East Providence vs. East Side of Providence (Warwick, Cranston: homes, elementary schools)

[SoLongCali]

Hi everyone. My fiance and I are planning to relocate to RI from CA. I am curious about the differences between East Providence and the East side of Providence. We are looking for a quiet suburban area that is safe and clean. We are a young couple who will be starting a family within the next five years or so, and will be looking for a starter home (3 bedrooms 1 1/2-2 baths). We would like to stay around the 250,000-325,000 range. Is this doable in a nice area in RI? Does anyone have any suggestions of good areas that we might be interested in? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Catherine

[skytrekker]

East Providence is a town that is independent of the city of Providence. The east side of Providence has the historic district, Brown University, and is sort of a 'bohemian' mecca, with coffee and book shops; also there are many excellent ethnic restaurants.The east side of Providence is part of the city of Providence, and attracts more artists, singles, gay couples, students etc. There are many double and triple decker homes, some that have been restored to much charm-and at much cost!

East Providence is a working class old New England mill town- there is a mix of working class young families and some Professionals. Single family homes can be found for around 300K.

The median home price for a home you describe in greater Providence is around 291K-Some towns will be higher and some lower.

I suggest also looking into Cranston, Warwick, West Warwick, Johnston, Pawtucket and North Attleboro in Massachusetts.

Good luck- !

[mr2448]

Originally Posted by SoLongCali

Hi everyone. My fiance and I are planning to relocate to RI from CA. I am curious about the differences between East Providence and the East side of Providence. We are looking for a quiet suburban area that is safe and clean. We are a young couple who will be starting a family within the next five years or so, and will be looking for a starter home (3 bedrooms 1 1/2-2 baths). We would like to stay around the 250,000-325,000 range. Is this doable in a nice area in RI? Does anyone have any suggestions of good areas that we might be interested in? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Catherine

East Providence is a city unto itself. It stretches from upper Narragansett Bay(Barrington) to the Pawtucket/Massachusetts border. The 300,000 price will get you a great home of about 2000 sq ft. The city itself is separated into smaller communities.

Rumford is a great family area with larger homes near your price range. Fresh water fishing and shopping are close by. A couple of good golf courses. East Providence, the center of the city, is grittier. Not inner city by any means but it has the old center of the city with smaller single family homes, multi family homes, smaller lots and older type shopping. Riverside, the southern part of East Providence, is a mix from family areas to small homes that were at one time summer homes. It too can be gritty, but the closer to Barrington the nicer the homes. Willett Ave is a great area to look for homes.

EP is just across the river from Providence and is considered East Bay. It gets bay/river breezes. Unfortunately, you can fish but not swim. The city has a large Portuguese/Cape Verdian population. All in all not a bad place to live. The elementary schools are all right, but middle and high school can be a problem. Many new Portuguese immigrants tend to bring their scores down. Riverside is home To Bay View Academy, a great all girls school. PCD and Gordon School are also there with great educations at higher prices. The best part of EP is it's community pride.

Good luck

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by mr2448

The elementary schools are all right, but middle and high school can be a problem. Many new Portuguese immigrants tend to bring their scores down.

As the son of Portuguese immigrants and a graduate of EP High, I take offense to this. While the EP school system may not be the best one in the state, it is still a very good school system when compared to the surrounding ones (Pawtucket, Central Falls, Providence). I graduated from EP High at the top of my class, received offers to attend MIT and other big name science schools, and am now working on my Ph.D. at Georgia Tech. Again - school systems are not entirely dependent on the money or the school board but on the individual commitments of parents and students.

Blaming an ethinic group for poor performance is a cop out and is downright offensive in my book. We all know that if this sentence were rewritten with "black" or "African American", there would be an uproar of racism in this thread.

[mr2448]

Originally Posted by wxjay

As the son of Portuguese immigrants and a graduate of EP High, I take offense to this. While the EP school system may not be the best one in the state, it is still a very good school system when compared to the surrounding ones (Pawtucket, Central Falls, Providence). I graduated from EP High at the top of my class, received offers to attend MIT and other big name science schools, and am now working on my Ph.D. at Georgia Tech. Again - school systems are not entirely dependent on the money or the school board but on the individual commitments of parents and students.

Blaming an ethinic group for poor performance is a cop out and is downright offensive in my book. We all know that if this sentence were rewritten with "black" or "African American", there would be an uproar of racism in this thread.

Blaming an ethnic group? My apologies. Fist off, don't compare E.P. schools to Pawt., CF or Prov! EP is in a higher catagory and should be compared to the other East Bay schools; Barrington, Warren and Bristol. EP is not up to Barrington standards, but definitely compares to the other towns.

I did say "can be", not "is". And I was referring to testing. Recent immigrants(Portuguese, Hispanic, Oriental) all have problems at first with public school testing. My comment was more to the fact that EP is the home of many recent Portuguese immigrants and the influx continues. State testing does not take into account how long someone has been in this country and the first year is definitely the toughest.

Again, my apologies.

[Tiger Beer]

Are there also many BRAZILIANS as well along with the Portuguese in EAST PROVIDENCE?