I grew up in Rhode Island, the smallest and most unique state of them all in the USA. Rhode Island is a great place to live. The beaches are beautiful, the restaurants and art are second to none and you get the sense that everyone is part of one great family. You have great towns like Newport "Home of the America's Cup", Bristol "The Oldest Running 4th of July Parade in the USA" and Providence, "America's Renaissance City". In Rhode Island, you don't need to drive hours to get anywhere. You can go from ocean and tourist sites of Newport to the woods of Burrillville in under an hour. The major state airport is in the center of the state with a commuter rail station connected to it. Not even Boston has that. You can take a day trip to two of the world's most cosmopolitan and dynamic megalopolises in New York City and Boston. Rhode Island has it all, so why is everyone leaving and moving to god forsaken places like Texas or Arizona.
There is something wrong in Rhode Island. Unemployment is sky high, there is no trust in government and there is a sense of negativity that is beyond control. You see it every day in the Providence Journal. The people do not trust the government but they never change the government. The taxes continue to climb, yet no new businesses are moving in. Next to Massachusetts, Rhode Island looks pretty bad. It is pretty embarrassing that Worcester overtook Providence as the second largest city in New England.. All of this breaks my heart, even though I have lived in Massachusetts for the past twenty years.
Rhode Island simply needs to let go of the past and bring in the new. New leadership is essential for the state to get out of its rut. New leadership will take a step back and realize what they have is the envy of a lot of other states. Rhode Island has the ocean, convenience to Boston and New York, world-class universities and a tourism scene nothing like a lot of other places. So who will be the next leader to make this change? The first thing Rhode Islanders need to do is to take a chance and make a change and good things will follow.
