The 1998 inauguration of an outdoor ice rink in formerly unremarkable Kennedy Plaza amounted to a debutante ball for Providence, replete with marching bands, fireworks, and speeches. Long considered an awkward stepchild of greater Boston even by its own residents, Providence is beginning to shuck its inferiority complex. In the past five years, rivers have been rerouted, and unsightly railroad tracks have been put underground; dilapidated neighborhoods are being rejuvenated; a convention center and a riverfront park have opened; an upscale shopping mall was constructed, and many travelers now prefer revamped T.F. Green Airport in nearby Warwick to Boston's Logan Airport.
Behind renascent Providence is its personable mayor, elected to his sixth term in 1998, Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, who markets his own pasta sauce and has become a sought-after authority on rejuvenating American cities. Cianci recently forged a cultural exchange program with Florence, Italy (the real Renaissance city), which promises to bring Italian art and artisans to Providence. Time spent courting Hollywood deal makers has resulted in a string of movies being filmed in the city, including There's Something About Mary and Outside Providence, and the NBC drama Providence.
The city is now recognized nationally as a gastronomic hotbed. For a city of less than 200,000 residents, its restaurant offerings at times seem dizzying; increasingly the city attracts diners from Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Roger Williams founded Providence in 1636 as a refuge for freethinkers and religious dissenters escaping the Puritanical dictates of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and it remains a community willing to embrace independent thinking. Providence is striving to have its once-abandoned downtown (euphemistically called Downcity) populated by artists and art studios. A state referendum has exempted such artists from income taxes. Such statewide support is not surprising; improvements in Providence are typically a boon to the rest of the state. Because it's so integral to the rest of Rhode Island, Providence is sometimes called the city-state of Rhode Island.
