Recent comments in /f/RhodeIsland

fishythepete t1_jcjr84y wrote

Reply to comment by Uncle_Tony96 in Traditional road tests may be a thing of the past in Rhode Island… Thoughts? by hochimingles

Meh. When I took my “road test” (a while ago granted) it was literally circle a block with no traffic and parallel park against an empty curb in Arctic. Functionally this doesn’t really seem any different. Much more worried about people who apparently couldn’t be arsed to read the 15 page rules of the road and do shit like hail marying through intersections when traffic lights are out.

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Mountain_Bill5743 t1_jcj2lkd wrote

Reply to comment by Flashbulb_RI in More than half of R.I. renters spend over 50% of their income on housing, new report finds by rhodyjourno

Remote work. Remote work. Remote work. I have friends who commuted 60 miles roundtrip for work to Boston all during the big dig years even, but it required endurance. We're now in this economically unprecedented time where even the country's most remote towns (WY, MT, ID) are digital hubs.

But your example is exactly why the idea of "just move" doesn't work anymore. I "just moved" based on salary and cost of living for my career during the rents you referenced. It takes a few years to get on your feet and then, it's time to "just move" again to the next community, recover from cost of relocation, and get ready to move again when you get priced out again. Rinse and repeat. I consider myself unlucky to be renting still, but lucky to be at a high enough income to still buy here, but that is extremely privileged. Not everyone seeks nomad life, many people crave stability for their mental health and if people have kids, they need predictability, security, community, and consistency.

ProJo just posted about a House Hunters episode where a SF tech couple bought a 6 bedroom 900k+ house on the east side (to be closer to family, tbf). This is the kind of story that rarely existed in Providence outside of surgeons or business owners and the downstream effects mean all the regular folk are bidding up those Elmhurst bungalows from 250 to 500.

I admit I sound a bit jaded, but it's hard to see so much limited housing taken up by people who often never even considered investing in the local economy apart from real estate (since the salaries will never compete with firms in NYC). As a fellow transplant, I think that it is a baseline expectation to work here or simply volunteer your time to enrich the community in some capacity. Locals had no reservations about transplants when I moved here (they seemed to find it endearing and novel), but I think people become guarded when too many people move with the intention of being consumers only.

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HairyEyeballz t1_jcioai9 wrote

Reply to Traditional road tests may be a thing of the past in Rhode Island… Thoughts? by hochimingles

“We’re finding it’s easy for us to manage the process this way, we get more tests done, there’s less sort of down time for the examiners they know when somebody’s coming they know where to be and we know how long the tests take there are fewer surprises if you would....”

Oh, so it's easier for the bureaucrats, is it? You grind through more tests? Examiners don't have to wait around so much? Not too many surprises? JFC, what about public safety you f-ing moron?!?

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Flashbulb_RI t1_jcimdh7 wrote

Reply to More than half of R.I. renters spend over 50% of their income on housing, new report finds by rhodyjourno

Not long ago RI was relatively affordable. One could rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment on the East Side of PVD for $1,100 - $1,500 a month. 6 years ago there where plenty of nice houses in the Elmhurst area of PVD in the 250K range. Those houses are now 400K and up. What changed in the market? Why is there a housing shortage now in RI but not 6-10 years ago when housing was so much cheaper? For all the griping about RI, during the pandemic I saw lots of people moving in to my neighborhood from other states, so I think that explains some of the demand.

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