My mother still lives in my hometown on the South Shore, in a suburb of Boston.

The sidewalks, and roads are in decent shape. There have been several small business's that have opened up over the last 10 years. There's the commuter rail into Boston. They recently been updating the water/sewer lines, and then actually repaving the streets. AND adding sidewalks. My sister lives in a town further away from Boston, but still a suburb. And the town is clean, has decent roads, schools, shopping and sidewalks.

I am often on the North and South Shore suburbs for business. And no, the "suburbs" of Boston are not dying. And there's been plenty of investments in them. *smh*