As for the background, Steve is right about Paolino's role, he is not only wealthy but a Democratic National Committeeman so very politically connected.
In 2017-2018 Providence had a robust public process on Kennedy Plaza resulting in a wide consensus including riders, community groups, RIPTA, and city planners on redesigning KP, keeping the buses but concentrating the stops along Washington St in both directions, plus some other improvements to parks, landscaping, security... It was stopped when Paolino filed a lawsuit against it for the reasons Steve noted and as he had access to the Governor and RIDOT, they came up with a cockamamie "multi-hub" roundly criticized by all including the City Council. Then they conceived of a bus hub removed to a "Dorrance" site near the Court House where there a lot of surface parking lots. It is not as central as KP but it could have some other advantages, and for a year or so this was the plan and the name in which RIPTA's RFP was issued.
Yet rumors are the site is no longer viable, my guess is property owners there didn't want the bus riders, disproportionately poor and people of color, nearby either.
So now the rumor is to move to a remote site near I-95's service road and Clifford St with few abutters and few reasons anyone would want to go there. It would surely raise RIPTA's cost of operations and the capital cost is unknowable now but enormous. A really, really bad idea.
If Dorrance can't be worked out, it is time to face the only logical thing to do is stay in, and improve, Kennedy Plaza. Paolino and the realtors should be made to realize that good transit access to their property from all directions is the one transportation advantage they have over competing strip malls, office parks, shopping centers etc to which it will always be easier to drive to and park. And we would all benefit from it good transit potential to enhance mobility, cut pollution and congestion, and keep more of our energy dollars in the state.
How much is this bus-hub supposed to cost and how will it be paid for? RIPTA’s projected deficit for the coming year is $32.6 million and will continue to grow. If the legislature “ rescues” RIPTA, how can funds for public transportation be justified if this boondoggle succeeds?
With the Rhode Island Housing Justice Organizing Committee we filed an APRA request with RIPTA in 2022. RIPTA responded by telling us that it would cost $2,000 to obtain the information to cover the cost of gathering the information for a job that would have taken a competent IT person about five minutes of mostly unsupervised work. We filed a complaint with the AG office and never got a reply. Once again this shows, once again, that institutions created by the power elite will never echo the demands of the oppressed. And thus APRA become a joke ...
Compare the $2,000 with what DOT charged the ProJo:
"The hundreds of emails about the bridge exchanged the week that damage to the bridge was detected – and which the DOT charged The Journal $450 for – show Gov. Dan McKee's administration scrambling to manage the fallout when the highway bridge that carried 90,000 vehicles a day over the Seekonk River was closed to traffic on the evening of Monday, Dec. 11." Does this mean anything? I'm just wondering!
Thank you for verifying that once again the citizens of this city, and most importantly, the users of public transport are being cut out of decision making that directly affects how people do or do not get around our city and the state. This also has major implications for climate change in our state. Very stupid and short-sighted. Nothing new!
Ok dumb question but, who are the main drivers behind moving/changing the Kennedy Plaza bus center if it's not the bus riders? My understanding is Joe Paolino has a thing about unhoused and less-then-wealthy people in the plaza next to his HQ building. Is he the main driver? Who else is? The investors of the Superman building?
Down town real estate owners, including the two you mentioned, and the people they control in government, such as the Senate President and the Governor
Randall is a hero for pursuing this!
As for the background, Steve is right about Paolino's role, he is not only wealthy but a Democratic National Committeeman so very politically connected.
In 2017-2018 Providence had a robust public process on Kennedy Plaza resulting in a wide consensus including riders, community groups, RIPTA, and city planners on redesigning KP, keeping the buses but concentrating the stops along Washington St in both directions, plus some other improvements to parks, landscaping, security... It was stopped when Paolino filed a lawsuit against it for the reasons Steve noted and as he had access to the Governor and RIDOT, they came up with a cockamamie "multi-hub" roundly criticized by all including the City Council. Then they conceived of a bus hub removed to a "Dorrance" site near the Court House where there a lot of surface parking lots. It is not as central as KP but it could have some other advantages, and for a year or so this was the plan and the name in which RIPTA's RFP was issued.
Yet rumors are the site is no longer viable, my guess is property owners there didn't want the bus riders, disproportionately poor and people of color, nearby either.
So now the rumor is to move to a remote site near I-95's service road and Clifford St with few abutters and few reasons anyone would want to go there. It would surely raise RIPTA's cost of operations and the capital cost is unknowable now but enormous. A really, really bad idea.
If Dorrance can't be worked out, it is time to face the only logical thing to do is stay in, and improve, Kennedy Plaza. Paolino and the realtors should be made to realize that good transit access to their property from all directions is the one transportation advantage they have over competing strip malls, office parks, shopping centers etc to which it will always be easier to drive to and park. And we would all benefit from it good transit potential to enhance mobility, cut pollution and congestion, and keep more of our energy dollars in the state.
How much is this bus-hub supposed to cost and how will it be paid for? RIPTA’s projected deficit for the coming year is $32.6 million and will continue to grow. If the legislature “ rescues” RIPTA, how can funds for public transportation be justified if this boondoggle succeeds?
With the Rhode Island Housing Justice Organizing Committee we filed an APRA request with RIPTA in 2022. RIPTA responded by telling us that it would cost $2,000 to obtain the information to cover the cost of gathering the information for a job that would have taken a competent IT person about five minutes of mostly unsupervised work. We filed a complaint with the AG office and never got a reply. Once again this shows, once again, that institutions created by the power elite will never echo the demands of the oppressed. And thus APRA become a joke ...
Compare the $2,000 with what DOT charged the ProJo:
"The hundreds of emails about the bridge exchanged the week that damage to the bridge was detected – and which the DOT charged The Journal $450 for – show Gov. Dan McKee's administration scrambling to manage the fallout when the highway bridge that carried 90,000 vehicles a day over the Seekonk River was closed to traffic on the evening of Monday, Dec. 11." Does this mean anything? I'm just wondering!
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/state/2024/01/30/emails-show-initial-warning-response-to-washington-bridge-damage/72414203007/
Thank you for verifying that once again the citizens of this city, and most importantly, the users of public transport are being cut out of decision making that directly affects how people do or do not get around our city and the state. This also has major implications for climate change in our state. Very stupid and short-sighted. Nothing new!
Ok dumb question but, who are the main drivers behind moving/changing the Kennedy Plaza bus center if it's not the bus riders? My understanding is Joe Paolino has a thing about unhoused and less-then-wealthy people in the plaza next to his HQ building. Is he the main driver? Who else is? The investors of the Superman building?
Down town real estate owners, including the two you mentioned, and the people they control in government, such as the Senate President and the Governor