brick1972

brick1972 t1_je2mpby wrote

The financing issue seems to me to be largely Pawtucket wanting to wait out the current bond environment - i.e. not issue bonds at 5% interest if by summer they are back down to 3% or lower.

I think it is ok to be against the project and skeptical of its value and still not be a dick to the people that are excited about the team though. Like place the aggression where it belongs which is not against the people that want it (having been approved) to succeed.

Like I'm a dick to the fane tower believers but if it was approved I would still shit on fane and the 195 commission but I would try my best not to shit on people that liked the building and wanted to see it occupied, if that makes sense.

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brick1972 t1_jdcso80 wrote

I like collecting downvotes from our MAGA contingent so I will say that I see crazy things like what is going on in the bible belt and yes, very thankful.

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brick1972 t1_jctt55e wrote

Without being too shitty, your requirements are pretty common, there should be some posts to check out if you search.

The problem you will have is course is that most places which meet your desires cost about the same. There aren't any cheap hidden gems anywhere anymore.

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brick1972 t1_jcpjd17 wrote

Yes, this is a weird problem unfortunately. Even the East Coast Greenway takes a seemingly completely unnecessary bump north in Eastern CT. If I had to guess it's because there aren't many safe for bikes ways to cross both the Thames and Connecticut Rivers. I found it very difficult to plan a route when I was trying to do a coastal trip from Providence to NYC.

FTR the Greenway itself goes south from Pomfret to Moosup then East across Sterling into Coventry and picks up the Cranston/Washington Secondary path, your Option 3. It is well marked due to being part of the Greenway, if that helps.

For your actual question - on option 1 44 is actually fine other than a couple spots if you are a confident cyclist. You might feel better deferring a little south to 101 then pick your way to avoid Rt. 6. Either way your problem is going to be anything inside of 295, which will be pretty dense with traffic on any decent through roads.

I might check the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen's maps page for rides as they usually pick good roads. If you contact them they might help you out as well.

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brick1972 t1_jbqquz8 wrote

Here's the thing.

Building luxury apartments can have a pull through effect. In theory. Unfortunately the reality of recent development (since 2005 boom) has not been this. Increase of supply of luxury units has not, in fact, reduced prices for anyone else. The collapse of the national economy did help for a while at least for people that didn't lose their jobs so I guess there is that argument, get enough banks to fund enough stupid overpriced shit and the whole thing will implode again,

There is a reason this argument comes from developers and trade unions and not from housing advocates, and it's not that everyone except some enlightened few are just anti development nimbys.

Regardless one point you fucking people ignore is that this tower required zoning variance and other variations from the CPC. If this tower is so amazing build it where you don't need the variances and you will get a lot more cooperation.

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brick1972 t1_jatr31i wrote

The kitchen in the basement is largely used in summer when it's too hot (pee-AC) to cook upstairs.

A lot of these are the first generation appliances of the house. So when they would redo the primary they would throw the old appliances in the basement.

This is the explanation I got from the old Portuguese man I bought my first house from.

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brick1972 t1_jap3cxk wrote

There's a lot of other good advice but you should definitely look at a new situation because this is the behavior of people who already don't have money to maintain their.property and/or are taunting you to do something about it.

Either way you do not want to rent from them.

I don't want to dox myself with specifics but I have had tenants themselves cause heat issues and even on holidays you can find people because to do repairs because money talks. Your landlords are either cheap or stupid or both and may also be seriously malicious or at least uncaring.

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brick1972 t1_ja34thu wrote

Yes, it is possible.

You will get a lot of no it isn't possible but this is because most of the people complaining about rent in this forum want cheap rent in exactly the location they want to live. I'll get downvoted for saying it but it is my observation. Yes, stupid soulless apartment complexes can suck. Yes, living in Washington Park or South Providence comes with negatives. Sure, Woonsocket or Chepachet are pretty far from everything as RI goes. But you can find places.

The problem is that in this forum you will basically get the same 8 neighborhoods recommended, and then people will complain that they can't afford the rent. You can scream about housing as a human right etc. but we still live in a capitalist market society. When everyone wants to live in the same place, it makes it more expensive.

Now, beyond reddit, it is still a problem - your $1500 budget is actually pretty generous by RI standards (i.e. income and 30% rule) and there are a lot of people that can't afford that. There is a lot of work to be done.

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brick1972 t1_j8pafym wrote

The biggest problem is that it is a blocker road for people trying to get to and off of 95. Instead of dispersing into a street road network off of the exit, the presence of the North Burial Ground and the old Drive-In (now Job Lot etc.) effectively mean that all of this traffic has to come onto North Main and then use those choke points to get onto Branch Ave./Smithfield Ave to get to/off the highway.

The second biggest problem is that North Main itself is a stroad not a street. It was designed to bring traffic (auto and trolley) from downtown to the stores on the Pawtucket border quickly, when there were stores there. It is too wide and no matter how many 25 mph signs you put up noone is going to go that speed on that long straightaway with wide lanes. The road design itself induces speed. And you can tsk and tut the evil people who speed but road design is part of it, this is proven by nearly every traffic study.

The third problem is that Miriam is between North Main and Hope instead of North Main and I-95. Which in itself is just a figment of the real problem which is the Frankenstein approach to "planning" in most of the city (natural given the age and the fact that RI was wealthiest at the absolute worst time in US history to be wealthy, at least if you believe in urban living and fewer cars)

The fourth problem is that RI (to be fair it is not unique to here) traffic engineers think the way to solve every traffic light problem is to make the lights longer - this queues more traffic and makes it more likely that people will speed to try and make a light rather than get stopped for a full 2 minutes like at the Branch Ave light. A second problem this causes is traffic slugs, where you get a giant parade of traffic every turn of the light, which makes people on side streets jump at the opportunity to get on the road ahead of the slug.

A subset that falls under 3 of these is that people abuse the hell out of the right on red. Whether it's not actually stopping, not looking when they even bother to stop, etc.

Generally speaking, on top of all this, RIDOT is not interested at all in anything other than throughput numbers. At least, this is all they seem to talk about. So roads like this that are state roads are not going to get pedestrian attention. Noone likes sitting in traffic but noone talks about reducing the number of cars, it is all talk about letting cars get from place to place faster. Alviti would pave the entire state if he could tell people you could get across RI 25% faster.

For the record, the relevant city councilors all know how bad North Main is and talk about it all the time if you actually engage with them.

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brick1972 t1_j735o5u wrote

You can feel both better and much much worse knowing that most of your recycling just goes into a different landfill, not actually recycled - Unless you use a lot of paper, glass and metal, they are better about that than plastic.

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brick1972 t1_j734e6y wrote

There is definitely some trash from transients / unhomed people but while broken windows is a kind of shit ideology to justify gentrification, it also has some points. Once trash builds up every dude with a fucking pickup says "let me just throw my shit over here noone cares."

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brick1972 t1_j6mz1i5 wrote

The delivery folks can't/won't disconnect/reconnect even if the valve is closed. Same for gas dryer.

You need an installer. When I replaced mine my choice was to do it myself (taking half a day from work to sit around and wait for them) or wait three months for an available install date. Third choice of course is just disconnect the old, let them take it and leave the new, then move it into place yourself later, whether yourself or with a plumber.

A management company should have someone on payroll to deal with this though.

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brick1972 t1_j6kdi73 wrote

RIers have more tenants rights than most states. The problem is that the easiest way to express those rights is to wihthold rent, declare the lease invalid (due to landlord not meeting their requirements) and move, which of course in the recent elevating rent environment is tough to do. Or for lower income people, etc. it can be hard to qualify with others so they end up dealing with it and trying to get code enforcement to deal with the problems. Hence the stories you hear. These absentee landlords exist in MA too.

The problem with the gas is that the law/insurance does not allow delivery folks to fuck with the gas. So you have to pay an installer to do it, and also you have to buy new flex hose and fittings. This means your $600 range comes with $75 in extra material plus a $300 install price. So your landlord/whoever probably didn't want to pay it. You will have the same problem again and again unless you have a plumber on site at the same time (or their maintenance guy, whatever). It doesn't matter if they come by and turn off the gas first, the delivery dudes are not going to hook up the gas. At least this is the case with the big box stores.

Not providing heat is a big issue. The general requirement is that the heat works to get the apartment to 68 degrees. If this isn't happening then the best way to deal with this is to say that without the heat you are going to a hotel/whatever and will deduct the price of the hotel from the rent. You need to document all of this and it's best to work with them first.

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brick1972 t1_j68hf7b wrote

I went yesterday and the prices were about a 20% (a dollar essentially) more expensive than they were just after Christmas on the things I looked at. My sandwich was $9.75 where I last remember paying $8.25 though of course memory isn't perfect. This was the jewelry district location maybe they charge more there generally.

I know my own experience and have seen tons of businesses fail - we all have. 7S with the new owners have increased prices higher than inflation even inflation adjusted for their specific raw materials (other than eggs in the last month of course thanks to the avian flu) You are telling me they also pay less. I was hoping part of this price increase was them paying a better wage. Therefore they are extracting profit on both sides - driving down their labor cost while increasing margins on their prices. That can go as far as the demand will allow them and so far, as you note, demand has kept up with the prices. But there are limits. And clearly they are not in the business as an ego trip or personal passion and they do care about profit.

But I do thank you for letting me know that the employees are paid as tipped employees now.

Now beyond any specifics for seven stars none of this changes my point. If to pay your people a fair wage you have to charge $11 for the sandwich instead of $9.25 then just put $11 on the sandwich and let me decide if I want it at that price. Somehow the entire world outside of a couple countries can work on this system but in the US it's impossible because reasons.

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