If Superman goes housing, make it mixed income
With the fate of the Superman building unknown, downtown Providence could look very different in a few years. I’m relatively new to Rhode Island, but don’t want the state’s most well-known building to be housing only for the uppercrust. Such redevelopment could not only gentrify downtown and push low income residents further out of Downcity [...]
Downcity gentrification vs. big picture masterplan
The Superman building is certainly one of – if not the – most iconic architectural structures in the Ocean State. We don’t want to lose that. But what’s happening with the inside the building is a pretty iconic example of the current economy. We do want to lose that. 111 Westminster began its existence as [...]
Students missing math classes needed for NECAP
More than a third of Providence high school students who took the NECAP test in October may not have taken either the necessary algebra or geometry classes to fare well on the test, according to the Providence Student Union. A full13 percent of NECAP test takers haven’t taken either algebra and geometry in school, the [...]
National report on public housing has a local link
I first encountered this public housing issue over a decade ago while living in Rhode Island, first in prison, then as a member of DARE. When I began inquiring about the precise rules regarding criminal convictions being a barrier to entry, and a cause for eviction, I got only a few vague answers. I even [...]
Obey the Giant: How a RISD student took on Buddy
The Andre the Giant Has a Posse sticker is probably up there with Cross pens, costume jewelry and calamari as the Ocean State’s most popular ever exports. While its creator, Shepard Fairey – then a RISD student and local skate punk who went on to design the Obama Hope poster – might not be as [...]
GCPVD on Prov. project: ‘A greater Kennedy Plaza’
This is what Kennedy Plaza could look like. Click here or on the image to read @GCPVD‘s post on the plan, who calls it a “A Greater Kennedy Plaza.” Alisha Pina of the Providence Journal also has a good story here. She writes: Plans will officially be New vision emerges revealed Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in [...]
Providence ranks 4th most post-Christian city
More and more research seems to come out every week that talks about the decline of traditional religious beliefs in the United States. Stories about the “nones” those that that claim no religious affiliation, place the number at about 20% nationally, and here in Rhode Island that figure is over 40%. Now the Barna Group [...]
For MetLife and Rhode Island, size matters
In the brouhaha about MetLife leaving, I did see and hear people try to blame this on the too-high RI taxes. Of course; it’s always about the taxes, isn’t it? I would like to make one point about that. For 2012, MetLife reported $1.4 Bn of operating earnings. In comparison, the $80-90 Mn of tax [...]
What Cheer? Brigade To Again Picket Renaissance Hotel
Remember when Joey DeFrancesco employed the What Cheer? Brigade to help him quit his job at the Providence Renaissance Hotel? “They treat us like shit here and I’m going to go in and quit right now with the help of my band mates the What Cheer? Brigade,” he said in the now-famous You Tube video [...]
Don’t Mourn The Elm, Organize For Them
The 108-year-old American elm that was felled this week at the John Brown House was one of the oldest residents of Benefit Street. It was as old as the State House, and it predated and outlived many of the iconic factories of the jewelry district. Marsden J. Perry, who had bought the old Brown place [...]
Downtown Providence During The Blizzard
In case you couldn’t make it out last night during the height of Nemo, Graham Wheeler got out there for you and shot this pretty cool 360-degree panoramic picture from Kennedy Plaza at about 2 a.m.
Providence Is Recovering
Governor, Mr. President, honorable members of the Providence City Council, distinguished guests, and my fellow residents of our great Capital City – One year ago I stood before you in this Chamber with an urgent message for our City and the entire State of Rhode Island. Providence was in peril. Despite many difficult decisions and [...]
Community Inequality Is Biggest Economic Obstacle in RI
The biggest problem affecting Rhode Island’s economy is not high taxes, pension benefits or special interests. Not even close. It’s the income inequality that exists between the affluent suburbs and the depressed urban areas. An extremely important post in Pacific Standard today highlights this, in part, by pointing out that while Providence is closing schools [...]
New Providence Bike Plan Looks for Safer Routes
Those who had cycled to the Bike Providence Public Workshop at Exchange Terrace downtown arrived to find there was no bike rack. Instead, they made do by hitching their rides to lampposts and parking signs.
RI Teacher Resigns on YouTube; Cites Test Scores
A Providence second grade school teacher said he has resigned because of the over-focus on standardized test scores and posted a video of him reading his resignation letter to YouTube. “I believe my goal as an educator should be to create life-long learners. Rather than creating life long learners Our new goal is to create [...]
Homeless Like Me: Lost Stars of Harrington Hall
Sleeping at Harrington Hall, the overnight shelter in Cranston, is something of a mix between being in prison and being at a frat house for old men. The very spacious, former gymnasium/auditorium at the Pastore Center state services campus, was even once a part of the prison system. The building somehow related to the psych [...]
Homeless Like Me: Drugs on the Streets of Providence
One of the most common reasons people are homeless is because of substance abuse. This isn’t reason to shun them. Alcoholism and drug dependency are diseases, and diseases aren’t easy to overcome all by yourself. Especially not when every single aspect of life is a struggle, as can be the case when your homeless. It [...]
Homeless Like Me: Sleeping on the State House Lawn
Words can’t describe how thankful I am for the spate of warm weather this Thanksgiving weekend. I’m sure the thousands of other people who spent the night sleeping on streets of Providence would concur. Because I know the area, it’s well protected, grassy and soft and – most importantly – close to other humans in [...]
Homeless Like Me: Thanksgiving, Billy Cormier, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church
Billy Cormier became the first fellow I connected with as I began my 48 hours of living on the streets of Providence when, by way of introducing myself, I walked up to the park bench he was sitting on in Burnside Park and asked him where the free meal was. I had talked to a [...]
Homeless Like Me: 48 Hours on the Streets of Providence
As you sit down to your second helping of Thanksgiving dinner to watch the Patriots game on your big screen TV, please take a moment to think about the almost 5,000 of your neighbors here in the Ocean State who are homeless.
As you settle in for the second half, and maybe a third helping of turkey with all the fixings, they will either be vying for one of the too few beds at the local shelters. Or, worse, looking for a place to sleep outside for the night.
And I’m going to be there with them. I’m celebrating Thanksgiving this year by spending 48 hours on the streets of Providence.
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