A working-class mid-sized New England city, about an hour south of Boston, undergoing some gentrification due to people fleeing the higher housing costs of Beantown, and the attraction of Brown and RISD. It doesn't seem to matter that the streets require all-terrain vehicles, downtown is a little sad and dumpy, and long-time mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci served time in jail between his two mayoral terms for beating the crap out of someone (and is now back in prison for rampant corruption). Inexplicably, Money Magazine ranked Providence the #2 city to live in recently...behind Portland, Oregon. Let's call it a VERY DISTANT second.
postscript: I warmed up on this place in Year 2, due in part to rekindled and new friendships, and an appreciation for random urban joys, but still not my fave place in relation to the other burgs I've called home.
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