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Kelruss t1_j9g2jpj wrote

I’m not saying this is not possible, but Providence wouldn’t have been like this. It’d be a lot more triple-deckers closer to Downtown.

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lovecraft_401 t1_j9g2zf2 wrote

I don’t think Providence could be a 2,000 year old city in Spain, no matter how hard we try.

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GotenRocko t1_j9g3rl8 wrote

Lol, why? Completely different geography and time period when it was developed as a city, plus different climates, economies and cultures. Why would they develop in the same manner?

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lestermagnum t1_j9g71tx wrote

I don’t know if you’ve ever been, but Las Ramblas is wildly overrated. It’s full of panhandlers, scammers, and pickpockets. And it’s only about 3/4 of a mile long, so not the epitome of urban planning you might think it is.

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kyden t1_j9g7gyn wrote

I love when people move to rhode island and suddenly have grandiose opinions of what it should be like.

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BingBong022 t1_j9gb9yf wrote

*Posts picture of a motorcycle

What my grandmother should and could have been, minus the exhaust pipe

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redd-this t1_j9gehno wrote

Is this the stupidest post here ever?

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OpticalFlatulence t1_j9gjly9 wrote

I understand the notion of PVD being BCN, but there are a lot of dynamics that would change the way this city looks in comparison.

I think that an inclusive supportive environment for the arts, including the blue collar industries that would benefit from some of the creativity that is born out of some art forms, is important in seeing a vibrant Providence.

What programs would you want to support that would allow us to continue this dynamic?

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Markcharles3 t1_j9ham51 wrote

I get what you are saying. Considering the way we rebuilt the river (trudged) and had many many MANY decent developers with “grandiose” ideas that got shot down due to inside deals and moving towards the practical. Practical isn’t bad. It’s not what Providence was about for quite some time. I was never a fan of Buddy because in my 42 years it’s been easy to sift away the BS. It was almost too obvious. This city was calling its self the renaissance city. Now a days? We kept too much of the practical.

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werewolfmanjack t1_j9hjbq3 wrote

Pass… can’t trust a place where they call it ‘football’ despite it being played with a soccer ball 🙄

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Markcharles3 t1_j9lj0gq wrote

Replying to huron9000 (#1,918,700)

I think there is a lot of lost opportunity along the promenade/ Kinsley St areas. There are things there now that are ok but just take a look at that Alco building, very uninspiring aside from the neon sign.
All the empty lots along the back of the mall that had some of the nicer spots of the River.
Listen, I can’t say I have the answers for it all but we really could have been inspiring. Take for example the plan to take the 6/10 connector area and essentially bury it to be underground and creat new green space, businesses and housing above. It would have connected the neighborhoods instead of a huge highway cutting it up. I’m sure you can still find the plans somewhere for it. It was pretty cool. Also, about 20 years there was talk of doing something similar between the Atwells Ave and 195 on-ramp on 95. Similar to the federal building in Fall River going over the highway, it would have covered the highway and created all new space to connect downtown with the west end. These are just some examples but there have been other great projects that slipped away

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huron9000 t1_j9m58nb wrote

Replying to Markcharles3 (#1,926,292)

I agree about the Promenade/Kinsley areas. But none of that has been reconfigured in the last 50 years, so I took your comment to refer to the 1990s era river-relocation project that created Waterplace Park etc.

As far as burying the 6/10 connector, that recent proposal was a pleasant fantasy. It failed for the same reasons that sunken highways across the nation remain uncovered: expense.

Unfortunately, decking over highways or rail lines in the United States is wildly expensive- mostly due not to actual technical costs, but to the cascade of bureaucratic regulatory costs, which have killed almost every project of this type since the big dig in Boston.

Fun fact: The 6/10 connector is now widely blamed for severing the connecting urban fabric between Federal Hill and Olneyville. In fact, that connection was severed decades before, by rail lines.

The highway paralleled those rail lines, and surely reinforced the separation. But it isn’t accurate to say that the 6/10 connector was what cut these neighborhoods apart. That had already been done by the railroad right of way, decades before.

Edit: typo

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GotenRocko t1_j9mp1cn wrote

Replying to huron9000 (#1,928,737)

Right I actually said the same thing about that 6/10 plan, how is it reconnecting anything when the rail line is still there. There's a reason that on the wrong side of the tracks is a saying that was from well before highways came about.

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United_Perception299 t1_ja1ncdb wrote

This post is getting so much hate but I honestly love it. The interstate completely ripped apart downtown Providence, and cars are too dominant as they are in every city in the US, although in Providence this is less an issue. The real issue with cars in downtown Providence is the space they take up with their parking lots.

Also replace the buses with trams, Plus it needs more Intercity trains that come often. There's no reason not to have a commuter train to Woonsocket for example.

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