What is it like living in Woonsocket, RI? (Newport: section 8, real estate) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

CaseyB · 01-09-2012, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunsere

I know it was a joke but ... I don't get it.

You don't get it because you've been away from New England too long.

Vanilla32 · 01-31-2012, 04:34 PM

People only go to Woonsocket to die...not to live... I got trapped in that cess pool for years, it was the most depressing time of my life. Good location...but that's about it.

QuilterChick · 02-01-2012, 06:17 AM

Dunsere would probably be more comfortable going back to the southern part of RI if he lived in Pawcatuck. Maybe Warwick, Coventry, West Warwick, Ashaway area even, where there is an older ambience he is looking for.

WhatUpFLA · 02-07-2012, 02:50 PM

My friend, no one willingly moves to Woonsocket...

meesh1266 · 02-08-2012, 03:41 AM

Woonsocket is a very poor and distressed community on the brink of Bankruptcy. It has a high minority population, most multi-family units are NOT owner-occupied. Excise and property taxes are sky high, and the city is not very attractive. In addition, some neighborhoods have to deal with the smell of the sewer treatment facilities.

It is in essence a sanctuary city. Choose wisely.

I am looking to leave.

WhatUpFLA · 02-08-2012, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meesh1266

Woonsocket is a very poor and distressed community on the brink of Bankruptcy. It has a high minority population, most multi-family units are NOT owner-occupied. Excise and property taxes are sky high, and the city is not very attractive. In addition, some neighborhoods have to deal with the smell of the sewer treatment facilities.

It is in essence a sanctuary city. Choose wisely.

I am looking to leave.

Although Rhode Islanders and most New Englanders, for that matter, view a "high minority population" as a poor attribute of a community; it's really not. Just because a community has a "high minority population;" it is not, by default, a bad community in which to live, work, and/or raise a family. A large population of ethnic and racial minorities neither creates nor determines whether or not a community is lousy and undesirable. There are so many racially and ethnically diverse communities in states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Florida, and California that are home to very affluent residents, fantastic public schools, and spectacular community amenities.

Because most suburban, bedroom communities in the New England states are almost exclusively "white," with a few notable exceptions (i.e., Bloomfield and East Hartford, CT) and many dilapidated, depressed, impoverished, crime-ridden urban areas contain large populations of ethnic and racial minorities; this leads many suburban New Englanders to believe that a large minority population is a fundamental characteristic of a crime-ridden, impoverished, ghetto neighborhood. In the mind of a native Rhode Islander or a New Englander; suburbs are to white people as urban areas are to racial minorities, and vice versa.

Many of you may be asking yourself: Why is this so? Well, realtors in New England; especially in Rhode Island because Rhode Islanders are noteworthy for having the lowest educational attainment of all New Englanders (this is not my opinion; this is a legitimate statistic); practice what I like to call "predatory realty." Low educational attainment levels usually indicate a lack of social progressiveness. If an African-American or Hispanic family tours a home for sale in a suburban community that is chiefly "white;" there's a good chance that even if that family can afford to purchase the home, the home will not be sold to them. This is due to the fact that white realtors in Rhode Island, many of whom reside in these suburban communities themselves, as well as the other residents of the community, would not want "that type" of family living among them in their neighborhood. Homeowners in Rhode Island who sell their homes without the assistance of a realtor practice this selling technique, as well. I always thought realtors and homeowners alike in Rhode Island are all in cahoots with each other. Their main focus or goal is to preserve the "whiteness" of their suburban neighborhoods by not allowing minority families to move in. Effectively, in Rhode Island at least, middle-class minority families are virtually barred from moving into suburban communities and are stuck residing in ghetto urban areas. How unfair is that? Doesn't every hard-working, educated individual deserve to live the American dream of owning a decently-sized, well-kept home with a white picket fence in a quiet, leafy suburban neighborhood?

It's no wonder why African-Americans have been departing the northern states for years and years and are moving back to the states of the "New South" like Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, and Texas in a trend dubbed "The New Great Migration." At least the suburbs in those aforementioned states are integrated and you won't be discriminated against by realtors, homeowners, and lending institutions if you want to move into a nice, new home in a middle or upper-middle class suburban neighborhood with wonderful amenities.

Let me bring my argument down to a more personal level. Quite a few years ago, I remember very vividly an African-American family coming to tour a rental property that belonged to my parents which was, coincidentally, located in the same neighborhood in which my family and I resided. The African-American family really liked the rental property; but, in the end, they never ended up signing a lease agreement because the rent payment was more than what they could have afforded at the time. Afterwards, my mother explained to another neighbor that a nice family came to look at the house; but after some deliberation, they came to the conclusion that the home was out of their budget. The neighbor responded by asking, "You're referring to the black family, right?" (Apparently, our neighbor told my mom she spotted the family either getting in or out of their vehicle.) When my mom answered her question by saying, "Yes;" our neighbor responded by saying something along the lines of, "I'm so glad to hear that they couldn't afford the rent! I knew that you and your husband wouldn't do that to us!" Well, when my mom returned home after talking to my neighbor and described the conversation to me; I was flabbergasted and infuriated. More than anything, I was disgusted. I never again looked at that particular neighbor the same way after I learned she made that comment to my mother. Both my mother and I knew exactly what our neighbor meant when she said, "...you and your husband wouldn't do that to us." This neighbor of ours felt as though my parents would be "destroying" our already-declining lower-middle/working class neighborhood by renting their rental property, located in the same neighborhood, to an African-American family. However, I kept it in perspective: This is Rhode Island. The residents of this state are very resistant to change and progression. This place hasn't changed in 50 years, why bother trying to change it now? A lot of long-time Caucasian residents of Rhode Island; especially those residing in working-class communities like Woonsocket, Pawtucket, and North Providence; still hold a lot negative views and beliefs, as well as animosity, towards folks who aren't white for no good reason at all. It's unnecessary: We live in the 21st century and our president is an African-American who was educated at Ivy League institutions. But, this neighbor held no more than a high school diploma. I suppose that type of behavior is by no means limited to, but probably much more common among less educated folks.

When I described the diversity of my neighborhood in South Florida to my dad a while back; he responded by asking me, "Who wants to live in a neighborhood with all those people?" Oh, so Rhode Island! Thank goodness I cashed in my chips a long time ago. My parents are going to be in for a very rude awakening when they have to move in with me when they get too elderly and sickly to care for themselves on their own...a very rude awakening.