Build Together

Ruarri Miller on East Providence

East Providence works better when the people who live and work here understand how it actually works. That is the whole idea behind this site. Housing costs what it does for reasons you can trace. The city budget is $205 million spread across ten neighborhoods in ways nobody has mapped until now. A town of 47,000 makes decisions about its own future every month, and most of them come down to numbers that are public but hard to find.

This is where I keep working through those questions: what it takes for a small business to grow on Bullocks Point or Taunton Avenue, which parcels carry the city budget and which ones ride along, and what would change if we taxed land before buildings. I start from the data and show my work.

I own East Bay Air Systems, a heat pump company based here, and spent the better part of a decade renovating buildings in Riverside Square through The Apiary. I serve as Vice President of Riverside Little League and coach youth baseball. Everything on this site comes from that vantage point: someone who lives, works, builds and pays taxes in this city.

What you will find here

Writing: notes and analysis on East Providence housing, small business, city finances and development, organized by topic.

Nerd Data: tools built on city assessor and budget data. Look up any address and see what it pays per acre, or see your neighborhood’s share of the budget.

Big Ideas: proposals worth arguing about, starting with a split rate property tax.

About: who I am, how I got here, and why I care about this place.