Spat’s has been closed for like 5 years lol

You just don’t get that kind of development anymore

95 is a plague upon this city

Well yeah, if a rather sizable majority didn’t want this guy to be mayor it makes sense that a lot of people aren’t going to give him the benefit of the doubt when he does stuff like this that flies in the face of what most people want. This is why a three-way race is a dumb way to elect a leader. But, beyond the issues with our electoral process, it was foolish of both LaFortune and Cuervo to stay in the race knowing they’d likely split the progressive vote. Now we have an unpopular mayor who doesn’t represent the majority of voters’ interests.

Google “ranked choice voting”

Reminder that he only got like 36% of the vote lol, great system we have here

This isn't a brewery or taproom, but the Athletic Brewing NA beers are actually pretty good. They sell them at a lot of stores now – I've seen them at Whole Foods and I think even Shaw's. Almost every liquor store carries them. They make different types, too (sours, wheat beers, IPAs, etc).

I went to high school with a guy named Chris D’Elia who’s from Providence, what are the odds

It’s adjacent to the baseball field – if you walk all the way to the end of right field, the fenced-in lot behind it is the dog park (it has that double gated entrance that dog parks typically have). It’s kind of a weird shape since it wraps around the outfield, but it’s a good size.

“Providence crime rates are reaching historic lows. Here’s why that’s bad for Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign.”

We started going out on Super Bowl Sunday last year and we’re gonna do it again. Absolutely no one is at restaurants that don’t have TVs lol

I actually feel like downtown might have a good amount of openings, there’s a big PC game at 7 so everywhere is gonna be booked before the game but not during it.

We don’t get as much as northern New England or even most of Massachusetts because of our proximity to the coast, but we usually get a handful of storms every winter. Other than last weekend when it was jarringly cold, this whole winter has felt much more like spring. It’s pretty unnerving. I keep waiting for the temps to drop for good, but…nope!

I guess I just don't get how you're coming to that conclusion after looking at the data that disproves it. You're moving the goalposts – saying "American cities are unsafe compared to the rest of the civilized world even though they're getting safer every year" isn't the point at hand. The point is that Providence, specifically, is safer than it's ever been. Violent crime has dropped precipitously for decades. Should we not be happy about that?

At the end of the day, they're beholden to their corporate overlords. There's a whole ecosystem of middle management that cuts stories in the blink of an eye that will fly in the face of corporate spin. So to that end, it's not the journalists' fault that the narratives are being forced on them. But by choosing to be part of that system, you're perpetuating it. It's frustrating that so many well-intentioned, talented people end up in that situation and choose the easy path that directly causes harm because they don't have the gumption to stand up for what's right.

And I'm not saying I'd be any better in their shoes – I didn't go into the field for a reason. But I also don't think they should get a pass.

If your point is that we're dealing with such a small sample size here (24 vs. 9) that the percent decrease YoY is a worthless data point, I completely agree. But that argument also reinforces that Providence is an incredibly safe place where very few homicides occur any given year, since we're dealing with such a small set of data.

> Journalists are not very skeptical of these stories, and just report what is said in the report, the press release, or what some of their interviews say.

I'm on board with pretty much everything you said, but then there's this. If this is the case (and it probably is), they're bad at their jobs. Period. I was a journalism student in college (didn't pursue it for a career) and every single one of my professors described this type of approach as lazy, arrogant, irresponsible, and sloppy.

Your purpose, as a journalist, is to find the truth behind a given story and then report the facts in a manner that resonates with the audience. It's not to parrot talking points you're fed by political strategists or the fucking cops. And that's what local news outlets are at this point – mouthpieces for authority figures with whom they have a buddy-buddy relationship. Most consumers are not media literate enough to decipher spin from reality, and so we end up with otherwise ordinary people turning into fearful conspiracy nuts and letting their fear become rage against [insert target of the day here]. If you're contributing to that cycle, you're the problem.

2022's homicide total (9) was smaller than any of the previous 5 years. The next-smallest was 11 in 2018. Try again.

Almost like the local media has an agenda and wants everyone to live in fear so they keep tuning in to their incendiary sensationalist garbage!

That can't be right, I've been told we live in a war zone by Jimmy from Glocester who hasn't set foot in Providence since 1986

Champa is elite, best dumplings in the city IMO

So first of all, I was kidding (hence my follow-up response where I said I was kidding).

But second of all, what you’re saying is not true. We should want people from out of state coming here and spending money on local businesses for coffee, lunch, post-work drinks, etc. Massachusetts has thousands of commuters from NH and RI who all end up paying income tax to MA, even if it’s not the same percentage of salary as an in-state resident. Plus, they single-handedly keep the Waltham/Metro West upscale chain restaurant market alive.

If OP wants to move here, great! If not, they’re not hurting the RI economy by staying in Boston.

Heng Thai is good

Kidding side, OP, depending on where you live in Boston the commute will be pretty doable. You’ll be on very empty trains compared to those that are heading into Boston during rush hour, and Brown is very easy to get to from the train station. I’ve known people who’ve done the same commute in the past and said it was less stressful than taking the T or driving in the Boston area. The biggest question you have to consider is whether all that time commuting is worth it for you. My fiancée does it (going to Boston) 3x a week and likes it a lot; OTOH, I think that schedule would actually kill me.

Because we don’t need more Boston transplants contributing to the housing crisis! I, for one, support OP’s plan to commute here.