WBNA Enews 12.15.09

Upcoming Meetings and Events

• Tonight, Tues., Dec. 15, 4:45pm, City Plan Commission Hearing on Waterfront Plan, 400 Westminster Street (see information below)
• NOW-Dec. 19 Public art installation on tree on corner of America Street & Broadway by Lalya Gaye
• Thurs., Dec. 17, Recycling/Trash program meeting at Federal Hill House, 6:30pm
• Sun. Dec. 20, Caroling with WBNA, Leadership RI, and Connect Providence   Meet up with neighbors at Loie Fuller's, 1455 Westminster Street, from 5-6pm and depart at 6pm to carol throughout the West Side.  All welcome (see information below)
• Thurs., Jan. 7, 3pm, Building Board of Review Meeting on the Grove Street School
• Tues. Jan. 12, 6:30-9pm, WBNA Annual Meeting. Location tba, Join us to celebrate our 25^th Anniversary, Mingle with neighbors over appetizers , See what we did in 2009 and what's in store for 2010, Cast your Vote for the 2010 Board,  Celebrate the 2009 WBNA Awardees, Renew your WBNA membership, Bring a potluck dessert to share with your neighbors from 8:15-9pm
• Wed., Jan. 6, Public comments on the West End and Federal Hill neighborhood plan due to the Providence Planning Department
• Wed., Jan. 20,  4:45pm, 400 Westminster St., Public Comment Meeting on the West End and Federal Hill neighborhood plan

Scroll down for updates on many neighborhood topics your neighbors at WBNA and beyond have been working on!

Sing in the Streets this Sunday!

Join us (ConnectProvidence, LeadershipRI, WBNA) as we joyfully carol through historic streets surrounded by beautiful Victorian architecture in Providence's Armory District.

Meet up at Loie Fuller's restaurant (1455 Westminster St) on Sunday, Dec. 20th from 5-6pm before heading out at 6pm to bring holiday cheer to the neighborhood through festive songs.

We have planned stops with neighbors along the way for warm drinks and bathroom breaks before circling around to end at 8pm for cookies and hot chocolate at Leadership Rhode Island headquarters (1570 Westminster)-- one block from Loie Fuller's, our original starting point.

EVERYONE'S WELCOME regardless of religious or non-religious beliefs. 2009 has been such a tough year for so many. Help us spread some end-of-the-year joy through song. INVITE FRIENDS & FAMILY!

We're pleased to carol in the snow and cold, but won't venture out in rain. A rainy Sunday night will keep us indoors at Loie Fuller's for drinks and songs around the fireplace. Either way, we'll experience much fun and merrymaking.

RSVP

See you soon!
Owen, & Mike & Kari

P.S. Wanna rehearse with some of our real singers? Email mike@connectprovidence.org

Recycling/Trash Program Meeting THIS THURSDAY at Federal Hill House

Can you please spread the word about a meeting that the FHCC has coordinated to discuss the new recycling/trash program.

I have invited the DPW and staff from the Mayor's administration to be in attendance.

The meeting will take place Thursday December 17th at the Federal Hill House, 9 Courtland at 6:30pm.
 
This will be a very beneficial meeting to hear the purpose of the program and for residents to ask any questions.
 
Hope to see you there.
Thanks for your help and keep up the good work!
 
Steven Meresi
401-965-7462

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AWAY

A public-art installation and immigrant community platform about making home in a new place.

On a tree at the corner of Broadway and America, Federal Hill, Providence, RI

December 13 - 19, 2009

Lalya Gaye (Digital + Media, Rhode Island School of Design / Dånk! Collective)

www.lalyagaye.com/away/

With the support of The Steelyard (thesteelyard.org - in particular Monica Shinn), West Broadway Neighborhood Association (wbna.org) and the Providence City Forester (providenceri.com - Douglas Still).

Picture by Whiterose (Dakar, Senegal).

_________________________________

We need you to come to the City's public hearing on the Waterfront Plan tomorrow - and to stay for the whole evening!

What, a whole evening this close to the holidays? Yes, because unfortunately the City Plan Commission (CPC) has put public comment on a plan concerning Shooters at the end of a long agenda, once again - in spite of requests to split the agenda to allow more time for issues that have aroused strong pubic feelings. At the last hearing on Shooters, on Oct. 20, many people, including the media, left before the public comment period began. Since decisions about Shooters will shape the city for generations to come, we hope you will think of your presence at the hearing as an early holiday gift - to the city's future! The Working Waterfront Alliance will be there to express their concerns, and we need to be there too.

            The Waterfront Plan and Shooters: The CPC is now considering the Planning Dept's Waterfront Plan (following the June '08 waterfront charette), which would allow 8-story condos at Shooters, just as the Neighborhood Plan does (following the May '08 College Hill/Fox Pt/Wayland Sq charette).

Thank you so much for the heart-felt emails you sent - 75 of them! - to the Planning Dept in October supporting a public destination at Shooters and opposing hi-rise condos there. Though the CPC approved the Neighborhood Plan for 8-story condos at Shooters anyway, it was important to get our views on the record. After the CPC approves all the plans growing out of charettes, it will consider zoning changes, which also require City Council approval. We will have a chance then to propose rezoning the Shooters area south of 195 as a public destination.

The Head of the Bay Gateway group has submitted the attached statement to the CPC, and is continuing to develop a public destination plan for the Shooters site, which would include a restaurant, excursion boat operation, marina, transportation hub for ferries, trolleys, bike path, etc., and function space for markets, festivals, weddings, etc.  (See attached fact sheet.) A Bay excursion boat company projects running 200 trips there carrying 20,000 passengers over nine months of the year.

     OUR CONCERNS:

-- The CPC is obstructing full citizen participation of these crucial planning decisions by    

         again putting them at the end of a long agenda, which inhibits robust public input. As    

         Mayor Cicilline said when he announced the neighborhood planning process in February   

         2006: "It is important that the process be something that people feel good about and can 

         participate in fully and be listened to carefully."

-- The Waterfront Plan ignores the economic development that tourism at Shooters could

         bring to the city and state, at a time when we desperately need it. Specifically:

     THE WATERFRONT PLAN (See link below.):

n       omits tourism as one of its waterfront goals (p. 27) - in spite of the fact that not one of the many recent travel articles about Providence in national publications (Wall St. Journal, Travel & Leisure, etc.) mentions the city's location at the head of Narragansett Bay as an attraction for visitors. Most cities would give their eye teeth for such a waterfront location. 

n       ignores the economic development, tourism appeal, and "buzz" that a public attraction at Shooters' highly visible, accessible, strategic location would bring to the city and the state. (For a larger scale example, Chicago's Millennium Park has resulted in four million more visitors a year, $190 million in visitor spending, and $100/sq ft in increased property values over a 30 block area inland of the Park.)

n       supports residences up to 8 stories at the Shooters site, which would

-- obstruct the best water views down the Bay from the city. Eight stories would be nearly three 

       times taller than the existing three-story building (p 34)

-- be located outside the hurricane barrier along the Providence River where "the highest flood 

       levels in the state" have occurred (Prov. Comprehensive Plan, pp. 146-7)

       -- inhibit full use of a public destination at Shooters. As two city consultants point out, residential

       development "limits the diversity of waterfront uses" and encourages "'privatization' of the  

       waterfront" (Project for Public Spaces, 4/09; Ninigret Partners, 10/08) 

n       dismisses broad public support for a public destination without hi-rise condos at Shooters, with the phrase, "While there has been some backlash against residential use..." (p. 35). In fact, the "backlash" has been more like a tidal wave of public opinion as expressed by more than  400 participants at planning charettes and other forums, 750 people (89% of respondents) in a Prov. Business News poll, and  more than 125 letters from city and statewide groups, neighborhood associations, local businesses, elected officials, and 75 concerned citizens.

Link to Waterfront Plan: 

 ftp://providenceplanning.org/Neighborhood%20Plans/Waterfront/Waterfront%20Plan%20Report_LoRes.pdf

            We hope to see you tomorrow! For more information, contact info@headofthebaygateway.org.