Boston is a physically small city. Towns like Malden and Brighton are towns in the Boston proper, but are not part of Boston.
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Sure, I know I changed the subject. I was raising a silly argument in response to the whole threadās subject being changed already. Itās been changed already from banning new stations for public health reasons, to banning them for city zoning reasons, to banning them because old gas stations are difficult to tear down.
What is the subject? Why are they banning them?
Companies generally donāt invest in new buildings in order to lose money, so I doubt theyāll build many new stations if the demand isnāt present. If it puts an old station out of businessā¦well, thatās kind of the way the free market is supposed to work. The ones that wind up vacant will eventually get torn down and replaced with something else.
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Many years ago, I used to drive into NYC every weekend. Now, due to traffic congestion, extremely high tunnel tolls, and exorbitant parking fees, I wouldnāt even consider it. Itās much easier and much cheaper to park in Jersey City, and take the PATH train into the city.
Similarly, when I visit Boston, I stay outside of center city, at hotels that are w/in walking distance of the āTā.
Got it, good to know. Thanks
We were in Charleston SC last month, A very historic town, I donāt recall seeing any gas stations in the heart of the city. Historic preservation at work, my guess.
I suppose for the old cities in the East that would be right. There were no cars back when they were built, so no need for gas stations. Also buildings can be older there.
Here on the West coast we donāt have old buildings or historic parts of town. Anything thatās 100 years old has either fallen down during an earthquake or has been torn down and rebuilt to make it earthquake compliant.
My house is over 100 years old, Glad it is still standing!
A friend of mine moved to Davis, CA in the late '70s, and he bragged that nothing around him in that city was more than 20 years old. As a lover of history, that galvanized my desire to remain in an area where The Revolutionary War was a significant event, where historic preservation is a priority, and where much American History was madeāand is still preserved.
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Oh, I suppose we donāt just tear down anything thatās over 50 years old, but chances are that anything 100 years old has either fallen down or has been restored and reinforced at a substantial cost. Sometimes itās not about wanting to, itās just a fact.
Back in 2001, I was working at a shop 6 miles away from the epicenter of the 6.8 Nisqually Quake.
2001 Nisqually earthquake - Wikipedia
Itās a thrill to be standing under a car when something like this happens. There were a few new cracks in the floor afterward and the door to the compressor room never shut right after that one.
Probably more to do with very small windy roads that if thereās any line getting into the gas station it could block traffic for blocks. Itās just a pain. A lot of large cities itās just a great place for gas stations.
Boston is a very walkable city (if you like to walk). Iāve walked the freedom trail (Paul Revereās ride). More then once Iāve taken a walking tour. Sometimes during the summer my wife and I would just take a day and spend in Boston. Start at Quincy Market. Walk to āThe Pruā for lunch. Then walk over to the Commons. Later we walk over to catch a Red Sox game.
Also a blast to be working in a grocery store when the nisqually quake happened, on the west side of Olympia so a little further away. 2000 bottles of wine shattered along with stuff falling off the shelves on every aisle. Weād cleaned up enoug to re-open by late afternoon. Open with what we saved by 6pm that night. The organ pipes at the church had to be put back into place but no real damage, concrete building finished in 1955.
We like to say the earth moved when my dad retired from the dept of Ecology because that was his retirement date. Secretary was checking out at costco when the quake hit but couldnāt take the cake with her so a new one had to be ordered and dad went in later to re clean his work area.
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Nobody heats with electric around here except a few people that live in municipalities that formed their own electric companies before the law changed to make them pay the power companies for infrastructure costs. Going to electric heat would more than double our heating costs. It gets too cold for heat pumps to work here and electric resistance heating is a real power hog.
I have a gas furnace, hot water tank,clothes dryer, and stove. All of my light are LEDs and and my washer and refrigerator are energy star. My electric bill is still more than my gas bill.
To require us to stop using natural gas for heat when we are still burning natural gas to produce electricity is sheer stupidity.
Natural gas is the first choice for our heat followed by heating oil or kerosene where it gets too cold for heating oil. Next is propane and I am not sure if electric is ahead of wood.
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Iām not sure about that. In 2020 "This Old House did a project in Jamestown RI using heat pumps to make a Net-Zero home.
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But wasnāt that using a heat pump that captures energy from the 50-degree soil? I suspect oldtimer was referring to the much less expensive ones that capture from the air. The one I recall from This Old House had financing through the installation company for some number of years/decades.
Iāve got a heat pump. Itās fine for MS winters. It has extra coils that have to come on when it gets really cold (20ās or 30ās). The thermostat has a light labeled āemergency heatā when those coils power up. Then it really burns some electricity. We have a gas fireplace to supplement it when it gets really cold. I think a heat pump (at least one like I have) would be in āemergency heatā mode for 3 months straight where some of you guys live. I donāt think it would be the best option there.
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Which is exactly how it ought to resolved, not by government-knows-best.
Yes I was referring to ordinary heat pumps no, not a deep ground installation that would cost more than the value of my house. My total gas bill for the year i less than $900 and that includes gas for cooking, hot water and dryer. The interest on a ground heat serup would mean the payback would be never.
We are much colder than RI and our outlying suburbs are colder still.
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There are the missions. San Diego de Alcala was built in 1795. Not many, and they are in California or Arizona.
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Yes!
My favorite is San Juan Capistran,o which is beautiful and gives one a sense of serenity.
I hope one day to be able to be there on the day that the resident Swallows return en masse, but that isnāt likely. 
