Providence Parking Meters Can’t Fund Millions in Deficits and Billions in Unfunded Liabilities
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
It is now more than 18 months since Jorge Elorza was elected and yet the learning curve for the Mayor seems steeper now more than ever.
Providence has a massive structural deficit, more than $2 billion (that’s billion with a capital B) in unfunded liability for city retirees’ pensions and healthcare, and its infrastructure is collapsing.
First, for Providence’s small businesses, the challenges are already immense without the Mayor de facto placing a “tax” on the customer. The commercial real estate taxes are among the highest in the United States and that means their rent is impacted. Providence has a high excise tax on businesses making business more expensive, and the auto tax for small businesses delivery vehicles is the highest in the state.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSecond, consumers have so many other options. If the Mayor does not think customers have other choices, take a ride to see the glowing success that Cranston is enjoying revitalizing retail shopping in Garden City or how Main Street in East Greenwich is building a tremendous restaurant strip.
Third, there is a harsh reality. For business owners like Harry Adler at Adler’s Hardware in the Fox Point section, he knows that the commercial contractors who may come to his store for the convenience of location, the service, and the quality of his products, also have other choices. Those contractors can drive down to Home Depot and avoid paying a $2.50 parking fee.
For a Mayor and a staff who have no significant private sector experience, these realities are foreign, but for small business owners on Wickenden Street, Federal Hill, Downtown -- and those on Broad Street and Charles Street — the thought of charging customers before they even walk in the store is a great way to kill business in Providence and build businesses in Cranston.
In Central Falls, Mayor James Diossa has a little more advanced approach to governing. “Our backbone's been the ‘moms and pops’,” said Diossa of the city’s culinary scene which has played host to a now-annual Restaurant Week. “There’s barely any empty storefronts. If one happens to close, someone else goes right in. Central Falls is back in recovery — I don’t think at this point that meters are something we’d even consider."
Mayor Elorza, fix the city’s finances and don’t ruin small business owners' viability.
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