Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Back in January, the Senate Policy Office and RIPEC issued a comprehensive plan as to how to improve Rhode Island's rankings in the national state-by-state business lists. Specifically, the report focused on 6 areas for improvement. A recent article by Kate Nagle of GoLocal asked a range of top business leaders to score the General Assembly on its accomplishments this legislative session to improve the RI economy and the average grade from business leaders, politicians and business consultants ranged from a high of a grade of "C" to a low of a "F."
It got worse this week.
WINNERS
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New Companies in RI -- Some 1,909 new business entities registered with the Secretary of State's Office from April through June, up 1.9 percent compared to the 1,873 a year ago. And the state saw three straight quarters of growth in the second quarter for the first time since the Secretary of State’s office began keeping quarterly statistics in 2005. "There is a lot to be encouraged about. We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, but I think it is fair to say the economy appears to be heading in the right direction,” said Ralph Mollis, Secretary of State.
The Arcade -- It announced that the reinvention of the retail icon had scored 17 new tenants in the 20 available spaces. The efforts by Evan Granoff to restore the Rhode Island landmark to it greatness is near completion.
#BIF9 -- Saul Kaplan's efforts to innovate hits a pinnacle each September with his BIF Conference - this year is the 9th and is crafted to be the best. The event is about 60 days away - September 18-19th in Providence.
Twin River's Gala -- The VIP Gala this past week was just one of the many public events to continue to build momentum behind the effort to reinvent the Lincoln Dog Track into a destination facility. CEO John Taylor is a great Rhode Island success story.
Flops
Superman Building's Ownership and PR Team -- First, the Superman Building's owner had his public relations team ask the General Assembly for $75 million public bailout this year. The team may not have realized that asking for the exact amount of Rhode Island's investment in 38 Studios may not have been the most brilliant idea.
This week the team really ingratiated themselves to Rhode Islanders by announcing that they would make the largest building in Rhode Island look like even more of an eyesore, by turning out the lights. Certainly, that communication strategy will certainly shift public opinion over to their side and average Rhode Islanders will march on the State House demanding more public financing for out of state millionaires to light their empty building. You can hear the chants now, "2-4-6-8, we need millions for out-of-state millionaires to pay for electricity for their poor investments."
Senator Paiva Weed And Speaker Fox -- In a joint opinion piece released late Friday, the two legislative leaders took claim that the General Assembly was pro business and had made major changes to improve the RI economy, saying,"The overarching focus this year in both the Senate and the House was on economic development, and much was accomplished to improve the business climate, reduce red tape, bolster the skills of the workforce, and otherwise establish a more sensible and unified approach. We remain committed to continuing to work together with our public and private-sector partners to help foster a positive climate for job creation in Rhode Island." No business leader that GoLocal spoke to earlier in the week scored the General Assembly's efforts higher than a "C."
49 is the New 50 -- RI leaped up one spot to 49th in the United States in CNBC's rankings for Top States for Business. No longer is RI last in America - Hawaii is now #50.
49 is the New 50 (Part 2) -- RI is now 49th in the ranking of quality of state roads by the Reason Foundation.
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