<p>The primary objective of a PR campaign is to get favorable books, articles and news coverage written about your client. The "book" that you reference was written by a few Providence residents and former governors of Rhode Island. It's quite likely that the city's PR machine had some role in that.</p>
<p>It is a PR campaign, but it's not without some truth. The downtown area is definitely a lot nicer than it was 5 or 20 years ago.</p>
<p>Providence has a higher per capita income than New Haven:</p>
<p>Income per Cap. $18,723 (Providence) $18,024 (New Haven)</p>
<p>It is true that Providence shuts down at 2 am, by law. However, it opens up again at 5 am (and I've been up for "breakfast" at 5 am far too many times during the last few weeks of finals...).</p>
<p>posterX -
You just equated life in New Haven with Chicago, Boston, and New York; I'm afraid that our relationship may no longer be mutually respectful. </p>
<p>But to address your several arguments:
First, city lines are rather artificial, and you should know this (since you know so much about New Haven, Boston, New York, and Chicago ;-p). North Philadelphia, for example, has just about the highest murder-rate in the country; this area's poor quality of life averages into any survey of Philadelphia as a whole, resulting in the citys miserable crime statistics. Does this mean that all of Philadelphia, or even most of Philadelphia, is a drug-infested murder haven? Hardly.</p>
<p>Likewise, there are indeed some rather unfortunate areas in Providence. The areas adjacent to Brown, however, are not among this group. You use your statistics to characterize Providence as a whole: "As the poverty figures that I posted above pretty clearly show, Providence is definitely not a walk in the park." This is both misleading and inaccurate.</p>
<p>Finally, you cite a rather morbid killing from several years ago as proof of the city's danger. Noting that this article is written as a victim narrative, and is called "The Power of Words," it should be abundantly clear that it is intended to shock and scare the reader. You have not presented an example of objective journalism (a rare find in the projo...), and your example, therefore, must be taken with a grain of salt. </p>
<p>As anyone who reads the news is aware, ghastly crimes happen EVERYWHERE on occasion, and are reported with dramatic narratives (such as the above) to sell newspapers. However, individual events cannot be used to prove a serious crime trend; in this case, for the area of Providence relevant to Brown, such a trend simply does not exist. Because it does not, Browns campus is open and cheerful a far cry from the walled fortress that is Yale.</p>
<p>Again, thank you for the opportunity to procrastinate from my paper :-D</p>
<p>Hello, NYCFan!
I think I like the conversation more on that... other place that we don't talk about here.</p>
<p>Kisses and hugs, hope this helps. ^^</p>
<p>The % of the population living in abject poverty (which, as I posted above, in Providence's case places it among the 10 poorest cities in the United States, worse off than New Orleans, Newark or Miami!) is a much better statistic than "per capita income", which is always weighted down in college towns by college and graduate students who have very little if any income.</p>
<p>As far as the comparison between cities, I think it is quite accurate but you may differ if you want. Suffice it to say I've spent a lot of time in all of the cities I'm comparing, however. If you look at the population density in the downtown area of New Haven, it is as high as downtown areas of major cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia etc., and as a result downtown New Haven has many 24 hour stores, diners, etc, and a major new movie theater with many screens, just like larger cities do. Downtown New Haven has a significantly larger resident population actually living in the immediate downtown than any other city its size. Between 1990 and 2000, the U.S. Census even showed the downtown New Haven census tract more than doubled in population, and it has obviously continued to grow since then with the addition of thousands of new luxury apartments and million-dollar condominiums. If you beg to differ, there are hundreds of articles on the subject. Downtown Providence, or the area around Brown, do not compare on these terms.</p>
<p>On another note, Yale is far more integrated into its host city than Brown - Brown is on a remote hill while Yale is at the center of the city, right across from City Hall, the financial district and all of the city's major institutions. This is one reason why the area around Yale is so walkable and active at all hours, relative to most other university areas. Brown is better-integrated than most schools but it simply isn't like Yale or NYU.</p>
<p>I don't see how the projo article is not "objective" journalism. It is "objective" in the sense that the facts presented in the story actually happened. How could you not be more objective than that? You can also google the story and find hundreds of other articles on the same incident. Also, apparently some incidents aren't reported in the papers at all: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=2413661&postcount=20%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=2413661&postcount=20</a></p>
<p>posterX -- "Brown is on a remote hill while Yale is at the enter of the city, right across from City Hall, the financial district and all of the city's major institutions."</p>
<p>Actually, have you spent any time on the Brown campus? College Hill is not "remote." It's a 5 minute walk down the hill to the major financial district / downtown area and the major bus station, and a 15 minute walk to the major train station and the Capital. I'm not sure how that classifies it as a "remote hill."</p>
<p>Don't bother with "Poster X" - the famed YALIE TROLL, who has occasionally posted as "Brown Alum" etc - and who simply makes up numbers for propaganda purposes whenever he can't achieve his ends (ie, New Haven is the center of the known universe and wealthy beyond all comprehension) by simply abusing stats or taking them out of context.</p>
<p>As a resident of the East Side whose home is adjacent to the Brown campus, I would like to assure those considering Brown that the area is both beautiful and safe. One of the things I love about Providence is how each neighborhood is separate and distinct, meaning one can find whatever one is looking for someplace in the city. However, its geography is such that everything is close and accessible; my husband and I have a routine of walking from our home to the downtown area every weekend to stroll around, and my children have been known to walk home from their high school (which is located in one of the "bad" sections of the city) with some friends on occasion. One's view of Providence, like that of most cities, will depend on the lens through which the city is viewed and on one's exercise of common sense.</p>
<p>Actually, New Haven is quite wealthy, Byerly. And don't give me the argument that it is more "suburban" - look at the density comparisons and you'll see New Haven is nearly as or more dense than the other cities on this list.</p>
<p>Wealth and density comparison of ten U.S. cities (<a href="http://www.cnt.org/tsp/uic-critique.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cnt.org/tsp/uic-critique.html</a>)</p>
<p>Per Capita Personal Income Income, Rank, Density, Density Rank </p>
<p>Source: Census Bureau </p>
<p>The two wealthiest cities in the United States:</p>
<p>San Francisco, CA $39,746 1 1,578.9 7 </p>
<p>New Haven, CT $38,962 2 1,318.4 13 </p>
<h1>11, New York City:</h1>
<p>New York, NY $33,177 11 7,467.8 2 </p>
<h1>16, Boston:</h1>
<p>Boston, MA $30,366 16 1,558.3 8 </p>
<p>Chicago, IL $29,948 18 1,452.4 9 </p>
<p>Detroit, MI $27,250 36 1,088.0 18 </p>
<p>Atlanta, GA $27,241 37 481.3 51 </p>
<p>Los Angeles, CA $24,945 75 2,177.6 5 </p>
<p>Las Vegas, NV $24,706 81 24.2 314 </p>
<p>Tucson, AZ $20,535 216 72.6 284 </p>
<p>Providence, BTW, is not in the top 30.</p>
<p>posterX, troll somewhere else. seriously. you're making yale look bad</p>
<p>There are varying degrees of "remote". As I said earlier, Brown is better integrated with a city than most campuses, especially considering that it is located in one of the 10 poorest cities in the country (Syracuse Univ and Trinity are also located in some of the ten poorest cities, and they are also both also located on hills!). But it is definitely not at the "center of the action" like places like UMich, NYU or Yale are, surrounded by the City Hall and downtown entertainment, etc.</p>
<p>Also, please stop with the personal attacks, Byerly. I am in no way affiliated with Yale or Brown.</p>
<p>You are as dishonest as ever, I see, TROLLSTER. New Haven is an extremely poor city - poorer than Providence. You try to disguise this by posting regional data including wealthy enclave communities at some remove from the core city.</p>
<p>I don't think there's anything to "disguise", just read back at some of the earlier posts here. The million-dollar loft condominiums being built all over downtown New Haven these days are a testament to how wealthy that area is. Providence is seeing a similar surge of interest from wealthy people, but to a lesser extent.</p>
<p>New Haven is among the poorest communities in Connecticut, which is probably why it has one of the highest crime rates in the state as well.</p>