Portland ME and Providence RI

Tabascocat

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Ok @waldoputty

Providence is an okay place, just not my cup of tea. I was born and raised in Houston which is flat in elevation. I like Cali's mountains, hills and countryside. You will not see that in RI. You have to drive to NH or Vermont for that. It is pretty flat around Providence.

The city is too artsy for me with not much of an entertainment scene, unless you hit from the other side of the plate, if ya know what I mean :D

The city officials are known for corruption but I hear it is getting better. The infrastructure is bad, especially the roads, it is bass ackwards. The public schools are terrible, if you ever have kids, will need to shell out a lot of $$$ to send them elsewhere.

People who can afford to live in Providence, do so and those who can't, stay away due to lack of jobs. It is a pretty dry market there unless you go in with a good job already. Basically, you have your wealthy or the young, hippie artys type of people, little in between.

The beaches are nice in the area though but it is quite different than those in SoCal. There are numerous other cities to live in the New England area that offer much more IMO.
 
waldoputty

waldoputty

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Tabascocat said:
Ok @waldoputty

Providence is an okay place, just not my cup of tea. I was born and raised in Houston which is flat in elevation. I like Cali's mountains, hills and countryside. You will not see that in RI. You have to drive to NH or Vermont for that. It is pretty flat around Providence.

The city is too artsy for me with not much of an entertainment scene, unless you hit from the other side of the plate, if ya know what I mean :D

The city officials are known for corruption but I hear it is getting better. The infrastructure is bad, especially the roads, it is bass ackwards. The public schools are terrible, if you ever have kids, will need to shell out a lot of $$$ to send them elsewhere.

People who can afford to live in Providence, do so and those who can't, stay away due to lack of jobs. It is a pretty dry market there unless you go in with a good job already. Basically, you have your wealthy or the young, hippie artys type of people, little in between.

The beaches are nice in the area though but it is quite different than those in SoCal. There are numerous other cities to live in the New England area that offer much more IMO.
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thanks for the great explanation.

here is what i am looking for:
1. living in a small city and able to walk to nice restaurants and cafes. i walk about 2 miles a day.
2. being able to walk away from the house for 2-3 months at a time without worrying about burglary/homeless invasion
3. high quality medical care
4. by the ocean/sea but reasonably hurricane resistant in terms of flooding
5. minimal earthquakes/tornadoes
6. does not rain 1/2 of the time
7. reasonably cool in the summer - a few hot days are ok, but prefer not DC
8. kids not an issue
9. not a swimmer but like being on boats
10. work not an issue as it is all over the place including asia and CA.

by process of elimination:
1. midwest is out due to 4 and 5
2. calif is out due to 5
3. southeast is out due to 4
4. northwest is out due to 6
5. rockies is out due to 4
6. mid-atlantic states r out due to 7 and prefer small cities (not nyc)
7. alaska (anchorage) is out due to 5 and lack of food choices.
8. hawaii is out due to hot humid weather.

that leaves new england coast with the following cities
1. portland me - nice tourist places but medical care not top notch
2. portsmouth nh - low elevation
3. boston - great medical, a bit big and 4x price of providence for something i like
4. plymouth - next to nuclear power plant where they are decommissioning but messing around with spent nuclear fuel rods for no one knows how long
5. newport - low elevation
6. providence - great medical, a little bit warm in summer and crime rate is not good in parts of the city

so that rules out portsmouth, plymouth and newport, leaving portland, boston and providence.
1. providence is the safest bet. areas i am looking at have low crime rates and would feel reasonably good leaving town with adt. even planning for 3 degree rise in summer temp, it should be ok. summers will have a reasonably number of ac days, but july/august may be good time to schedule else where.
2. boston is 4x more expensive but has everything else also.
3. portland is great tourist place (putty approves) but medical not as good. however it is about 1.5 hours away from boston.

so now just checking with people who spent time in those places...
 
Runwildboys

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waldoputty said:
thanks for the great explanation.

here is what i am looking for:
1. living in a small city and able to walk to nice restaurants and cafes. i walk about 2 miles a day.
2. being able to walk away from the house for 2-3 months at a time without worrying about burglary/homeless invasion
3. high quality medical care
4. by the ocean/sea but reasonably hurricane resistant in terms of flooding
5. minimal earthquakes/tornadoes
6. does not rain 1/2 of the time
7. reasonably cool in the summer - a few hot days are ok, but prefer not DC
8. kids not an issue
9. not a swimmer but like being on boats
10. work not an issue as it is all over the place including asia and CA.

by process of elimination:
1. midwest is out due to 4 and 5
2. calif is out due to 5
3. southeast is out due to 4
4. northwest is out due to 6
5. rockies is out due to 4
6. mid-atlantic states r out due to 7 and prefer small cities (not nyc)
7. alaska (anchorage) is out due to 5 and lack of food choices.
8. hawaii is out due to hot humid weather.

that leaves new england coast with the following cities
1. portland me - nice tourist places but medical care not top notch
2. portsmouth nh - low elevation
3. boston - great medical, a bit big and 4x price of providence for something i like
4. plymouth - next to nuclear power plant where they are decommissioning but messing around with spent nuclear fuel rods for no one knows how long
5. newport - low elevation
6. providence - great medical, a little bit warm in summer and crime rate is not good in parts of the city

so that rules out portsmouth, plymouth and newport, leaving portland, boston and providence.
1. providence is the safest bet. areas i am looking at have low crime rates and would feel reasonably good leaving town with adt. even planning for 3 degree rise in summer temp, it should be ok. summers will have a reasonably number of ac days, but july/august may be good time to schedule else where.
2. boston is 4x more expensive but has everything else also.
3. portland is great tourist place (putty approves) but medical not as good. however it is about 1.5 hours away from boston.

so now just checking with people who spent time in those places...
Click to expand...
There are quite a few small cities in a fairly close proximity to Boston and Providence. I don't know much about them, but there are quite a few within an hour's drive to the ocean.
 
waldoputty

waldoputty

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Runwildboys said:
There are quite a few small cities in a fairly close proximity to Boston and Providence. I don't know much about them, but there are quite a few within an hour's drive to the ocean.
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i lived in boston for 5 years and familiar with the area. for something i like, it would cost probably at least 3x more than providence. in terms of cities close to providence, i would rather be in a safe parts of providence, which are also close to brown univ hospitals.

as far as towns near boston, newton and wellesley r very nice but similar priced to boston, while being too small a town for me. i also prefer to be no more than 5 miles from the sea...

unless u r talking cambridge (similar price to boston), most r at least 30 minutes (easily 1 hour with traffic) from boston for medical emergencies. in that case, portland is not much farther. in comparison, providence has the brown medical school hospitals.
 
Runwildboys

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waldoputty said:
i lived in boston for 5 years and familiar with the area. for something i like, it would cost probably at least 3x more than providence. in terms of cities close to providence, i would rather be in a safe parts of providence, which are also close to brown univ hospitals.

as far as towns near boston, newton and wellesley r very nice but similar priced to boston, while being too small a town for me. i also prefer to be no more than 5 miles from the sea...

unless u r talking cambridge (similar price to boston), most r at least 30 minutes (easily 1 hour with traffic) from boston for medical emergencies. in that case, portland is not much farther. in comparison, providence has the brown medical school hospitals.
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So a place like Worcester would be too far from the ocean.
 
YosemiteSam

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You know, I'm blown away about how many Tornados we have here in Westchester county NY / Fairfield county CT. It reminds me of home! (D/FW)
 
waldoputty

waldoputty

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Runwildboys said:
So a place like Worcester would be too far from the ocean.
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prices r great, even lower than providence.
they do have u mass hospital.

way too far from the sea
i think it is over 40 miles from boston.
i think providence has far more to offer in terms of cafes and restaurants in the neighborhood (walking distance)
 
waldoputty

waldoputty

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YosemiteSam said:
You know, I'm blown away about how many Tornados we have here in Westchester county NY / Fairfield county CT. It reminds me of home! (D/FW)
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really?
i hear there r more tornadoes in atlantic states.
i think the cooler it is, the weaker (in genera) though
 

Chrispierce

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waldoputty said:
i lived in boston for 5 years and familiar with the area. for something i like, it would cost probably at least 3x more than providence. in terms of cities close to providence, i would rather be in a safe parts of providence, which are also close to brown univ hospitals.

as far as towns near boston, newton and wellesley r very nice but similar priced to boston, while being too small a town for me. i also prefer to be no more than 5 miles from the sea...

unless u r talking cambridge (similar price to boston), most r at least 30 minutes (easily 1 hour with traffic) from boston for medical emergencies. in that case, portland is not much farther. in comparison, providence has the brown medical school hospitals.
Click to expand...
Why do need to be close to Brown university hospital? Got some heath issue and you’re planning on being treated there?
 
waldoputty

waldoputty

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other benefits of the area in providence i am looking at.
1 mile walk to train station - 1 hour from boston, 3 hours from portland
0.5 mile walk to ferry terminal to newport
0.5 mile walk to nice shopping district and restaurants
cafes and small shops in the neighborhood
 
YosemiteSam

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waldoputty said:
other benefits of the area in providence i am looking at.
1 mile walk to train station - 1 hour from boston, 3 hours from portland
0.5 mile walk to ferry terminal to newport
0.5 mile walk to nice shopping district and restaurants
cafes and small shops in the neighborhood
Click to expand...

Get a transporter and everything is at your doorstep!
 
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