PROVIDENCE – The 2009 Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Legislative Luncheon took on a decidedly activist tone today, as the 650 business and political leaders who assembled at the R.I. Convention Center heard the legislative panelists talk about the need to stimulate job creation through a number of specific initiatives.
At the top of the list was the call from R.I. House Speaker William J. Murphy to “forget what the naysayers are saying” in reaction to plans to extend the runway at T.F. Green Airport.
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“Let’s build an airport,” the West Warwick Democrat said, adding that “when you buy a home near the airport, you are buying a home near an airport, just like when you buy a home in West Warwick, you are buying a home in West Warwick.”
The eight legislators, moderated by Providence Chamber President Laurie White, each answered one question apiece. Afterward, White asked Murphy and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, what they considered the single most important thing that could be done in the next 12 months. That is when Murphy pointed to the airport.
Paiva Weed would not commit to the airport expansion, but she did promise to work with the rest of the legislative leadership to solve the state’s problems. “The easiest thing to do this year is to vote no,” she said. “But at the end, we have to make responsible decisions.”
The event’s first speaker was Chamber Chair Edward J. Cooney, who set the tone for the event by saying that the business community was “eager to listen and … eager to be heard. The business community is eager to find solutions to help solve Rhode Island’s woes.”
Subsequently, the panel members replied to questions put to them by White:
• Paiva Weed said that “we need to have confidence in ourselves,” in response to White’s question about what could be done at the state level to create jobs.
• Murphy said that he did not know if the state would be able to avoid tax increases to help solve its budget woes.
• House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox noted that small changes can bring “major returns,” pointing to the opening of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics center at Rhode Island College.
• House Finance Committee Chair Steven M. Costantino wondered aloud why so many barriers to progress have been created, citing the long, arduous process that Lifespan and Care New England have had to pursue in trying to merge. And he called on the state’s academic institutions to step up and “infuse [themselves] in economic development.”
• And House Minority Leader Robert A. Watson – after his customary series of one-liners – praised the state’s controversial Global Medicaid Waiver as a template Rhode Island could use in its relations with municipalities, a model in which unfunded mandates are cut back and local government is given the option to innovate in meeting the needs of its citizens.
The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce is a business advocacy group that aims to foster a healthy business climate throughout Rhode Island through public policies, economic development and business-to-business relationships. Based in downtown Providence, it has more than 2,700 member businesses across the state. To learn more, visit www.ProvidenceChamber.com.
“When you buy a home near the airport, you are buying a home near an airport, just like when you buy a home in West Warwick, you are buying a home in West Warwick.”
Well, yes, Speaker Murphy. But there are more accurate comparisons.
For instance, iIf you buy a home near a river, you are buying a home near a river. But that doesn’t make it OK for somebody to build a dam and flood you out.