Talk:Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Cambridge, Massachusetts is part of WikiProject Massachusetts, an effort to create, expand, and improve Massachusetts-related articles to a feature-quality standard. |
[edit] Neighborhoods/Schools
Maybe add to the neighborhoods? something about north, west, and east camb? a side note: should CPSD have its own page? or maybe one about the high school if i ever get around to editing the full history? or would that not be worth making a page? --mysekurity 03:49, 25 May 2005 (UTC) Maybe. Between the neighborhoods of east cambridge and port aka area 4 there is a neighborhood known as mid block whitch is a very diverse nighborhood.
[edit] Bicycles
Corrected a number of inaccurate and misleading statements in the cycling section. "bicycles are considered vehicles in Cambridge" is misleading as the vehicle classification is under MA law and the Uniform Vehicle Code, plus fifty years of common law before that, in no way unique to Cambridge. Sidewalk riding is permitted outside of business districts (again, this is MA law, but the cities and towns define the districts). All vehicles are required to share the road with all other vehicles everywhere. See MassBike. jnik
[edit] Origin of "Cambridge"
Removed "The English town, Cambridge, is named after the bridge that crosses the river Cam." Surprisingly, this is incorrect - the town was called Cambridge before the river became known as the Cam. Enchanter
- I had heard that Cambridge was actually derived from Old English, and meant "Tree-Ville" am I mistaken? However, I know for a fact that the symbol for Cambridge in sign language is the same as that for "tree" [1]. Just thought I'd perhaps add that... mysekurity 6 July 2005 17:46 (UTC)
Wikipedia's own article on Cambridge has a correct account. Gdr 20:42:41, 2005-09-06 (UTC)
[edit] Davis Square
It'd be good to include Davis Square in the mix. If anything, this seems a more vibrant area than, say, Porter. But I'm a new resident of the area, and don't know much, yet, so I'm not feeling qualified to actually edit the article. Still, Davis has: a movie theatre (Somerville), lots of funky restaurants, Jimmy Tingle's comedy club, a pretty good used bookstore, what appears to be a great music club (but I don't recall the name, and haven't visited, yet), a thrift shop, bars, and an actual outside square with benches, musicians, etc. It's also a T stop on the red line.
Technically, Davis square may be in Somerville, but it all seems like Cambridge, to me, and I think the distinction is rather artificial.
- What do you mean, the distinction is artificial? A place is either in Cambridge or it isn't. Locations that are on the boundary between Cambridge and Somerville, like Porter Square and Inman Square, can be discussed in both city articles, if necessary; but no part of Davis Square is in Cambridge. AJD 20:36, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
Agree w/ AJD- Davis is the jewel of SOMERVILLE, not Cambridge. This would never, nor should it, be considered a Cambridge Square. I mean, if your going to say "it all seems like Cambridge to me" you may as well say "it's all Boston". The thing about living in this area is the neighborhood radii may be small, but they are definite.
[edit] Kendall Square
Disagreement for what actually constitutes "Kendall Square." While the MBTA's Kendall Square is indeed near the intersection of Main, Broadway, and Third, it seems as though Kendall Square proper is at the intersection of Broadway and Hampshire, as this is where the address 1 Kendall Square is and, geographically, is consistent with the hub-and-spoke layout of Cambridge's streets. Main-Broadway-Third leads to no other squares directly, while Hampshire-Broadway leads to Harvard Sq. and Inman Sq. -- 24.61.14.239 04:21, 6 July 2005
Kendall Square truly is along Main St. where the Kendall/MIT T station is. "One Kendall Square" is several blocks away and is truly a misnomer. The cynical assumption is that the developers of the One Kendall Square disreputably obtained a "vanity address" making it sound like they were right in Kendall Square proper. The real explanation is a bit more complicated: at the time that One Kendall Square was being developed, some other developers of a bunch of big buildings in Kendall Square ("Cambridge Center") were trying to get the old name "Kendall Square" erased, to be replaced with "Cambridge Center". The One Kendall Square developers (so the story goes) were nobly trying to preserve the Kendall Square name. But then the renaming of Kendall Square to Cambridge Center didn't stick (and a good thing it didn't), meaning that One Kendall Square remains confusingly out of place. Steve Summit (talk) 05:29, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Is this article a stub?
I saw that the main article has been designated two different types of stub. This makes little sense to me, as their is already quite a bit of information here. This article is substantially larger and more detailed than your typical stubs, so I believe the stub designators should be removed. Before I did this, however, I wanted to raise the issue with other WikiCantabrians. What do you all think? Friejose 21:25, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
- I noticed stub designations had been added then removed from the Boston article, so I was bold and removed the stubs here. Friejose 12:34, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Better city hall picture?
City Hall is the right image to open the article with, but the picture here now:
is shot over the rooftops evidently from several blocks away, showing only the top part of the building, where it tends to get lost among the other rooftops and skyline behind. Here's a snapshot I took today which I think shows the building off better:
If people agree, I'll go back and take a more carefully composed shot from the same angle another day. Steve Summit (talk) 05:55, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
- Indeed, that's a much better picture. Go for it. RSpeer 19:46, September 6, 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Folk-etymological explanation of "square" should be removed
The word "square" means an open area or plaza at the intersection of multiple paths or roads. It may seem confusing in the Boston area, but they exist the world over: Times Square, Trafalgar Square, Red Square, Tiananmen Square, and even the zócalos in Mexican cities -- and they aren't different (except in scale and whether traffic is allowed in some cases) from those in Boston -- and certainly don't come from dragging lumber down the road. In Cambridge, many of the squares didn't exist until turnpikes had been put through -- including Porter and Kendall Squares. And, many of the squares have had various traffic islands and signals added to make them less confusing. (Just ask anyone about Davis Sq., Somerville in the 1960's!)
Are there any objections to my changing that section? BCorr|Брайен 02:32, 7 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Harvard Sq intercity bus
I removed "For a few weeks, intercity buses to New York stopped near Harvard Square, but Cambridge forced them to cease service (despite Cambridge's lack of legal authority to regulate intercity transportation)." There is not source for this. It renders a questionable legal opinion and it does not seem appropriate to the article. There are a lot of people in Cambridge with gripes. This is not the venue to air them. --agr 19:52, 10 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Green Line also services Cambridge
In the article, it's stated that only the red line serves cambridge and somerville. Actually the Lechmere stop of the Green line is in Cambridge.[2] Jacobeisenstein 19:06, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Notable Residents
This section just gets longer and longer. For just about any city (and especially one the size of Cambridge that also has two large and well-known universities), the list of "notable" people associated with it is just about endless. I don't really see this being a positive contribution to the article. At the least, I would suggest moving this section to its own article. (This would be consistent with how it is handled with Philadelphia for example.) Ghaff 12:39, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
- I do not believe it makes sense as a separate article. I am, however, not sure it belongs at all. Its long and unwieldly and, as you note, for a city of Cambridge's size and acclaim an ever-growing and seemingly endless list. Rlove 01:35, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Elevation
The article list elevation as 510 feet. That is an order of magnitude too high. Does anyone know what the basis for elevation is supposed to be? City hall? Highest natural point? Average? I'm changing it to 40 feet for now, per http://sipb-server-1.mit.edu/geo?location=cambridge. --agr 11:37, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
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- 510 feet???? That seems kind of high.... I wonder Where???? The only possible spots I could think of are 1) On Broadway (inbetween the High School and the building that is either currently-- or formerlly known as the Longfellow School.)? Or Perhaps 2) in the Brattle Square Neighbourhood(on either Fayerweather or Appleton Streets), or perhaps 3) Concord Avenue near the Harvard Observatory???, Then again--- 4) there's also perhaps near Porter Square inbetween Raymond Steet and the former Peabody School on Upton Road or Linnean Street???? Also don't forget the big hill near the Fresh Pond Golf course right by the the Huron Towers. Those are pretty much all of Cambridge's high spots possibly save- for a few possible hills in the Cambridge Mt. Aubourn Cemetary.... e.g. that tall spire-castle looking thing???
My mother thinks perhaps Danahey Park where they threw the dirt from the Harvard-Alewife Red Line Extension could be the 510 ft. elevation point.
In terms of low-point.... If you remember the huge flooding problems during the 80's along Memorial drive (mainly before those nice new waterlocks that could be closed at high/ tied in back of the Fleet Center) I would have to say Cambridge's low point could be Sea level (e.g. the shores of the charles river.) CaribDigita 02:35, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
- According to my U.S. Geological Survey maps, the hill between Fayerweather and Appleton Streets gets up to 70 feet. The one near near the ex-Longfellow school (the peak is at Harvard and Dana) is 50'. Same for the hill near Huron Towers, on top of which hill I happen to live. The artificial hill at Danahey Park is not on my map, but it's nowhere near 510 feet, more in the 50-100 range. 510 feet is about the height of the Prudential Building. As for low points, Fresh Pons is marked 2 feet above MSL. --agr 12:13, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Bay Square
The police maps I added show a "Bay Square" business district between Harvard and Central. Can anyone describe this in more detail or locate it more precisely? -- Beland 02:39, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
This reference describes what it is: http://www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/cpd/reports/2002/second%20quarter%20report/adobefiles/b6.pdf. Basically a couple blocks of buildings on and near Mass Ave. However, I've walked the Central to Harvard Square stretch literally hundreds of times over the course of decades, and I've never seen or heard the term used. So it's really not a Cambridge district in the manner of most of the others listed in the article. This Cambridge Police website (http://www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/cpd/reports/2002/second%20quarter%20report/) lists all the divisions that they use. They correspond to generally-recognized areas to a certain degree, but they're primarily intended to divide the city into logical divisions from a police/crime perspective. Ghaff 21:01, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Expansion request - Somerville boundary question
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
The city has a rather small and oddly shaped geographic footprint. Why were the outlying areas split into separate municipalities? How was the border with Charlestown/Somerville determined, and why is it where it is? It seems rather odd that the center of the settlement (Harvard Square) would be so close to its frontier. Looking at wardmaps.com, it seems part of the eastern border was determined by the Miller's River (which I'm not sure exists anymore). I wonder if this used to go farther inland. Perhaps a full-size older map would be helpful in illustrating this once it is researched. -- Beland 23:29, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Map requests
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It is requested that a map or maps be included in this article to improve its quality. Wikipedians in Massachusetts may be able to help! |
It would be neat to have maps that:
- Show present-day features, such as major squares, districts, and roads
- Show the original shoreline and changes over the years
- Show the original extent of territory, and which pieces were separated or added when.
-- Beland 23:31, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Same-sex marriage history
I have provisonally replaced the statement "The first legal same-sex civil marriage ceremonies in America were held at Cambridge's City Hall" with a narrower one that is easily verified, because so far I can't find a good source to verify the original wording. Now, the original statement may very well be true -- it's certainly likely, since Cambridge opened city hall at midnight May 17 to issue applications for marriage licenses, and the city clerk solemnized a same-sex marriage at 9:15 a.m. [3]. However, I cannot yet find a source verifying that the latter really was the first marriage of the day -- news accounts report couples with a waiver rushing many places to get married that morning. If anyone can, please add the source and restore the old text. --WikkiTikkiTavi 05:41, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] About the City
Regarding the 'Leftbank' 'PRC' 'Kremlin'comments- does anyone else think they should be removed or at least be made clear that no one in Cambridge refers to themselves that way? And certainly Harvard is not the leftist of the lefts in this town. If any body embodies the freemarket-capital-society-ethics of this country, it's Harvard. I think this paragraph is silly at best and should be clarified that this type of nickname is inflicted upon us by outsiders for having an independent spirit.
- I think your recent small edit to that effect makes the point nicely. I don't know if the left-wing labels are notable enough for an encyclopedia article; possibly, I suppose. But I think the real problem with this paragraph, and indeed almost the entire article, is that it's unsourced and appears to be largely based on original reseach, i.e., mostly written by those of us who live here and just know all this stuff. From the Wikipedia standards point of view, it's the same as hearsay, even though the article is largely accurate. I know we have a missing references tag lower down the page; perhaps we should place a similar tag at the top of the article in the hopes that Cantabrigian Wikipedians will take up the cause and dig up more references. Any thoughts on that? --WikkiTikkiTavi 04:29, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
I think that is a great idea. I have a lot of books myself, and I will try to dig up some sources. I'm totally new to Wiki editing, so I made need some help (read: feel free to fix anything I messup :)....I know there's also zoning maps and stuff available for free download off the town site.
As a non Canterbrigian (did I get that right?), you might be interested to know that the section on "left bank" "Kremlin" really struck me as out of place. It was clearly conjecture either by a very proud local liberal or a very bitter conservative, either local or otherwise. Either way, it did not present a very objective view of the city. It's also quite hard to believe such an epicenter of power and elitist power production does much more than protect the status quo at all costs - especially being so close to the notoriously reticent Boston. - Douglas, 4/10/07
[edit] Maps
Including a map or two, as Image's, would eliminate most of the words in the descriptions of squares and neighborhoods, and convey the geographic information in a much clearer, shorter, interesting, and graphical way. It would also much more clearly convey information not in the descriptions, like where each square is in relation to each neighborhood, and each neigborhood to it's abutting neighborhood and cities. This is easily a case where a picture is worth a thousand words.
Does any one know of an adequete or two GFDLed map, or be capable of making one/two and "giving" it to Wikipedia and the world? Lentower 12:12, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Created Middle East nightclub article
I Created an article about the The Middle East (nightclub) and its notability is being questioned - Add your thoughts to the page. Cheers Markco1 23:32, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
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