The entire country has been in rapid decline for the past 20 years.

preach. i love it there

This sounds like the entire United States

> Elorza has always kind of given the vibe that he has wanted to work his way up to higher office.

I think everyone assumed that and it definitely came from somewhere, but it's worth noting we were all kinda wrong. If he really was that, there's no way he rules himself out a full year before the primary when it's not even clear who the nominees would be.

He took himself out of the money 2 months before Ashley Kalus had even closed on a home in the state and had plenty of time to change his mind when it became clear it'd be a crowded field and just how vulnerable McKee was.

I had the same perception as you, but I think we might've just been wrong. Or conflating Angel's one and done run with Elorza or something, idk.

I like reading in my den, but it is very exclusive. I don't think you'll be able to get in.

I'd agree he's probably plenty popular. It's worth noting that Elorza 100000% owes being in office to those East Siders. He pretty much lost the rest of the city but cleaned up there.

I'll take a shot. So Elorza has always kind of given the vibe that he has wanted to work his way up to higher office. It comes off that way and I think people sense it. If youre very new here, you may not realize that he was effectively campaigning for governor for the last 4 years. For what its worth, his story and background are very interesting and impressive in terms of what he accomplished.

In his tenure, it seemed like he was always trying to appease different voting blocks and, in the end like you saw, pissing off everyone who would see that he was trying to play all sides since he presumably didnt want to close doors with voters.

The firefighters and the teachers both had drawn out miserable contract negotiations, that I can recall. He also can let his emotions show which isn't really a great look for any major politician.

On the surface, I liked some of his ideas and plans, but when you see years of news footage or interact in person and some of this stuff just comes off as showboating for a larger media audience. I think it adds up for people into an overall more negative picture about his authenticity and by the time the primaries rolled around he saw it was best not to run.

I did like some of his ideas like the bike stuff. I also don't blame him for housing issues-- that's just a confluence of high prices in major cities and remote work.

it’s easier than looking at the fact that nothing can fix this city

> Walkable streets arent so easy to enjoy in Boston where you cant park

I'm confused, how do you cater to a large number of large vehicles (most people drive these) and have a walkable city? As a local, half our city is parking lots and anytime we even strip a little for more walkability, greenspace, biking, everyone opposes it. Can't even cross the streets usually because cars are so damn big and you can't see.

Walkability != ample parking

How can you possibly know whether the T is on fire when the next train is 20+ minutes from the station, sir!

They argued at a Waterfire and it was caught on camera. In retrospect, it was unremarkable. I think Elorza was complaining to McKee about the teacher contract negotiations and a lack of transparency.

Most people assumed he'd be running for governor then so it got a lot of traction for a day or 2. A state trooper had to hold Elorza back. It was the most interesting thing to ever take place at or involving Waterfire, but still relatively tame.

Moved from Boston to Prov this year. Love the ability to actually park in this state. People use cars everywhere, but here it isn’t overly burdenful to do so.

Walkable streets arent so easy to enjoy in Boston where you cant park and the T is always on fire

He's blamed for the "don't chase" policy but the Police Department put it in place in 2014 internally before he took office. He wasn't really clamoring to change it either. But, a couple city councilors were awfully vocal about allowing pursuits right before police pursued a group of ATVs and put one of them into a coma. There's been less popularized incidents where these "we're chasing you but not really" have led to pedestrians being injured by ATVs too.

That one is hard to win. He and the police did a fairly good job encouraging people to dime out their neighbors. But the city also had the embarrassing episode where a bunch of seized bikes and ATVs were stolen out of a city-owned garage about 5 years ago.

oh wow, what happened?

edit : https://www.wpri.com/news/politics/youve-got-to-face-the-community-on-this-elorza-confronts-mckee-ahead-of-news-briefing/

https://youtu.be/X5uDCLLFh8k

context: there was a contentious city contract. Both McKee and Elorza were contenders for governor. McKee was able to close a deal finally that Elorza said he was unhappy with and tried to stop without the authority to stop (all parties had already agreed). Elorza was on a hot mic saying something like you can't do this-- it was awkward and made national tabloids.

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He’s a great urban planning mayor, but like those before him couldn’t fix schools. Perceived (though not real) sense of crime increasing.

I think he’s more popular than people think and polls confirm this. He doesn’t pander to the powerful and loud east siders so they write about him in their rags like no one likes him. Meanwhile on the south and west sides people think he’s fine.

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Guys: as of 5:30 tonight, opening day, no traffic at all. Some back up to turn into the site at the South Main off ramp but the right lane of that ramp completely clear to pass.

Meanwhile TONS of foot traffic. That formerly dead area of Wickenden now feels completely alive. Can’t wait for the rest of those 195 District parcels to be filled in.

Spill the tea? I can't find info on this.

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The weird attempted fight with McKee was a head scratcher too...

I agree on the police things and dirt bikes, I hear he wouldn't let police intervene which I thought wasn't the best idea. I've found his great streets to be awesome for our little, car obsessed city. But, it seems get people get mad over all that so that may explain some of it.

The police force one would absolutely fall on him. Property taxes are a direct result of the city having to overcompensate for TSAs for private developers and Brown skullfucking the city on property taxes. Those 2 things force the city to push that burden onto everyone else.

Some of these problems are much bigger than Providence and not easily solved but I think a lot of residents think his priorities were out of whack because instead of trying to do stuff about him, he was dreaming up "Let's just make ourselves into Austin" or the Great Streets stuff.

Weird or not, he’s been the mayor for eight year and the city hasn’t gotten much better under his watch. “The buck stops here” sort of thing.