Two of the primary functions of government should be to provide a good education to its citizens and maintain modern, well-functioning infrastructure.
Two questions on November’s ballot go directly to those goals.
The first, Question 4, asks Rhode Island voters to approve a $125 million bond issuance to build a new College of Engineering building at the University of Rhode Island’s South Kingstown campus. The bond would be supported by an additional $20 million in fundraising by the school for equipment, furniture and scholarships.
If Rhode Island is to compete for the best students and faculty – which leads to a stronger economy – its state university should have a top-shelf facility. And recent faculty defections as well as feedback from local companies looking to employ URI grads indicate that is not the case today. As an investment in the Ocean State’s future, this bond should pass.
The second bond issue, Question 6, addresses the transportation-infrastructure needs of the state. Anyone who has been to Providence recently has seen the upheaval that the re-creation of Kennedy Plaza has caused, all in the name of improving its function as a public square and to upgrade public-transit options. The $35 million Question 6 bond would further that work and fund upgrades to mass-transit hubs across the state, especially around the badly in-need-of-repair Amtrak station in Providence. The state cannot hope to move forward without this investment, so it deserves to pass as well. •