Until I got to the president part, I thought you meant that's what happened when you moved TO Rhody, because that's exactly what I thought when I moved here from New York.

It got a lot of news coverage last year. There was a bit of a trend. Obviously if you go ride the New York City subway you are statistically incredibly unlikely to get pushed onto the tracks, but it happened a few times and everyone got very paranoid about it.

You're not imagining things, the crime rate here is remarkably low and frankly always has been. Waraq aside, I think I heard recently that Warwick is one of the safest cities of its size in the country.

See, Zillow makes me love Rhode Island more because all the other places where I'd actually want to live are more expensive.

These are important questions. My friend wanted to convert to gas years ago and they were told they'd have to run gas lines with their neighbors doing the same to get the utility.

What I’m saying is the amount of crime is relative to the size of the population in the state. Watching the news doesn’t help either. Feel good stories don’t keep people glued to the television, which in turn, doesn’t make for good advertising sales. The amount of violent crime is relative to wherever you live. It’s the fires, floods, abductions, murders, drug deaths, political b.s. that people tune in for. It’s also a way the media manipulates us and keeps us divided.

No shame in having automotive knowledge. It will serve you well and I understand your concern. I'm a neighbor to Fall River Ma and the city has had at least one incident with cops and a shooting because of a 2 step.

You sound like me when I try to explain to people coming from MA why it's magically so much cheaper to buy a house here.

I think you covered all of your bases except for the pension nightmare.

Oh and climate change and all of our coastal towns at risk of flooding and in flood zoning.

Something has changed or more so it has already , rent is higher, poverty is more so than when I grew up and we do have problems when it comes to living situations. It can be a struggle at times, There is no denying that. Still, I do appreciate that I am here.

This is the oddest statement ever in the context of craft beer, in addition to being just hard to understand in general.

If having something different got you lost in the shuffle, there'd be no craft scene in the USA, which has only really come about in the last 3 decades. So God awful options to market saturation in 20 years. Because someone who liked beer tried to do something different than how it was done here.

Then, ipas here in general, the very thing we are discussing... If anything, for me, they are too ignorant of tradition, but they're in their infancy, still. Other beer styles have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, while this has sprung up in the most wildly, obnoxious, fuck you heres some citrus up your nose, most stars and stripesy entrance into the world of beer. I'm reputed to be shit at this but actually I'm an expert. There's nothing more American than that, and it's all about not being lost in the shuffle by being different.

Then yeah, imitator after imitator... Till the next thing comes along.

Americans aren't traditionalists with food and drink. Fads swing wildly. I'm not suggesting they'll go for brown ale all of a sudden, or milds, but they will go somewhere. They are already moving.

Good to hear! I feel similarly. I just feel like something has changed and I see a lot more people living in despair on the brink of homelessness in my circles. So it is really impacting my view of things here lately, admittedly.

I dated losers who drove big trucks with confederate flags attached to the back in high school, they taught me more about cars and trucks than I would like to admit. I expected you to not know what I was walking about, so yeah, odd coincidence.

I’m glad you know the difference… A lot of people from Cali have moved into my hometown & someone is always posting about hearing a drive by shooting in the local Facebook group. Roughly 2 hours later, some dude will comment and have to explain his entire car to 30 confused middle aged women. Every time.

Mind blown that you would reply with this. I'm a car guy who drag races,street races and wrenches on all kinds of stuff. Done it for 30 years and counting. I own a turbo car with a 2 step and this is a just a downright weird coincidence that you reply with this as a possibility. I have enough know how to say with great confidence it wasn't a 2 step it was some asshole shooting from the highway.

That's horrible and my condolences for your loss. I've lost 2 friends to gun violence in Providence since 2021 and neither one of the cases have been solved. It's a lot crazier out here than people want to admit but it is what it is. Hopefully nobody here will have to experience that type of loss. It's bad enough to lose people you care about to mindless violence but not being able to find closure while at the same time knowing the people who did it are still out there is quite unnerving.

I'm currently living in downtown Providence and moving to MA towards the end of summer. I'll always love RI but I don't see myself living there again. I'm excited for some change as the last year living downtown hasn't been the greatest experience.

Born and raised here for many years, I’m a huge fan of the state while again it’s not perfect or insanely better than other states or liberal run states and I agree it could be better, anywhere could be better. I appreciate rhode Island for what it is. Pros and cons.

Are you new here? This just gives me the honeymoon stage vibes of a new relationship.

For what it's worth, I'm a long term transplant who is a huge fan of the state, but I've lived in other small cities and other states and if I had ended up there I'm sure I would have had a happy and fulfilling life like my friends still in those places.

I am extremely involved in state and local meetings and the fact is that Rhode Island is just a messy as many other states. They definitely do better than states that have gone far right, but they're kind of iconic as a liberal state that just falls short of well run liberal states. The nepotism here is kind of insane and every appointment seems to be someone "knowing a guy" and giving them yet anothers high powered job in the state due to name recognition. Then getting a 150k salary. Some of these people have made wildly unpopular decisions like Gina and the pension debacle (named nationally as one of the worst restructurings in the county. Absolutely horrifying when you learn the details).

As far as negative press and weather, a lot of it depends on the year. 2015 was a mess where we were stuck in some kind of snow pile every other day and, as the ocean state, we aren't exactly in a position to cast judgement-- we are in a very vulnerable coastal area.

We do have super low crime rates. As someone who volunteers closely with people financially on the edge here, it's abysmal the direction that we are headed with COL adjustments and it makes me worry that decades from now we will see people in abject poverty, much higher homeless populations, and possibly higher rates of crime as a result. It's honestly a direction that the state has taken that keeps me up at night, as one of the best parts of the state has been seeing people thrive in FHA programs or build a great life in the trades. Now every town in the state has been ripe for rapid gentrification.

And I say that as someone who has built their entire life here by choice. Anywhere, USA is going through some tough times politically and economically and RI is not an exception.

When laid back locals speak, I listen. Those are people that have seen some wild ups and downs here and can tell you all about the hole of a downtown pre-1990s, high recession unemployment rates, and boom/bust cycles here with local governments. Those people have seen some shit lol.

So are you saying more people would lead to less crime or more balanced or?

It is not

I come from mass, the people here are much nicer

RI could not support the population that would balance the crime out.

There's literally a brewery within walking distance of Rolfe square currently, it hasn't changed shit. Don't be an asshat

Buttonwood have had a few casks lately and Origin does low abv stuff....

There's literally a brewery within sight of pizza fair making English beer currently, Buttonwoods

Unfortunately that's not how it works, having something different gets you lost in the shuffle for some reason