Boston, MA Area GwJr's

Ed Ropple wrote:

False-flag Yankees fans.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I believe it.

I saw someone tweet out a GoFundMe link for the guy who owned the car. Apparently he'll be short about $2,500 between his insurance gap and getting setup with a new lease.

That's awesome -- they're already above the goal. Faith in humanity slightly restored.

Yeah, and anything over the funding goal they plan to put towards OneFund.

For anyone interested in some regular Monday drinking, I run a weekly cocktail club through reddit's r/BostonSocialClub. This week we're going to Deep Ellum in Allston. Goodjers are, of course, welcome to come along!

Hi All,

So if you've been in the city for a while, you'll probably know about the Santa Speedo Run. This year will be the 4th year that I run up Boylston Street and down Newbury Street wearing nothing but a Speedo, a Santa hat, and Sneakers. I'm having a fundraiser for the event, since I'm raising money for the Play Ball Foundation.

Please come, it'll be great to see some goodger's again.

Here's the event details:

(Caution: The picture for the event has a lot of people in Speedos)

It's at the Thirsty Scholar around Inman Square at 7pm on Wednesday the 4th. The actual event will be on the 14th at 1pm, it's usually a lot of fun.

I just noticed that Andrew WK is playing in Worcester for $18 on 12/26. Anyone interested in going with me?

I'm having some people over next weekend for some board games next weekend to my apartment in Allston... I'm unsure of the numbers, but I figured I'd mention it here, if anyone wants to hang out with my tweed jacket skinny hipster self while I play Bang! and Betrayal at house on the Hill.

I know that it's closer to NH than Boston, but what do you guys know about Haverhill?

My wife worked there. She doesn't like it very much. Thinks it's kinda sketchy, but that may just be the area she worked in.

Hmm, I have heard that there are two sides to the town. My mother's been looking at this house.

Haverhill, to me, is a lot like Lowell and Lawrence. Loads of rich history being mill towns along the Merrimack, with an influx of immigrants and refugees over the last few years. I've lived in Lowell for the last 5 years, and there's still sections of town where I wouldn't park my car overnight, and the same is true of Lawrence and Haverhill.

But with that being said, a spread like the one you pictures is probably not anywhere near those parts of town.

Haverhill definitely has nice parts, but at the same time, there's some sketchy parts.

Citizen's Connect is a source of endless hilarity: https://mayors24.cityofboston.gov/re...

SocialChameleon wrote:

Citizen's Connect is a source of endless hilarity: https://mayors24.cityofboston.gov/re...

This is probably why you don't crowd-source the surveillance society

The nearby reports are also hilarious.

The most egregious ones tend to make it onto Universal Hub.

The search has moved to Hudson/Marlborough/Maynard area. Sellers accepted an offer on a place in Hudson, but, of course, it all depends on the inspection, etc.

$6,519 in property taxes for a half-million dollar home? Why is your state called Taxachussetts again?

sometimesdee wrote:

Why is your state called Taxachussetts again?

Because there's taxes on everything?

sometimesdee wrote:

The search has moved to Hudson/Marlborough/Maynard area. Sellers accepted an offer on a place in Hudson, but, of course, it all depends on the inspection, etc.

Those are really nice areas, overall. Hudson is a town I would have loved to move to when I bought my house (I'm closer to Worcester), but it was out of my price range.

shoptroll wrote:
sometimesdee wrote:

Why is your state called Taxachussetts again?

Because there's taxes on everything?

THIS.

McIrishJihad wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
sometimesdee wrote:

Why is your state called Taxachussetts again?

Because there's taxes on everything?

THIS.

Your sales taxes are lower, your property taxes are about half, your income tax is lower than mine. But I guess that compared to New Hampshire...

sometimesdee wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
sometimesdee wrote:

Why is your state called Taxachussetts again?

Because there's taxes on everything?

THIS.

Your sales taxes are lower, your property taxes are about half, your income tax is lower than mine. But I guess that compared to New Hampshire...

Live free or Die, but don't modify the exhaust on your car.

It's a trap. NH gets in all in property taxes.

But in NH, you can buy beer at all the grocery stores. No liquor except what the state will sell to you, and you can't buy high ABV beer anywhere.

NH: Live Free or Die (except in very specific ways).

How are you MA people liking your Amazon sales tax collecting?

SocialChameleon wrote:

It's a trap. NH gets in all in property taxes.

That I know. However, I'm still trying to figure out where the "taxes on everything" concept comes from in Massachusetts. As a potential MA resident, I need to know these things.

It's mostly a curmudgeonly inside joke because we have sales tax, gas tax, property tax, income tax, meals tax for prepared foods and restaurants, cigarette tax, vehicle excise tax, etc. None of them are unreasonable. (Although property taxes will wildly vary based on what municipality you're in.) As a percentage of income, MA state taxes are some of the lowest in the country. With the exception of public transport, which is its own sordid story, MA is pretty good as far as infrastructure goes. We've got that whole world-class schools and hospitals thing going on.

This is kind of a quick outline http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/ciswe...

Call me when you have an 18% parking tax.

sometimesdee wrote:

Call me when you have an 18% parking tax. ;)

Don't need it. You just can't park anywhere. There's also this.

Lol back bay

I got curious and did some quick googling for the origin of the term and came across this: http://www.massbudget.org/report_win...

Short version: While we're in the middle of the pack now, we used to be in the top three for taxes as a percentage of income. However, that hasn't been true since the 70's.

Chaz wrote:

But in NH, you can buy beer at all the grocery stores. No liquor except what the state will sell to you, and you can't buy high ABV beer anywhere.

Frankly, growing up in NH, I'd rather have a state-run liquor commission versus the amazingly outdated setup we've got in MA. You can't buy beer and wine at grocery stores, and there's so many limits on package stores - one company can't own more than so many in the entire state, no more than so many in a given village/town/city based on population, and stores can only be open from noon to 6pm on Sundays.

Heck, its the entire reason that Trader Joe's closed their store in Tyngsboro and moved 2 miles down the road into Nashua - so they could take back the MA liquor license for that store, and start selling wine somewhere else in the state.

And as for the NH Liquor Commission - they'll order anything you want, if you ask nicely. And the collective bargaining is in full effect when it comes to prices. I'm always amazed at seeing $10+ differences when looking at handles between NH and MA.

I'm not really sure where you're getting the comment on high ABV beer in NH though. Within a mile of my office in Nashua, we've got two independent beer shops, who regularly carry beers up to 15% ABV. The only problem with beer in NH is the federal 3-tier system, mostly because the two major distributors are owned by InBev/Budweiser and MillerCoors. Its not impossible for a brewery to get picked up by these guys, but the front-line sales guys and delivery drivers are going to push BMC and their related brands (Blue Moon, Shocktop, and all the other "macros as micros" lines they've created in the past few years) before independents. You still have to hit a speciality store to get the good stuff, but most grocery stores still have decent selections.