Dr. Downtown: Vote No on No. 6
Monday, November 03, 2014
Voters tomorrow will choose to add millions to state indebtedness for a variety of purposes, some more defensible than others. Rhode Islanders have good reason to be skeptical of every bond issue (Questions Nos. 3-7), but the most obviously indefensible may be Question No. 6 on transit funding.
Funding public transit is important but No. 6 would fund several debatable projects. Rejecting this bond issue would force overdue reforms and shake-ups in how transit funds are spent, how this vital service is operated and how its future is planned.
Part of the $35 million would help fund new bus hubs at Providence Station and at the Garrahy courthouse. But a bus loop could link the train station and Kennedy Plaza at a tiny fraction of the cost of a new hub bridging the railroad tracks. Likewise, a new bus hub at Garrahy should be secondary to a long-proposed public parking garage at that site, and it puts the cart before the horse in the process of redeveloping vacant Route 195 land.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPassage might make it easier to find funds to continue the most objectionable project, already under way at Kennedy Plaza. Inexplicably, the city demolished half of the plaza before it identified a source of funding to continue broadening the plaza’s purpose from a bus hub more toward a civic square. Whether or not Question 6 makes funds available, demolition was contrary to responsible project management practices. Kennedy Plaza worked well as a bus hub, and Burnside Park still works well as a civic square.
Use of RIPTA has increased 11 percent in three years, a fact that argues for approving No. 6. Yet, with an expanding economy and falling gas prices, it probably won’t grow as fast and may even decline. That possibility undermines not only the case for No. 6 but for all three of the costly projects described above. But wait, there’s more!
In 2011, an apparent theft of bus fare revenue (a coat was hung over a security camera) led to changes that culminated in the ouster of RIPTA’s director, Charles Odimgbe, for reasons still not made clear to the public. He had been probing some drivers’ use of absenteeism to create fake overtime, a corrupt practice that has cost RIPTA millions. This may be the tip of an iceberg of bad behavior by some bus drivers, some bus passengers and some transit managers that, unaddressed, forces RIPTA to raise fares and cut service instead of operating more efficiently. Passing No. 6 would effectively reward this refusal to tackle RIPTA’s real problems head on.
The Journal of years ago would have pressed authorities to look into these shady circumstances, and indeed run its own investigation. Instead, it has accepted without skepticism various anodyne reports on RIPTA’s management, and has now urged voters to approve Question No. 6. Instead, voters should reject it and press the city, the state and RIPTA’s board to look into irregularities in Rhode Island’s public transit service, whose improved administration would help make the case for the next bond issue.
PolitiHaiku
been there
done that
nuff said
Licentious license plates
Wave goodbye, Rhode Island, to our beloved wave. The simple light-blue representation on our license plate of the ocean in motion will be sunsetted in favor of a plain dark-blue plate with a tiny yacht that resembles – forgive me! – an erect penis.
We must all screw this phallus to our bumpers next time we register our vehicles. A fitting symbol of how the state all too often treats its citizens.
The yacht Reliance won the America’s Cup in 1903. The vaguely depicted vessel is rendered on the plate as a combination of stylized shapes intended to portray sails taut before a brisk breeze. But one needn’t squint to visualize, instead, a priapic shaft. Tut-tut!
(Admittedly, that other symbol of Ocean Statehood, the lighthouse, might emit similarly exciting connotations.)
The new design also features “Beautiful Rhode Island” on top in gold letters, tying the plate into the state’s new brand. So yes, substitute a beautiful old license plate for an ugly new one! That’s the ticket! Give the boot to one of Rhode Island’s few successful efforts at branding. The alleged creative class into whose hands the state has placed such matters talks the talk of creativity but hasn’t a creative bone in its body.
The General Assembly passed a law to upgrade the plates to new and improved visibility standards starting next September. But the law mandates new plates, not a new design. Let’s demand that the old one be retained, with upgrades to visibility as required.
Pedestrian pedestrian bridge
The pedestrian bridge slated to span the Providence River has reached its 90 percent design stage without including a passage for the city’s river walk beneath its western terminus. WaterFire’s Barnaby Evans urged last week that the design be tweaked to correct this incomprehensible oversight. Good luck with that!
David Brussat was an editorial writer and architecture critic at the Providence Journal for 30 years, and now writes an independent blog, architecturehereandthere.com. He lives in Providence.
