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City pulls Snapchat filter that represented Eastie with an airport control tower
By adamg on Wed, 08/09/2017 - 9:44am
The East Boston Times-Free Press reports officials pulled the "filter" - an icon the cool kids could use on the social network - after an outcry from East Boston residents. And the paper reports that officials will consult with residents in other neighborhoods as well - presumably including Roslindale, represented by a cemetery entrance in Jamaica Plain - about appropriate icons for their neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Complain complain complain...
Complain complain complain... get a life
Yeah, you tell 'em!
Stop whining to the city and start whining about people whining.
The view of Boston from east
The view of Boston from east Boston sums it all up
i can see how this could
i can see how this could happen all the innovation department is a bunch of interns.
The city IT department's done some good stuff, but ...
Yeah, I can see some earnest kid up from the Guyland or something sitting at a desk going "East Boston, East Boston, what's East Boston known for? Oh, yeah, the airport!" And of course he's not going to know about the blinding fury of 10,000 suns that has been the hallmark of any actual East Boston discussion about the airport for, oh, the last 60 years or so.
Where they got the idea that Forest Hills is in any way associated with Roslindale, though, that's a puzzle.
I know...
Making an assumption that most of the young pups working there aren't originally from Boston, and use internet sources. If that's so, I have a couple of answers for you.
1) Realtors. Zillow until recently had Forest Hills available houses/condos/apts listed as being in Roslindale. They seem to have fixed this issue now. Just looked at one available property and it does now say Jamaica Plain. The good guys prevailed on this one it seems.
2) Google. Search Roslindale and take a look at the red outlined area. Yup, that's Forest Hills inside there too. Until recently the default image for the search term "Roslindale" was the main gate for Forest Hills Cemetery.
Even though I know it shouldn't, this kind of stuff sends me into orbit. I also know the majority out there doesn't give a poop either.
I am shocked! Shocked!
You can't characterize a Boston neighborhood, nor specify the borders or naming of it, without people being up in arms. Also, be careful mentioning the word "bicycle". Anyone with a basic familiarity of Boston area social issues knows things like this.
Your "social media experts" are usually "expert users&products of dotcoms", not experts on anything actually "social".
Had someone used a bicycle
... they might have learned a lot more about the neighborhoods.
I used to ride my bike all over Boston
But the I turn 17 and got my license and eventually a car.
That's nice, dear
What year was that - 1965? Your first car have those fins? Or was it a Vega?
I've been driving for 35 years now. I've had a car in Boston area since I was 18 and still find the bike to be the best way to get around much of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville and environs.
Great way to see the city.
Did you know that over 90% of cyclists have drivers licenses and many own cars, too? Whooda thunk!
Oops
I mentioned the word "bicycle".
Seriously? If you're pitching
Seriously? If you're pitching a fit about a snapchat filter... you have far too much free time.
How many of those offended enough to complain to the city
about this do you think even have snapchat? My guess is not many had even heard of it before this.
Seriously? If you're pitching
Seriously? If you're pitching a fit about someone pitiching a fit ... you have far too much free time.
You call that pitching a fit?
You call that pitching a fit? I guess a lot can be lost over the internet, but I can assure you it's more of an amused statement :)
Peter, your thoughts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFZrzg62Zj0
East Boston Is Not An Airport
Yes, yes, we know that. However it is where the airport is and has been for nearly 100 years. Lighten up.
Besides, oil tank farms, virgin on the half shellls, wrought iron in front of faux stone front porches, and discarded Tello's bags. aren't as easy to reproduce in Snapchat filters as you think.
50 Foot Madonna Queen
Constitution Beach, too.
Much of the airport is built on fill - made land in the harbor just for the airport.
The most recognizable EB icon
The most recognizable EB icon would simply be five straight lines, arranged like the Logan runways.
Anytime you look at a map of EB, that's the first thing you see.
But is it East Boston?
How much of what is now the airport was there when most of the housing and neighborhoods were built? The airport is really its own separate thing attached to East Boston. The city has little control over it, if any.
honestly
That argument is true for a lot of Boston.
How many people now living in those
houses and neighborhoods were living there BEFORE the airport was built? That's the relevant issue here.
Not really
I don't know if that's really the core issue, as that seems irrelevant. The core issue is what sort of neighborhood landmark do residents feel they most identify with or represents them? If it's not an air traffic control tower, I think they have a legitimate gripe. Legitimate as far as Snapchat icons are concerned, at least.
Technically Logan Has Six Runways
Logan actually has SIX designated runways.
All*
I didn't think the A380s land on anything other than the 10,000 ft runways, do they?
A380s are Rare in Boston
A380s at Boston have been rare, to date.
Probably, the A380s have only landed or departed on one of the two 10,000 foot runways. Since these runways meet at about a 60 deg angle, that gives four options (each runway has two ends) to operate, largely, into the wind.
I've observed B747s landing/departing on all four 150 ft-width runways. But, mostly they also use the two 10,000 ft runways.
3x a week
BA has been running them 3x a week (M/F/Su) to Heathrow and back with a landing and a take-off each day. But I've never been paying enough attention to track if they used a different runway than the rest of the larger class traffic that is landing/leaving at the same time.
Tello's...
...has been gone for years now.
Sorry
I should have said old Tello's bags fished out of stolen cars from the 80's run off from land into Chelsea Creek. My bad.
Um. Tellos is gone
long gone from Eastie. Now the trampy clothing purveyor is Madrags.
Actually there is a music video for that...
...courtesy of V66
Piers
would be a good representation of East Boston, though they are not unique to that neighborhood (Charlestown and Southie have them as well)
Replacement idea
A pair of tunnels with a taxi coming out from one of them.
No, that would assume a taxi
No, that would assume a taxi was actually willing to drive someone to Eastie.
I say...
Or a pizza that has the
Or a pizza that has the cheese on the bottom for no good reason.
Snapchat icons
Glad to see this City doesn't have any real issues to devote their time and resources to.
Boston's a big city
Full of different city agencies working on different issues. That's how cites roll.
So, what are the folk doing up at your town's town hall? Please tell so I can mock them for it.
Wait until you see what they
Wait until you see what they've come up with for twitter hashtags!
What would you use for Roslindale?
It's a lovely neighborhood but I can't think of anything that visually stands out. The top of Peters Hill doesn't lend itself to representation as an icon, and is memorable mostly for the skyline view.
Some possibilities ...
The clock on South Street. The trees of Adams Park. The exterior of the Pleasant Cafe. Or, of course, my earlier suggestion of the Simco neon hot dog :-).
But really, it needs to be the old trolley substation, which somebody's already conveniently shown can be iconized pretty easily:
Gotta be the substation
And I would have said that 10 or 20 years ago, too.
I kind of miss the murals, though, but that's progress (and good progress.)
Clock
Might actually be on Belgrade, just past where South Street (or at least, that little bit of it) ends.