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| Tap water quality ranking in USA - 10/12/2012
Need info on test results on tap or drinking water quality, 02139 Green St area. [read more...]
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| Cambridge is Education Hub - 7/23/2012
Home to both Harvard and MIT, Cambridge is the cornerstone of higher education. Residents are very intelligent and open to new ideas. [read more...]
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| Hard to beat - 4/7/2012
Quality of life in Cambridge, MA, is just hard to beat. In the same place, you find a lively college town, a world-class research and development clustered thanks to the presence of Harvard and MIT, an active an diverse cultural life, and a beautiful scenery dominated by the Charles River.[read more...]
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| Weather not so bad, job opportunities are great - 1/5/2012
Boston and Cambridge get a bad rap for being super cold, snowy, and expensive, but the truth is not nearly so bad.
Having grown up in Texas, my first winter here I thought I was going to die -- for about 2 weeks. And then I bought a good coat and got used to the chilly weather and started to really enjoy the snow. I moved away for a few years and lived in Wisconsin, and now that I'm back, I can honestly say that the winters here are not bad at all! The temperatures are pretty mild compared to the Great Plains, and if you dress right, you won't have a problem. Yes, on average we get about 4 feet of snow, but it's spread out over the winter, and if you rent, chances are you won't have to shovel a sidewalk. Better yet, don't bring a car to the city (you don't need one!) and you'll never have to shovel it out, either. I really love the snowfall -- it's very beautiful. And I don't really mind shoveling out my car, since the exercise is invigorating.
The Boston area gets more sunshine on average than the US, and during the summer the humidity is much less than average. That makes the summers here much more bearable than Wisconsin, and hugely more pleasant than Texas! The sea breeze helps enormously. Typically there will be a week or two when it gets really hot and we wish we had air conditioning, but then we just head up north to a beach to escape the heat. The only bad thing is that there's more wind than average which makes winter feel a bit brisk.
The cost of living here is high. But on average, jobs here pay more to compensate and the unemployment rate is much lower than the US average. When jobs in Wisconsin were nowhere to be had, we easily found jobs in Boston. I think it's a great place for young people to get experience -- often at some of the best firms/research facilities in the country.
And even though we pay high rent to live in the middle of Cambridge, the neighborhoods are amazing. I can walk down the street and enjoy a range of restaurants (Indian, Thai, Italian, Brazilian, whatever), bars, pubs, fabric stores, mattress stores, groceries, clothing stores, etc. etc. etc. There's a bus stop 2 blocks away. The T is a 5-minute walk away. The place is super-connected and diverse. I feel that I'm part of a community here. And you really don't need a car. We'll likely be getting rid of ours soon. (My partner lived here easily for a year without one.)[read more...]
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| Nice but not worth it - 9/15/2011
Cambridge is a great place, but housing prices are killer. After 15 years renting we are moving to a more affordable city. [read more...]
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| Cambridge Rules - 7/7/2010
While tourists in Harvard Square certainly are annoying, they are there to visit a symbol of what makes Cambridge great: its educational institutions.
Oh, and also, the Charles River is really pretty.[read more...]
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| First Church of Cambridge, UCC - 1/14/2010
We found a great church in Cambridge - very open and all ages. This is one of my favorite things about living here. I also love being near the Charles River.[read more...]
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| Engineering Graduate Programs Cost of Living - 7/9/2009
I am doing a cost of living for each ranked graduate schools in the country. I need cost of living for:
MIT, Cambridge MA
Stanford, Stanford CA
Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA
University of Illinois----Urbana/Champaign IL
Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh PA
Cal Tech, Pasadena CA
USC, Los Angeles, CA
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
University of Texas, Austin TX
Cornell, Ithaca NY
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
UC---San Diego, La Jolla CA
Texas A&M University, College Station TX
UCLA, Los Angeles CA
University of Wisconsin, Madison WI
University of Maryland, College Park MD
Harvard University, Cambridge MA
Princeton University, Princeton NJ
University of California--Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA[read more...]
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| Cambridge rocks. - 10/29/2008
I have a second home in Cambridge, for a year, now...
It is in Huron Village, a mile north of Harvard yard.... and a block east of the Hi-Rise Bakery, the country's best, on Concord Ave, at Huron Ave. (no, I don't have an investment in the place.)
This area is the home of John Malkovich, Yoyo Ma, and Robert Reich, among others.
It has anything you would want in a city on the edge of the suburbs, yet near to the Hub, Boston.
It is equally attractive to San Francisco, my primary residence.
[read more...]
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| A Great town. - 10/29/2008
I primarily live in S.F., Cal. We have a second home in Cambridge, owned with our graduate student daughter. We bought it last year, in the Huron Village area.
Our property tax bill is: .00419 of the purchase price. In S.F., the bill would be: .0119..... three times higher!!!
The municipal facilities in Cambridge...are of a higher quality, too!..
I could go on, but you get the idea.[read more...]
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| Cost of Living vs Median Income - 7/11/2008
The Cost of Living in Cambridge is far out of balance with the median Income. This explains why only about 31% of the homes occupied are owned by the occupant. You can compare Cabridge to most other college towns, and I've gone through 4 others so far. Manhattan, Ks, Lawrence, Ks, Norman, Ok, and Boulder, CO. They all 4 have a higher high school graduation rate than Cambridge has and spend less than half per student than Cambridge does. That shows that spending more money isn't affective. The only reason why Cambridge pays $13000 and the rest are $6000 or below of those 4 other towns is because of the cost of living in Cambridge is out of balance with the rest of the country. The Median Income in Cambridge compared to the Median Home Cost: 116% of the Median Income to buy a Median Price Home and pay the property taxes each year. If you are planning to retire, Do not choose Cambridge![read more...]
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| Has the area become more ethnically diverse? - 3/19/2007
I am a single mother, racially mixed, thinking of moving to Cambridge. From some I have heard that the area is deeply racist, from others that it's changed. Can anyone shed some light on the situation? I would appreciate it.[read more...]
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| Lifelong Cambridge lover - 1/28/2006
For those who can afford it, Cambridge is a great place to live. Though not as quirky and bohemian as it used to be, Cambridge still retains some of its old charm and quaintness. This is a city that closes off one of its major thoroughfares in the summer so that people can walk, jog, or skate safely along the river. You'll find legendary institutes of higher learning; enjoyable events such as the Cambridge River Festival and the Cambridge World's Fair; and long-time establishments such as the independent Brattle theatre. You'll also find proportional representation elections. Cambridge's biggest drawback is its high cost of housing which has had a major negative impact on the culture of the city.[read more...]
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