Boston, Massachusetts

A variety of DSL providers and resellers are able to provide broadband Internet over Verizon-owned phone lines. In nearby Denmark it seems that the coffee shops in the Freetown Christiania will be abolished in 2005 or 2006, as part of the wider issues involved with Free Christiania. Satellite television is available from Dish Network and DirecTV. This policy slowly reduces the number of coffeeshops, since no one can open a new one after a closure. Broadband Internet access is provided by Comcast and RCN in certain areas. The "no-growth" policies of many Dutch cities affect new licensing. Cable television is available from Comcast and RCN. A March 19, 2005 article in the Observer noted that the number of Dutch cannabis coffeehouses had dropped from 1,500 to 750 over the previous five years, largely due to pressure from the conservative coalition government [2].

Phone service is also available from various national wireless companies. Most of such municipalities are either controlled by strict Protestant parties, or are bordering Belgium and Germany and simply do not wish to receive "drug tourism" from those countries. Verizon, successor to New England Telephone, NYNEX, and Bell Atlantic, is the primary wired telephone service provider for the area. they do not allow any. Natural gas is distributed by KeySpan Corporation (the successor company to Boston Gas); only commercial and industrial customers may choose an alternate natural gas supplier. For some this is a "zero policy", i.e. NSTAR is the exclusive distributor of electric power to the city, though due to deregulation, customers now have a choice of electric generation companies. Each municipalitiy has a coffee shop policy.

The agency operates several facilities for sewage treatment, notably an effluent tunnel in Boston Harbor and the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant near the mouth of Boston Harbor. In the Netherlands, a koffiehuis resembles more so a coffee shop in the U.S., whilst a café is the equivalent of a bar. Established as a public authority in 1984, the MWRA pipes water from reservoirs in Western and Central Massachusetts, notably the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, for several communities within Greater Boston. Cannabis and any food products containing cannabis are generally clearly identified to prevent accidental consumption. The Commission in turn purchases wholesale water and sewage disposal from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). These institutions provide non-contaminated (and hence relatively safe) cannabis products, which may not be true of dealers acting illegally. Water supply and sewage-disposal services are provided by the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. Any shop selling soft drugs to minors or selling hard drugs at all is immediately closed.

Meanwhile, Amtrak's Downeaster service to Maine originates at North Station. This aesthetic attracted many public artists who get commissions to create murals in the coffee shops and use the Rastafari and reggae related imagery to provoke public discussion about racial and multicultural issues. Fast Northeast Corridor trains, which service New York City, Washington, D.C., and points in between, also stop at Route 128 Station in the southwestern suburbs of Boston. Dutch coffee shops often fly red-yellow-green Ethiopian flags or other symbols of the Rastafari movement to indicate that they sell cannabis, as a consequence of the official ban on direct advertising. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and Chicago lines originate at South Station and stop at Back Bay. In a charming gesture of discretion still technically required, many coffeehouses keep the cannabis menu below the counter, even when the cannabis itself is in more-or-less plain view. Collectively known as the "T", the MBTA also operates an extensive network of bus lines and water shuttles, and a commuter rail network extending north to the Merrimack River valley, west to Worcester, and south to Providence, Rhode Island. Most coffeehouses advertise, and the constraint is more modulating that outright prohibitive.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operated the nation's first underground subway system, which has since been expanded to an extensive rapid transit system reaching as far north as Malden, as far south as Braintree, and as far west as Newton. At least two coffeehouses (as of 2001) are also licensed for liquor, with the notion that the sale of cannabis is to happen at a different counter (though it may be smoked at the bar). Through the Big Dig the elevated highway was replaced with an underground tunnel. There is as of January, 2006 proposed legislation to remedy this. The most infamous portion, the Central Artery, runs through downtown Boston and was constantly prone to heavy traffic. There is a further on-going contradiction, as a coffeshop is tolerated to sell, but not to buy ("The frontdoor is open, but the backdoor is illegal"). US 1 and I-93 runs north to south through the city. An owner can have his business closed for three months for some offences, closed outright for others.

I-95, which surrounds the city, is known as Route 128.
With the exception of advertising and alcohol, these restrictions are controlled very fiercely. Boston is the eastern terminus of I-90, also known as the Mass Pike. In the Netherlands, the selling of cannabis is tolerated (NL: gedoogd) by officials, so the law is not enforced in establishments following these nationwide general rules:. for cycling. Any establishment advertising itself as a "coffeeshop" (as opposed to a café) in the Netherlands is likely primarily in the business of selling cannabis products and possibly other substances which are tolerated under the drug policy of the Netherlands. In its March 2006 issue, Bicycling magazine named Boston as one of the three worst cities in U.S. Some coffee shops, however, especially in the Netherlands, are places where selling of cannabis for personal consumption by the public is tolerated by the local authorities.

The city also has a number of rotaries, which have confused many drivers. In the mid 2000s, of course, many mainstream cafes offer Internet access, just as they offer telephones and newspapers. Roads change names and lose and add lanes seemingly at random. Computers and Internet access in contemporary-styled venue is a youthful, modern, outward-looking place, compared to the traditional pubs, or old-fashioned diners that they replaced. Boston has been described as a "City of Squares", referring to the tradition of naming the intersections of major thoroughfares after prominent city residents. The spread of modern style cafes to many places, urban and rural, went hand in hand with computers. Except for the reclaimed Back Bay and part of South Boston, the city has no street grid. The original uses of the cafe, as a place for information exchange and communication was reintroduced in the 1990s with the Internet cafe.

Boston's streets appear as though they were not planned, evolving from centuries-old foot and cow paths. This is often due to the business practices of chains such as Starbucks, which will oversaturate an area so as to drive overall profits up while lowering the profits of individual establishments. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island, and Manchester Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, are airports outside Massachusetts which serve as secondary facilities. Many people complain that traditional, local venues are being pushed out by cloned, characterless cafes controlled by big business. F. Cafés offer a more open public space to many of the traditional pubs they have replaced, which were more male dominated, with a focus on drinking alcohol. T. See also public space.

Another airport serving the city and surrounding areas is Hanscom Field in Lexington and Bedford. This is especially the case with European cafés. Logan International Airport, located in the East Boston neighborhood, is the major airport serving Boston. Cafés, in warmer days, may have an outdoor part (terrace, pavement or sidewalk café) with seats, tables and parasols. Boston Medical Center, located in the South End neighborhood, is the primary teaching facility for the Boston University School of Medicine as well as the largest trauma center in the Boston area; it was formed by the merger of Boston University Hospital and Boston City Hospital. There are two types of cafés: those that specialize in coffee and hot beverages, and those with a full menu, the most famous examples of which are the "French cafés," especially those in Paris. New England Medical Center, located in the southern portions of the Chinatown neighborhood, is affiliated with Tufts University. Those also spawned another, completely different type of restaurant, the cafeteria.

The facilities in the Longwood Medical Area and MGH are world-renowned research medical centers affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Cafés developed from the coffeehouses that became popular in Europe upon the introduction of coffee. Many of Boston's major medical facilities are associated with universities. Bistro food is supposed to be cheap, but in recent years bistros, especially in Paris, have become increasingly expensive. Boston also has VA medical centers in the Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury neighborhoods. A "bistro" is a café / restaurant, especially in Paris. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is located near the Beacon Hill neighborhood, with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital nearby. A brasserie is a café that serves meals, generally single dishes, in a more relaxed setting than a restaurant.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital were both formed by mergers: the former between Beth Israel Hospital and New England Deaconess Hospital, and the latter by Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and the Boston Hospital for Women. They may or may not have a restaurant section. The Longwood Medical Area is a region of Boston with a concentration of medical and research facilities, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School. French cafés also often serve simple snacks (sandwiches etc...). As the home to some of the world's most respected research hospitals, Boston enjoys an international reputation in the medical field. In France, a "café" certainly serves alcoholic beverages. The city is also the site of two other major annual sporting events: the Boston Marathon, the world-famous 26-mile run from Hopkinton to Copley Square in Boston, and the Head of the Charles Regatta rowing competition on the Charles River. American cafés may or may not serve alcoholic beverages, and the serving of coffee may be incidental to the serving of food.

The hockey teams of these four universities meet every year in an immensely popular four-team tournament known as the "Beanpot". Styles of cafés vary; some concentrate upon many styles of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, with possibly a selection of baked goods and sandwiches, while others offer full menus. The most prominent include Boston College (member of the Atlantic Coast Conference), Boston University (America East Conference), Northeastern University (Colonial Athletic Association), and Harvard University. In the United States, café (from the French word for coffee) is a small restaurant. Boston's many colleges and universities field sports teams. See, for example, the meetings of the Sons of Liberty of the American Revolution and the abortive Beer Hall Putsch by the German Nazi party in 1923. The team plays at Boston University's Nickerson Field. The contemporary coffeehouse is just the latest example of a drinking establishment—bars, public houses, taverns and soda shops have also served this purpose—as the center for cultural exchange in a particular community, often fomenting social and political change.

Another major league team is the lacrosse team Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse. Starting in the 1980s, a counter clerk in a coffeehouse has come to be known in English as a barista, from the Italian word for bartender. Both teams play at Gillette Stadium. Since approximately the Beat era, the term coffeehouse has come to imply the availability of espresso drinks, and while "coffee shop" still could suggest an establishment where one would buy coffee, there has been an evolution so that it now suggests "diner" more than coffee-drinking hang-out per se. Boston fans travel there to see the Patriots and the New England Revolution soccer team of Major League Soccer. The liquor laws in many areas in the United States generally prevent anyone under the age of 21 from entering bars, so coffeehouses in that country can often be important youth gathering places. Once the Boston Patriots, a charter team of the American Football League, the NFL's New England Patriots football team plays in nearby Foxboro. Before the rise of the Seattle-based Starbucks chain, Seattle (and other parts of the Pacific Northwest) had a thriving, largely countercultural coffeehouse scene; Starbucks standardized and "mainstreamed" this model.

The game was played between the Boston Americans (currently the Boston Red Sox) and the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[11]. As the youth culture of the 1960s evolved, non-Italians consciously copied these coffeehouses. Boston was once the home of the National League baseball team Boston Braves as well as the site of the first World Series in 1903. Both Greenwich Village and North Beach were major haunts of the Beats, who became highly identified with these coffeehouses. Their home at Fenway Park, located near Kenmore Square, is the oldest ballpark in active use in the United States. The current spate of chain coffee shops such as Starbucks, Peet's, Seattle's Best Coffee, The Coffee Bean and Second Cup have a clear lineal descent from the espresso and pastry centered Italian coffeehouses of the Italian-American immigrant communities in the major US cities, notably New York City's Little Italy and Greenwich Village, Boston's North End, and San Francisco's North Beach. The baseball team Boston Red Sox is a member of the American League of Major League Baseball. American coffee shops are also often connected with indie, jazz and acoustic music, and will often have them playing either live or recorded in their shops.

The Celtics have the distinction of having more World Championships than any other NBA team with 16 championships from 1957 to 1986. In small cities a coffeehouse functioned as a place where messages might be left and picked up. The TD Banknorth Garden (formerly called the Fleet Center) is near North Station is the home of two major league teams: the Boston Bruins ice hockey team (National Hockey League) and the Boston Celtics basketball team (National Basketball Association). In New York the Tontine Coffeehouse at the foot of Wall Street near the docks became a central meeting place. The outer suburbs of Boston, which tend to be forested, have vibrantly colored foliage every autumn that attracts many tourists. Auctions in salesrooms attached to coffeehouses provided the start for the great auction houses of Sotheby's and Christie's. A popular guided tour is the Boston Duck Tour, which uses World War II-era duck boats. Jonathan's Coffee-House in 1698 saw the listing of stock and commodity prices that evolved into the London Stock Exchange.

There are also two self-guided walking tours: Harbor Walk, which is designed to allow people the walk the entire shore of Boston Harbor, and the Black Heritage Trail. In London, coffeehouses preceded the club of the mid-18th century, which skimmed away some of the more aristocratic clientele. The New England Aquarium, Franklin Park Zoo, Boston Athenaeum (one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States), and the Boston Children's Museum are located within the city. The only woman present presides, decently separated in a canopied booth, whence she doles out coffee in tall cups. Kennedy Library. Coffeepots are ranged at an open fire, with a hanging cauldron of boiling water. The University of Massachusetts campus at Columbia Point houses the John F. In a well-known engraving of a Parisian coffeehouse of c 1700, the gentlemen hang their hats on pegs and sit at long communal tables strewn with papers and writing implements.

Boston is home to several world-renowned museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Museum of Science. Ladies were not permitted in coffeehouses. Other notable districts/neighborhoods include Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, North End, and South Boston. According to one French visitor, the Abbé Prévost, coffeehouses, "where you have the right to read all the papers for and against the government," were the "seats of English liberty.". Back Bay is also the home of two of New England's tallest buildings: the John Hancock Tower and the Prudential Center.^[10] Near the John Hancock Tower is the old John Hancock Building with its prominent weather forecast beacon. By 1739 there were 551 coffeehouses in London, including meeting places for Tories and Whigs, people of fashion or the "cits" of the old city center, coffeehouses known as gathering-places for the wits or for stockjobbers, merchants and lawyers, booksellers and authors. The Back Bay district includes many prominent landmarks such as the Christian Science Center, Boston Public Library, Copley Square, and Newbury Street. Lloyd's of London had its origins in a coffeehouse run by Edward Lloyd, where underwriters of ship insurance met to do business.

Other parks are scattered throughout the city, with the major parks located near Castle Island, Charlestown, the Dorchester shoreline, and East Boston. More generally, coffee houses became meeting places where business could be carried on, news exchanged and the gazettes read. A major recreation site for many Bostonians, it is also the site of the Hatch Shell. They were great social levellers, open to all (except, generally, women), and as a result associated with equality and republicanism. Another major park is the Esplanade located along the banks of the Charles River. Though Charles II later tried to suppress the London coffeehouses as "places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers", the public flocked to them. In the winter, the Frog Pond at Boston Common doubles as a popular ice-skating rink. The Cafe Le Procope [1], which was founded in Paris in 1689, is still in business: it was a major locus of the French Enlightenment, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot used to frequent it, and it is arguably the birthplace of the Encyclopédie, the first modern encyclopedia.

Boston Common is part of the Emerald Necklace, a string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. The first London coffeehouse opened in Cornhill in 1652; Boston had its first in 1670, and Paris in 1671. Also along the Freedom Trail is Boston Common, with the Boston Public Garden being adjacent. Coffeehouses first became popular in Europe upon the introduction of coffee in the 17th century. Many are found along the Freedom Trail, which is marked by a red line or bricks embedded in the ground. It has the ring of apocrypha to skeptics who find the story too pat— and the date too late. Because of the city's prominent role in the American Revolution, several historic sites relating to that period are preserved as part of the Boston National Historical Park. Kulczycki began the first coffeehouse in Vienna with the hoard.

Most Boston television stations have their transmitters in nearby Needham and Newton. All the sacks full of coffee were granted to the victorious Polish king Jan III Sobieski, who in turn gave them to one of his officers, Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki. WGBH is a major producer of PBS programs. The traditional tale of the origins of Viennese coffeehouses begins from the mysterious sacks of green beans left behind when the Turks were defeated in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Boston is also home to PBS station WGBH 2, which also operates WGBX 44. In modern Iran, coffeehouses may attract a male crowd to watch the public TV. The Boston television DMA, which also includes Manchester, New Hampshire, is the fifth largest in the United States.^[9] The city is served by stations representing every major American network including WBZ 4 (CBS), WCVB 5 (ABC), WHDH 7 (NBC), WFXT 25 (FOX), WSBK 38 (UPN), and WLVI 56 (WB). In Persia, since the 16th century, the coffeehouse (qahveh-khaneh) has served as a social gathering place where men assemble to drink coffee or tea, listen to music, play chess and backgammon, perhaps hear a recitation from the Shahnameh.

University radio stations include WZBC (Boston College), WERS (Emerson), and WUMB (UMass Boston). . A variety of FM radio formats serve the area as well as NPR stations WBUR and WGBH. An essential part of a coffeehouse from its beginnings has been its social functions, providing a place where people go to congregate, talk, write, read, play games, or while away time individually or in small groups. Boston has the largest broadcasting market in New England, with the Boston radio market being the eleventh largest in the United States.^[8] Several major AM stations include talk radio WRKO 680 AM, sports/talk station WEEI 850 AM, and news radio WBZ 1030 AM. In establishments where it is tolerated, which may be found notably in the Netherlands, in Christiania, and in certain parts of Canada, cannabis is smoked as well. The city is also served by a number of smaller publications such as The Boston Phoenix and The Improper Bostonian. Many coffee houses in the Muslim world, and in Muslim districts in the West, offer shisha, powdered tobacco smoked through a hookah.

The Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times Company, and The Boston Herald are Boston's two major daily newspapers. In some countries, cafes may more closely resemble restaurants, offering a range of hot meals, and possibly being licensed to serve alcohol. Boston also had one of the leading local ska scenes in the ska revival of the mid-1990s with bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Allstonians, and Skavoovie and the Epitones. Other food may range from baked goods to soups and sandwiches, other casual meals, and light desserts. Boston musicians have contributed greatly to the hardcore scene over the years (see also Boston hardcore). As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on providing coffee and tea as well as light snacks. In contrast to what might be considered the more "refined" aspects of Boston's culture, the city is also one of the birthplaces of the hardcore punk genre of music. A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or cafe (also spelled café from the French or caffè from the Italian) shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant.

These events include the weeklong Harborfest festivities and a Boston Pops concert accompanied by fireworks on the banks of the Charles River. (e) no public disturbances. There are a number of major annual events such as First Night, which occurs during New Year's Eve, and several events during the Fourth of July. (d) no sales transactions exceeding the quantity threshold. Renowned performing arts groups include the Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Boston Lyric Opera Company, and the Handel and Haydn Society (the oldest choral company in the United States). (c) no sales to minors. The city also has a number of ornate theatres, including the Cutler Majestic Theatre and The Wang Center for the Performing Arts. (b) no hard drug sales on the premises.

Much of Boston's culture originates at its universities. (a) no advertising. Many consider Boston a highly cultured city, perhaps as a result of its intellectual reputation. Boston has its own collection of neologisms known as Boston slang. Italian, Chinese, and Hispanic groups also have major contributions to Boston's cultural composition.

Irish Americans are a major influence on Boston's politics and religious institutions and consequently on the rest of Massachusetts. Boston shares many cultural roots with greater New England, including a dialect of the Eastern New England accent popularly known as Boston English, and a regional cuisine with a large emphasis on seafood and dairy products. 3000 students of racial minorities attend participating suburban schools through the Metropolitan Educational Opportunity Council, or METCO. The system operates 145 schools, which includes Boston Latin School (the oldest public school, established in 1635), English High (the oldest public high school, established 1821), and Mather (the oldest public elementary school, established in 1639).^[7] The city also has private, parochial, and charter schools.

Boston Public Schools, the oldest public school system in the U.S., enrolls 58,600 students from kindergarten to grade 12. The city is also home to a number of conservatories and art schools, including the Massachusetts College of Art, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music. Suffolk University, a small private university known for its law school, maintains a campus on Beacon Hill. Northeastern University, a large private university with a distinctive work/study program, maintains a campus in the Fenway district.

Emerson College, a highly regarded arts & communications school, maintains a campus near the Theatre District at the southwest corner of Boston Common. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) operates several major laboratories within the city. Harvard recently announced plans to expand its main campus across the Charles River into Boston's Allston neighborhood, which already hosts some of the university's dormitories and sports facilities. These holdings include the Arnold Arboretum, and its business and medical schools.

Harvard University, the nation's oldest institution of higher learning, is based across the Charles River in Cambridge; however, most of its current land holdings lie in Boston. Boston University, now the city's second largest employer and one of the largest private universities in the country, was originally established in Vermont before moving to Brookline and later to its present campus in the Back Bay in the 1950s. Its campus, initially envisioned as an Oxford in America, subsequently expanded so that almost half of it is now within the city's political boundaries. It was originally located in the South End before moving to Chestnut Hill, on the city's western edge.

Boston College was the first institution of higher education established in the city. Boston's reputation as the Athens of America derives in large part from the teaching and research activities of over 100 colleges and universities located in its metropolitan area. It is also a major seaport along the United States east coast as well as a major fishing port. The Port of Boston is the largest and busiest seaport in Massachusetts.

Other major companies are located outside the city, especially along Route 128. has its headquarters in the city. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. Major companies headquartered within the city include Gillette, owned by Procter & Gamble, and Teradyne, one of the world's leading manufacturers of semiconductors and other electronic equipment.

Because of its status as a state capital and the regional home of federal agencies, law and government is another major component of the city's economy. The city is also a major convention destination with four major convention centers: the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay, the Bayside Expo Center in Dorchester, and the World Trade Center Boston and Boston Convention & Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront. Textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin is headquartered within the city. Boston is also a printing and publishing center.

The city is also the regional headquarters of major banks such as Bank of America and Sovereign Bank, and a center for venture capital. Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund in the 1980s, and has made Boston one of the top financial cities in the United States. Other important industries include financial services, especially mutual funds and insurance. Not only are they major employers, but they also attract high-tech industries to the city and surrounding region, including computer hardware and software companies as well as biotechnology companies like Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Biogen Idec.

Boston's colleges and universities have a major impact on the city and region's economy. The city has thrice been a recipient of the All-America City Award, the oldest and most respected civic award in the U.S. Boston has eight sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International (SCI): Barcelona (Spain), Hangzhou (People's Republic of China), Kyoto (Japan), Melbourne (Australia), Padua (Italy), Strasbourg (France), Sekondi-Takoradi (Ghana), and Taipei (Taiwan). Though the figures are nowhere near the high-water mark set in 1990, the aberrations in the murder rate have been unsettling for many Bostonians and have prompted discussion over whether the Boston Police Department should reevaluate its approach to fighting crime.^[4][5][6].

In more recent years, however, the annual murder count has fluctuated by as much as 50% compared to the year before, with 60 murders in 2002, followed by just 39 in 2003, 64 in 2004, and 75 in 2005. This helped lead in part to what has been touted as the "Boston Miracle." Murders in the city dropped from 152 in 1990 (for a murder rate of 26.5 per 100,000 people) to just 31—not one of them a juvenile—in 1999 (for a murder rate of 5.26 per 100,000). Conley, spent nearly ten years working at reducing gang violence in the city. The current DA for Suffolk County and Boston, Daniel F.

Boston's low crime rate in the last years of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st has been credited to its police department's collaboration with neighborhood groups and church parishes to prevent youths from joining gangs, as well as heavy involvement from the District Attorney's office. The city is in the Eighth and Ninth Congressional districts. The city also serves as the home of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, as well as the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (the First District of the Federal Reserve). O'Neil Federal Building.

Kennedy Federal Office Building and the Thomas P. Properties include the John F. Boston is also the United States federal government center for New England. As the capital of Massachusetts, Boston plays a major role in state politics.

In addition to city government, numerous state authorities and commissions play a role in the life of Bostonians, including the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). The school committee is appointed by the mayor, as are city department heads. Flaherty, is elected by the councilors from within themselves. The president of the city council, currently Michael F.

The candidates with the four highest vote totals are elected. Each voter casts up to four votes for at-large councilors, no more than one vote per candidate. There are nine district seats, each elected by the residents of that district through plurality voting, and four at-large seats. The city council is elected every two years.

The mayor is elected to a four-year term by plurality voting. Boston has a "strong mayor" system in which the mayor is vested with extensive executive powers. Like many other major cities in the 1950s and 1960s, Boston's population decreased dramatically due to new highway systems that made it easier to access the suburbs and outer regions. On days with major events such as baseball or basketball games the population can easily increase to 1.5 million.

The population is pushed up to one million or more on an average week day. Boston has the second-largest work day population increase in the country just after Washington D.C. Out of the total population, 25.6% of those under the age of 18 and 18.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. 19.5% of the population and 15.3% of families are below the poverty line.

The per capita income for the city was $23,353. Males had a median income of $37,435 versus $32,421 for females. The median income for a household in the city was $39,629, and the median income for a family was $44,151. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.

For every 100 females, there were 92.8 males. The median age was 31 years. In the city the population was spread out with 19.8% under the age of 18, 16.2% from 18 to 24, 35.8% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.17.

37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 239,528 households out of which 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.4% were married couples living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.9% were non-families. Census data did not account for this significant segment of the community because of confusing terminology, as Brazilians speak Portuguese and often do not consider themselves specifically Hispanic, Latino, White or African American. These figures became less reliable because of the large, partly undocumented Brazilian population, estimated by some studies to approach 250,000 in Massachusetts.

14.44% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. The racial makeup of the city was 54.48% White, 25.33% Black or African American, 0.40% Native American, 7.52% Asian American, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 7.83% from other races, and 4.39% from two or more races. Italians also form a very large segment of the city's population. The Irish are the largest ethnic group in the city of Boston, and Boston is commonly considered the capital of "Irish America".

There were 251,935 housing units at an average density of 2,009/km² (5,203/mi²). The population density was 4,697/km² (12,166/mi²). As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 589,141 people, 239,528 households, and 115,212 families residing in the city. Massachusetts' geographic location's jutting out into the North Atlantic also make the city very prone to Noreaster weather systems that can dump more than 75 cm (30 in) of snow on the region in one storm event.

It also coincidentally averages 108 cm (42 in) of snowfall a year, though this increases dramatically as one goes inland away from the city. The city averages 1080 mm (42 in) of rainfall a year. The record high temperature is 39 °C (102 °F) recorded in 1926 and the record low temperature is -28 °C (-18 °F) recorded in 1934. The coldest month is January, with an average high of 2.2 °C (36 °F) and a low of -5.6 °C (22 °F).^[2] Brief periods exceeding 35 °C in summer and below -20 °C in winter are not uncommon.

The hottest month is July, with an average high of 28 °C (82 °F) and a low of 18 °C (64 °F). It has been known to snow in October and get quite mild in February. Summers are typically warm and humid, while winters are cold, windy and snowy. It is not uncommon for the city to experience temperature swings of 30 °C (54 °F) or more over the course of a couple of days.

The weather in Boston, like much of New England, changes rapidly. Boston experiences a continental climate that is very common in New England. The Mystic River separates the neighborhoods of East Boston and Charlestown from Chelsea and Everett. The Neponset River forms the boundary between Boston's southern neighborhoods and the cities of Quincy and Milton.

To the east lies Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands, many of which are part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, operated by the National Park Service. The Charles River separates Boston proper from Cambridge, Watertown, and the neighborhood of Charlestown. Smaller commercial areas are interspersed amongst single-family homes and wooden/brick multifamily row houses. To this day, the South End Historical District remains the nation's largest surviving contiguous Victorian-era neighborhood.

Several of these buildings mix in with modern high-rises, notably in the Financial District, Government Center, Back Bay, and the South Boston waterfront. The downtown area and immediate surroundings consist mostly of low-rise brick or stone buildings, with many older buildings in the Federal style. Only Beacon Hill, the smallest of the three original hills, remains partially intact. Much of the Back Bay and South End are built on reclaimed land—two and a half of Boston's three original hills were used as a source of material for landfill.

With an elevation of 19 feet (5.8 m) above sea level at Logan International Airport, Boston is bordered by the cities of Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton, and Quincy—often known as, and considered a part of, Greater Boston. The total area is 46.0% water. 125.4 km² (48.4 mi²) of it is land and 106.7 km² (41.2 mi²) of it is water. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 232.1 km² (89.6 mi²).

Once again Boston has become a hub of intellectual, technological, and political ideas. Conversely, Boston's streets currently bustle with a vitality not seen since the 1920s. The city faces gentrification issues and exorbitant living costs. Boston has begun to resemble other parts of the continuous string of Northeast seaboard cities dubbed the BosWash megalopolis.

Over the past several decades, Boston has experienced a dramatic loss of regional institutions and traditions, which once gave it a very distinct social character. The unrest served to highlight racial tensions in the city. Nevertheless, the city experienced conflict starting in 1974 over desegregation busing, which resulted in unrest and violence around public schools throughout the mid-1970s. Universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Boston University attracted many students to the Boston area.

Hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital led the nation in medical innovation and patient care. Boston already had a reputation for excellent healthcare services. In the 1970s, Boston boomed after thirty years of economic downturn, becoming a leader in the mutual fund industry. Boston responded by initiating various urban renewal projects, including the demolition of the old West End neighborhood and the construction of Government Center.

By the early and mid-20th century, the city was in decline as factories became old and obsolete, and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere. Boston also grew by annexing the adjacent communities of East Boston, Dorchester, South Boston, Brighton, Allston, Hyde Park, and Charlestown, some of which were augmented by landfill reclamation. Almost six hundred acres (240 hectares) of brackish Charles River marshlands west of Beacon Hill were filled in with soil brought in by rail from the hills of Needham Heights. The most dramatic reclamation project was the filling in of the Back Bay in the mid to late 1800s.

After The Great Boston Fire of 1872, building rubble was used as landfill along the downtown waterfront. Reclamation projects in the middle of the century created the areas now known as the South End, West End, Financial District, and Chinatown. The present-day Statehouse sits atop this shortened Beacon Hill. Beginning in 1807, the crown of Beacon Hill was used to fill in a 50-acre (20 hectares) mill pond that later became the Bullfinch Triangle and Scollay Square (now Government Center).

Between 1630 and 1890, the city tripled its physical size by land reclamation, specifically by filling in marshes and mud flats and by filling gaps between wharves along the waterfront.^[1] The most intense reclamation efforts were in the 1800s. Fitzgerald. The Irish played a major role in Boston politics — prominent figures include the Kennedys and John F. Currently, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community.

In the 1820s, Boston's ethnic composition began to change dramatically; groups like the Irish and Italians moved into the city and brought with them Roman Catholicism. It also became a center of the abolitionist movement. From the mid-to-late-nineteenth century, Boston flourished culturally — it became renowned for its rarefied literary culture and lavish artistic patronage. Until the early 1900s, Boston remained one of the nation's largest manufacturing centers, and was notable for its garment production, leather goods, and machinery industries.

By the mid-1800s, the city's industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance. In 1822, Boston was chartered as a city. During this era, descendants of old Boston families became regarded, in the American popular mind, as the nation's social and cultural elites; they were later dubbed the Boston Brahmins. After the Revolution, Boston became one of the world's wealthiest international trading ports — major exports were rum, fish, salt, and tobacco.

During this period, Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride. The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and several early battles occurred in or near the city, including the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. During the early 1770s, British attempts to exert control on the thirteen colonies, primarily via taxation, prompted Bostonians to initiate the American Revolution. Hard work, moral uprightness, and an emphasis on education remain part of Boston's culture.

For example, shortly after Boston's settlement, Puritans founded America's first school, Boston Latin School (1635), and America's first college, Harvard College (1636). Puritan ethics molded an extremely stable and well-structured society in Boston. Massachusetts Bay Colony's original governor, John Winthrop, gave a famous sermon entitled "a City upon a Hill," which captured the idea that Boston had a special covenant with God. A majority of Boston's early citizens were Puritans.

They later renamed the town for Boston, England, in Lincolnshire, from which several prominent "pilgrim" colonists emigrated. Boston's early European settlers first called the area Trimountaine. The peninsula was connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, and surrounded by the waters of Massachusetts Bay and the marshes at the mouth of the Charles River. Boston was founded on September 17, 1630, on a peninsula called Shawmut by its original Native American inhabitants.

. The city also lies at the center of Greater Boston, which also includes the cities of Cambridge, Brookline, Quincy, Newton, and many suburban communities farther from Boston. The area encompasses parts of the states of New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The city lies at the center of the Boston CMSA (Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area), the fifth largest in the United States.

Citizens of Boston are called Bostonians. The city is also sometimes called The Cradle of Liberty for its role in instigating the American Revolution. Boston is sometimes called Puritan City because its founders were Puritans. William Tudor, co-founder of the North American Review, christened the city The Athens of America for its great cultural and intellectual influence.

The Hub is a shortened form of writer Oliver Wendell Holmes's phrase The Hub of the Solar System, now more commonly referred to as The Hub of the Universe. Beantown refers to early Bostonian merchants' habit for making baked beans with imported molasses. The City on a Hill came from the original Massachusetts Bay Colony's governor John Winthrop's goal to create the biblical "City on a Hill." It also refers to Boston's original three hills. Boston has many nicknames.

Its economy is based on education, health care, finance, and technology. It is the unofficial capital of the region known as New England, and one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most culturally significant large cities in the United States. Boston is the capital and largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States.
Location in Massachusetts.