Providence Press

[Baines]

Providence vs. Boston in regards to the Fidelity move from the Boston Herald. (shouldn't that be Boston vs. Smithfield?)

Well, it is really the PVD Metro vs the BOS Metro I guess...but I sure wish they had selected Downcity - was the city asleep at the switch on this?

[CtownMikey]

Well remember.. not all of Fidelity's 1500 jobs are being relocated to R.I.

Maybe this is Providence's chance to give the company a good impression and help relocate every single job to the state, instead of the majority.

[CtownMikey]

http://www.pbn.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/118970

This company isn't huge yet, but it plans to move it manufacturing jobs from China into R.I. soon hopefully! And it's Cranston based.

It could be huge in a couple of years with new ipod coming out yearly, and xbox 360/PS3. So maybe they'll move manufacturing to Prov. or move the entire HQ to prov.

http://www.pbn.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/118971

This company (Hope Global) said that they might have to move if another flood comes by Maybe Providence??? or out of state??? I think the city and state would be very generous with an offer to move to DT Providence.

[CtownMikey]

http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/medi...gepublisher.com

[Lone Ranger]

In 1959, the city hired consultants to come up with an extensive plan for downtown development. The program, called "Providence 1970," included plans to tear down City Hall, the train station and numerous other buildings, in addition to putting aluminum facades on the classical buildings that help make downtown Providence what it is today.

I know I say this with the benefit of retrospect, but wow what a bunch of stupid ideas. Tear down City Hall? That suggestion alone should have been enough to tip off the city's leaders at the time that they were getting (on good dime) horribly bad advice.

[damus]

I know I say this with the benefit of retrospect, but wow what a bunch of stupid ideas. Tear down City Hall? That suggestion alone should have been enough to tip off the city's leaders at the time that they were getting (on good dime) horribly bad advice.

It's hard to understand, but every city thought like this. My city (Norwich, CT) had what has been argued by the old folks who write books and newspaper columns around here to be the best looking downtown in all of New England, and from the pictures that are printed I can guarantee it would be a heck of a tourist attraction if they just spared half of what they tore down (which is almost everything... you can't even recognize certain areas where the downtown reached as it's just strip malls now). Providence was very lucky to be poor at that time in its history.

[AriPVD]

Check out this month's Urban Land magazine (published by ULI). Great article on Providence.

[KRC]

Check out this month's Urban Land magazine (published by ULI). Great article on Providence.

Ari, where would one go about obtaining a copy? I'd love to read it.

[CtownMikey]

I became a member of the site ULI.ORG and searched providence and found about 10 good articles but i dont think anything was new Mr. Ari which article was it?

[CtownMikey]

http://www.rentalcartours.net/rac-boston.p...%20atlanta'

" Smart Growth America has developed sprawl rating based upon sub-metropolitan areas (primary metropolitan

statistical areas), rather than genuine metropolitan areas (consolidated metropolitan statistical areas), in areas where submetropolitan areas exist. In fact, the genuine metropolitan area with the least sprawl, according to Smart Growth America, is Providence, Rhode Island, which has approximately the same population density as the Boston submetropolitan area. "

Kind of an old article (2004) but still..

[runawayjim]

It's hard to understand, but every city thought like this. My city (Norwich, CT) had what has been argued by the old folks who write books and newspaper columns around here to be the best looking downtown in all of New England, and from the pictures that are printed I can guarantee it would be a heck of a tourist attraction if they just spared half of what they tore down (which is almost everything... you can't even recognize certain areas where the downtown reached as it's just strip malls now). Providence was very lucky to be poor at that time in its history.

when was boston's current city hall built? that monstrosity is the ugliest building i've ever seen... along with the ugly brick, cement, and asphalt "park" surrounding it. sounds like they were the only ones who followed through on these thoughts.

[Recchia]

http://www.rentalcartours.net/rac-boston.p...%20atlanta'

" Smart Growth America has developed sprawl rating based upon sub-metropolitan areas (primary metropolitan

statistical areas), rather than genuine metropolitan areas (consolidated metropolitan statistical areas), in areas where submetropolitan areas exist. In fact, the genuine metropolitan area with the least sprawl, according to Smart Growth America, is Providence, Rhode Island, which has approximately the same population density as the Boston submetropolitan area. "

Kind of an old article (2004) but still..

Written by none other than Wendell Cox...

Nonetheless, it does make a good point: Northeast city cores are much denser than other parts of the country's cores, but our suburbs are much lower density than say the suburbs of Los Angeles.

[runawayjim]

Written by none other than Wendell Cox...

Nonetheless, it does make a good point: Northeast city cores are much denser than other parts of the country's cores, but our suburbs are much lower density than say the suburbs of Los Angeles.

now forget LA, the NE suburbs are a bit more dense than the suburbs of most other cities in the country. it's funny how outside the NE, cities are freaking enormous in land area, but they're not very densely populated.

[Garris]

Interesting observation about suburb density.

Where I grew up in the rustic/almost-suburban ring of NYC, municipalities there are putting restrictions on new housing growth, requiring new homes to be on no less than 1-2 acres (in the hope of keeping new families out and thus less strain on schools/resources, all under the cloak of "Keeping a Rural Character").

Meanwhile, all of the ugly suburban sprawl going on in the Midwest is comparatively quite dense.

Still, none of it remotely close to urban/walkable/mass transitable, however...

Still an interesting issue to think about...

- Garris

[Frankie811]

http://www.tndtownpaper.com/Volume8/home_with_vision.htm

[Carter711]

America's third best public restroom is in Providence, apparently...

America's Top Five Public Restrooms

[jencoleslaw]

America's third best public restroom is in Providence, apparently...

America's Top Five Public Restrooms

ha. i first read that as "America's third best public restroom is Providence..."

[runawayjim]

you know... i went to hemenway's, and while it was clean, there was nothing special about their men's room. maybe the ladies' room was much nicer, but i don't remember a warm appeal or fresh flowers (in fact, the rest room was a little chilly).

[damus]

you know... i went to hemenway's, and while it was clean, there was nothing special about their men's room. maybe the ladies' room was much nicer, but i don't remember a warm appeal or fresh flowers (in fact, the rest room was a little chilly).

My high school, believe it or not, had one bathroom that I would call "fancy", but it wasn't kept the tidiest and had old "facilities". I once had to use the women's bathroom in Slater Hall at the Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut when the men's was out of order. It's an old building built in the 1800s largely with an heir to Slater's fortune's donation that contains an auditorium on the first floor, a museum on the 2nd and 3rd, and art studios in the basement. High ceiling, elaborate tiling (I think it was marble, but this was years ago). I do remember never having seen such a well designed (yet neglected) bathroom in my life. Why is there press about nice bathrooms anyways? All I really care about is for it to be clean and not missing any "supplies".

[jencoleslaw]

let me just tell you that the girls' bathroom at Brigham Middle School were really awful. Out of the 8 or so stalls--no toilet paper in ANY, and no paper towels or soap. How do kids LEARN in that kind of environment!?

[Garris]

let me just tell you that the girls' bathroom at Brigham Middle School were really awful. Out of the 8 or so stalls--no toilet paper in ANY, and no paper towels or soap. How do kids LEARN in that kind of environment!?

I have terrible memories of the bathrooms in the suburban public schools where I grew up. I completely agree with you. It's one of those "environment promoting respect for the institution of learning" issues where I think the public schools fall flat on their face.

Any teacher (just go ask them) will tell you even that even their unions fear the janitors unions, though. Coincidence??

- Garris

[damus]

let me just tell you that the girls' bathroom at Brigham Middle School were really awful. Out of the 8 or so stalls--no toilet paper in ANY, and no paper towels or soap. How do kids LEARN in that kind of environment!?

the paper towels and limited supply of tp can be explained i guess. at my high school there was a huge (intentional or maybe a moron with a cigarette) garbage can fire in the main building with the cafeteria in the basement.... I missed an entire class and a lot of people went hungry that day. I can honestly say I didn't learn much in school from 9th grade all the way through college.

[Carter711]

Just recently got this large pictoral book called "Skylines, American Cities Yesterday and Today" and it has a section on Providence. The write-up is very positive and there are interesting historical pictures, but the large current picture of the city is not exactly flattering. Obviously taken from a helicopter above Narragansett Bay, it has the Allens Ave and East-Side waterfront industrial land front and center (pre 195 construction) with the skyline looking not particularly impressive because its in the distance.

[Garris]

...but the large current picture of the city is not exactly flattering. Obviously taken from a helicopter above Narragansett Bay

I love books like this, and I'll probably try to pick one up.

There is, however, in this day of digital photography and a zillion people taking good photographs, no excuse for a book like this to have what sounds like such a poor photo of Providence.

Does anyone know of any websites which have "Before-After" skyline images? I think the most impressive changes I've seen in the last 30 years are Minneapolis and Jersey City, both of which had virtually no skylines at all in the early 1970's and both now have what are probably skylines in the top 10 or 20 in the US.

- Garris

[KRC]

Just recently got this large pictoral book called "Skylines, American Cities Yesterday and Today" and it has a section on Providence. The write-up is very positive and there are interesting historical pictures, but the large current picture of the city is not exactly flattering. Obviously taken from a helicopter above Narragansett Bay, it has the Allens Ave and East-Side waterfront industrial land front and center (pre 195 construction) with the skyline looking not particularly impressive because its in the distance.

Thank you for the book suggestion. I just ordered it and State Houses: America's 50 State Capitol Buildings on Amazon.