Padmapper too. At the end of the day you gotta look everywhere if you want to see all the options.

I remember maybe seeing one once. Not sure how efficient it would be wondering around looking for them.

Rough around the edges I was referring to is just the general look and feel of the neighborhood. It doesn’t have very good curb appeal except for very select blocks.

I meant mostly on the highway! Sorry haha

All of them are safe if you aren’t doing anything stupid.

That being said, I find Federal Hill to be a little more rough around the edges/lack of curb appeal. You get this in a lot of PVD…I think some of it is because street parking overnight wasn’t allowed until recently so people would pave wherever they could create a parking space.

That being said, I do like the Fox Point area as you can walk downtown, Collrge Hill, you have the park along the water, and can walk to Wayland easily as well. Depending where you’re moving from that is - some people think a 10 minute walk to go somewhere is crazy! Ha It’s also super convenient to hop on the interstate.

Just note that finding housing for “working professionals” isn’t as easy as you may expect. There’s a lot of grad students living in the area given proximity to Brown and other schools. There’s not a lot of undergrads but there are some (undergrads typically live very close to campus, grad students can venture to Wayland, Hope Village, Fox Point). It’s pretty common in PVD to have multi family homes- so 2 or 3 units in a house. Be mindful of who lives in the unit (this goes for any neighborhood).

Seriously. It’s a breeze. I actually think most people drive pretty slow.

Ding ding ding. It’s nothing to do with RI

Can you get Fios? Mine is $39/month and not on a contract.

Thanks! I am happy with LensCrafters. I find they are much better than the other chain optical stores here, or even some local ones like Adcanced Eye Care.

Yeah I’m just trying to get some frames and lenses through my insurance…my insurance doesn’t cover $600 frames and probably for the best as I’d probably break them!

LensCrafters. They are so much better than any other eyeglass place in RI (sorry Warby but insurance speaks).

Red Stripe is comparable with food prices and drinks. Salted Slate maybe too - haven’t been in a while.

Yeah that’s why I said I’ve seen them for sale….but given the size sometimes those types of places aren’t primary residences.

I’ve never seen a soul when I go in the arcade. Obviously those condos aren’t housing many people just given their size - guessing most are solo occupied. Hence not a good example of residences contributing to pedestrian traffic!

JWU is significantly cheaper than PC, Bryant, etc.

So yeah, cry me a river that you chose to b*itch about the school that is offering an affordable education for Rhode Islanders.

Um you realize they don’t just point at land and poof a building appears? They have to buy land, pay to develop it, build, maintain, etc.

JWU’s economic impact is quite strong. They are tax exempt as a university just as any university across the country is along with all churches, non-profits, etc.

I love when people villainize Rhode Island’s schools though.

There was an article I think in NY Times about transitioning commercial to residential and how it’s just a disaster.

The Arcade is an interesting example - do people actually live in those? I’ve seen them for sale but they are ridiculously tiny. And not a great example of keeping a building afloat haha

It’s prob not gonna go anywhere. But most students aren’t residents. It’s not like this one meeting will dramatically shift the outcome.

Got it. When I use Logan it’s usually for longer trips - so I have next to no patience when I get back. But this is a good alternative!

Better than $25/day. I find scheduling Uber or Lyft is about $80. Coming back has been painful the last couple times as you can’t necessarily schedule. Last time was a $150 Uber!

Norwegian Air has re-emerged as Norse. It’s mostly flying out of major airports (Logan, JFK, etc) vs the smaller big city alternatives like Norwegian did. They are pretty quickly expanding (only flight out of BOS is to London) so not sure what the strategy will be.

Pizza coin has 65 reviews on Google which is very few. You can’t trust ratings with that few of reviews (ie their family, friends, etc can be 75% of them).

Pizza Marvin hasn’t been open that long and is a small shop…has 266 reviews.

I mean the mall was part of PVDs downtown re-emerging. It’s not like downtown today is some run down ghost town. Brick n mortar “Shopping” in general is dying, mall or not. It’s not like Worcester and Hartford have Crate & Barrel and Anthropologie downtown cause they don’t have a mall. The mall still brings lots of people to downtown PVD.

The lack of chains (particularly restaurants) in PVD is very diff than most cities. Would one build a mall like this in 2023? No. But it does bring people and activity to PVD - you can complain about those people but many of them are going to restaurants outside of the mall, etc. Also, walk down Westminster after 5-6 pm and none of those stores are even open. There’s been chatter about converting parts of the mall into residences, for example, which I think is interesting.

The land around the mall is developed. The Jewelry District/195 plots have been sitting vacant for sale for years.

Yet there’s still people complaining about those lots getting developed. One company was trying to build their HQ in one plot by the Shell station/Trader Joes - right off of interstate exits. And residents complained it would bring too much traffic. Yes, let’s run businesses out of PVD because of…traffic.

I wouldn’t say “growth mindset” is Providence’s forte. 🙃

It’s not uncommon for cities/states to come to agreements on things that bring economic development. The trade off is obviously either economic impact (I guess a mall bringing people into the city) or solid jobs (a mall has some decent jobs but not exactly a lot of great jobs).

The mall has done a lot for PVD - I’m surprised whenever I’m there how busy it is. Now obviously places like Gap closing has little to do with Prov Place, just that Gap is struggling.

That being said, it always cracks me up how people go after the universities - without them PVD wouldn’t have a lot going for it. They have so many good jobs and bring so much economic impact (ie JWU culinary).

You can’t leave your dog at the hotel for dinner?

Narragansett Brewery is dog friendly and walkable from downtown. That’s my positive contribution. 🫠🫠🫠