What We Know So Far

In preparation for our move to Providence, we did some research to determine if we thought it'd be a good place to buy a home, and so we could learn a little about where we were moving. Here's a short list of what we know so far:

1. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, and it is having major fiscal difficulties.
2. Narragansett Bay splits the state almost in half, meaning that no point in the state is more than 30 miles from salt water -- hence, The Ocean State.
3. Providence is the second largest city in New England after Boston.
4. Providence is 45 minutes south of Boston on the train or about 90 minutes by car most days.
   
5. Providence is 18.5 square miles. The city boasts about 175,000 residents, making it the cradle of the 36th largest MSA in the country and about one-quarter the size of DC.
6. Providence has the most restaurants of any city in the country on a per capita basis, mostly due to Johnson and Wales University, a renowned cooking school just south of the city.
7. Providence has about a 29% poverty rate. On this count, it's one of the top ten in the country for cities with more than 100,000 residents.
8. With so much poverty, one would probably expect a great deal of violent crime, but there were only eleven murders in Providence in 2006 -- a 30-year low.
   
9. Along with Mayor David Cicilline's (elected 2003) sound community policing strategy and his strong anti-gun posture, another potential reason for the disjuncture of poverty rate to violent crime rate is the fact that many of the poor are artists.
10. All that said, Providence has the fifth-highest property crime rate in the country. Cars disappear with regularity.
    
11. Providence has 10 strip clubs. The most of any city in New England.
12. Due to a loop-hole in the law, prostitution is legal (practically-speaking) inside these clubs.
13. Providence is home to Brown University (the city's second biggest employer after the hospital), Rhode Island School of Design and Providence College.
    
14. Mayor Cicilline is the first openly gay mayor of a US state capital in history, and from what we've read (State of the City Address 2008), he seems to be a very smart fellow.
15. Providence has a city-wide year-round ordinance that no cars can be parked on the street after 2AM. (Or is it midnight?)
    

Seems like a one-of-a-kind place. If you want to know more about Providence or the city's history, here are some additional websites:

• Providence (Wikipedia)
• Buddy Cianci (Wikipedia)
• Three and One-Half Centuries at a Glance
• The Best and Worst of David Cicilline