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Cotuit

By Cotuit
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Recchia Town

Recchia

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The WPRI article basically describes your typical weekend at ANY college. Sadly, its part of college life, whether its being robbed, being drunk, or having promiscuous sex with multiple partners.

That party though, wow. They were actually able to get that crazy on campus? We have to go downtown to get that crazy at my school...

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ruchele Hamlet

ruchele

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note that sex power god is sponsored by the Queer Alliance. that might give you a better idea on why o'reilly singled it out.

I was gonna say if O'reilly really wanted something to show the public, he should have filmed the Coming Out Week Debutante Ball at my alma mater- I think his head would have exploded. (wouldn't that be great to see?)

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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:cry: this better not affect the O.C. including Brown in it's December storyline

I think that's kinda what the O.C. is all about, isn't it?

I think his head would have exploded. (wouldn't that be great to see?)

Yes, I'd pay good money for that.

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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Can't find it online...sometimes Metro stuff doesn't appear for a few days.

I just read it the old fashioned way. I agree.

To stop being so criptic for everyone else, Ari wrote a piece on Kennedy Plaza in today's ProJo, page D2.

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Garris Town

Garris

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This is one of the things the ACLU does that kills me... They're a great organization, and we should be happy they're around. But here's a law of clear aesthetic value to the area, that probably 99% of people would agree on. With all the flagrant church-state abuses and personal liberty violations that the wacko-right is dreaming up on a daily basis, this is an issue, with all the RI political murkiness that appears to be involved, that the ACLU wants to waste its resources on?

If I were a big donor to the ACLU, this is the kind of stuff that would have me scratching my head... I guess principles are principles, though... If the worst they can be accused of is being too committed to them, then more power to them I guess...

- Garris

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Frankie811 City

Frankie811

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I saw an article in the ProJo today with a familiar byline... :whistling: but I haven't had time to read, and I can't find it in the online version.

There's been a significant rebutal in Friday's Projo concerning Ari's letter to the editor on Kennedy Plaza and Burnside Park. The author is Barry Schiller who is the transportation chairman of the Sierra Club, RI chapter. This response is not located in the usual Letters to The Editor section of the paper, but in the Metro section on page C2 which is why I cannot provide a link. I'm not totally sure how much I can quote here, but here goes. Please edit me if I've disobeyed UP rules. :huh:

"The writer wants to eliminate the bus hub in the plaza, in effect leaving most passengers with no access to restrooms, timely bus information, a cafe, police presence, or to an indoor place to sit and wait for a bus. This would return conditions to what I experienced for most of my 39 years using RIPTA buses before the Kennedy Plaza hub was developed. The writer also seems to suggest that buses not come downtown at all, requiring most passengers to transfer at some other point to get to the city. Since many buses get quite crowded when they get near the city, this would delay passengers and force them onto other already crowded vehicles."

"Though Mr Heckman and his CEO friend seem to think that the mostly low-income people who use the buses are unsightly or intimidating and so should be shunted aside to somewhere else, they might find that bus passengers are fine people. Perhaps they should ride a few routes and check it out. There are actually many middle-class riders, too, and RIPTA has indicated that they have a significant number of passengers who ride for environmental reasons."

"What is sad is that the writer apparently does not see a good transit system as a tool for urban revitalization."

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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I've been thinking about this letter since I read it. It's so PC and exacerbating.

"in effect leaving most passengers with no access to restrooms, timely bus information, a cafe, police presence, or to an indoor place to sit and wait for a bus."

I've used the mens room at KP in a pinch before, the floors are covered in piss, the smell is gawdawful, there's usually a homeless person bathing himself at the sink. It's not quite as bad as Port Authority, but it's close. I fear what the ladies find in their restroom. At least I can stand and hold my breath. It doesn't have to be this way either. There's a public restroom in my favourite park, Bryant Park, that has an attendant, it is being constantly cleaned, people can't linger, messes are cleaned, illegal activity cannot take place.

"Timely bus information..."

From RIPTA? :lol: Oh that's precious.

"A cafe"

Seriously, a cafe? There's 2 Dunkin Donuts, soon to be 2 Starbucks, the Pain, and soon Tim Hortons within two blocks, and the one in KP is the worst of the bunch. We should expect better, or do without.

"Police presence..."

Now, I'm the first one to defend the police in Providence, my work has me interacting with them frequently, and as such, I'm also not shy to criticize. Twenty officers hanging around the 'Intermodal' station while acres of plaza go un-patrolled does not a police presence make. The frequency of riots in the plaza also indicate that the police are not, or cannot properly patrol the area. There is a substation there, but there's no reason the substation would have to leave. Besides, I get by just fine waiting at the tunnel or on Federal Hill or at the Convention Center without the cops protecting me. The fact that police presence is a concern speaks volumes about the current condition of KP.

"The writer also seems to suggest that buses not come downtown at all, requiring most passengers to transfer at some other point to get to the city."

I didn't see the writer suggest that at all. In fact he advocated more frequent trolley service (real trolleys, on tracks) serve KP and other buses may serve areas in a close orbit of KP. The effect could actually be to bring more people closer to their actual destinations around the center, rather than just shy of their destinations as the current hub drops people. Just look at the through routing that RIPTA is doing to try to get people from the area around RIH to ride the buses, something's not working right if it takes that much rerouting to get people to use discounted passes.

"Though Mr Heckman and his CEO friend seem to think that the mostly low-income people who use the buses are unsightly or intimidating and so should be shunted aside to somewhere else, they might find that bus passengers are fine people. Perhaps they should ride a few routes and check it out. There are actually many middle-class riders, too, and RIPTA has indicated that they have a significant number of passengers who ride for environmental reasons."

This is the typical PC diarrhea that TheAnk is pointing to in the Mall Brawl thread. Don't like what someone is saying? Turn on the PC bullsh*t and call them classist, racist, or whatever -ist you can try to make stick.

It IS mostly low-income people who ride the buses. Are the low-income people in and of themselves the problem? No, it's the small subset of low-income people who are drug addicts or socially inept or Hope High students or just plain crazy who are making KP unattractive to everyone. Those who have the means to not deal with it (i.e. own a car) avoid it, those who don't suffer through it.

Many of RIPTAs riders are not middle-class, some are. But even if there were many, that doesn't solve the problem of many more being turned off by the plaza. This is saying, middle-class people ride, therefore there is no problem. Like saying, many teenagers behave themselves in the mall, therefore there is no problem in the mall involving teenagers. Certainly there are middle-class people using RIPTA, but that doesn't change the fact that many many many people of all classes are completely off-put by it and that is a problem.

"Perhaps they should ride a few routes and check it out."

Riding the bus is not the problem, it's the plaza. I've been involved in many discussions at my job about doing something about our parking shortage. Everytime RIPTA comes up as an alternative, it is shot down because people are afraid to go into the plaza after dark. Interestingly, when it was pointed out to some of these people that there are other stops not in the plaza (Memorial at the Textron Building, the bottom of the tunnel at South Main, South Water near the Old Stone Bank Building...) they become intrigued. These people might ride the bus, but not if it involves going to KP. Even the most 'environmental' of them.

"What is sad is that the writer apparently does not see a good transit system as a tool for urban revitalization."

Again, a good transit system would be wonderful, I don't see the current KP as being part of one though.

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matt Hamlet

matt

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I've been thinking about this letter since I read it. It's so PC and exacerbating.

<snip>

Cotuit, would it be possible for you to formally reply to this persons letter? This could really open up the discussion to the public...

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pdxstreetcar Whistle-Stop

pdxstreetcar

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i dont remember too well how the buses worked when Kennedy Plaza was being renovated a few years ago, but what if all the lines running into providence blanketed downtown instead of all coming to a concentrated place like now with KP.

Perhaps several lines run north-south along dorrance/francis, others north-south along empire, other north-south along exchange and others north-south along main st., then have several routes running east-west along either weybosset/westminster couplet, sabin/fountain couplet, washington or memorial? Sort of forming a large grid of bus routes downtown. then you could transfer where the lines intersect

or maybe a linear transit mall

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Frankie811 City

Frankie811

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i dont remember too well how the buses worked when Kennedy Plaza was being renovated a few years ago, but what if all the lines running into providence blanketed downtown instead of all coming to a concentrated place like now with KP.

Perhaps several lines run north-south along dorrance/francis, others north-south along empire, other north-south along exchange and others north-south along main st., then have several routes running east-west along either weybosset/westminster couplet, sabin/fountain couplet, washington or memorial? Sort of forming a large grid of bus routes downtown. then you could transfer where the lines intersect

or maybe a linear transit mall

No thank you. I like the hub and spoke system just fine. For economical, safety and logistical purposes you centralize, not decentralize.

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