KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

Loved him or hated him, Buddy was one of a kind.
A larger than life character.
RIP, Buddy.

In the end, he did much more good for Providence, Rhode Island and its people than he ever did bad. He will be missed dearly. RIP Buddy.

Rhodymob05 wrote:In the end, he did much more good for Providence, Rhode Island and its people than he ever did bad.

As Rod alluded to, that view is not universally held. He was however a very colorful personality.

Anyone have info on what happened?

RF1 wrote:

Rhodymob05 wrote:In the end, he did much more good for Providence, Rhode Island and its people than he ever did bad.

As Rod alluded to, that view is not universally held. He was however a very colorful personality.

Yeah, I've seen people post similar things on facebook. Some people are obviously very loyal to him, but I think that sentiment is overly simplistic. He was a colorful guy and his legacy is one of the most complicated in the history of American politics, and that is not an overstatement.

He was rushed to Miriam Hospital last night,
complaining of severe stomach pain.
So far, no cause of death has been announced.
A few weeks ago, when he became engaged to a 32 year old
model, he said he was cancer free, now.

rodfromcranston wrote:He was rushed to Miriam Hospital last night,
complaining of severe stomach pain.
So far, no cause of death has been announced.
A few weeks ago, when he became engaged to a 32 year old
model, he said he was cancer free, now.

He was rushed to the hospital from City Hall a few months ago at his painting unveiling (all mayors have a painting hung in city hall). It was supposedly due to the heat and dehydration. In perfect Buddy character, he later showed up at the restaurant for the reception that same night.

RF1 wrote:

Rhodymob05 wrote:In the end, he did much more good for Providence, Rhode Island and its people than he ever did bad.

As Rod alluded to, that view is not universally held. He was however a very colorful personality.

Yea +1 on the not universally held.

skwalk47 wrote:

RF1 wrote:

Rhodymob05 wrote:In the end, he did much more good for Providence, Rhode Island and its people than he ever did bad.

As Rod alluded to, that view is not universally held. He was however a very colorful personality.

Yea +1 on the not universally held.

You dont have to like him, hell feel free to hate him, but without him Providence would've gone the way of Bridgeport years ago.

Da_Process_Survivor wrote:
without him Providence would've gone the way of Bridgeport years ago.

I don't like to talk ill of the recently dead, but I feel I must comment. You (and Buddy himself) may feel that way but many others do not think the rebirth of Providence is tied to Buddy Cianci. It was a combination of several factors and collaboration of many (he played a part). In fact, many feel Cianci may have held back the city in some ways as much of the business world did not like to play (pay) by his rules. Some even blame him for the city's pension mess and attribute his largess on contracts to his recent endorsements from the Providence Police and Fire unions in spite of his multiple felonies and associated exits from office.

As TruePoint so well put it, his legacy is complicated. No one would however dispute his love for Providence. May he rest in peace.

RF1 wrote:As Rod so well put it, his legacy is complicated.

Uh, I think that was me. I don't really care, but I am pointing it out in this case because I've noticed an amusing penchant for pretending my posts don't exist.

TruePoint wrote:

RF1 wrote:As Rod so well put it, his legacy is complicated.

Uh, I think that was me. I don't really care, but I am pointing it out in this case because I've noticed an amusing penchant for pretending my posts don't exist.

Sorry. It was your previous post that I should have credited (fixed it). For some reason, I had thought it was from Rod as he had also written that some loved him and some hated him which was in a similar vein.

I have to say, I worked in Providence as a student in college.
The city, especially in summer STUNK. Literally.
Run down businesses, shabby building. Decay everywhere.
Who was the mayor? Joe Doorley and the Dem machine, lead by Larry McGarry.
Before them, decades of old time machine politicians.
Buddy came in and did a great job moving the downtown area forward.
There's no question, much of what we see had to do with his
vision.
Where he fell down was, in the neighborhoods.
Those with the exception of the East Side, fell to seed,
and have never recovered.
All for reasons too numerous to mention.
One was the migration to the suburbs of a large segment of
the population.
Changing demographics. Poorer people took their place.
Slumlords buying up chunks of rental properties.
Downtown (or the stupid Down City name) was the crown jewel,
surrounded by neighborhoods in great decline.
That has continued unabated to this day, by his successors.

I read Mike Stanton's "Prince of Providence" during his recent campaign. I was very fascinated by him and his story. His ability to negotiate, keep the city safe, achieve success, "move rivers", establish a vibrant city that people wanted to come to again. His ups and downs. Very interesting. He will go down in history as one of RI's largest icons for sure.

GREAT book!
Could not put it down.
Knew a lot of the people in the book, which
many in RI would.

rodfromcranston wrote:Where he fell down was, in the neighborhoods.
Those with the exception of the East Side, fell to seed,
and have never recovered.
All for reasons too numerous to mention.
One was the migration to the suburbs of a large segment of
the population.
Changing demographics. Poorer people took their place.
Slumlords buying up chunks of rental properties.
Downtown (or the stupid Down City name) was the crown jewel,
surrounded by neighborhoods in great decline.
That has continued unabated to this day, by his successors.

Some of that is just the laws of nature taking over - many of those same problems are happening in every major city in the country with the exception New York, which is seeing a huge influx of people and the soaring living costs are driving normal people out (so it is the opposite problem). My issue with Cianci, and more with people who support him fully without any qualification or caveats, is that much of his horrifying criminal behavior is just ignored - and we aren't talking about grey areas or "technically" illegal stuff here - the guy went to prison twice, once for an assault so deplorable it should have cost him his career and once for actually running the city from the mayor's office like it was a crime family. That is running the gamut on criminal behavior - violent thuggery and criminal conspiracy.

If you want to say the ends justifies the means, or that the good outweighs the bad, I think that is trivializing some really abhorrent behavior and is hugely unfair to all the people he wronged with all of that criminal behavior, especially Ray DiMeo but also all the business interests and other people that were screwed over or physically harmed because they wouldn't play ball. But, if you want to take a Machiavellian attitude in assessing the guy, fine, but at least acknowledge all the bad shit he did. It wasn't minor little funny missteps. He was a real legitimate criminal.

Having said all of that, I also read and loved the book. I also recognized many names in the book and was glad not to see my father's name in it anywhere! His career had him crossing paths with Buddy multiple times, and as you can imagine his feelings about Buddy are pretty mixed. As are mine.

The Bristol parade lost one of its clowns....

"and more with people who support him fully without any qualification or caveats, is that much of his horrifying criminal behavior is just ignored - and we aren't talking about grey areas or "technically" illegal stuff here "
We're seeing this now with tRUMP supporters, who ignore any negative facts and think he's God.
When politicians become deities, we have seen what can result.
Not much good, but plenty of evil.

Yup agreed. I work with another guy in my office from RI, and we were talking about Cianci and made the same Trump comparison.

I was not a fan of his....some of my reasons are quite personal......I do not believe he "loved" Providence.....I do believe he loved being the Mayor of Providence more than he loved the city...if he loved Providence he would not have embarrassed it during his tenure nor would he have caused further embarrassment by running for Mayor again last election....

rodfromcranston wrote:GREAT book!
Could not put it down.
Knew a lot of the people in the book, which
many in RI would.

It really was a great book. My family was mentioned in there a few times (classic RI). I read it mostly for the historical aspect but became intrigued with the story of Buddy.

I would say this about about Buddy. He brought to light the fact that politics has become a business. At the local, state and federal level. A business of making nothing and spending our money. A business that should go bankrupt.

In what other "business" would people spend millions to get a job that pays thousands.

In Connecticut, Mrs. McMahon spent 50 million of her own money, to try and get a job that pays just over 200K, a US Senate seat.

Think she'd get it all back, and then some, if she had been elected?

Sure as shit.

The doc "Buddy" is a great companion piece to Prince of Providence. Difference between Cianci is that Cianci was a shrewd politician. Not sure Trump has those skills in working with others.

Rod is right Providence was bleak pre-Buddy, when the malls sucked all the department t stores from Downcity. It was a grim place.

To say he did more good than bad for providence is a typical Rhode Island defeatist attitude. How about doing it without massive corruption? We live in a state where they worship mobsters. Many people could have been mayor during that period and shown the same improvement without the corruption. Lower Thames in Newport was a shithole during that period of time too along with many others. Very similar to trump in that people who can't get anything done themselves latch on and worship him. Go get your vinny Paz poster signed..another loser they worshipped.

Some of you guys who have been in Rhode Island for a long time probably heard some of these stories before, but I hadn't and read this article last night. Couldn't believe it. I had always heard rumors or whatever but this was nuts!

http://gawker.com/dead-providence-mayor ... 1755717467

Pretty disgusting. Makes me wonder how people would think of him had his nickname not been Buddy. Seriously, I know that has to play a factor in the benevolent feelings so many have for him.

Caligula could have learned a few things from hiim.

I watched this man eat cigarette buts thinking it was pizza crust when he drunk in the back of a North Providence restaurant. That's all I'll say about him.

He did a lot with cigarette butts.