to play self-important bully. Your unpleasant Chicken Little flapping is much ado about nothing. Your whine as good as wine good bad. Instead of flying around spreading pigeon droppings on Universal Hub try instead to see the value.

Here is a choice for today. To see the good in the day (keep it simple - the sky is clear, there is plenty of sunshine, Spring flowers are on their way up); or, you can stay nasty and unpleasant and look for something to whine and complain about.

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UHub is one of the few bright spots in local journalism (BINJ being the other). The Economist does a good job of covering events around the planet but when it actually touches on a theme that you know something about (whether it's your neck of the woods or your field of work) it quickly reveals itself to be glib, superficial and not as insightful as you thought it was. It's the journalistic equivalent of clove cigarettes -- "Gee I've forgotten how cool these taste.....waaaughh get this shit out of here!" I pick up an issue every time I fly and that usually tides me over for a month or two...or four.

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Adam doesn't just aggregate news, he's an accomplished journalist in his own right. I've lost count of how many times he's covered important meetings and other events, reporting on issues that are overlooked by the larger outlets. And on top of that, when Adam covers something, or highlights it on the site, the larger media often then decide it's a story worth doing themselves.

In developing a successful, growing site that combines hyperlocal reporting, crowdsourced coverage, and original reporting, Adam has led the way in trying to figure out what kinds of futures are possible in journalism. So lay off.

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Has gone as far as Innsmouth.

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There's something fishy about that.

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Yes, the reference to Southie was odd, but I suspect they were referring to greater Boston. I did interview for a software job in the old DEC building in Maynard less than 10 years ago.

On the other hand, I wouldn't exactly say Fall River / New Bedford / Brockton are going through a renaissance.

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Yeah, but give Fall River and New Bedford commuter rail stops, and that will jump start that renaissance! Just like it has in Brockton, Lowell, and Lawrence, natch.

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as far as i understand it, lowell is actually on the come up and doing pretty well now compared to 10, 15+ years ago

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If you hadn't cropped the quote, you'd see that. The full quote:

The hunt for Lebensraum is driving young entrepreneurs to explore the neglected peripheries of big cities, such as Boston’s South Side (“Southie”), Seattle’s South Lake Union Area and San Francisco’s twin city of Oakland.

While the title of the article includes "rust-belt" the article itself isn't just about Rust Belt cities.

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The "South Side" name is one I have never heard used about either South Boston or the South End. Maybe they've been listening to too much Moby.

As for the Seattle reference, South Lake Union is hardly the periphery of the city, as one look at a map would show. One might argue that Lake City is, but that's well north of any part of Lake Union....

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The periphery reference is not in terms of geography, but rather utilization and characterization of the areas. South Lake Union was a desolate post-industrial wasteland until redevelopment started in the 2000s. In that sense it was most definitely a neglected periphery in the Seattle area. Southie was similar, albeit more residential than SLU, so the comparison still holds.

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Well Baker and Walsh seem to think South Boston is pretty hard up since they have been giving away hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare to corporations to locate there. We should rename the South Boston Waterfront the South Boston Welfare District. The south boston waterfront is kind of like an airport, lots of overpriced chain restaurants full of people who cant wait to get where they really want to be, propped up by billions in tax money.

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Maybe it should have been about abandoned shipworks yards , C Town , South Boston Naval Annex , Quincy , Hingham , various and sundry East Boston yards,

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everyone got hung up on the use of "Rust Belt" and completely overlooked the reference to lebensraum, which is the slogan Hitler used to justify invading most of Europe and then imprisoning and murdering a significant chunk of those countries' population.

It seems tone-deaf and insensitive to use it in a context as flip as urban planning.

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And even removed from the Nazi context, it still reeks of colonialism. But it is The Economist, after all.

I guess I shouldn’t even bother pointing out the slur of “flyover territory.”

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