Boston at the center of things

[WilliamPitt]

I live in the middle of downtown, a 7-iron from the Prudential Building and a stout 3-wood from Fenway, and right now it's bedlam everywhere. Carter, Clinton, George W., Obama, half the Senate and assorted other dignitaries have been arriving all day for Teddy's service - one friend was at a brewery in Jamaica Plain and saw the helicopter version of Air Force one buzz by a couple of hours ago - all on top of the opening of the big student-return weekend (900,000 students all show up this time every year), an important late-season Red Sox game at Fenway, plus there's a hurricane coming from the east *and* a big messy southern storm system coming from the south...all coming together simultaneously tonight and into tomorrow.

Mayhem.

[bluestateguy]

1. It's a great city

I lived in a suburb along 128 for 4 years.

I'm sure Boston will pull through just fine.

[WilliamPitt]

2. The city will be fine

Not sure about we residents.

;)

[GCP]

3. Did you go say goodbye to Ted?

I wish I had, now it's too late - :cry:

[Carl Skan]

4. 900,000? Did you mean 90,000?

I knew there are a lot of universities in Boston but how could it possibly be 900,000? That would be like having 20 of the largest universities in the nation in one city.

[WilliamPitt]

5. 900,000

Babson College
Bay State College
Bentley College
Berklee College of Music
Boston Architectural Center
Boston College
Boston Conservatory
Boston Theological Institute
Boston University
Brandeis University
Bunker Hill Community College
Cambridge College
Curry College
Eastern Nazarene College
Emerson College
Emmanuel College
Endicott College
Fisher College
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Gordon College
Harvard Business School
Harvard University
Hellenic College
Lasell College
Lesley College
Longy School of Music
MIT
Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences
Mount Ida College
New England College of Optometry
New England Conservatory of Music
New England School of Law
Northeastern University
Pine Manor College
Radcliffe College
Regis College
Roxbury Community College
School of the Museum of Fine Arts
Simmons College
Suffolk University
Suffolk University Law School
Tufts University
University of Massachusetts
Wellesley College
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Wheelock College

...for starters...

+ every law school, med school, business school etc. connected to the above.

900,000.

You can look it up. :)

[Carl Skan]

9. I did and the most I saw was an estimate of 250,000

Heck, the Wikipedia list has more schools than that and it only comes out to 226,000 students. Where's the other 675,000 coming from?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_metropolitan_Boston

[WilliamPitt]

12. Well...

That estimate encompasses "Greater Boston," which leaves out Quincy, Billerica, Andover, Newton, Wellesley, Watertown, Weston, Waltham, Needham, and about a dozen other towns that fall into "The Boston Area" but aren't in Metro Boston. Map-wise, you could shave 2/3rds off the total number of students who arrive in Boston if you keep your estimate to the parts of town that fall under the jurisdiction of the Boston Police...but Comm Ave, Beacon St., 90, 95, 93, 1, 28, 99 and Storrow are all interconnected, and Boston" is defined far more broadly on Student moving day.

A butterfly can double-park in Chestnut Hill and screw up traffic in Braintree. It's 900,000 when you include all the schools in the 617 area code...andf if you add the high schools, med schools, law schools, biz schools, art schools...hoo.

[Carl Skan]

13. I thought I was just correcting a typo.

but it seems you really believe that preposterous number. If you want to keep claiming that, let's play.

Let's go further than the outskirts of Boston and count every single college and/or university in the state of Massachusetts...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Massachusetts

That comes out to 460,000. So, even while completely gaming it in your favor beyond any rational assumption, it's at about half what you claim it is.

BTW, those numbers already include the med, art, business, etc. schools. It doesn't include a school like Radcliffe (which you did) because that's not actually an independent university, it's part of Harvard which is already counted.

[EFerrari]

6. Lock the door and hope they don't have blasters.

:hug:

[chollybocker]

7. It has all the makings of a great thriller, don't it?

;)
I hope Boston survives intact.

[newscott]

8. Will, my favorite line from Spinal Tap is

"Boston's not much of a college town." Or some such. LOL.

Enjoy the spotlight. I'll be watching from the South Shore.

[Champion Jack]

10. In chaos there is truth

[kentuck]

11. Truth and compassion have to live somewhere...

Why not Boston?

[Cleita]

14. Hurricane Danny. It seems like a big

storm should escort the spirit of the Lion to the Otherworld. I hope you are all safe.

[kcass1954]

15. You've had the good fortune to had Ted represent you for the last 47 years.

I'm reasonably certain that y'all can survive two days of utter chaos.

[Raven]

16. U Haul Heaven!

Beacon Street, Commonwealth Avenue, Boylston Street, Hunnington Avenue. Impossible to get anywhere on a dull news day...I don't know how they're going to manage this today.