Defining Greater Boston
 

I need some input for refining the Sex Listings. Some inconsistency has come about in that we have Waltham and Needham listed as part of Greater Boston but Stoneham is not. And I've just had the town of Winchester added to the Massachusetts Listings, not the Boston Listings. Is the rough ring of I-95/Highway 128 a good guide to separating Greater Boston listings from Massachusetts Listings? Some other rough limit? Locals, let me know.

Thanks!

"Greater Boston"
 

Inside I-95/128 would be a little too restrictive for "Greater" Boston area. It would include Lexington, but exclude Concord, a neighboring town -- and there are at least a dozen such examples. Natick and Framingham are significant suburban communities that lie outside of I-95/128 (they are the core of what is commonly referred to as "Metro-West").

I would suggest that it would include everything inside I-495, with a possible exception of the southern tier of communities that are along the Massachusetts Bay (South of Kingston +/-) -- I495 takes a veer south, and Hwy 44 runs approximately where the completion of the "circular" beltway would be.

That includes all of what would be considered suburban Boston, and not a lot more than that, and is relatively easily defined.

One of the possible problems I forsee with an I-495 definition is that it includes most everything from Rhode Island to New Hampshire, in the eastern quarter of the state -- that a LOT of territory. The risk is that the listings get to be so voluminous that it's hard to sort through them.

P.S. Although I don't live in the Boston area, I traveled it for business for 20-something years, and when I traveled there, I traveled throughout the "Greater Boston Area." I worked in real estate, which required me to get to know the areas, neighborhoods, economic fundamentals, etc. And what I've defined for you, is what I covered as "the Greater Boston Area." It's not a stretch to think of hooking up with a guy in Brockton (between I-95 and I-4950, if you live in Needham (just inside I-95). But that same Brockton guy wouldn't likely hook up with someone from Haverhill, also inside 495, but NW of Boston.

No Way, Man!!
 

Making 495 the perimeter of the "Greater Boston" area would include roughly 75% of the listings for the state.... You might as well include the whole state. Besides, every town is next to another town, regardless of where you make the boundary. If he has to have a hard border, 95/128 makes the most sense.