Archive for the 'Urban Issues' Category

ResNet 2009: The Rest of It

Published on July 6, 2009 in Beer, Food, Fun Stuff, ResNet, Transit, Urban Issues and Walkability. 5 Comments

This post may end up long, but I’m bunching a whole bunch of topics into this single post.

ResNet is about a whole lot more than simply attending presentations and dealing with work-related stuff. It’s about making connections, meeting new people, seeing old friends. It’s about volunteering and helping out. This post covers the stuff that the other 2 didn’t. It covers all the stuff that happens at ResNet that happens outside the actual conference.

I’ll start by saying how ResNet is one big family. Everyone is friends at ResNet. If you weren’t friends with people there, you most certainly are now. I met up with some people I had met over the past 5 years of being part of this great organization. I also made some new friends.

I’ll admit it. The stuff that happens outside the conference can get a little crazy. As someone once described it, it’s like a bunch of college IT folks pretending we’re in college again. That is true to a certain degree, though usually things don’t get quite as crazy as they may have when we were in college. So to complete this thought, some beer is involved. And since beer is involved, I have to comment on the local beer I got to try.

The best of the local stuff was most definitely from Surly. I was able to drink the Furious and Bender on tap. Bender is described as a brown ale, but I’d call it more of a porter. It’s a very tasty beer. Furious is one of the best and most balanced IPAs I have ever tried. I brought some Bender, Coffee Bender, and Bitter Brewer back with me. I also got to drink some Summit, though it was only the Extra Pale Ale, which is just a pale ale. It was good, but got boring after a while. I tried some Schell’s, but I don’t remember what it was. It was pretty pale, but still pretty good. I think it was an adjunct lager of some sort. I also tried a couple New Belgium – the 1554, Mighty Arrow, and Fat Tire. The 1554 was very good. The other 2 weren’t anything special. I stuck mainly with Surly for most of the trip. Needless to say, if you’re in Minnesota, drink as much Surly as you can. The stuff is awesome.

One of the evenings brought about some shots of Jagermeister. Now, I’ll admit it. I love Jagermeister. I haven’t had the stuff since college. I’m also not one to normally do shots of anything. This was a fun way to end a night (after the lights in the bar came back on). In fact, the waitress even did a shot with us.

We tried a couple different bars in town. St. Cloud is a small place with not much to do but drink it seems. In fact, I counted no less than 3 shops selling bongs and other smoking devices along the main strip downtown. There were also a ton of bars. The first bar we tried was MC’s Dugout. It was a strange place where beer was not the drink of choice by most of the locals. In fact, they were all (including the bearded, pierced, tattooed, burly men) drinking what I would call “girly” drinks. They were pink and orange in color and served in curvaceous glasses. I later learned that those drinks are pretty high in alcohol and called a Hairy Buffalo. The second bar was The White Horse. This place had the best beer selection in town. The problem was that it didn’t seem to have any air conditioning. We were literally sweating just sitting there. The live music that was ridiculously loud didn’t help either. I would have loved to stay at this bar, but the atmosphere just wasn’t conducive to a bunch of people wanting to drink and chat. We ended up at the bar where we would return a few times, Tavern on Germain (aka The Tav). It provided us with lots of great beer (they had Surly on tap, which was all I needed) and a great jukebox (all I have to say is there was a biting incident while Weird Al’s “White and Nerdy” was playing). We were all worried about being on a dry campus, but the downtown area wasn’t far and the beer flowed like the Mississippi in town.

The town is pretty small, but it’s nicely setup in a grid (at least the downtown and surrounding areas are). It’s pretty walkable, but if you didn’t want to walk, there’s regular bus service (though I didn’t try it). It was about a 10-15 minute walk from the campus to the downtown area. Part of the problem was that the main road through town was under construction and you couldn’t easily get across it. The downtown area is pretty small, confined to a 5-6 block strip that’s only a couple blocks wide. Towards the outskirts, it looks like most suburbs with lots of strip malls and parking lots.

On the half day, I went to the Mall of America with a bunch of people. All I’ll say about that is that it’s a mall, just a really big mall. The only thing that sets it apart from any other mall is the amusement park in the middle, complete with roller coasters. The outside is about as inviting as any other suburban mall and the mall part has the same stuff, just more of it. It had some extra sit down type restaurants, but besides that, it’s still a mall.

While there, I did get to try some of the local cuisine. We ate at a Thai restaurant downtown one night. I enjoyed my meal and the waitress was really nice. It’s called Sawadtee (I found it amusing because we have one in Providence called Sawaddee). We also had some local foods. One of the lunches in the cafeteria had a dish known locally as Tater Tot Hot Dish. It’s a casserole with some kind of meat, some gravy, some peas and corn (maybe carrots, too) and tater tots. It was interesting and pretty enjoyable. We also had pickles-on-a-stick, which were really good. Apparently, they have lots of food on a stick in the Midwest. The last of the Midwestern food I had was at the airport. I tried some fried cheese curds, which were a lot like mozzarella sticks, just not as stringy.

This ends my reporting on this year’s ResNet Symposium. It was a lot of fun and I learned a whole lot and made lots of new friends. I can’t wait to see everyone next year in Bellingham, WA.

Hot’lanta!

Published on May 29, 2009 in Beer, Travel and Urban Issues. Closed

Susan and I visited my cousin in the Atlanta area for an extended Memorial Day weekend. It was a ton of fun, but here are some of the highlights and thoughts on some of the urban issues down there.

The first day, we had to pick up my cousin at the airport at 10pm. He gave us his car to use for the day so we spent it in Atlanta (he actually lives about 20 miles north). Our first stop was lunch because we were starving. We went to The Underground and ate at The Irish Bred. The food was tasty and I got a Sweetwater 420 on tap there. It was a great start to a vacation. From there, we wandered around The Underground, which is basically a street underground that was turned into a mall, but it’s mostly independent stores, which is nice. It’s a neat spot, but nothing overly special, especially on a rainy Thursday afternoon when there’s nothing going on.

After leaving The Underground, we headed over to Sweetwater for the tour and tasting, which started at 5:30. Not being from the area, we didn’t know what to expect, but it was nothing like a northeast brewery. They literally don’t do anything until 5:30. So we sat in our car in their parking lot. When we got out, they had setup a tent and tables at the end of their driveway and there was already a line forming. All total, there were probably about 300 people there, mostly for the cheap beer. They charge you $7 for a glass or gave a free plastic cup that was small and you got 6 drink tickets for 6 tastings (2 tickets for a higher gravity beer). They claimed they limit the pours, but they don’t really. I got about 3/4 of a pint each time even though it was supposed to be 5.5 ounces. The tasting part was kind of like a frat party. The tour was cool, though the tour guide was a bit odd. She seemed to be a little beer snobby. It would have been nice if it was a brewer. They had a cool painted tank (pic to follow) for their experimental stuff and they had some barrels with sour and wild beers (pics to follow). It was nice to learn that they bought a large building next door. I’m hoping they’ll expand distribution. They make some great beers. I’d love to see them in New England. My favorites were Happy Ending (a great imperial stout) and their IPA.

We immediately left and headed to Atlanta Brewing Co., the brewers of the Red Brick beers. This was a much smaller group. Similar deal on the tasting, though you only got 4 each (which was fine for us since I was driving). Same deal with the size of the pours, though they were offering half a pint, but I still got almost a full pint. The tour was much smaller and more intimate and a little more informative. They have a lot of room to expand in their space, but they aren’t producing anywhere near as much beer as Sweetwater (they said they’re at 10-15,000 bbl per year while Sweetwater is at 80,000 bbl per year). Their brown ale is awesome. It has a nice roasted flavor with a hint of coffee.

Following the tour, we headed to Green’s Package Store to buy some beer to bring home and then to the Porter Beer Bar for dinner before picking up my cousin. The Porter Beer Bar is a must visit place for beer lovers in Atlanta. The waitstaff was great, the space is very unique (long and narrow, but very comfortable), and the food and beer selection is awesome. I had a Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale (Bell’s had only been available in Georgia for about 2 weeks when we arrived) with my brats and kraut, and Susan had the shrimp and grits.

The next day for lunch, we went to Five Seasons brewpub. It’s a chain, but the beer and food were good. The beer is nothing to seriously seek out, but it’s definitely worth trying if you’re near one. I had their pale ale, which tasted a bit grainy, but was still tasty. My wife had their stout, which was very good. The food was excellent. Their onion rings are the size of small donuts. The thing that surprised me is that they had a menu of aged bottled beers (their own) available. I have never seen that in a brewpub.

We headed to Athens on Saturday for the day. Our first stop was lunch at Trappeze. Everything here was very good. They had a great selection of beer. I got a Bell’s Expedition Stout, which was on the house because I only got 1/2 to 3/4 of a pour as it was the end of the keg. They had an extensive beer menu, which was all craft and looked incredible. Unfortunately, I didn’t want to drink a whole lot so early in the day. Athens is a pretty cool little city. It’s the location of the University of Georgia, which is big, making it a college town. It was very much like New Haven or Burlington. It’s very artsy with a big music scene (after all, REM hails from Athens). After wandering around for a bit, we stopped at the Mellow Mushroom for some beer and let the women check out some clothing stores and try to get my cousin’s kid to take a nap. They had a pretty impressive beer selection for a chain pizza place. I got some good local beers there. Finally, we ended up at the Last Resort for dinner. None of us were overly impressed by it, but it did seem popular. They had a great sweet tea and my trout was really tasty.

While in Athens, we all visited the Terrapin brewery. This was the same deal as the others. You buy a glass and get so many drink tickets. This place gave out 8 drink tickets, but only had 5 beers available. Terrapin makes some awesome beers. Their Rye Pale Ale and India Brown Ale were both awesome. They’re the one brewery I wish I brought back more beers from. The tour was very informative and given by their VP. They are looking to expand and I told him to consider RI. Hopefully, they will.

On Sunday, we went to Summits Wayside Tavern, which boasts the world’s largest selection of beer. How true that is, I have no idea, but they had something like 214 taps and even more beer in bottles (though I imagine some of that beer overlapped). I was not overly impressed other than when I looked at the bar. The wall of taps is pretty intimidating. A lot of the taps were not craft beer, though Susan and I did get some good beer. She had the Old Dominion Bourbon Barrel Stout and I had the Highland Oatmeal Porter (though they got mixed up and I ended up drinking hers and she mine). They were both tasty beers that I can’t get in New England. The restaurant is basically a family restaurant. The service was lackluster and the atmosphere was pretty low brow. I would have preferred a nicer restaurant with smaller beer selection, but it was worth going to once.

We then headed back to RI on Monday. We did eat at the Sam Adams Brewhouse in the Atlanta airport and saw that the Akron airport had a Great Lakes brewhouse in their terminal (didn’t get a chance to see if I could buy beer to bring back with me). All in all, it was a fun trip. We brought back almost a case of beer (Red Brick Brown Ale, Red Brick Double Chocolate Oatmeal Porter, Terrapin 90 Schelling, Terrapin Monk’s Revenge, Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout, New Belgium 1554, New Belgium Fat Tire, and Avery Brabant).

Urban issues: Atlanta was designed for driving. Highways are 6-7 lanes wide in 1 direction. Roads in the city were mostly 2-3 lanes wide. The city is filled with sprawl. It’s a new southern city. There are neat areas (5 Points is a cool neighborhood), but it’s a lot of sprawl. Athens, on the other hand, is a well designed city, though I didn’t notice any public transportation there, but it is walkable.

You got the mother and the kid…

Published on September 12, 2008 in Environmentalism, Providence, Transit and Urban Issues. Closed

… you got the guy and his date.

So sang the Violent Femmes back in the 1980s.  Well, I’ve been taking the bus to and from work for the past week or so.  I’ve been kind of anti-RIPTA in the past because it isn’t overly convenient for me.  However, with 4 new employees in our department and more people using our parking lot outside the building (because the faculty are still too lazy to walk across campus), I have to get up around the same time to get to work early and get a parking space.  So instead of driving, I’ve decided to take the bus.  I get on the 92 Green Line trolley with Susan (she takes it all the way to work) and get off at Kennedy Plaza and wait for the 55 Admiral St./Providence College bus that comes at 8:15.  It gets me right at the Huxley gate at 8:30.  In the past, I never got to work until like 8:35-8:40 (because I’m slow and lazy).  Now I get to work right on time.  The bus is quite relaxing.  I don’t have to deal with idiots on the road and I can just sit and watch the scenery go by on my way to work.  It also puts me downtown more often, which I’ve been wanting to do.  I now get to see the progress of the current projects down there.

There is a downside to the bus.  There’s nothing convenient to bring me back to Federal Hill at the end of the day.  I have to stay about 15 minutes late to get the bus at 4:47 or leave early around 4:20.  I stay late, it’s not bad and lets me get some more things done.  I get home a lot later than I used to.  When I drive and leave at 4:30 (or even 4:45 or closer to 5:00), I am always home no later than 5:10.  However, I now get home around 5:30.  Generally, I make the hike from Kennedy Plaza to Federal Hill.  The bus I would take is the 27 or 28.  They’re always over crowded and standing room only (and there are always way more people waiting).  So instead of waiting 5-10 minutes in Kennedy Plaza, I just walk.  It’s been good for my legs and weight.

I’m going to continue taking the bus until it snows.  It’s an easy and relaxing way to get to and from work.  I’m just tired earlier at night though.  I wake up about 45-60 minutes earlier because I need to get in the shower first (Susan wasn’t willing to change her schedule to accommodate my new mode of transportation).  I feel good doing something for the environment, and I’m saving us money at the same time.

Promoting Public Transit while Promoting Environmentalism

Published on July 31, 2008 in Environmentalism, Transit and Urban Issues. Closed

I came across this great idea while reading through some new blogs.  It’s an advertisement on the sides of buses that promotes the bus as an attack vehicle against global warming.  It’s a no brainer really.  A full bus, or even a train or streetcar, is using less energy per rider than a car, even if the car was a carpool of 4 people.  This means less emissions, less greenhouse gases, less cars on the road, and less noise pollution.  More people using public transit will also likely lead to governments (local, state, and federal) giving more funding for transit systems.  This would lead to better urban development and less suburban sprawl.  It would reduce our dependence on oil.  There are a ton of reasons why people should get out of their cars and onto the bus/train/streetcar.

ProJo got it right for once

Published on July 15, 2008 in Transit and Urban Issues. 2 Comments

The Providence Journal has a great editorial today about mass transit issues in Rhode Island.  RIPTA, the public transit system (buses) in the state, is going through a financial crisis, one seemingly worse than their annual crisis.  Unfortunately, the governor, Donald Carcieri, is basically a complete idiot and doesn’t really listen to anyone who actually lives in the state, with maybe the exception of the rich white folks in the suburbs who don’t give a crap about and don’t need public transit as they drive around in their SUVs.

RIPTA is now saying that they will likely need to cut some routes to save money because of high gas prices.  If the governor and the general assembly were smart, they’d allocate more money for RIPTA rather than depend solely on the guys in Washington to get us some money.  We pay a gas tax, but where does that go?  It’s most likely going right into the general fund.  Perhaps they should raise the gas tax and give all (or at least most, RIPTA does need the roads to be improved and the bridges to be repaired) of the money to RIPTA.

The longer I stay here, the more I understand just why the people in Rhode Island are so bitter.  The government goes ’round and ’round and never gets anything done.  They work for themselves and not for the people who elected them.  It’s actually pretty sad.  If you have ever even considered running for office in RI, please do.  We needs new bodies, not more of the same old corrupt politics that have brought this state into the problems that exist.  Dump the state employee unions, they’re great and all helping the people who belong to them, but the state employees aren’t really in too much danger of losing benefits of getting poor wages.  Force them to pay a higher percentage for their medical coverage and dental coverage, something more in line with what people in the private sector pay (something around 15-20%).  They’ll be all up in arms and the unions will threaten strikes, but stick to your guns.  Working for the state should not make you any more special than working in the private sector.  That’ll give the state more money to deal with the state budget crisis, prevent fewer cuts, and allow the state to give more money to RIPTA, even though Carcieri would probably love to see RIPTA stop running.  He won’t even give a boost to it by allowing the state colleges to have a U-Pass (a program that allows college students free or discounted bus rides by swiping their IDs).

Anyway, public transit is the way to go here.  There’s no reason RIPTA should have to reduce the number of routes and increase the headways so that the bus becomes basically unuseable for most people, especially those who rely on it to get to and from work.  If anything RIPTA should be increasing the number of routes and decreasing headways so that more people find it useful.

Why $4+ Gas is a Good Thing

Published on July 3, 2008 in Environmentalism, Transit, Urban Issues and Walkability. 2 Comments

Gas is expensive.  That’s a no brainer.  Most people are bemoaning the increased prices in gasoline and pushing the government to do something about it.  However, I don’t have a problem with expensive gas.  Now before you go and accuse me of being one of those people who doesn’t drive and takes public transportation or walks everywhere, that’s not me.  I drive to work everyday.  Yes, you read that right.  I live in the same city in which I work and I drive to work.  It’s about a mile and a half each way, but I drive.  Why do I drive?  Easy.  I’m lazy.  I don’t like mornings.  Driving gives me the opportunity to sleep a little later.  Why don’t I just take the bus you ask?  Another easy one.  The bus is not convenient in Providence unless you live downtown or live and work on the same bus route.  Susan takes the bus everyday for a couple reasons.  The first is that we live on the same bus route as the one that goes to Brown.  The second is that there’s a waiting list for a parking space at Brown, which would cost $400 per year and would likely be the same distance as if she walked halfway to work.  So long as she’s working at Brown, she will never drive to work.  If I could easily take the bus, I would.  But I can’t.  I don’t walk because I live and work on a hill, but there’s a valley in between and a 4 lane “super highway” is the only reasonable route to walk.  I also sweat a lot, and we have a ridiculous dress code at work (one that no other college I know of has).  Now that the PC gym charges, I can’t just stop there and take a shower at work.  It would take me about half an hour to walk to work, it would actually take me a little longer to take the bus.

Now, why is $4 (and rising) gas a good thing?  Because it forces people and the government (federal, state, and local) to rethink things.  Public transit ridership has increased greatly across the country.  People are moving closer to work.  More people are telecommuting when possible.  All this adds up to less pollution, less congestion on the roads, and less suburban sprawl.

With all of this, there is good reason for people to petition their local and state governments to increase public transportation options and increase the money they spend on public transportation.  Local governments should enforce good urban design and help create walkable neighborhoods.  There is no reason that the United States should not have a quality extensive, inexpensive railway network across the country connecting all the major cities.  People in Europe travel almost exclusively by train, public transportation, walking, or bicycles.  It all depends on how far they’re going.  There is no reason people in the United State shouldn’t be doing just that.  However, we do not have an extensive railway network.  We do not have the extensive public transportation options of Europe.  Aside from our major cities and some smaller village centers, we do not have walkable neighborhoods.  The 50′s and 60′s and the new “American Dream” of white pickett fences, expansive lawns, and large houses in the suburbs killed all of that.  We have taken cheap gas, something Europe has never seen, for granted.  We are now paying the price of the suburban dream.

Time has a great article called “10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas”.  It’s worth a read.  Maybe I’ll attempt to ride the bus to work sometime this summer.  If it’s not as bad as I expect it to be, perhaps I’ll do it all the time.  In the meantime, I’ll continue to drive.  I have stopped coming home for lunch to save some gas.

I heart New Haven

Published on April 18, 2008 in Transit, Urban Issues and Walkability. 3 Comments

I went to a little conference today at Yale University in New Haven, CT. I grew up in Branford, just outside New Haven. So I’m pretty familiar with the area. I spent Thursday night at my brother’s house and thought I’d take the train in to avoid parking fees and traffic. The nice thing is for a city of about 124k, there are decent mass transportation options (CT Transit bus, Dattco bus, Shoreline East commuter rail, Amtrak, and Metro-North). Heck, New Haven even has its own, albeit tiny, airport.

So I woke up this morning and went to the train station where I saw this cute sign warning of flooding. I was early so I had about a 15-20 minute wait for the Shoreline East train. However, about 10 minutes after the train should have come and gone, an announcement came saying that the train wasn’t coming and Amtrak would be making all the stops. Half an hour after the train was supposed to leave, Amtrak shows up. I make sure they’re going to stop at the State St. station when I get on. The conductor assured me they were. That was good. Approaching the station, however, they announced that Metro-North put them on a track not adjacent to the platform and they wouldn’t be stopping there. At least they never collected fares from us. I ended up at Union Station, making my walk to Yale more than double what it would’ve been. Luckily, today was absolutely beautiful. So that’s the mass transit horror story for the day, but it was worth it. The walk was nice and I wasn’t late.

Now, onto New Haven in general. Having grown up there, I have a certain affinity for New Haven. It’s a fine city that went through some rough times, but has pulled out of those. I can’t help but compare it to Providence. Unfortunately, there’s no comparison. Downtown New Haven is an urban delight. It’s very walkable, the development is very urban, it’s clean, and it’s super vibrant (though having Yale right downtown helps a bit with the vibrancy). I know Yale had a lot to do with this, but why isn’t Brown or RISD or Johnson & Wales or even Roger Williams and URI with their downtown campuses helping clean up downtown Providence? Why aren’t they helping in the development of downtown? Why isn’t Providence College cleaning up Elmhurst and Wanskuck? While Yale has a whole lot more resources than any of these RI colleges do on their own, together they could really move Providence in a positive direction. I mean, we have 5 colleges located fully within the city limits (URI and RWU are just satellite campuses, but counting those and CCRI, there are 8 colleges in Providence). New Haven has 4 (Yale, Southern CT State University, Albertus Magnus, and Gateway Community College).

New Haven has great signage for restaurants and shops. There are even pedestrian/driving signs telling you where the points of interest are. Street signs are abundant and even the “No Parking” signs are standing upright and are clearly visible and not faded. It’s amazing what all the little things add up to become. Downtown New Haven is not a whole lot bigger than downtown Providence. If you don’t count the Yale area (which would be like College Hill in Providence), then downtown is about the same size as downtown Providence (including the Jewelry District). Yet New Haven is clean and it feels safe all over downtown. The signs are inviting, the streets are lit at night. It feels like a much larger city, yet it has about 50,000 fewer people than Providence.

Being in the same class of cities, Providence should be looking to New Haven as a model of how to do things correctly. The new construction in the downtown area is all very urban. Granted, there’s that whole Long Wharf area that is not at all urban with Ikea’s massive parking lots, but downtown, and many of the other neighborhoods are very urban. The biggest issue in downtown New Haven is the massive parking lot that was once the New Haven Coliseum (aka Veterans Memorial Coliseum), but that would be considered business as usual in Providence.

Narragansett Hopes to Brew in RI

Published on February 6, 2008 in Beer, Providence and Urban Issues. Closed

According to Ian Donnis at The Phoenix‘s Not for Nothing blog, Narragansett Beer hopes to move their brewing operations back to Rhode Island later this year if their sales pick up during the first part of the year (being about a month in already, I wonder how they’re doing).

If sales of Narragansett Beer get off to a strong start in the first quarter of 2008, the brewing operation of the rejuvenated Rhode Island icon could return to the Ocean State in the final half of this year, says company president Mark Hellendrung.

I’m probably overly optimistic about it,” he says, hedging his bets a bit, although the budding beer baron can barely contain his enthusiasm in envisioning a local brewery operation, complete with a beer garden, where people could visit and sample the beer.

If this dream comes to fruition, it will be in Providence — probably on the West Side. “It’s kind of where our heartbeat is today,” Hellendrung says.

This would be HUGE for Providence and the state of Rhode Island. I am not sure where they’d move on the West Side. My guess would be one of the mill buildings (or perhaps they’ll take over the former Shaw’s location in Eagle Square). Regardless of where it is, it will be a great thing for the city. I would love it if they opened up a brewpub where they served pub food and had some experimental beer. I would love to see them expand their beer offerings. They already made it to the Top 25 American Beers in Beer Advocate magazine with their Lager, and their Bock is even better (I have yet to, and probably will never, try their Light beer). I’ve heard of people having a Narragansett Porter on tap at various places, but I’ve never seen it. That would probably be another good one.

Anyway, I am excited about this. It would make me one very happy person to see more beer being made in RI and to see it in Providence.

Narragansett Brewing Co.

Providence Grocery Store News

Published on November 30, 2007 in Providence and Urban Issues. Closed

There’s some new news on the grocery store front in Providence (ok, not entirely new, but I’ve been a bit busy to post much).  The old Valueland property on Smith Street in the Smith Hill neighborhood will become an ALDI Supermarket.  It’s a low cost chain, from Germany with very few stores in the United States.  This will be the first ALDI in Rhode Island and the 6th in New England.  The chain is building a distribution center in Connecticut to serve the needs of those stores and plan for future expansion in New England.  They also have plans for more locations in Rhode Island.  This is good news in a year when Shaws closed 2 stores in Providence.

Speaking of Shaws, the article in the Providence Journal that announced the new grocery store for Smith Hill also had a short blurb at the end saying that the Price Rite in Olneyville Square will be moving to the former Shaws location in Eagle Square.  I’m not sure how I feel about that as it still leaves an empty big box.  Also, the Shaws location is bigger than Price Rite.  So either they’re expanding or the location will be split into multiple units, something that was said would likely not happen.

In either case, this is good news for the people living around Eagle Square, bad news for the people that live near Olneyville Square, and great news for the people living in Smith Hill.  The Valueland property is going to be divided into 3 units.  A large one for ALDI, and 2 smaller ones.  The councilman for the area hopes to get a pharmacy and a bank in there, both things that the neighborhood lacks.

Smith Hill wants retail – UrbanPlanet

Grocery stores in Greater Providence – UrbanPlanet

Previously on RunawayJim.org:
The future of Eagle Square
Eagle Square grocery store meeting

New Parking Lot Opens in Downtown Providence

Published on November 15, 2007 in Providence and Urban Issues. Closed

The site where the former public safety complex once stood in LaSalle Square in Providence is now empty and the “temporary” parking lot is now open for business.  The building hailed by some as a historic building that should have been saved, and by others as an eyesore that wouldn’t be missed was demolished starting in August.  Regardless of what people thought of the building itself, most agreed that the building should remain until firm plans were in place to build anew, whether or not the plans included using the facade of the old building.

The Procaccianti Group, a developer from Cranston, decided that they would build a temporary parking lot while they finalize their plans for a building.  I don’t think this lot will be quite as temporary as some might think.  Temporary in Providence tends to mean permanent.

The most we can do is put pressure on the City Council and the Department of Planning and Development to put pressure on TPG to get a building up as soon as possible.

Discussion at UrbanPlanet