375 replies to this topic

[Cotuit]

The East Greenwich proposal calls for housing. The housing there would be affordable which would help the town reach it's 10% requirement.

[Recchia]

Cotuit, on May 2 2005, 12:48 PM, said:

The East Greenwich proposal calls for housing. The housing there would be affordable which would help the town reach it's 10% requirement.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ahh, great, I forgot about that one.  That's in a much more historical and built-up area than Wickford and Kingston, though, but hopefully they'll consider that for both stations anyway...although this is South County....and Wickford Junction is anchored by Walmart....

[Cotuit]

T.F. Green allows overflow parking within security perimiter

Hmmm, maybe a commuter rail line to the airport would help ease that parking problem.  

[Recchia]

Wow talk a bout a potential breach of security.  

Parking fees are the Airport Corporation's largest sources of income?  So I wonder what the airports actual stance is on the commuter rail stop is, and if they'll get the revenue from the park and ride at it.

Edited by Recchia, 02 May 2005 - 02:20 PM.

[eltron]

Recchia, on May 2 2005, 04:20 PM, said:

Wow talk a bout a potential breach of security. 

Parking fees are the Airport Corporation's largest sources of income?  So I wonder what the airports actual stance is on the commuter rail stop is, and if they'll get the revenue from the park and ride at it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm sure they are 100% for the rail station, even if it does potentially cut into their parking fees (which it won't). It will make their airport much more marketable to airlines as an alternative to logan, will increase numbers of passengers, and will generate so much more business that a slight decline in the number of cars will more than be offset.

Plus it helps them as they face more and more issues with their environmental problems (primarily noise).

they can't wait to get that thing going (neither can I, for that matter).

[Frankie811]

http://www.pbn.com/c...s.php/id/114686

[Cotuit]

Frankie811, on May 7 2005, 06:28 AM, said:

http://www.pbn.com/c...s.php/id/114686

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Quote

Working with Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Capaldi said language has been inserted in the highway bill that would allow the state to spend bridge off-system dollars to support construction of the “people mover” linking the train station to the airport and a parking garage for rental cars. Capaldi said that language is not among the contentious issues, and when the bill does pass, the provision should remain intact to solve the last of the project’s funding questions.

Nice to see the People Mover is slated to be part of this (if it ever really does happen). For a while they were talking about shuttle buses, which is totally ridiculous for such a short distance.

[pdxstreetcar]

^
Did you ever see the shuttle bus at the Kingston Amtrak station?

The station with one platform was on one side of the tracks and the other platform was on the otherside of the tracks.  Amtrak didnt have the money for a bridge and it was seen to be too dangerous to have people cross the tracks with Acela shooting thru the station at almost 150mph. So they had a shuttle bus pick passengers up from the station side and would take them over to the other platform.  Luckily a new pedestrian bridge opened in January putting an end to the shuttle.

[Frankie811]

http://www.projo.com...il.23d55c0.html

[Frankie811]

http://www.zwire.com..._id=73829&rfi=6

[Frankie811]

donaltopablo, on Feb 25 2004, 02:32 PM, said:

Does Providence operate it's own commuter rail system, or is this part of Boston's sytem?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

http://www.pbn.com/c...s.php/id/115299

[Recchia]

Deller: Providence is a suburb of Boston"????  Maybe in a commuting sense, but hardly...

[Frankie811]

Recchia, on Jun 11 2005, 09:36 AM, said:

Deller: Providence is a suburb of Boston"????  Maybe in a commuting sense, but hardly...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmmm  I couldn't believe he said that. I'm like, whattttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   But where does Boston's suburb's end anyway's? Foxboro, Mansfield, Sharon, Walpole? Exactly where does Boston's suburb's end, and Providence's begins  

[Mike D]

Deller works for the City of Providence and he actually said that. I'm surprised that he would.

I always thought the towns in Bristol County, Mass were considered Providence suburbs. I believe the Providence MSA includes that part of Mass as does the Providence TV market. I suppose the Bristol County line could be considered the dividing line between the Providence and Boston metros, but even then, since they're so close to each other, there will be some overlap between them.

Either way, RI should be getting additional commuter rail service and getting it seven days a week too.

Edited by Mike D, 11 June 2005 - 09:36 AM.

[Cotuit]

The official line is Bristol County, MA. Bristol County is part of Providence's metro. But we all know that people commute from Bristol County, and Providence, and points south to Boston. Providence is a Boston suburb and until/unless we start getting some businesses of our own, we will continue to be.

[Baines]

Cotuit, on Jun 12 2005, 09:50 AM, said:

The official line is Bristol County, MA. Bristol County is part of Providence's metro. But we all know that people commute from Bristol County, and Providence, and points south to Boston. Providence is a Boston suburb and until/unless we start getting some businesses of our own, we will continue to be.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, I totally dispute that conclusion on several grounds.

First, the economic influence and impact (including media, economic, political, health, transportation, and education) of Boston DOES NOT EXTEND to the Providence Metro - who reads the Boston rag papers?- as evidenced by the Provdence Journal (rated as best in NE), it's TV and radio stations, the nation reputation of colleges in Providence, the national businesses based in the metro, and the political and transportation realities of two distinct areas.

Second, the geographic distance between the two and the size of Providence does not lead itself to any Boston impact like it has on it's actual suburbs. A "suburb" does not stand alone! This is not Cambridge.

Again, Providence has it's own sphere of influence (media, economic, political, health, transportation, education) that extends to most of RI and deep into southern Mass. It has not changed for two centuries and there is no indication it will...if anything, just the opposite.

Third, one could argue that as Boston's population is declining there is only one reason why major financial institutions and other corporations stay there...the cost of brick and mortar (building costs) are the same - otherwise many would move to Providence now (this came from the President of the Boston firm designing the Westin).  

The people of is city have got to break that mentality of "baby Bs". By the way, absolutely stupid statement by Deller...exactly the wrong message to draw those businesses to Providence.

[Recchia]

I think it could either way, depending on what you're looking at.  You are right Baines, Providence media, entertainment, newspapers, etc. definitely are distinct from Boston's, and Providence can and does stand alone from the city of Boston.  Also, many people from Providence fail to acknowledge/visit Boston, except in the area of sports.  Providence residents have their own distinct mentality/personality, and view themselves as nothing near Bostonians.  Even the Providence accent has a distinct sound from Boston's (I've heard many people say Providence people sound like New Yorkers).

On the other hand, you can't deny the transportation and historical linkages between the two cities, and the fact that many new additions to the city of Providence are Boston employees seeking cheaper housing.  So even though they do function differently, they are inherently linked by these commuters and even some companies that have offices in both Boston and Providence.

To get back on topic-the South County Commuter Rail just goes to show how the cities are linked; the DOT wants the MBTA to run the line.

Edited by Recchia, 12 June 2005 - 06:17 PM.

[CtownMikey]

Baines, on Jun 12 2005, 05:53 PM, said:

Third, one could argue that as Boston's population is declining there is only one reason why major financial institutions and other corporations stay there...the cost of brick and mortar (building costs) are the same - otherwise many would move to Providence now (this came from the President of the Boston firm designing the We

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So what is Providence doing to change this?? Can anything be done??

I really consider the next 2 to 6 years to be one of Providence's most important and crucial times as a growing city.. and after that.. IF we have failed at attracting residents and businesses AND failed at making a self dependent downcity neighborhood, I think it will be a very long time until everything lines up correctly where we have a great chance to grow

it really seems to boil down to
1. having the lowest building costs (or at least lower than boston's)
2. having improved school systems
and 3.those ballsy businesses taking a chance and coming to providence.

I know I sound negative, but I'm not. I will be very surprised if Prov. doesn't get high marks in all categories.

Edited by CtownMikey, 13 June 2005 - 12:01 AM.

[Frankie811]

The building costs may be the same, but the s/f leasing cost is no where near each other. Leasing Class A office space is considerably less expensive in Providence than Boston.

[Cotuit]

According to the US Census, Providence is still it's own distinct metropolitan area, but that doesn't change the fact that we are extremely tied to Boston. A lot of the things you say about Providence could be said about Manchester, NH, yet Manchester is officially within the Boston metropolitan area.

Baines, on Jun 12 2005, 06:53 PM, said:

First, the economic influence and impact (including media, economic, political, health, transportation, and education) of Boston DOES NOT EXTEND to the Providence Metro - who reads the Boston rag papers?- as evidenced by the Provdence Journal (rated as best in NE), it's TV and radio stations, the nation reputation of colleges in Providence, the national businesses based in the metro, and the political and transportation realities of two distinct areas.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the Massachusetts Bay is the body of water Boston sits on) comes to Providence, not Manchester.

The Boston rag papers like the Boston Globe? Sure ProJo earned a best of NE award, so has the Cape Cod Times in the past, neither is the Boston Globe. Providence's weekly arts paper is an offshoot of the Boston based Phoenix. Boston's two gay and lesbian newspapers are widely circulated in Rhode Island, and are weeklies, Rhode Island only has a monthly gay & lesbian paper, if you want to stay up to date, you read the Boston ones. If I want to know what's up at Providence's clubs, I read the Boston papers.

Manchester and Worcester have their own TV stations, but they are Boston suburbs.

Our colleges are certainly great, RISD beats MassArt, but Brown ain't no Harvard.

We have our own medical facilities, but my boss just went to a specialist in Boston the other day. People are med-flighted from Rhode Island to Boston all the time. That doesn't chepen us, but it's a fact. Thank god we have those Boston hospitals so close by.  

We have our own state politics, but so does Manchester. So does Stamford, CT and Newark, NJ in comparison to New York.

Our transportation reality is that we have more commuter rail trains to Boston than Worcester does, and we'll soon have even more. We have our own bus system, but so does Worcester, so does Lowell.

Baines, on Jun 12 2005, 06:53 PM, said:

Second, the geographic distance between the two and the size of Providence does not lead itself to any Boston impact like it has on it's actual suburbs. A "suburb" does not stand alone! This is not Cambridge.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We're slightly further from Boston than Worcester, and slightly closer to Boston than Manchester.

Baines, on Jun 12 2005, 06:53 PM, said:

Again, Providence has it's own sphere of influence (media, economic, political, health, transportation, education) that extends to most of RI and deep into southern Mass. It has not changed for two centuries and there is no indication it will...if anything, just the opposite.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes we do, but the decline in manufacturing has hit us hard, we're not the city we used to be. Growing up on Cape Cod I can say that Rhode Island had an influence on us in that we got both Boston and Rhode Island television, and we could get Providence radio, but not Boston. However the Boston Globe and Herald were widely available, and no ProJo to be seen. Rhode Island had an influence, but we were undoubtedly Boston-centric

New Bedford and Fall River, which are officially within the Providence metro are clamboring for commuter rail service to Boston, not Providence.

Baines, on Jun 12 2005, 06:53 PM, said:

Third, one could argue that as Boston's population is declining there is only one reason why major financial institutions and other corporations stay there...the cost of brick and mortar (building costs) are the same - otherwise many would move to Providence now (this came from the President of the Boston firm designing the Westin).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well Boston workers and (hopefully) Boston firms are (will be) moving to Providence largely because we are within the Boston sphere. People can remain in touch with the Boston market. These people and businesses are not moving to Burlington, VT or Portland, ME, not because they are not great vibrant cities, but because they are too far from Boston. Many more people and businesses are moving to New Hampshire however, which is why they are officially part of the Boston metro and we are not, yet. More movement of people and businesses moving from Boston will make us more part of Boston, not more independent of it.  

Baines, on Jun 12 2005, 06:53 PM, said:

The people of is city have got to break that mentality of "baby Bs". By the way, absolutely stupid statement by Deller...exactly the wrong message to draw those businesses to Providence.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Deller's choice of words was perhaps bad, we aren't a suburb in the bedroom community sense that a town like Sharon, MA is. But we are well within the orbit of Boston, if not officially by government standards. We are certainly more independent from Boston than cities like Worcester or Manchester, but we're not completely independent.

We have a culture and identity and that is a big advantage we have. We're not Springfield, hanging off on it's own in a weird corner of the region. We are firmly within the Boston-New York megalopolis, and we should embrace that fact. I keep hearing about small companies moving here from New York. Part of the reason they are moving here is for our identity and our culture, but we can't ignore the fact that our proximity to larger cities is a huge marketing tool for us.

If we become officially part of the Boston metro, that's not going to change our culture. Sure it's cool to look at a metro ranking and see Providence at 35 or wherever we are, but if we become number 6, Boston, MA-NH-RI, that's not going to change the public's perception of us.