Lil' Rhody Lounge | Off-topic posting

[Cotuit]

I live in Providence and I don't own a car.

[Recchia]

That is why I drive a plastic Saturn. It doesn't dent, and it's such a cheap POS that I don't care if people hit it. It's tough to drive something nice when living in a city, cause these things happen all too much (anywhere).

[Jerry2]

Well, since I didn't want to drive my now welfare-looking hooptie to work this morning out of pure embarassment, I decided to take RIPTA. The last time I rode the bus was 1994. Besides Kennedy Plaza still looking like the Mos Eisley spaceport, I decided to be optimistic. Bus 34/EP was supposed to arrive @7:59 and arrive @ my destination @ 8:17AM. Guess what? The bus didn't show until 8:30. I just got in to work now. I will have to get to Kennedy Plaza by7:15 now "just in case." I am not going to take my car out until I cough up the approx. 2K it will take to repair. It's either that or pay the 1K deductible and have my insurance jacked up.

As far as these things happening everywhere, that may be true.However, I think the chances of that happening in Prov. over any other town in RI is huge. When does living here become convenient? Besides my wallet being fatter(reduced insurance), will moving out provide me with a better quality of life? It's a very good argument. Is there any reason why I or anybody else shoud move here? What do you get for a 750K condo? A 300K 3-family? A downtown loft? An East Side apartment? You don't get sufficient neigborhood services. It's not less expensive. You don't get cleaner streets, better city services, etc. etc. What do you get? It seems like a lot more headaches than anything else. Do the cultural attractions( or what's left of them) warrant living in the "big city" or couldn't we just drive in the few times a year we might actually patronize them? With insufficient alternative transportation, spotty city services, filthy streets, this is an issue that Prov. and many other NE 2nd tier cites should confront as they are pushing for increased density and more units....

[runawayjim]

Well, since I didn't want to drive my now welfare-looking hooptie to work this morning out of pure embarassment, I decided to take RIPTA. The last time I rode the bus was 1994. Besides Kennedy Plaza still looking like the Mos Eisley spaceport, I decided to be optimistic. Bus 34/EP was supposed to arrive @7:59 and arrive @ my destination @ 8:17AM. Guess what? The bus didn't show until 8:30. I just got in to work now. I will have to get to Kennedy Plaza by7:15 now "just in case." I am not going to take my car out until I cough up the approx. 2K it will take to repair. It's either that or pay the 1K deductible and have my insurance jacked up.

As far as these things happening everywhere, that may be true.However, I think the chances of that happening in Prov. over any other town in RI is huge. When does living here become convenient? Besides my wallet being fatter(reduced insurance), will moving out provide me with a better quality of life? It's a very good argument. Is there any reason why I or anybody else shoud move here? What do you get for a 750K condo? A 300K 3-family? A downtown loft? An East Side apartment? You don't get sufficient neigborhood services. It's not less expensive. You don't get cleaner streets, better city services, etc. etc. What do you get? It seems like a lot more headaches than anything else. Do the cultural attractions( or what's left of them) warrant living in the "big city" or couldn't we just drive in the few times a year we might actually patronize them? With insufficient alternative transportation, spotty city services, filthy streets, this is an issue that Prov. and many other NE 2nd tier cites should confront as they are pushing for increased density and more units....

that sucks about ripta and your car, but the chances are just as great that it could happen anywhere else. remember, you went to a strip mall with lots of parking... those exist in the suburbs and there are still people who don't know how to drive out there as well. ripta not keeping to their schedule is a major issue that needs to be fixed. what time did you arrive at kennedy plaza to catch the 7:59 bus?

those $750k condos come with a lot of services that the condos have. a lot of your complaints are things that are currently in the works to be fixed. providence had many years of neglect and we're just starting to come back from that.

many people patronize the cultural attractions several times a week. for those people, city living offers more than what the suburbs can offer.

[Jerry2]

"what time did you arrive at kennedy plaza to catch the 7:59 bus?"

7:45 AM....I start @ 8:30AM

[matt]

You bring up some very good points, Jerry. I don't have an answer, but I can tell you my parked car was crashed into while parked in front of my old house on a sidestreet in Narragansett after I thought I'd done the right thing by carpooling to work.

Feels like the grass is greener on the other side of the fence sometimes.

[Jerry2]

"many people patronize the cultural attractions several times a week. for those people, city living offers more than what the suburbs can offer."

I'm not so sure about this. I don't want to post constant "negative" thoughts, but these issues are starting to really bother me. For me, I've never thought @ living anywhere else other than the city. I like the noise. I like the fact that people are around 24/7. It's a sense of place and I would be willing to make some sacrifices in order to live here. At what point though does it become a burden to live here? If I moved to the country or the suburbs, would I be able to grow accustomed to peace, quiet, and less people. Is it all a frame of mind? I think so.

[runawayjim]

"many people patronize the cultural attractions several times a week. for those people, city living offers more than what the suburbs can offer."

I'm not so sure about this. I don't want to post constant "negative" thoughts, but these issues are starting to really bother me. For me, I've never thought @ living anywhere else other than the city. I like the noise. I like the fact that people are around 24/7. It's a sense of place and I would be willing to make some sacrifices in order to live here. At what point though does it become a burden to live here? If I moved to the country or the suburbs, would I be able to grow accustomed to peace, quiet, and less people. Is it all a frame of mind? I think so.

it is a frame of mind to a degree, but it's also for the offerings of the city (which there are, maybe not what you want, but what many people want does exist here).

as for those people who patronize cultural attractions, what do you think are cultural attractions? i'm talking people who go see live music several times a week regardless of the type of music. that's a cultural attraction, whether you think so or not. i'm talking people who go to every musical that comes to PPAC and go to every play at trinity rep and black rep. it wouldn't be worth it to these people to live in the suburbs. these are the people who walk out their door to see the cultural activities going on downtown in the summer.

i actually like the country as well as the city. so i've always been torn as to where to live. someday, i plan on having a second home/condo in new hampshire or VT close to skiing and some summertime activities (like lake winnepisauke or lake champlain). who knows if that'll actually happen, but i don't want to move far from the city either. i will have a family someday, and i probably won't be living in the city at that point (that and my fiancee wants a house with a yard when we buy a house). i don't like having to drive more than 3 miles to get to a grocery store or more than 10-15 min to do any major shopping (like target). i guess i've always been spoiled by never living in a rural area.

the burden lies in the crime, which is a real problem and has to be dealt with. there seems to be a lot of stupid petty crime and kids who think it's funny to smash a car window for no reason other than they wanted to. but hit and runs happen all the time, no matter where you live.

[Garris]

Besides Kennedy Plaza still looking like the Mos Eisley spaceport....

This gave me my biggest laugh of the day... I can hear the Mos Eisley music now, watching people move around down there

I'm sorry to hear about your car... In more than 2+ years living in Providence, I finally had my car vandalized recently to the tune of 2,100 dollars of repairs not here, but while visiting Boston...

My parents live in the suburban county in New York State with the highest per capita income of any other in the state, which values its rural character and has tons of open space and suburban amenities, and guess what? My mother's car has been keyed in her work parking lot twice this year (I still think it was a teacher's union hood, but that's another issue ) and my father pulls his hair out regularly at all the dents and dings he gets in the suburban strip malls and plazas. It really can and does happen anywhere.

Why stay in the city? The reasons are innumerable. Character, convenience (I walk to almost everything I need in life in Wayland Square, from groceries, to my doctor, to my vet, to restaurants), diversity. There's a there there. Try staying in an average anonymous suburban community surrounded by no-name strip plazas and stores and see how long it takes until you are bored to tears not just from the lack of things to do, but from the lack of visual, aural, and other sensory stimulation that an urban area provides. If you aren't bored, then you're in the right place, and more power to you.

Living anywhere has a tradeoff, unfortunately. Despite what we would all like to think, a lack of respect for personal property and civic space is unfortunately present everywhere.

- Garris

Edited May 17, 2006 by Garris

[Frankie811]

"what time did you arrive at kennedy plaza to catch the 7:59 bus?"

7:45 AM....I start @ 8:30AM

Unfortunately RIPTA can't control the traffic. If there's an accident on 95 or 195 your screwed.

[runawayjim]

Unfortunately RIPTA can't control the traffic. If there's an accident on 95 or 195 your screwed.

no, but ripta should have a failover plan in the case of traffic so that, at the very least, their rush hour buses (or at least the ones leaving from kennedy plaza) are not half an hour late. that's unacceptable when people depend on them to get to/from work. they could have something where the bus driver who is supposed to be making that run gets stuck in traffic and radios in and they have another bus head out to make the run. with no plan but to have buses come in on top of one another, it's just ridiculous. they're not staggered enough.

[Frankie811]

no, but ripta should have a failover plan in the case of traffic so that, at the very least, their rush hour buses (or at least the ones leaving from kennedy plaza) are not half an hour late. that's unacceptable when people depend on them to get to/from work. they could have something where the bus driver who is supposed to be making that run gets stuck in traffic and radios in and they have another bus head out to make the run. with no plan but to have buses come in on top of one another, it's just ridiculous. they're not staggered enough.

Yeah, and who's going to pay for all those extra drivers and buses??? They have a plan like that in effect for when a bus brakes down. How 'bout people having a plan to leave early and catch an earlier bus.

[Jerry2]

Yeah, and who's going to pay for all those extra drivers and buses??? They have a plan like that in effect for when a bus brakes down. How 'bout people having a plan to leave early and catch an earlier bus.

That's what I'm going to do tomorrow morning...leave a little earlier. When I got out tonight, I walked to the corner of Pawtucket and Warren, figuring that it would be easier to catch the bus at a major intersection. ( bus crossroads)I didn't know where to wait so I ended up looking like a male prostitute. There were no enclosed stops on Warren. As I looked down, I saw the one next to Brooks and walked over there. By that time, a bus passed down Warren. All in all, not that bad considering I haven't rode RIPTA in 13 years and I made it home O.K.You definitely see the world in a different perspective. I just wish their were more options.

[runawayjim]

Yeah, and who's going to pay for all those extra drivers and buses??? They have a plan like that in effect for when a bus brakes down. How 'bout people having a plan to leave early and catch an earlier bus.

leaving early to catch an earlier bus is all fine and well, but they still need to do a better job of staggering them. i will admit to never have used ripta. however, i do see the buses at major stops on a regular basis. and i usually see 2 or 3 of them lined up, at least 2 of them from the same route. that's unacceptable.

they can't foresee the bus breaking down, nor can they foresee an accident occurring on 95 or 195. but they can listen to traffic reports and if there is an accident that causes the bus to be 30 min late (which is longer than just blaming it on rush hour traffic because they should have that built into their times), they should dispatch another bus to take over that route, put the other bus "out of service" and then the drivers can switch buses when they meet up. yes, it costs money. and yes, i know ripta is always short on money. and yes i know they can't really raise fares much more than they have. but what good is it to even use ripta if they're gonna be half an hour late to a stop as major as kennedy plaza?

[Frankie811]

When I got out tonight, I walked to the corner of Pawtucket and Warren, figuring that it would be easier to catch the bus at a major intersection.

If your getting off at the intersections of Warren & Pawtucket Avenues, then you should know that the #33 Riverside bus is an option available for you. I could never figure out how that #34 bus runs. Could the #78 bus be an option for you?

[Frankie811]

Can you believe it !!! More rain! And today is ride your bike to work day.

[Jerry2]

"This gave me my biggest laugh of the day... I can hear the Mos Eisley music now, watching people move around down there "

-Garris-

Doo..doo..doo..doo........"Luke, this place can be a little rough."

[Frankie811]

Can you believe it !!! More rain! And today is ride your bike to work day.

http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bikemonth/

[JJK5]

Can you believe it !!! More rain! And today is ride your bike to work day.

However..the weekend forecast no longer mentions chance of showers.

[Garris]

<Long, very off topic>

Hey everyone,

After being away on and off for almost two weeks, I thought I'd post some travel impressions and some photos of L.A. after being there for a conference. While I've popped into and out of L.A. for interviews a few times in the last few years, I hadn't been there for an extended period in almost a decade. In summary, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, especially seen through newly urbanist eyes. Here, in no particular order, are some impressions:

Character:

Love it or hate it, L.A. is unabashedly, unashamedly what it is - one of America's flashiest, wealthiest, auto dependent cultures. It makes no apologies for its sprawl and its conspicuous consumption and, indeed, it embraces such values enthusiastically. Oddly, this lead me to view it more favorably than I expected. I respect the city's embrace of self. It isn't trying to be anything other than what it is. In many ways, much of America has become more like L.A. than the reverse, but in L.A.'s case, it's "authentic." I left thinking that trying to force a "new urbanist," walkable, Northeast style lifestyle on L.A. would be like trying to force L.A. style living on Downcity Providence... Likely impossible, and certainly not desirable.

In upscale neighborhoods, wealth is on display and is everywhere, leading one of my co-workers to marvel, "Wow, where does all this money come from?" Such displays are worn quite literally on people's sleves. We think places like the East Side or Little Compton are upscale... Those communities are thimble sized compared to such places in L.A. In many places, there are upscale neighborhoods that feel like they are the size of the entire state of Rhode Island. Drive around neighborhoods in the Hollywood Hills or Beverly Hills, and it's clear why this lifestyle continues to fascinate and enthrall the American popular culture.

The city is certainly auto friendly. Signage is outstanding and, save for traffic (more about that below), it's very easy to navigate and get around almost blindly. Highway entrances/exits are clearly marked, large, and unambiguous. Every destination had ample street, lot, or garage parking without exception.

Density:

Despite its reputation for suburban sprawl (and it's definitely there in spades), there's a lot of density to be found in the L.A. megapolis and, interestingly, due to continued price increases and continued interest of people to relocate there, developers are trying to squeeze more units into their lots and the most height allowable in many neighborhoods. Indeed, I saw many a suburban neighborhood with new or ongoing 3-4 story, street fronted development that was starting to transform them into something looking more like Cambridge or Brooklyn than Scarsdale. Lamented my uncle who lives in such a neighborhood, "Everyone except me seems to want as much density as possible here. No one is fighting a thing."

Downtown:

This is actually one of the least impressive aspects about the city. First of all, the downtown core is quite small, especially for a super-sized metro like L.A. It felt about "third tier" city sized, much smaller, comparatively, than the mixed use cores of other cities I'm familiar with like Minneapolis, Seattle, or Boston. The downtown footprint is probably more the size of a Center-City Philadelphia, but not nearly as dense.

Downtown L.A. has a reputation for being on the "rebound," and that certainly appears to be true to an extent. There's a good amount of building ongoing (both residential and commercial) and the skyscraper density (see photos below) is quite impressive. The streets and sidewalks were quite clean and I felt safe at all hours.

That said, the atmosphere is more like that of Stamford, CT on steroids. There's a very "tall-corporate-office-park" sterility about the place (kind of like the business district of Seattle, but not as nice), and the streetscape is underdeveloped. The L.A. affinity for broad plazas and graded terraces which gives so much of the rest of the metro its character doesn't work at all here, making many of the building entrances feel cold and distant.

Oddly, unlike the rest of the auto-friendly metro, the downtown can be seriously confusing for the non-native to navigate by car, especially around the public library and arts district.

Disney Concert Hall (see photos below):

This is worthy of separate discussion. This was my third or fourth exposure to Frank Gehry's architecture, and I am becoming more of a fan each time. The new concert hall is the undisputed architectural star of the downtown, and it's a real gem. Gehry's designs are endlessly fascinating to gaze upon and the look of the metal surfaces and how the light plays on them change with almost every step down the sidewalk. Unlike much of modern architecture, the Concert Hall feels warms and welcoming. The swooping wings of metal almost seem to embrace you, begging you to come inside. Gehry's curved metal surfaces are so foreign, so de-differentiated that the scaling of the structure is almost universal since there is no stereotyped point of comparison.

I found myself wondering what a whole street or block of Gehry architecture would look like, rather than just one building, and I found myself concluding that it would be a thing of wonder. Thankfully, I think we'll get just such an opportunity soon in downtown Brooklyn...

Food:

L.A. is a fantastic food town. Almost everywhere I went, from the hole in the wall red-sauce Italian in Studio City to the high end restaurant in the Disney Concert Hall to the unambiguously named "Ethiopian Restaurant" in the Little Ethiopia section of town was wonderful. As a friend there put it, if a restaurant opens that isn't wonderful, "it doesn't have a chance of lasting more than a month."

Attractions:

I didn't have much time for entertainment due to the conference, but I did go to the Petersen Automotive Museum and the Getty Museum. The Petersen is a must for any auto enthusiast, but I found it a bit disappointing. Their collection is indeed amazing and deep, but rather than it being a huge garage with as much packed in as possible, it strives to a more relaxed, museum type layout that limits the number of cars there, which was a bit disappointing. A huge percentage of floor space was currently devoted to hot-rods and customized cars, which also didn't appeal to me nearly as much as the rare originals I preferred to see.

The Meier design Getty Museum in West L.A. was simply remarkable. The architecture of this city on a mountain, accessed by tram, is one of impressively cool precision (with just a hint of superior detachment). The view, which is a near 360-degree vantage point over the L.A. megapolis, is worth the visit alone, with its sightlines from the Valley to the ocean limited only by the degree of haze hovering over the city. The exhibits (which I limited to seeing ones of photography due to constraints of time and interest) were fascinating.

Traffic

I can't discuss L.A. without discussing traffic. It's quite real, and quite amazing. The best driving conditions on the highways would be described as "congested." Our hotel was less than 15 miles from LAX and it took us very well over an hour to make the trip coming and going.

Ok, enough of that. Here are some photos!

Downtown L.A., daytime:

Different L.A. downtown architecture:

Reflections from a glass building lighten up a building across the street:

Skyscraper downtown:

Interesting angles downtown:

Signs of life downtown:

Sunset downtown:

L.A. Times Building, downtown:

L.A. City Hall:

Skyline at night:

The Disney Concert Hall:

An interesting view of a wall at the Getty:

Ok, I'll post the remaining shots tomorrow. Have a good night!

- Garris

[Gusterfell]

Wow! I'll never get tired of looking at your photos, Garris. They're something to aspire to.

[Garris]

Wow! I'll never get tired of looking at your photos, Garris. They're something to aspire to.

Thanks! Coming from you, that means a lot, considering you shoot some quite aspirational stuff yourself. Catching up on the forum topics, I found this one among your recent excellent Waterfire shots that I'm particularly fond of...

- Garris

[CtownMikey]

garris you seem to travel the most on this forum... do u have a favorite city?

and what do these business trips makes you think of prOVIDENCE... and changes in opinion?

[Recchia]

I think we should make a thread "Garris's impressions of other cities" I always enjoy hearing your opinions on cities you've traveled to, this one especially. Thanks for the info.

[Frankie811]

I think we should make a thread "Garris's impressions of other cities" I always enjoy hearing your opinions on cities you've traveled to, this one especially. Thanks for the info.

Better do it quick. He may be leaving for parts unknown.