My advice to you, dear tourist and traveler, is $tay away....
"Price increases take fun out of having fun in Boston" by Megan Woolhouse Globe Staff August 04, 2015
Having fun in Greater Boston is getting more expensive.
Just one more reason to stay out of the city.
From museum admissions to cable bills, gym memberships to buying sporting goods, the price of recreation and leisure activities here rose 3.7 percent in May, compared with a year earlier, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, the country as a whole enjoyed a decline in the same costs.
Look, it's a richer's city now so just roll with it.
Related:
"There’s nothing quite like a grotesquely lopsided “economic recovery” in which a handful of cities boom, while the rest of the nation stagnates. Even worse, millennials living in such chosen cities face one of two options. Either live in mom and dad’s basement, or face a standard of living far more similar to 19th tenement standards than the late 1990’s tech boom. With that out of the way, I want to introduce you to what a $1,000 per month rental in the San Francisco Bay area looks like:"
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The bureau’s historical data show that the recession hit, and consumers cut back sharply on entertainment activities and other discretionary spending, putting pressure on companies to keep prices down. Now that the economy has improved, consumers have resumed spending on fun, and companies are more comfortable raising their prices again.
Really?
Even the Massachusetts government added to the toll, enacting a series of fee increases in governor Deval Patrick’s final days in office that ran some 11 pages; a seasonal pass to the state parks nearly doubled, to $60, while an hour of time at a hockey rink rose to $200, from $175. Daily parking at popular Walden Pond in Concord went up to $8, from $5.
(Blog editor just shakes head and is glad that cancer is gone)
Rates for basic cable television service in communities in Eastern Massachusetts have been on the rise the past year; in Boston, Comcast raised its rates 3.4 percent in January.
I think I know why.
Although cable prices are a chronic sore spot for consumers, who often end up paying for channels and packages they don’t want, a Comcast spokeswoman called the price increases modest and said that its service is “one of the least expensive forms of recreation” around.
For parents who are enrolling their children in recreational sports, prices are on the rise, too. Memberships for sporting clubs are up, as are the fees many towns charge for school sports.
It's a money-grabbing, money-grubbing government wherever you look, all so the politicians can shovel the loot towards well-connected corporations and friends and get a chunk kicked back in the form of campaign donations.
The prices of hockey and lacrosse sticks, as well as soccer balls, have risen since 2010, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.
Business, too.
At the New England Aquarium, spokesman Tony LaCasse said it has managed to keep its entry fee lower than its competitors’ prices, including the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, which charges $34.99 for adults and $24.99 for children.
“Keeping 30,000 aquatic animals alive is a costly endeavor,” LaCasse said.
But even small price increases can irritate consumers, making them more critical of a recreational experience, said Michael J. Leitner, a professor in the Department of Recreation, Hospitality, and Parks Management at California State University Chico, and the author of the popular college textbook “Leisure Enhancement.”
Leitner said paying more can cause consumers to resent the long lines and crowded exhibits that are often part of the so-called fun.
“All this high-cost activity leads people to work more to afford it, then people feel under time pressure during leisure activities and enjoy it less,” Leitner said. “When something is expensive, you’re also evaluating it more and asking yourself, ‘Am I enjoying this?’ ”
Nathan Dalton, a 28-year-old call center worker from Waverly, Iowa, population 9,800, said his trip to Boston in late July was a splurge, even if it induced sticker shock.
After taking in a Red Sox game at Fenway and seeing a “really cool” red-tailed catfish at the Aquarium, plus eating out, Dalton had burned through the $200 in his wallet and was using his credit card.
“I kinda wanted to go to the art museum or JFK library, but....”
No fun working there, either.
So pay-off and cover-up expert Ken Feinberg is also in charge of the Kennedy secrets, huh?
As for the art museum, I'm sure they will let you in but you better be careful moving around.
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This isn't any fun, either. Time for bed.
NDU: Possible ID in Gardner museum video
I think you can see why I'm going to forget the football article.
Also see: Release of video after decades raises questions
They knew it was an inside job(?) all these years?
Maybe someone will be nice enough to return it.
Could new technology solve the Gardner heist?
