Rhode Works – RI Future

August 28, 2015

A good year for Grow Smart?

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Scott Wolf, the executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island, said there were some big wins for sustainable and equitable development in the last legislative session. RhodeMapRI was not one of them, he acknowledged.

Grow Smart RI’s logo, courtesy of http://www.growsmartri.org/

“A lot of the economic development proposals that we thought were good for smart growth passed,” Wolf said. “Those are embodied primarily in Governor Raimondo’s economic development package.”

He mentioned funding to incentivize development on the I-195 land, a fund for streetscape improvements on main streets of cities and towns, special incentives towards transit development, and others.

But the Rebuild RI tax credit could be the most impactful piece of the governor’s economic development package, he said. In its final form, there are opportunities for small historic rehabilitation projects, something that Grow Smart advocated for, and spoke to the Raimondo administration about.

“If the Rebuild RI tax credit does provide significant opportunities for large and small historic rehab projects, then that could be the single most important item,” Wolf said. “It provides continuing state incentives for redeveloping some of our tremendous collection of historic buildings, most of which are located in urban areas, many in distressed urban areas.”

Wolf added that the tax credit program also provides funding for the redevelopment of vacant lots in cities and towns. These lots could be turned into a number of things for public use, but Grow Smart is advocating for some to be converted into grocery stores, as many urbanites have difficulties accessing one.

“As a group that wants to see development occur primarily in cities versus rural areas, we think that this Rebuild RI tax credit is going to stimulate that kind of development,” Wolf said.

Looking toward the future, Grow Smart has plans for the short and long term. For the rest of the year, they’ll be focusing on educating towns and municipalities about the new tools they have, such as the Rebuild RI tax credit, to implement smart growth standards in their public centers.

“Our focus for the next four or five months is going to be to try to make sure that municipalities and developers, both for profit and nonprofit, that are interested in rehabilitating specific historic structures, fully understand how they can facilitate that through the Rebuild RI program,” Wolf said.

During this time, Grow Smart will become a resource for these groups to ensure that their process goes smoothly, but also to get as many historic rehab projects approved as possible. They’ll also be providing assistance for some of the bond issues that were passed last November, especially an environmental bond that includes $5 million for the redevelopment of contaminated sites, or brown fields. Wolf said that this bond is a big step forward, since it’s the first time that state money has gone toward such a project.

Wolf added that Grow Smart also plans to work with the governor’s administration to develop a technical assistance for local governments so they can better use the new tools that have been given to them for redevelopment, such as tax increment financing, which can be used to put the funds together for brownfield development.

In the long term, Wolf said they have several goals, but they all boil down to building a stronger economy, while maintaining Rhode Island’s personality. This all includes employment for city residents, strengthening farms and locally produced agriculture, and a more user-friendly transportation system.

“In a broad sense, our in Rhode Island, and the work nationally in the smart growth movement, is about changing the predominant development pattern in America, which has existed for the past 70 years or so, which has been a very auto dependent, suburban oriented development pattern,” he said. “We’re not anti suburban, and we’re not anti auto, but we think that we need a more balanced approach than what we’ve had in the state and in the country for decades.”

A successful year can’t happen without some marked failures, though. Grow Smart was a staunch supporter of Governor Raimondo’s RhodeWorks legislation, which tore a rift between the House and Senate last session. While the revised bill passed in the Senate, it didn’t even reach the floor in the House, with Speaker Mattiello urging for further study. The bill would use tolls on tractor-trailer trucks to cover the costs of rebuilding deficient bridges, as well as support a more modern transit system.

“We’re disappointed it didn’t pass both houses, but we think there’s a good chance it’s going to be approved either later this year or early next year. We’re working with the Raimondo administration, especially the state department of transportation, on that proposal,” Wolf said.

He was also disappointed that there was not a specific and significant commitment to multi-year funding for historical rehabilitation projects added to the state historic tax credit program.

RhodeMap RI was presented another sticky situation for Grow Smart. While it did pass as legislation, Wolf explained that there was so much controversy around the bill that it became hard to use it as the basis for any policy decisions. The bill included expansions for affordable housing, which conservative activists called “socialist,” fearing the takeover of municipal zoning regulations.

Although the plan was ultimately approved, Grow Smart’s main concern after the public uproar it caused was that it would sit on a shelf and have no policy effect whatsoever. However, Governor Raimondo’s economic development package includes many of the basic priorities that Rhode Map sought to achieve, and which Grow Smart supports.

“Our main commitment was to the goals and the proposed policies of RhodeMap, not to RhodeMap, the name or the brand,” Wolf said. “Our goal this sessions was to get as many of the initiatives that are in the spirit of Rhode Map approved as possible, and a lot of the governor’s economic development package is in that spirit.”

“If decoupling these ideas from RhodeMap is what’s necessary, politically, to have them enacted, then that’s a small price to pay,” Wolf added.

Even with the stigma surrounding RhodeMap, and the limbo that RhodeWorks currently lies in, Wolf said he is still very comfortable calling this legislative session a success for Grow Smart. As far as next year is concerned, their goals are still in the planning stage. For now, Grow Smart celebrates what they’ve already won, and not the battle ahead.

June 25, 2015

Toll bill unlikely to see House floor despite bridge closure

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The prospect of Governor Gina Raimondo’s Rhode Works legislation hitting the House floor before the end of this legislation is highly unlikely, Speaker Nicholas Mattiello said today.

“Right now, I’m not planning on it coming to the House floor by week’s end,” he said. “I have substantial concerns. I’ve indicated that the House is not going to act upon this bill until the concerns of our local business community are adequately addressed.”

Speaker Mattiello also said that he believes the proposal requires more analysis, so he is not comfortable introducing it in the House quite yet.

“It’s a big proposal, a big project, and I think the calls for it to move forward thoughtfully are probably the right calls and the right way to approach this. There’s no reason to rush this, there are reasons to do it in a timely manner, but there’s absolutely no reason to rush it,” he said.

This announcement comes a day after the Park Avenue bridge in Cranston was closed by RIDOT due to safety concerns. The bridge was suffering from severe deterioration and was “in imminent danger of collapse,” RIDOT Director Peter Alviti said in a letter to the Governor.

Speaker Mattiello finds the closure curious considering the bridge was examined nine months ago, and was deemed structurally deficient, but safe for travel.

“Where I call for an investigation is, you have the DOT making an assessment that it requires a high degree of corrective action in order to stay open, and no action is taken for nine months,” he said. His main concern is that Cranstonians, and especially safety vehicles, are now incredibly inconvenienced, because no steps were taken to prevent the closure.

“If they knew nine months ago that it was going to require a high priority of corrective action, why wasn’t any corrective action taken? That is something an investigation by DOT, I’d like to know what they’re doing.” he said.

Speaker Mattiello added that DOT is at fault for the closure, as they did not do what they are called to do for the community.

“You can’t just let a bridge go to the point of failure and say ‘Sorry, we’re shutting it down because we failed.’ That’s what they’re doing. They didn’t ask for anything, they didn’t tell us they had any concern.”

However, the Speaker did note that he agrees with RIDOT’s decision, but wishes that they take corrective action to have the bridge open back up as soon as possible.

Currently, there are nine bridges throughout the state undergoing investigations, and 17 that have been completed through RIDOT’s accelerated inspection program, which Alviti ordered in early May.

The timing of the closure did not work in Rhode Works’ favor. Minutes after the bridge was closed, Senate Finance unanimously approved the bill, and later that night it was approved on the Senate floor in a 33-4 vote. If the closure was a stunt to get Mattiello’s attention, he was not impressed.

“I can tell you it’s not going to force my hand on Rhode Works,” he said. “That’s not the right way to get my attention.”

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015

Cranston bridge closing colors debate on tolling truckers

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In an ironic twist of fate, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation closed the Park Avenue Bridge in Cranston the same day that the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate itself voted to uphold Governor Gina Raimondo’s ambitious Rhode Works legislation.

The $1.1 billion bill would be used to repair bridges and roads throughout Rhode Island, which have been ranked last in the country. Part of that money would come from a $500 million bond from the state to begin repairs on 17 proposed locations for tolls. RIDOT Director Peter Alviti has said in a House Finance Committee meeting earlier this week that the bond allows the department to use their own finances to begin repairing and reconstructing the rest of the bridges in the state.

The tolls, which would only charge tractor-trailer trucks, would reportedly make $60 million a year in revenue, which would also be used explicitly to repair roads. Opponents from the trucking industry and business community have railed against the tolls, saying that they will drive away business. Supporters have continually cited safety as their number one priority.

Safety was a particular issue today, as RIDOT closed the Park Avenue Bridge, even after being inspected in May, and several months prior to that.

“It is my professional opinion that this bridge is in imminent danger of collapse, and I am ordering its immediate closure,” Alviti wrote to the governor this morning, after it was found that the timber planks helping to hold the bridge up were “severely deteriorated and stressed from the weight of automobile traffic.”

Carlos Machado, the Division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, concurred with RIDOT’s decision. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, however, called for an investigation of RIDOT and their decision to close the bridge, which is near Mattiello’s law office. He brought up questions regarding exactly who has been inspecting the bridges, and whether or not RIDOT has been doing their job effectively.

Speaker Mattiello has also not yet made a firm decision concerning the Rhode Works bill. While he has gone on record saying that he supports the bill as a whole, there are still portions of it that remain objectionable. Now that the Senate has voted to uphold the legislation in a 33-4 vote, the bill will move to the House, bringing Mattiello into center stage on the issue.

Even as the legislation moves forward, there are still those who continue to oppose Rhode Works with the hope that it will not go through this session. The National Federation of Independent Business expressed their opposition in a press release, calling on the General Assembly to “slow down” their toll proposal.

“Certainly Rhode Island’s roads and bridges are in need of repairs, however, thanks to the glaring lack of specifics regarding this toll plan, small businesses are left with concerns over the details,” NFIB Rhode Island State Director Bill Vernon said. “Until some of these questions are answered, it will be difficult for the small business community to have confidence that tolls are the right policy choice for Rhode Island’s economic future.”

The Rhode Island Republican Party has also gone on record saying that the governor’s plan lacks transparency, and is fiscally irresponsible.

“There are still many unanswered questions as to how this toll plan will impact Rhode Islanders, including the simplest of questions such as how much it will be or on what bridges it will be assessed. It is ridiculous to think politicians on Smith Hill would adopt a plan that calls for new tolls statewide and millions in debt with so little information,” state GOP Chairman Brandon Bell said.

These worries did not affect the Senate vote, though. After a unanimous vote in Senate Finance, discussion on did not take very long, as most lawmakers agreed that safety was their number one priority. Rhode Works was upheld in a 33-4 vote.

“I would hate if a member of any of our constituencies was a fatality or a casualty due to the atrocious conditions of our roads,” Senator Christopher Ottiano (R- District 11) said when showing his support for the bill.

After the vote, Senator Louis DiPalma, the first Vice Chairman on the Senate Finance Committee, gave details from his own personal experience about why the Rhode Works bill should pass.

“I’m originally from Connecticut, I’ve been here for about 30 years, and back in the 70’s, I believe it was, there was the Mianus River Bridge Collapse. We’re talking I-95, tractor-trailers, cars, over the edge. Many people died,” he said. DiPalma remembers that event and uses it to promote a preventative, rather than a reactionary, approach to the bill.

“I never do it from the perspective of ‘that could be us,’ I don’t look at it and say that’s going to happen here. I look at it from the perspective of ‘what can we do to act now so that never happens here,” he said. “It’s a safety issue. It’s an issue of money- we’ve gotten to this point because of lack of maintenance over decades. We didn’t get here overnight.”

DiPalma brings a second layer of fresh perspective to the bill’s consideration as an engineer.

“I try to look at things from a facts and data perspective. What’s given, what do I know, what are the facts, what can I infer, and how do I build from there,” he said. “I was confident with the facts and data that I read, with the presentations that were given, and how this proposal came together.”

The only remaining roadblock for the governor’s bill is the House, and Speaker Mattiello. Whether or not it can make it through before summer recess is the question on everyone’s mind, and a special fall session for the proposal becomes more and more likely as each day passes.