Forbes ranks Providence on their Misery Scale (travel, house)

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by mr2448

Curious, just recently, last 2-3 years, Providence was ranked by Forbes as a top 10 city focusing on its revival and other assets such as culture, food, colleges, low crime, etc. What Happened? Or can we put out a survey portraying any city the way we want to?

Providence has undergone a huge revival and much of the city is now fabulous. But, of course, there are still bad areas, too. Yes, Prov. taxes are high. Nothing has diminished the city's renaissance: indeed, it continues to progress quite remarkably. My guess is that the city's placement on the list is due to taxes.

[ctman1987]

Honestly this is the stupidest list ive seen....for god's sake they have put New York City and Chicago on this list as miserable places...COME ON.

Personally I love Providence. Its a great little city with lots of historic charm, great neighborhoods, lots of vibrancy and is great center of higher education

[Five5]

I found a reference to the 9.9% tax that was mentioned in the article. I wonder if this is what they are talking about.

"Personal income tax
Rhode Island collects taxes from its residents at the following rates over five income brackets.

For single taxpayers:
-- 3.75 percent on the first $31,850 of taxable income.
-- 7 percent on taxable income between $31,851 and $77,100.
-- 7.75 percent on taxable income between $77,101 and $160,850.
-- 9 percent on taxable income between $160,851 and $349,700.
-- 9.9 percent on taxable income of $349,701 and above.

For married persons filing joint returns:
-- 3.75 percent on the first $53,150 of taxable income.
-- 7 percent on taxable income between $53,151 and $128,500.
-- 7.75 percent on taxable income between $128,501 and $195,850.
-- 9 percent on taxable income between $195,851 and $349,700.
-- 9.9 percent on taxable income of $349,701 and above."

[blcapdee]

I usually tend to like Forbes lists but working with statistics for a living, I question how they gathered/presented their stats with this one... Prov. is a wonderful city!
This, coming from a non-miserable, born and raised New Englander.

[nitroae23]

Some idiot at Forbes probably watched the first two seasons of "Brotherhood",which is a thinly disguised vingnette about the Bulger Brothers,who,I might add,resided in Massachusetts,and says hey,Providence must be a REALLLY dangerous place,more hits occur in any two episodes than occur inthe city all year!At the RISDI Museum you can admire many of Picasso's early works,great restaruants all over,excellent hospitals,an Ivy league school doesn't sound too bad to me

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by nitroae23

Some idiot at Forbes probably watched the first two seasons of "Brotherhood",which is a thinly disguised vingnette about the Bulger Brothers,who,I might add,resided in Massachusetts,and says hey,Providence must be a REALLLY dangerous place,more hits occur in any two episodes than occur inthe city all year!At the RISDI Museum you can admire many of Picasso's early works,great restaruants all over,excellent hospitals,an Ivy league school doesn't sound too bad to me

I wouldn't go so far as to say "excellent hospitals" with the multiple incidents of wrong sided surgeries of late. I'd say they are average and if you need anything beyond the simplest of procedures done, I'd go have it done in Boston at a real center of excellence. (I even had a personal experience at a Rhode Island Hospital where I overheard assistant surgeons, through the anesthetic I* was given, discussing where they were going to cut and then (thankfully) heard the surgeon correcting them.) I survived the surgery but it could have been done a lot better as I suffered a lot of unnecessary bleeding afterwards.

[nitroae23]

Originally Posted by emilybh

I wouldn't go so far as to say "excellent hospitals" with the multiple incidents of wrong sided surgeries of late. I'd say they are average and if you need anything beyond the simplest of procedures done, I'd go have it done in Boston at a real center of excellence. (I even had a personal experience at a Rhode Island Hospital where I overheard assistant surgeons, through the anesthetic I* was given, discussing where they were going to cut and then (thankfully) heard the surgeon correcting them.) I survived the surgery but it could have been done a lot better as I suffered a lot of unnecessary bleeding afterwards.

On two occasions in the past six months,neighbors of mine who had no right to still be alive were saved at Miriam Hospital,there are good doctors and bad,but I put the treatment my wife recieved at Women and Infants as some of the best I've seen.For such a small state I fell we have an abundance of options in healthcare,but as your case points out,it can be caveat emptor (buyer beware)

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by nitroae23

On two occasions in the past six months,neighbors of mine who had no right to still be alive were saved at Miriam Hospital...

RI has good hospitals, but it is compared to Boston (naturally, since The Hub is only 40 miles up the road) which has four of the very best hospitals in the U.S., arguably in the world: MassGen, Brigham & Womens, Boston Children's, and Dana Farber. There is virtually no place in the U.S. that outshines Boston.

[esya]

Look at the source of the ranking: what is Forbes about? Big business. They want low business taxes, high corporate welfare, low government services for individuals, and low crime. That's it.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Saw the heading in the forum and have to respond.

Don't believe the list. Charlotte is on it??? C'Mon!!!!!!! Whatever is going on in Providence (and I'm not a fan of New England or the North), there is no way it can be more miserable than Baltimore. Washington, D.C. also has more crime, traffic, drugs, poverty, and gangs than Providence. Though I do recall in The Departed they mentioned Providence as a center for gang activity.

They lost all credibility when they put Charlotte and Modesto, California on it but excluded Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and BUFFALO. And also post-Katrina New Orleans is also quite a miserable place.