I worked in Newport last night. I play music in bars.
Newport ...the once party, night-life capitol,...is a ghost-town. Bartenders, waiters, waitresses being laid-off; restaurants closing; just folding in on itself.
No smoking in bars (except state-run places like the dog track...they exempted themselves from their own regs) and zealous enforcement of noise ordinances and no permitting of 2am licensing is just killing everything. The resort town is dying. No fun allowed. Not much to go there for, anymore.
As someone who spent many wonderful summers in Southern RI (Pt. Judith, Narragansett), I find that news very sad. I was zipping thru thr real estate section yesterday, my grandmother's shack of a cottage is up for sale...again. It looks like the last vestages of a once wonderful seashore are going to be sold to developers. Taxes and corruption have ruined the Ocean State.
And then you have Narragansett where the local SWAT team will pull you over for driving 26 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. No thank you. I prefer to spend my hard earned money in states that have something to offer other than an evening in the local justice court.