Should I Move To RI? (Providence, Newport: cliquey, condo, to buy)

[BornInMeLivnInExile]

Originally Posted by aby08

It was interesting reading your comments. I live in Queens, NY and have been offered a job in Pawtucket, RI. I am trying to find out about the place, perticularly about high schools there. Also about housing prices and taxes. Would like to buy a 3 bedroom house. Could anyone give some insight? Thanks.

Rhode Island is the armpit of America. Pawtucket is the armpit of Rhode Island.

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by 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.

LOL! I feel almost exactly the same as you! Regarding the stupidity of many Rhode Islanders I think it may be because the bar is set so much lower than it is in other states when it comes to the public school education; when it comes to the way business is done in many industries including the real estate industry; legal profession and the regulation of the health insurance industry by legislators and other government officials. ONLY IN RHODE ISLAND would you find government officials so obtuse, stubborn or just flat out DUMB that they would CHOOSE to keep health insurance regulations in force that were a known CAUSE of all health insurers, except for the two remaining, to leave the state.

The end result as you can imagine was a worsening health insurance environment where individuals have no choice but 4 overpriced plans from one carrier and businesses have little more than that from two carriers. EVERYONE PAYS two to three times what they could be paying if these officials simply followed the recommendations of industry experts who several years ago explained in simple easy to understand language to all the powers that be during numerous hearings at the state house; in private meetings, in e-mails, during phone conversations to Governor Carcieri and his staff and legislators. (I know because I was there .)

Seemingly, the only legislator smart enough to see that by just changing the offensive regulations to align with those in 80% of the rest of the country, (south of New Jersey and west of New York but including CT and NH), where health insurance carriers and plans are plentiful and coverage is affordable, was Senator Marc Cote of Woonsocket who agreed to sponsor the needed legislation. In 2005 when it was ready to be heard by legislators, and with a GUARANTEE of the return of two national health insurers if the reforms were passed, instead of a rush to get everything passed as quickly as possible to get carriers back and lower insurance costs for Rhode Islanders as quickly as possible, there was outright resistance by the Attorney General to one of the reforms (which if the Attorney General had done his homework and talked to his colleagues in states with GOOD health insurance markets with SMARTER Government officials, he would have learned there was NOTHING to criticize. These were EXCELLENT reforms that would have ended the healthcare crisis and returned the market to something similar to what Connecticut has now where there are hundreds of options for people for l1/2 to 1/3 the cost of what Rhode Islanders have to pay for the same protection. Sadly Marc Cote was frightened by the reaction of the attorney general and withdrew the bills. ONLY IN RHODE ISLAND do you see this kind of refusal of government officials to to take advantage of proven solutions when handed to them on a silver platter. Two other states who experience the mass exodus of carriers from their state learned that is was due to their state regulations and CHANGED them to industry standards and carriers returned. Woldn't you think this would be enough of a NO BRAINER for Rhode Island officials to do the same but NOOOO. Rhode Islanders are out of it -- in their own world.

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by thelionskiss

Jamestown RI is one of the most interesting places to visit. It was rated as one of the top 10 places to which to retire in a national magazine(can't remember the magazine's name) last year. It has great restaurents and forts and visitors' destinations. You can ride horses, visit farms, windmill, museum, and take the Jamestown ferry out to Rose Island. Jamestown is really Conanicut Island, and it is 5 minutes by car to downtown Newport and really close to the base.

Navy people over the years have retired to Jamestown. I am from the Midwest and love it here.

My family has had a summer house in Jamestown on the water since 1887. I will grant you that it is beautiful but I find it hard to believe that Jamestown was rated amoung the top ten in the COUNTRY. Maybe it was in the top ten in New England. Now it is EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. The mold spore index in southern Rhode Island is very high which contributes to the high cancer rates in Rhode Island. I wouldn't say there is quick access to top notch health care providers (Boston is 1.5 hours away). Perhaps if the article was rating communities by charm and gorgeous waterviews, I'd agree with the rating but cost of living is higher than anywhere in Rhode Island. There are lots of reasons why it would NOT be a top choice of a place to retire to. There are no nursing or assisted living facilities. Many of my parents friends who have retired there are having to leave because of the lack of services for aging retirees with health concerns and they seem to be moving OUT OF STATE.

[Pattig]

I have to agree with everything you've said. I was born and raised in RI, and now that I'm nearing retirement age and my husband is already retired we are having to plan a relocation due to the high cost of living and extremely expensive medical care here. People think that just because we bad mouth our state and complain about alot of critical issues that we hate our state which is far from the truth. I am angered by that same lack of concern from our legislature about the care and concern of ALL the people that live here and have for most of their lives. Some people on this forum don't want to hear it and just tell us "if you don't like it here, then just leave". Well it's not that we want to so much as we HAVE to. It is a beautiful state, but on a limited income- just an impossible place to survive in.

[LemominRI]

Originally Posted by nlupfer

I'm so glad to have found this website, as we are actually thinking about a move to Providence and wanted to get some "real" information about the city instead of the typical propaganda you find on the internet.

Our situation is much the same as antipode. I am a teacher currently living in Florida where teaching jobs are incredibly easy to come by and the cost of living is quickly rising. My husband would like to attend BU for his Phd. We lived in Boston while he was getting his masters, but moved soon after he finished due to the high cost of living and difficulty finding jobs. He would love to move back to Boston, but with him in school full-time, we will not be able to afford a single family home in the Boston metro. With Providence the only "city" on the commuter rail, it seemed to be a good compromise - let him do the hour-long commute this time around!

I would perfer living outside of Boston anyway, as Boston was a little bit too much city for my taste. From what we can tell, Providence is a bit more surburban.

We were pleasently surprised at the home prices we found online. It appears that you can by a decent single family home in Providence for under $300,000. You can barely do that here in Florida!

I am VERY nervous about finding a teaching job, however. I've heard it is almost impossible to secure a teaching job if you did not student teach there or substitute. Is this true?

We want any information you can give us about Providence!!!

I hope you think about youre move here alot of cut backs 600 teachers recieving lay offs in providence I live in Warwick they are closing four elemenry schools this state is in a recession you may find good prices on houses thats because of all the for closures but why buy a house if you cant find a job I am getting out of here as soon as possible I dont want my child in a class of 45 students

[Rnrboy]

You're going to have to move out to like Montana or somewhere to find a state that isn't in a recession.

A lot of people on here talk about Rhody like it's the only state with problems. There are less than 20 states left that aren't running up deficits right now.

There's some obvious reasons for this, but I don't want to get off topic.

[dutch10]

I live in Warwick they are closing four elemenry schools

I live in Warwick too, and I'd say that four is a good start. Last I checked the population of school aged kids has been decreasing for years. When is the last time they closed a school in Warwick? Do you know? I can't remember one being shuttered and I've been here for 33 years. Potowomut will have less than 100 students next year if it were to remain open, at what point should it close?? Please do your homework before you rant about these issues. Layoff notices go out every year, will 600 people actually get canned?? Absolutely not, by contract the city can only eliminate a small number of positions in a given year. The problem with the public schools isn't the lack of money, it's the outrageously generous teachers contracts that far surpass anything in the private sector in RI. People aren't fleeing because teachers might lose their jobs, they are fleeing because they can't afford to keep up with the rising taxes needed to keep our social welfare machine running.

[Rnrboy]

People aren't fleeing Dutch. This discussion comes up over and over and over again. It is flat out false. You've been listening to too much WPRO. I get tired of posting the population report every two months. Look it up yourself.

What you will find is that they were saying the same thing in the 90s, and nothing came of it. In the last 8 years we've actually had net growth. And, despite the cut in our capital gains tax, we have attracted less wealthy people, and less business than CT and MA - who both raised their taxes back up in the last 2 years. People like Dan Yorke canshout something over and over again and say "I'm mad as hell!" - but none of it is true. Not a single word. If instead of taking isolated observations as all encompassing-truths, you actually did a little research you'd see what I mean.

RI Conservatives are the Eyores of RI, everything is bad bad bad!!!!!!

[hoohoohaa13]

To get right down to it - NO

[LemominRI]

Originally Posted by BornInMeLivnInExile

I am from Maine and have lived in Fl, Ct and now RI. I would have to say that Rhode is hands down the worst place to live.

1. Yes it has lots of coastline...however please do not think of swimming in the water. The ocean is so polluted (bacteria, discharge) here they close the beaches all the time in the Summer.

2. The infrastructure is horrible! I am not sure where all the tax money goes but really I've seen better planned and flatter roads driving down a dirt road to a camp. Most of the bridges have new weight restrictions as they are crumbling beneath drivers.

3. The people here are rude. Just flat out rude. I've never seen anything like it.

4. I drive 5 miles back and forth to work every day. What an awesome commute that should be! Yeah...NO. People here drive VERY aggresively, I've never seen anything like it up and down the east coast. There are car collision shops on every corner...at first I thought that was odd when I first moved here. Now I know why!

5. Bad food. My husband was so excited to take me to this "awesome home cooked chicken" place called Wrights Farm. Apparently it's an instituion around here and the locals love it as witnessed by the size of the place (huge) and long lines. They served baked chicken, salad, mashed potaoes and some pasta dish....that's it! And it's cooked horribly. Everyone raves about the place because it's all you can eat. That's one thing I've found...in RI when ever someone says "oh they have GREAT food!!" it's always followed by some version of the phrase "huge portions or all you can eat".

6. People are lazy and irresponsible. Normally if you can't make it into work one day you would do what is known as "calling out". I know this is the norm as this has been practiced in other states, places I have worked. RI...not so much. No call no show and then back to work 2 days later like nothing happened. At first I thought this was just a particular employee. No...this was going on with 5 of our employees...all from RI. All the other people who work with me do call in...and they are transplants like myself.

Geeesh...reading this I totally sound like I am on my high horse. I don't mean to....these are just my experiences...and I live in the "wealthy" part of RI. I'll be leaving RI soon...thank you Jesus!!!

Hi boy do I agree with you they call us the ocean state but you cant fish or swim always contaiminated same thing with the drinking water witch we pay for is always contaminated and you cant use it so you have to buy bottled water and boil water half the time to wash up its just gross I work in a hospital and many times couldt use the water to bathe patients I have lived here for over thirty years and I am discusted i too work about a 15 min drive from work witch takes me an hour or more with the traffic 95 is horrible I too live in a better part of RI and it still stinks I hope they make some improvments for the young generation to survive here How was Florida moving ther soon to the sw area