Cities that compare to Providence

[BBascule]

If he was really concerned about the historic fabric of Downtown Providence he would have written a piece on Sierra Suites weeks ago. He hasn't so one must assume he doesn't care. GTECH is almost done, love it or hate it, it's there. Stop crying about it and try to do something about improving a project that hasn't put shovels in the ground yet.

Good point.

Maybe he likes the Sierra Suites design?

[Garris]

"No arts, entertainment, restaurants, events, etc ever take hold because, the thinking goes, what's the point". hey guy, i don't know how you come to this conclusion about new haven, but your comment raises questions about your credibility. you are way off.

Listen buddy, I don't know you, and you're free to feel whatever you want about my "credibility." I grew up in the NY Metro, spent 4 years in NH, and 4 years in NYC. I know figures in the arts, medical fields, politics, military, and the arts in the entire region, from Newark, to NYC, to Pougkeepsie, to NH.

That feeling of proximity to NYC being a simultaneous blessing and curse is widespread. Folks I know involved in religion and arts in Yorktown, NY and elsewhere in Northern Westchester, for instance, are frustrated trying to get residents there to recognize that they exist while watching them give time, dollars, and efforts to Manhattan institutions.

Similarly, I know many people who live in the NH metro who, while never having attended a play or concert in NH, travel to NYC several times a year for Broadway or have season tickets to the NY Philharmonic. To others I know there, weekends are for taking the train down to "the city."

I love NH, and its done a great job of late building a distinct and flourishing culinary, arts, and entertainment scene. But even it experiences some of the "sucking" effect of nearby Manhattan that effects the closer metro communities.

- Garris

[Lone Ranger]

Brussat likes to strike a tragic pose. That's all I took away from today's article.

Regardless of location, one building is NOT going to compromise the entire city. And even so, the GTech building isn't THAT bad. Depending on how it fills out, it might even turn out to be mildly pleasing. It will never be an architectural treasure, but not every building can.

As I've said elsewhere, Brussat needs to move to Newport and start submitting his editorials to Newport Life instead of the ProJo.

[Baines]

Brussat likes to strike a tragic pose. That's all I took away from today's article.

Regardless of location, one building is NOT going to compromise the entire city. And even so, the GTech building isn't THAT bad. Depending on how it fills out, it might even turn out to be mildly pleasing. It will never be an architectural treasure, but not every building can.

As I've said elsewhere, Brussat needs to move to Newport and start submitting his editorials to Newport Life instead of the ProJo.

Boy, you said it. Three paragraphs, three "I fully agree".

Brussat seems to express that deadly "RI attitude" I complain about...self-doubt, little town, we are not that good. He needs to find a nice suburb and write about proposed picket fences.

[Lone Ranger]

But unless it's a nice Victorian suburb, I fear his symptoms would return very soon.

Newport would be a great fit for him. A town full of beautiful historic buildings with an dilapidated system of roads and nothing that even hints of change or modernity ...

And since they're pushing for this international recognition as a world historic site, you can bet that, if Newport can meet the guidelines, it will retain its quaintness forever. Which will suite Brussat just fine.

[CtownMikey]

Brussat and Helen Keller are related, didn't you all know?

[runawayjim]

"No arts, entertainment, restaurants, events, etc ever take hold because, the thinking goes, what's the point". hey guy, i don't know how you come to this conclusion about new haven, but your comment raises questions about your credibility. you are way off.

garris already defended himself, but i grew up just outside of new haven and lived there until 2 years ago (that makes it over 20 years of living there. he's perfectly correct. while there are a lot of people who do attend the arts and cultural happenings in and around new haven, there are even more that will hop on the train to new york.

for example... the shubert theatre and the palace theatre both used to have musicals and concerts and plays all the time... now it's only on occasion (or at least around the time i left CT). honestly, i am not even sure the palace is still in operation. that's only one example.

here's my theory. they used to thrive because people didn't go to new york in the 80's, it was more dangerous. new york has become one of the safest cities in the country. it's also become the hip place to hang out if you live on or near metro north. new haven wasn't so hot in the 90's. it lost it's attraction. it's getting better though. however, new haven is suffering in a couple ways. the first is that for some strange reason, the touring broadway series stuff goes to the oakdale in wallingford (which is a pain in the butt to get to from anywhere) and the bushnell in hartford. why not new haven? the second is that the city decided to allow the colliseum go into ruin and it became more cost effective to tear it down because the arena in bridgeport and the hartford civic center were taking the money away. that didn't have to happen. if they fixed up the colliseum and made it easier to park and get to, the arena in bridgeport would have had absolutely no chance. people in fairfield county would rather to go new york anyways, give them MSG. the people in new haven have nothing except bridgeport and hartford now.

but no, new haven does not have the huge audiences and huge arts and entertainment that you want to think. it's there, it's growing, but it will always fall in the shadow of new york. things have taken hold in new haven and if you read what garris said, he said "and even to an extent, new haven". out of all the cities he listed, new haven is the only one that seems to be able to hold it's own at all. the others can't in all those categories. new haven has nightlife, restaurants, music, arts... a lot of it mostly because of yale. but it is the arts and culture capital of CT. now if you combined new haven and hartford, you'd have providence.

[urbie]

garris already defended himself, but i grew up just outside of new haven and lived there until 2 years ago (that makes it over 20 years of living there. he's perfectly correct. while there are a lot of people who do attend the arts and cultural happenings in and around new haven, there are even more that will hop on the train to new york.

This may not be relevant, but a few weeks ago, we had occasion to go down to Mesa Arts Center (AZ), which just opened this year. I had no idea they had such a thing in Mesa, but the thing is like Lincoln Center -- a beautiful concert hall, a sizeable art museum with an art school, and sort of a whole arts complex, worthy of a big city -- in Mesa, which is a suburb of Phoenix! (Of course, Mesa itself is a big town -- a recent news item noted that it's bigger than St. Louis, Cincinnati, and a number of other "major" cities.) But it's still a satellite of the main hub. But they've built an arts complex that is not at all second-tier -- nor are the events they've booked.

When I lived in MA, I used to go to a lot of concerts at Mechanics Hall (Wormtown), because the tickets were cheaper and they had a lot of the same orchestras that came to Boston (although it's tough to beat the acoustics in Symphony Hall). Definitely a second-tier town, but at that time, they were getting most of the same concert performers.

Urb

[gregw]

I definitely think Worcester is underrated. It's got quite a bit to offer on the arts/cultural front. I work there and have noticed that Worcester residents tend to be really hard on their city, describing it as if it's Camden or Gary, Ind. Maybe they need to travel around more so they can see that Worcester ain't so bad.

When I lived in MA, I used to go to a lot of concerts at Mechanics Hall (Wormtown), because the tickets were cheaper and they had a lot of the same orchestras that came to Boston (although it's tough to beat the acoustics in Symphony Hall). Definitely a second-tier town, but at that time, they were getting most of the same concert performers.

Urb