The Curbed Boston Cup, our (first) annual award to the Hub neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 16 'hoods vying for the prestigious fake trophy. This week we'll have two match-ups per day, and all the results and the full tourney bracket will be reviewed on Friday. Voting for each pairing ends in the wee hours the next morning. And, now, more eliminations!
Charlestown could be the angriest Hub 'hood of 2011. City Hall's years-long plan to redo Rutherford Avenue has stoked an old-timers vs. newcomers argument with accusations of Communist propaganda and lying on the city's part. At the same time, though, the neighborhood is one of the more affordable in Boston, with an enviable location nearby an East Boston that's fixing to get serious ferry service.
Some of the biggest, boldest development not only in the Hub but in the entire U.S. of A. is happening in Somerville. Along the banks of the Mystic, where the Orange Line will someday trundle, hundreds of apartments and dozens of outlet stores (including Ikea!) are planned for what Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone called in November "the best brand-new neighborhood on the Eastern Seaboard." The town's also getting Hubway!