Joey deVilla has been riffing on Paul Graham’s recent essay, How to Be Silicon Valley. In his most recent post on this, he mentions Providence:
I had an interesting conversation last weekend with a guy who lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Providence used to be a bit of hellhole of a town where they practically rolled up the sidewalks at night, which was a good thing — at night, you were likely to get mugged. He told me that the revitalization of Providence is largely credited to “Buddy” Cianci, the (ahem) colourful mayor, who turned the town around and made it both safe and a destination, largely by making it more business-friendly. This is the one aspect of Jane Jacobs’ theories that arts grads and Socialist “Worker” readers always miss: what’s good for businesses large and small is often good for the city and its people.
Anyhow, it’s a great song, even if it is 