All of these years as a lurker, and this is the thread that makes me come out of the closet?! So be it.
Cranston as the worst town in Rhode Island - nope, won’t hear of it. Cranston’s bad rap comes mostly from its residents’ propensity for big hair and a “wicked awzom Craaanston accent”. Oh, and its bond rating stinks and the prison is there. But, lets get real here. Cranston is nothing more than your standard small city/ suburb buried in the shadow of its larger neighbor. There may not be a lot of high culture there, but it can be had in Providence, only minutes away. Also, the western part of town is quite nice, with a golf course and riding stable to boot.
Providence would have been a solid contender 25 years ago, but has made some great strides.
Woonsocket- now we’re getting somewhere. I write this from my desk in the heart of Woonsocket - a depressed former mill town of 40,000. Things are pretty dire here, but there is a nice museum, CVS corporate HQ brings some dollars into town and the French Canadian ancestory of many residents adds a nice flavor.
So the hands down winner for worst town in Rhode Island must go to CENTRAL FALLS. Ah, yes this 1.1 square mile burg has it all - poverty, abandoned mills, run down triple deckers and a school system so bad the state had to step in the take it over. Its small size means that there is no “nice neighborhood” to provide a decent tax base now that most of the industry has left, the better areas can be at best described as working class. There is an on-going debate if the nickname Sparkle City comes from the broken glass or the abandoned crack viles. I could go on, but the fact that there have been actual active discussions about Central Falls being added onto Pawtucket as a way of improving the community seems to sum it all up.
I nominated Gibsonton because it seemed to be a nasty shithole of a town. However, I find it intriguing that it was founded by side show freaks.
Honestly, I find all parts of Florida outside of the metro areas of St. Pete (which includes Tampa- I hate that place but can’t honestly say it’s the worst in Florida), Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tallahassee to be huge shitholes.
Never been to Yulee. I’d nominate Yeehaw Junction on name alone, but they at least see the humor in the situation- there’s a billboard or some other such thing declaring “Welcome to Yeehaw!” painted in brightly colored letters.
Anywhere in rural Florida (that I’ve ever been) is a scary mix of really strange people. I never found Hattie. Never found the shack. Never made a trip back in. 'Cause a parchment note I found tacked to a stone said, “Don’t come lookin again.”
Yeah, the song is about a whole 'nuther state, but it’s what is constantly on my mind whenever I’ve had the pleasure of being in rural Florida. (Both panhandle and wang.)
Also, there is spot in SE Kansas where the Sun never shines. It’s getting kind of crowded.
The worst town is in Nevada, somewhere on the road to Elko, the west edge.
The map shows a town, but in truth it is a few double-wide trailers containing a souvenir shop and a diner. That’s it.
Ah,yes, Central Falls! How could I forget? It’s the kind of place where, when hearing someone refer to its mayor, you wonder where they found someone without enough education and lack of criminal background to actually run. When we moved to RI 11 years ago, we lived in an apartment in East Providence and would ask around about where to buy a house and people would say “anywhere but Central Falls!”
The thought of either Cranston or Providence being on the list is ridiculous. Cranston has some nice neighborhoods. Providence, under Cianci, was called the Renaissance City and it’s growing and improving every day. But Central Falls? All it has going for it is that it’s not too far from 95.
Get this. All 200 or so residents live in the same old military housing unit.
The only way to get in and out of the town by car is from a railroad tunnel that is only open certain hours of the day, and it cost money to like 12 bucks even for residents.
And everything is in the housing unit. Laundry, store, the school and what have you. In the winter it is common for people to not leave or see the light of day for weeks or months. It is Alaska so no that there is much if any light anyhow. But what I am getting at is most residents don’t go outside for possibly the whole winter.
Oh yea get this they have a bad drinking and drug problem as well.
So imagine being cooped up in a military barracks with no jobs, drunks and drug addicts, kids and teens with the only place to go is the hallway. You can go outside but it is surrounded bu really steep mountains so there is not really any were to go.
If it’s not too late, I want to challenge Chester’s position as Pennsylvania’s rep with the town of Centralia.
It may fail based on having too few people to work up a really miserable culture or high crime rate (1980 pop.: 1,000; 2005 pop.: 12), but it’s hard to top a town that is quite literally sinking into the pits of hell.
Interestingly, I went to high school with the current mayor’s wife, but I am afraid I do not have enough background to answer your question.
In a classic example of forward thinking in Central Falls today, they just recently had to be taken to court to prevent the demolition of the historic train station that sites right on the Central Falls/ Pawtucket border. Why care about an abandoned train station you ask? Well, Pawtucket is in the midst of active plans to reopen it for commuter rail service to Boston - you know so people with high-paying big city jobs might be more interested in buying one of the many new condos in the old mills that are being coverted all over Pawtucket.
Central Falls wanted to knock down their half of the building for the parking lot of an new CVS drug store being built next door, which was seen as being a significant new source of tax income. Big thinking there, gang.
The funny thing: central Falls broke away from pawtucket in about 1890-the wealthy millowners wanted Central Falls to be its own city, so they could run their own affairs. Wasn’t Central Falls looking to build a contract jail (or toxic waste incinerator), as a way to make money? the city has no tax base-however, if the city would tax drug transactions,they would make a fortune! (CF is a major drug distribution center for New England).
Actually, Central Falls broke away from Lincoln in 1895. Well in the CF fire district, the vote was about 50/50 but the rest of Lincoln voted 2-1 to set them free. So when they talk about adding Central Falls back into a community, it should be Lincoln, a fairly upscale suburb that might be able to pick up most of the slack rather than already struggling Pawtucket. But of course the reasons that Lincoln voted them out 100 years ago are the same today - mostly wealthy landowners wanting nothing to do with the the expenses, issues and - to be blunt- eithnic differences of Central Falls.
But to answer your second question - it was a contract prison that Central Falls built as a way of generating some income. Originally promoted as housing people being held on immigration charges, it now takes on all comers, no crime too large. Its location - why right across the street from the High School athletic fields of course. I will gladly pass along your idea of a toxic waste incinerator though to the proper authorities.
I totally brought this up like a page ago and finally it’s getting recognition.
I was in RI visiting a friend of mine. It was me, my roommate, a friend, and the friend from Rhode Island (the rest of us being from Reading, PA - another town that deserves to be on the list). She had to stop by her mother’s house in Central Falls. As I parked she said “I’m going inside. Lock the doors until I come out, and pretend you’re not here.” We did so. I glance across the street and there were, honest to God, empty syringes lying on the sidewalk. Gunshots echoed around us. My friend ran back toward the car clutching the thing she’d come to get. I unlocked the door, she jumped and said “Go. Now.”
Funny thing about Central Falls is that we went through it a few times and I blinked and missed it the first two. It’s a tiny little shithole, isn’t it?
Yes Tasha, in the time it took me to register and then post, your original recognition of Central Falls as the worst town in Rhode Island went up. But I salute you for recognizing a real dump when you see one.
It’s in Rode Island for crying out loud. How big could it be? We could drop your whole state into some of the California counties, and not be able to find it.
Yes, yes, we know we’re small, but that notwithstanding, Central Falls considers itself a city, but has an area of 1.1 square miles. Small even by Rhode Island standards.
I, myself, live in the anti-Central Falls. Recently some students from CF got in trouble at an away game, really without proof of wrongdoing. A TV commentator asked if it had been kids from “Caricciville” would there have been such outcry. My town was 2005’s 6th Best Place to Live in the US. Since then they’ve upped the population requirement.
Just to clarify, I meant that the suckitude of Central Falls was being recognized, not the fact that I pointed it out. I like attention as much as the next person, but not quite to the level of attention-whoring.
I often tease my friends in RI about how the Las Vegas area is about as big as their state, if not moreso. There’s nowhere in RI you can’t get to in 30 minutes (barring traffic, that is).
