Should I Move To RI? (Providence, Warwick: real estate market, house, layoffs)

[traceyr13]

Okay, first, I had to completely crack up at johnnycakes response. Very nice!

That being said (and I'm a recent RI export to Texas after living in RI for 15 years), I do see the previous poster's point about the friendliness and interesting RI vernacular. Having lived in various other parts of the country and Europe for a year, I think Rhode Islanders ARE less friendly. Absolutely. That's not to say that they are all jerks by any means, but as a general rule - yeah, not the most gregarious and friendly folks.

And truly, the "youze guys" and other ignorant sounding phrases drove me NUTS. I remember my best friend's Dad all through junior high and high school said things like that all the time, and even as a young teenager, I cringed. He was a college educated officer in the National Guard. And most of my husband's family (native Rhode Islanders) sound completely unintelligent half the time (and they're not stupid by any means).

So, yeah...I have to concede that there is some validity (in my mind) to that perspective!

[jupiter2007]

Originally Posted by PCCGirl813

I grew up in Coventry. RI is ok. I personally think the schools are lacking but I am very picky. When I graduated, the schools (in Coventry at least) were excellent but I wouldn't say that anymore.

The people? Bleh. No offense, but now that I live someplace friendly, I have serious issues with the general RI attitude. I'm still working on ridding myself of it... When I started college in Florida, a lot of people thought I was really stuck-up and I wasn't trying to act that way. It was the Rhode Island in me.

I totally agree with you. People here are not that friendly sorry...I see myself sometimes being one of them and I can't stand it. The East coaters in general...stuck up and rude.

[rlj1965]

Originally Posted by my2kidsmom

I would not recommend moving here. The people are not very friendly and I find them to be very provincial and quite dumb. I have lived in several states (including LI NY) and this is by far my least favorite. I was at a bank yesterday and the woman helping us actually asked my husband and I "Do youze want to go online?" She was wondering if we wanted to do online banking from our home. We had no idea what she was talking about, and who by the way, says youze? Just an example of the stupidity I deal with here everyday. There's either something in the water or the people are inbred, but they are really dumb.
Also, it goes without saying that the schools are inferior. As for things to do, I will say that RI has wonderful restaurants. The restaurants and the beach are probably the two best things about RI. There is very little else good to say. The people are just too weird.
Oh I almost forgot, the economy here stinks, too and will probably stay that way for a very long time. High taxes make it too prohibitive for businesses and young families to come/stay here. Heed my warning: do not move here!

I laughed when I saw this post! I was born and raised in RI. I lived on the east side of Providence which is probably as good as it gets for Providence. Those of you who know Providence... I was in Mt. Hope... above the ritzy Blackstone Blvd area where all of the $$$ lives, but I went to school with a lot of those kids and lived a very middle class existence.

I remember a popular postcard that described the city based on its streets...

"Providence, Rhode Island—Where it rains two days out of three, except during the rainy season when it snows like a *****, and Friendship is a one-way street, rich folks live on Power Street, but most of us live off Hope."

In 70's - 80's, the schools were relatively decent and very many wealthy families were not turned off by the public schools like M.L.K., Summit Ave, John Howland, Nathan Bishop, etc. The poor kids attended Hope High and the college bound went to Classical. The rest of them went to the Catholic schools which were many. Everybody knew everybody. The ethnic separations at that time were Irish and Italian catholics, the W.A.S.P's and the Portuguese who occupied the Fox Point area.

At that time (70's), Providence's downtown area was run down and areas like Federal Hill was where the mob ruled. Buddy Cianci (convicted felon) served as mayor from 1974 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2002 even after pleading no contest to assaulting a man (burned his penis) with a lit cigarette, an ashtray and a fireplace log using his Police escort as muscle. Cianci claimed that the man was having an affair with his wife. Even after this he got reelected! I point that out to state that there is a distinct weirdness and corrupt sensibility under the surface of RI. See the show Brotherhood on Showtime as it's pretty close to what RI is like.

In the late 80's, Providence underwent a complete transformation. The whole downtown area seemed to be rebuilt. Great restaurants sprung up an the music and arts scene exploded. New business came in switching the city's job base from industrial & fabricating to financial services and technology. The colleges continued to expand their campuses (Johnson & Wales) and with the combination of more students and jobs came a housing boom. Professionals who work in Mass and CT moved in for the affordable housing and quick commute and central location. The airport expanded and a rail spur from Providence to Boston was connected to shuttle people to and fro. Just prior to all this, it was a nice place to live, but many left it because it seemed so small.

I left Providence in August of '90 to move to Philadelphia and most of my friends and family remain there. Oddly, Philly has the same corruption and narrow minded thinking that I left Providence to get away from.

The city of Providence looks great now, I'd love to move back, but its so very expensive to live and there are not enough houses or quality public schools for me to consider bringing my family back. The three bedroom house that my parents bought for $40k in the 60's and sold for $130K in 1983 is now valued at over $365K without even being expanded. The schools that I attended are rated horrible now and the ethnic makeup of the city has changed dramatically. Where there was Italian, WASP, Irish and Portuguese there is now 17 varieties of Central or South American, Haitian, and the Southeast Asian (Laotian, Hmong, Vietnamese). This could be a positive as those are all interesting cultures and bring unique foods and customs to the table, unfortunately they are most in the low socioeconomic background and have added to the city's rate of crime and blight. This is in no way meant as I am a racist as I love cultural diversity... I just hate crime, ignorance and blight.

Having lived away for so long, I still refer to Providence as home. If it seemed viable for us to buy a house, find jobs and good schools for our kids it would be a no-brainer, but it is not! I visit once every other month and all of my family and friends say that it's not worth it!

I have to somewhat agree with my2kidsmom about the way people in Rhode Island speak. When I visit I am struck by the frequent murder of the English language by Rhode Islanders, but rather than think of the people as dumb, I understand that it is just a dialect. It's dangerous to assume people are stupid based solely on the way they speak. As far as it being Provincial, is my2kidsmom such a snob that she confuses the ignorance of a few as reason to indict the whole state?

All that said... here is my list of positives and negatives for a move to RI.


Pros
- Ocean, coastline, bay, beaches, unbelievable beauty
- Location, location, location - close to everything in New England and NY
- Food - Great restaurants everywhere
- Culture - too many to list, but they all ad to the flavor of the state
- Arts - Music, Trinity Rep, Newport Jazz, Paintings, Sculptures, Jewelery, Glass, etc.
- Housing - If you can afford it - from beautiful Victorian charm to modern
- Swamp Yankee Traditions - Johnny Cakes, Clambakes, Chowdah, etc.
- Narragansett Bay - Block Island, Newport, Wickford, Prudence Island, Jamestown, Little Compton, Goosewing Beach, Sakonnet Point, etc.
- Providence - (Waterplace Park, Riverwalk and Water Fires), The East Side
- The Colleges
- RISD - and all of the art it brings
- The Bristol July 4th Parade
- Community - it seems that virtually everyone is connected, so a sense of community is continually fostered.
- Water - drinking water in RI is better than anywhere else that I've been
Vacations - Rhode Islanders on average spend 3K less than most Americans on vacations because the state is ideal for vacationing with lots of beaches and affordable summer rentals and its proximity to New England
Friendliness - I have never had difficulty meeting friendly people in RI



Negs
- Housing - too expensive
- Traffic - too congested and without enough enforcement of law and common sense
- The accent - there is no letter "R"
- Fashion - RI tends to have some very unfashionable looking people
- Community - virtually everyone is connected or related
- Jobs - Not enough of them
- Costs - Property Taxes, State Sales Tax 7%, Excise Tax on a Vehicle, Avg. Auto Insurance is $2800/yr, etc.
Schools - test scores in Providence are 50% lower than cities considered to have good schools
Crime - Property crime rated 63% above national average and personal crime is rated 220 incidents per 1000 people
Earnings - Best places median family income is $76,890... RI is $35,135
Weather - on average, only 95 clear days per year
Health - high cancer and cardiac mortality rates compared to national average

[cleobarker]

Fiona,

You forgot to mention Dell's lemondade and clam cakes! I grew up in East Greenwich (as well as having a summer house in Little Compton, what a beautiful spot!) and although I live out of state, still have family in Narrgansett and Charlestown.
I went to high school in Providence when it was still a pit.

I miss Rhode Island and still wonder why I left.

cb

[RSJnz]

I am native to RI. I've lived in Alabama and have traveled around most of the US. People in RI are no different than people anywhere else. You have good and bad. For the most part people native to RI usually are very family oriented. We love to get together and cook and carry on....enjoy life. The problem is that many people come here from out of state and start criticizing our way of life. Not smart.....I find that the rudest people are not native to RI.

[my2kidsmom]

rlj1965-- thanks so much for your fascinating history lesson on Providence. I'll do my best to reply. . Yes, housing in RI is expensive, the cost of living (especially taxes) is very high, the schools are predominately bad, the politicians are corrupt, the accent is annoying, the job market stinks, and the list goes on. There are many other places to live in this country where the cost of living is less, the job market is better, the quality of life and the schools are far better than RI. I should know because I have actually lived in other places, and in comparing all the places I have lived, RI is easily at the bottom of the list. I need to enlighten you: it's not just a lack of the letter r which is annoying about the accent in RI. And nobody with a decent education says youze. Oh, and BTW, learned people do in fact make judgements based on the way people speak, and it's not at all dangerous, it's called smart. And in the nearly 8 years I lived in the god forsaken state of RI, the vast majority of the people I dealt with on a regular basis were dopes. Facts are stubborn things, my friend, I am so glad I moved away from RI, and hope never to return.

[2KidsforMe]

Please keep the personal attacks out of the debate folks.

[OREGONRAIN]

I grew up in North Attleboro, Mass, a border town, although my parents were from Boston, I related more to RI than Mass, as so many in the Attleboro area do. I did not know it was such a bad place until I read alot of the info on this RI forum. I haven't lived in Mass in awhile now, and I know RI has its problems, but I will say, it always had a more homey, family type feel to it, than alot of places in the USA do. I don't know what it is like to live there now, I know alot of what I knew there the Italian, Portuguese nationalities are not as predominant there as they use to, and there are many spanish, and asian nationalities there now, so I imagine it may not be the same RI I once knew. I didn't find the people dumb, and maybe I have some of the local dialect I don't know, most people think I am from NY or detect the slight accent I do have as Massachusetts. Either way one could do alot worse that living in RI, but yes it is a expensive little state with a very high tax rate.

[roselover772]

Originally Posted by my2kidsmom

I would not recommend moving here. The people are not very friendly and I find them to be very provincial and quite dumb. I have lived in several states (including LI NY) and this is by far my least favorite. I was at a bank yesterday and the woman helping us actually asked my husband and I "Do youze want to go online?" She was wondering if we wanted to do online banking from our home. We had no idea what she was talking about, and who by the way, says youze? Just an example of the stupidity I deal with here everyday. There's either something in the water or the people are inbred, but they are really dumb.
Also, it goes without saying that the schools are inferior. As for things to do, I will say that RI has wonderful restaurants. The restaurants and the beach are probably the two best things about RI. There is very little else good to say. The people are just too weird.
Oh I almost forgot, the economy here stinks, too and will probably stay that way for a very long time. High taxes make it too prohibitive for businesses and young families to come/stay here. Heed my warning: do not move here!

I agree that the vocabulary of Rhodies is unique. I find it interesting and the people are not as dumb as you seem to think. I am thinking that perhaps you could loosen up a bit. My family has lived in RI for 3 generations. I love to visit but can not live there. It is a much too closed community. I am sorry to say that. I really did try to fit in. Maybe I did not stay long enough? ( Only 8 months) The people I met were nice and our conversations were interesting, but there was a standoffishness ( is that a word?) that existed. I guess it was a "minding my business" attitude. It is a unique place, that is all I can say. Culture, natural beauty, history.....

[my2kidsmom]

Roselover--You are entitled to your opinion, as am I. In my opinion, the people are dumb and provincial. Try living in RI for 7 and a half years instead of just 8 months and let me know what you think of the place then. And now that I'm out of the backward state of RI, I actually can loosen up a bit, and say once again, I'm so glad I'm out of there!