One strong message from the recent Power of Place Summit is the need to invest in the nation’s crumbling metropolitan infrastructure. The reason is simple – the vast majority of the country’s economic output is coming from metro regions.
Two investments for the Providence metro area that demand action came out of the summit. (READ MORE)
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The first was advanced by Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, who reiterated calls for a better mass transit system. It makes no sense to focus development efforts on the capital city when poor transportation planning and execution are a deterrent to progress.
The second came after Scott Wolf, the executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island, decried the suspension of the historic tax credit. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, also a summit participant, said development programs such as that tax credit would be resurrected at a future date when the state was beyond the budget crisis.
That promise, while well intentioned, is not good enough. A clear path to how the state will bring back one if its most successful development programs is needed now, before developers find another place to lavish with their attentions, and dollars. •
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