RIPTA's hiding of info on Bus Hub boondoggle is challenged in complaint to AG Neronha
"The RIPTA board has repeatedly made decisions about this hub proposal in closed executive sessions."
MEDIA ADVISORY from Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition:
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), while being pressed by state leaders to move the state's main bus hub out of Kennedy Plaza, has been concealing key information from the public. On Wednesday, January 17, the Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition filed a formal complaint with Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha's office over this outrageous denial of transparency.
RIPTA issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the proposed hub move in 2023, which stated that the winning bidder would be able to name guaranteed rates of profit (‘Subcontractor Fees”) that it would get on this enormously expensive project. The Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition filed repeated public records requests to obtain the bid(s) submitted on this RFP, including the amount of these guaranteed profit margins designated by the winning bidder. Our public records requests were repeatedly denied for unbelievable reasons, so we filed this appeal on January 17 with Attorney General Neronha.
The RIPTA board has repeatedly made decisions about this hub proposal in closed executive sessions. It has made closed-session decisions on the subject at multiple board meetings where the fact that the hub project would be discussed wasn't mentioned on the public agenda, nor even hinted at in the open part of the board meeting, nor revealed to the public in any other way until a long time after the meeting was over. The hub project's huge cost, and the fact that actual bus riders don't want it, make it troubling that these decisions keep getting made in the dark.
Today there is another RIPTA board meeting scheduled (10 am, Thursday, January 18) in which all the board's activity is in closed executive session - there are no other items on today's RIPTA board agenda besides the executive session and public comment, and members of the public who want to make comments have been given no hint of what this “special meeting” has been called to do.
We hope Attorney General Neronha's office will address this Access to Public Records Act (APRA) complaint since RIPTA has been violating the public's right to transparency while it is under pressure from state leaders to move the bus hub out of Kennedy Plaza.
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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?