What's Not To Love About Beverly?

BEVERLY, MA -- Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill told the North Shore Chamber of Commerce that housing, workforce development and transportation will be "paramount" issues for improving the region's economy. And that's a good start, according to his constituents.

I should know. I was assigned to cover Beverly for Patch last week and have spent a lot of time since then in the city and lurking on social media sites trying to get a handle on what Beverly residents care about. Those issues came up repeatedly, but they weren't the only things people think that Beverly could be doing better.

In the interest of full disclosure I've lived in Massachusetts almost all my life and have been doing community journalism for a lot of time. So I dismissed complaints about potholes, snowplows that seem to appear and plow in your driveway as soon as you finish shoveling your driveway, warnings about coyotes and the charge that you're not a Beverly resident if you weren't born and raised in the city. Show me a town in Massachusetts where people aren't posting about those things in the residents-only Facebook group and it's probably in Connecticut.

But the mayor was right when he mentioned housing. But for a lot of residents, the problem is too much housing. They told me they're sick of the big, multi-unit condo and apartment complexes eating up every square foot of open space. At the same time, a lot of residents were concerned that Beverly was becoming unaffordable -- and those people certainly have a point, considering the city posted a flier on its Website Wednesday for an "affordable housing opportunity" where studio apartments started at $1,310 a month.

You don't need a degree in economics to see that this supply-versus-demand battle is going to take awhile to resolve.

But all that new housing seems to be the cause of another problem I heard a lot about: crowded classrooms in Beverly schools. Three of the city's six elementary schools have 15 or more students per teacher, according to SchoolDigger's rankings. Working parents want full-day kindergarten and everyone seemed to want to know why the schools were only ranked 144th out of 334 school districts in the state.

And while I still have a lot to learn about Beverly, here's one thing I already know: Don't get Beverly residents started on Windover.

No one has ever accused me of being an optimist, but one thing I know for sure is that people complain because they care. So that's a good sign for someone who is just getting going in Beverly. And even though I heard a lot of complaints -- complaints I'll work to cover on Beverly Patch in the coming weeks and months -- I did hear a lot of good things about the city, too.

"I moved to Beverly from Hamilton last summer. It is a wonderful place. Granted it might not be as calm and uncongested as two decades ago, but I love it here," one resident wrote to my introduction on a closed Facebook group for Beverly residents. "People are friendly and happy, the ocean is beautiful, and you can walk everywhere. Best decision ever."

So what else do I need to know? And more importantly, what else should I be writing about? Feel free to contact me anytime at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. You can also follow me on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).

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Patch file photo.