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    Storified: Changing the perception of Downcity

    Jef Nickerson
    October 17, 2012
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    Changing the perception of Downcity

    A commenter at last week’s Providence Preservation Society Symposium stated that Downcity Providence is just vacant buildings and homeless people, prompting the following discussion on Twitter.

    Storified by Gr. City Providence · Wed, Oct 17 2012 08:52:08

    Ugh. Downcity is NOT just vacant buildings and homeless people. #pvdsymposiumGr. City Providence
    @gcpvd do they really think that? Our population doubled in from 2000-2010Jason Becker
    @jasonpbecker people who only come Downcity on Sunday mornings it seems. Maybe they’ll learn on the lunch break.Gr. City Providence
    @gcpvd @jasonpbecker <chuckle> on Sundays it _is_ like that. Solution is to double downtown pop every 5 yrs.Allan Tear
    @gcpvd I can’t sleep on weekend until 1 because its loud and I love that. Restaurants are full all the time. Tons of people work here.Jason Becker
    @gcpvd I’m so sick of Warwick and Cranston pretending they know anything about Providence. They don’t come here. They don’t know.Jason Becker
    @allantear @gcpvd lots of ways to do that. Too bad neither city or state rigorously pursuing itJason Becker
    @jasonpbecker @gcpvd or an individual/private group. All sorts of problems w/ that being a public led vision – witness Oaklands 10K project.Allan Tear
    @allantear @gcpvd generally agree but a lot of that work is dependent on currently government held land & a lot of what’s needed are "bones"Jason Becker
    @allantear @gcpvd you won’t double downcity population by building 10,000 parking spots over existing surface lots.Jason Becker
    @jasonpbecker @gcpvd so true!Allan Tear
    @allantear @gcpvd won’t get suburban RIers to pay for city living where they still feel need for car & are surrounded by surface lotsJason Becker
    @jasonpbecker @gcpvd those are the wrong assumptions, IMO. The next 1K residents will not be RI suburbanite émigrés. They will be imports.Allan Tear
    @allantear @gcpvd who aren’t going to be excited by parking lots & no grocery shopping in sight. And there is 0 residential visionJason Becker
    @allantear @gcpvd people don’t want to come here bc they don’t get the full benefits of a city. Need car. No family housing.Jason Becker
    @jasonpbecker @gcpvd so let’s change it.Allan Tear
    @allantear @gcpvd Westminster is what they want to see– for a couple of miles continuous.Jason Becker
    @allantear @gcpvd I think @ProvPlanning has the vision 80% right. But they were shut out. I don’t see opportunity to influence commission.Jason Becker
    @allantear @gcpvd feels like it marches in isolation barely interested in or accountable to the city, it’s residents, and its needs.Jason Becker
    @allantear @gcpvd Im 25, own Downcity, knowledge sector employee in policy, interested in development- 0 opportunity to authentically engageJason Becker
    @jasonpbecker Fair critique. No doubt trad powers have no place to plug in. But they’ve no mo’, either. Sounds like u r ripe for RIIF grant!Allan Tear
    Yesterday’s story from PBN highlights the exacerbation I feel with the notion that Downcity is dead. It is not 1982 anymore people, come downtown and see what is happening.
    Boutique shops build momentum – .comWhen Nora Alexander was a student at Rhode Island School of Design 10 years ago, the only things that routinely drew her and her classmat…

    Jef Nickerson

    Jef is Greater City Providence's co-founder, editor, and publisher. He grew up on Cape Cod and lived in Boston; Portland, Maine; and New York before settling in Providence. In addition to urbanism, Jef is interested in art, design, and ice cream. Please feel free to contact Jef if you have any question or comments about Greater City Providence.

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