<p>Yes, it’s quite absurd we hear how vast New Haven’s metropolitan area is while also hearing boasts of diversity- in its city centre alone. Westport and New Canaan are not exactly the barrio now, are they? All the while, of course, PosterX refuses to recognize Cambridge’s setting in the altogether far larger Boston metropolitan area, whose primary city is minority-majority (Boston is 40-something % white now), and which boasts a student population within Boston and Cambridge alone that I imagine surpasses all Connecticut’s.</p>
<p>At the same time I find Byerly’s assertions rather disturbing. Diversity in a city may or may not be caused by white flight. It’s ludicrous to boast that Cambridge is over 70% white when diversity is just as often (if not primarily, now) the consequence of immigration that enhances a city’s vibrancy and cosmopolitanism. It’s also surprising to see this cited as a plus for Cambridge when people on this board so often put down places like V(an)illanova for their preppy white homogeneity. How can universities be valued for their diversity but cities feared for it?</p>
<p>For the record, I believe anyone who has visited both New Haven and *Providence * recently will feel the latter safer and more active, even given the summertime absence of students. Thayer Street is far more interesting than any one part of downtown New Haven, Federal Hill (Providence’s Italian neighborhood) is busy enough to have permanently pedestrianized plazas, and the downtown riverwalk is quite scenic. Wherever all the supposed poverty in Providence lies, it is far more removed from students than that in New Haven. I will concede though, that even given the presence of RISD and Johnson and Wales in Providence, New Haven has a more active arts scene and far better dining.</p>