Are we crazy to move here from Portland, Maine? (Providence: crime, houses)

[Fionasmom]

My husband got great job offer in Johnston. We've always heard great things about Providence and know it's a lively and vibrant city. However, we have been looking outside Providence for towns with good school systems, namely Lincoln, Smithfield and Scituate.

To be blunt, we are in shock! There seem to be no end of strip malls (are there any zoning regulations?). The suburban housing stock seems to hail mostly from the 1950's through the 1970's. The village/town centers that we associate with every other New England state-- you know, church, village green, cluster of older houses, maybe a market, gas station or a couple of shops--are completely absent. We did find a lovely neighborhood in Lincoln today, up on a hill in the Lonsdale area, I think. But once we left that neighborhood we ran straight into more run-down areas and strip malls.

We also meandered through some back roads in Scituate and found rural areas that we could imagine living in, but not many.

We're interested in hearing from other out-of-staters (from New England, especially) who might help us understand our experience. Are we missing something? Is RI just different? We're not trying to bash the state, as we know that many people love it. We're just wondering if our perceptions are generally on the mark

Many thanks for your input!

Alex


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[nate14ri]

well it is the second densest state in the union. but anything west of 295 gets more sparcely populated. i.e. no strip malls. if you want more rural try foster/gloucester, chepachet, west greenwich, north scituate ect.

[lrfox]

Maybe I can help.

I am currently in Portland ME I've lived in South Eastern MA as well as Providence for a while. I can safely tell you that I want to be back in that area ASAP... Portland is a beautiful little town, but it's tiny and I miss living in a more bustling area.

Part of the problem with the areas you have looked at is that they ARE older areas. Providence is an old city with many older mill towns, suburbs and cities nearby. Lincoln, Johnston, Smithfield, and to a lesser degree, Scituate fit this bill. Providence may only have a population of close to 180,000, but Cranston, Warwick, and Pawtucket are all larger cities/towns and as a result, the area surrounding Providence is relatively more urban and older suburban than a typical city its size. Newer suburban developments and quaint "villages" are further outside the city and mostly to the South and West. If you look East of Providence you're going to run into the suburbs of Nearby Fall River (with a few exceptions) while If you look North you'll be getting into the Woonsocket area as well as Attleboro and Metro Boston (also with a few exceptions).

Portland ME, is tiny. It's also secluded and away from any other city of significance. It's "older" suburbs-see: Oakdale, Bayside, Deering, North Deering, etc-- are contained within the city limits themselves (and South Portland, to a degree) while newer ones, like Scarborough, Falmouth, Westbrook (again, mix of old and new in Westbrook) etc are almost immediately adjacent to Portland. With Providence, if you want the quaint, quiet suburban (or rural in parts) feel that some of the towns almost immediately adjacent to Porltand offer, you're going to have to plan on being a bit further away from the city.

I've always felt that Portland is a small city with a "big-town" feel. It's not a very urban place (read: it's not densely settled) and the attitude and atmoshpere there is more like that of a medium sized town and not a city. Providence is quite the opposite. It's a small city (though significantly larger than Portland) with a larger city feel. It's on a congested commuter rail corridor (Amtrak and MBTA) and it's densely settled. It's a cosmopolitan place with ivy-league schools, true neighborhoods and neighborhood centers and real, almost urban suburbs adjacent to the city. As a result, the entire area feels much larger than most cities its size (for example, see Worcester and Springfield).

Towns I would tell you to look into would be North Attleborough MA, East Greenwich RI, Wickford RI, Bristol and Warren RI (perhaps Barrington though it is pricier), and North Kingstown RI. These towns are a bit prettier asthetically and may offer better opportunities in terms of education for the kids. You may run into some sticker shock. I've found that an property in the Portland area costs significantly less than its equivelant in Rhode Island.

In anycase, good luck. I hope this helps. Providence is a great city and I feel it's second only to Boston in terms of arts, culture and education for New England cities. However, to each his/her own and if you don't find what you're looking for, Maine may be the place for you.

[ljd1010]

I second looking at Wickford and East Greenwich. The North end of RI (Lincoln, Cumberland) is not my favorite part of the state. Would also definitely check out Barrington, Bristol and Warrens in the East Bay area. Also check out Narragansett and Wakefield in South County. Great smaller towns with small town feel, yet close to everything. Good luck...keep searching and I'll bet you find a great spot.

[Hollytree]

"The village/town centers that we associate with every other New England state-- you know, church, village green, cluster of older houses, maybe a market, gas station or a couple of shops--are completely absent."

You've hit upon the the fact that Rhode Island is different in one major way. It was established on the principle of separation of church and state. Consequently, there are no town commons headed up with churches such as you find in other NE states, especially Massachusetts. Having said that many of the towns have town centers- downtowns as it were. You must have missed the centers of Smithfield and Scituate because they both have town centers- albeit small (look for the Town Halls). They were essentially rural farming communities originally.

Johnston is today a sprawly place whose downtown has been consumed by development. The part of the state you were in is also not totally indicative of the rest of the state, so please don't think you've "seen Rhode Island" in one visit because you haven't!! The state is a collection of vastly different areas, in terms of appearance and socioeconomic makeup.
Barrington, Bristol, Westerly, Wickford, Newport, Pawtucket, Tiverton-to name a few- all have identifiable downtowns.

In contrast, Portland, ME, seems much more homegenous- even though Portland city has its depressed areas and large homeless population.

[Fionasmom]

Thank you all for such prompt and thorough responses. It is especially helpful to have the historical information--our cities and towns don't come by their qualities accidentally, but are shaped by politics, economics, etc.

We had only been looking in areas north and west of Providence because all of our family is north of RI. It's slowly sinking in that RI really IS small geographically and commuting through several towns on 295 only takes minutes. Living farther south won't have a big impact on our commuting or traveling times. We have to adjust to scale!

So we are breathing a sigh of relief and will broaden our search. Needless to say we also need to spend more time down here just poking around and exploring. For now, we have secured digs for my husband so he can begin work while I am in Portland selling our house.

Thank you again for your prompt and insightful responses. This forum has proven to be an excellent resource in the past, and even more so today.

Heartfelt thanks!

Alex

[Daniel L.]

lol I'm looking forward to college so i can get out of this state.... no offense. Rhode Island is lovely to look at (mainly... down south..) but, I live in Johnston... home of the beautiful landfill. Town is.... eh. There's a lot of development going on here. People always make fun of our schools for some reason, but the school system is good- for the most part. Johnston is one of the only districts that has correctly embodied the new Portfolio Graduation by Proficiency system correctly, and we have won awards for it, and got a $4,000,000 grant to out science and technology section at the High School. The schools have come a long way. But... still... i wouldn't choose to live in this town. But I'm getting off topic here.

If you do want rural, someone suggested going up north. That's where I would go.. Scituate, north Scituate, North Smithfield.... Chepatchet.. etc. I'm not sure how the schools are, or if you're willing to commute far.. (well... that's an idiom. It's Rhode Island.. how far can it be lol)

Good luck in whatever you choose... just don't choose Johnston lol. Cranston is nice!

[Rnrboy]

Cranston was recently projected to be the 25th safest city in the Nation, with a 62% below average crime rate.

I live in Western Cranston and even though I am 20 minutes from downtown Providence, if I drve further West I am about 10 minutes from the nearest farm. I think you missed quite a bit on your first drive here.

It's funny though, hearing someone's perspective who came down here from ME. I came up here from FL, and had just the opposite initial impression. Everything here seemed extremely "quaint" and old fashioned, "New Englandy" if you will.

We just came here from opposite ends of the spectrum I suppose. Not for nothing, but I'd assume FL is probably closer to the national norm for strip malls than Rhode Island is. (In other words, RI has far far less.)

In fact, I'd bet that if you want a "mom and pop" feel, Rhody would still come out ahead of most of the country, even if it can't compete with ME in this department.

[GarlicGuy]

Originally Posted by Fionasmom

Are we missing something? Is RI just different? We're not trying to bash the state, as we know that many people love it. We're just wondering if our perceptions are generally on the mark

.

we lived there for 18 years in Greenwood. Wife is from there. But we wanted to move back to Maine before the kids got old enough for high school. We liked it there but weren't in love with it. Great food and great place to visit. Almost everywhere is a bedroom community.

[Rnrboy]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a "bedroom community"?