Five Questions With: Frank A. Ciccone III

FRANK A. CICCONE III is a Democratic R.I. state senator representing District 7, Providence and North Providence. / COURTESY STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
FRANK A. CICCONE III is a Democratic R.I. state senator representing District 7, Providence and North Providence. / COURTESY STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

(Updated, March 23, 10:35 a.m.)
State Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III, D-Providence, elected to office in November 2002, has lived in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Providence all his life. This week, he criticized Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza and city officials for a plan to shut the Plainfield Street ramps in Silver Lake on to the 6-10 Connector, as part of a transportation and bridge access redesign. He explained why he is opposed, in an interview with the Providence Business News.

PBN: Describe what has been closed and why it’s a concern to the businesses there.

CICCONE: Originally, they closed the off-ramp, which used to end on Plainfield Street. They made people go to the Hartford Avenue off-ramp, which is only a quarter of a mile away. That created a problem, because you put more traffic into the Hartford Avenue area, near the post office. In order to get back to Plainfield Street, you have to do a loop around the post office and come back onto Plainfield Street.

PBN: Do the businesses on Plainfield Street feel they are being damaged by this?

CICCONE: You have an Irving gas station that was built. I don’t think it was open three to four months before they closed the off-ramp. Now, if they close the on-ramp, he’s going to lose a lot of business. Then you have several different … restaurants. El Rancho Grande, El Chapin. And you have a small market. There are only a couple of different accesses to get on to that ramp. If you close that ramp, people coming from Johnston or Cranston, who come down Plainfield Street, they’re either going to have to divert Plainfield to Killingly to Hartford Ave., on the Johnston line, or they’re going to have to go over to Union Avenue.

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PBN: The city is trying to create more land that can be developed, which will be freed up by closing off these access points. Did the local officials talk with you about the plan?

CICCONE: They came to a meeting and talked about a bike path, and connecting the neighborhoods … and never discussed what the development of the land would be. My question for the [planning director, Bonnie Nickerson] … was do you know how many pieces of abandoned property the city now has? Would you believe … it’s over 600 pieces? It’s citywide. Can you tell me what you’ve done with those 600 parcels? Nothing.

PBN: Do you think the plan for redeveloping the new land, into something more attractive to the tax base, is not worth the damage to the local businesses?

CICCONE: [Elorza] can’t take care of the property the city has now, with keeping it clean, keeping the graffiti off it. And now they want more property for what? They’ve got 600 pieces.

PBN: Has the closure of the on-ramp, heading out of the city, already created traffic?

CICCONE: It’s created more traffic into Olneyville. There are two studies [that should] have been done, an environmental justice study and an economic impact study. They should have done them prior to making a decision on closing anything.

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