Central Falls, a battered city that eyes economic development, job infusion

Amid his recommendations that the state take over the jail in Central Falls and that Pawtucket annex the troubled city itself, the man appointed to fix Central Falls’ massive budget problems touched upon another piece of the solution that seems equally difficult to achieve:
Economic development.
In his report last month on Central Falls’ fiscal straits, retired Superior Court judge Mark A. Pfeiffer criticized the city’s previous economic-development efforts, saying no one at City Hall had direct authority over those types of activities. Now Pfeiffer, appointed as the city’s receiver in July 2010, says this year he will designate an office in City Hall with the responsibilities of developing business within the city that covers roughly 1 square mile.
“The city must become more proactive in identifying and implementing additional economic-development initiatives,” Pfeiffer said.
But drumming up business interest in Central Falls is a task that even the most optimistic boosters of the city acknowledge has grown much more difficult since local leaders declared the city nearly insolvent last year.
After Pfeiffer was appointed to run the city in July – demoting elected officials to advisory roles – public employee unions agreed to concessions that saved the city more than $900,000. But, with state approval, the receiver also hiked property tax rates far above the 4.5 percent cap set by law.
Uncertainty looms over how future deficits will be resolved.
Robert Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, said his group continues to move forward with projects in Central Falls, including refurbishing storefronts along Broad Street, one of two main commercial corridors through the city. But, he added, “Some people look at the situation and are running in the opposite direction.”
Still, Billington and other local officials point to several potential economy-boosting projects on the horizon, including the push to add a commuter rail stop in Pawtucket near the Central Falls border.
Thomas Mann, director of The Pawtucket Foundation, a nonprofit that has led the charge, said such a stop would provide a shot in the arm to redevelopment projects in area. That includes the former Conant Thread Co. mill, an unused but sprawling complex, part of which is in Central Falls.
“A train stop could catalyze that site,” Mann said. To be sure, economic development alone won’t lift Central Falls out of its hole. The city, which has an annual budget of about $16 million, is facing a $2.1 million shortfall this year, and deficits totaling $25.9 million over the following five years, according to Pfeiffer.
Cuts in state aid and the lack of annual payments from the privately owned Wyatt Detention Center exacerbated the fiscal troubles, but Pfeiffer also blames labor contracts and pension benefits that the city is struggling to afford.
His report suggested severe remedies, ranging from changing how those contracts and benefits are handled by the municipality to regionalization of various services or merging with nearby Pawtucket.
Additionally, the R.I. Economic Development Corporation has drafted an economic-recovery plan – at Pfeiffer’s request – and is expected to work with the city and other agencies to put it into action, the receiver said.
Yet attracting businesses to Central Falls – or even keeping existing ones in place – could be a vital part of a sustained recovery with the infusion of tax dollars and jobs acting as a salve for the city’s battered condition, which includes a 14.2 percent unemployment rate as of November.
Central Falls was once a vital part of the American Industrial Revolution. But like so many other New England industrial centers, the manufacturing powerhouse fell on hard times decades ago when companies started pulling out in search of cheaper labor in the South, then overseas, leaving blight behind.
The companies have continued to disappear in the new century.
EDC statistics show that the number of businesses Central Falls has declined from 246 in 2002 to 225 seven years later, including the net loss of 12 manufacturers.
During the same period, the number of private-sector jobs available in the city shrank by one-third to 1,946. Manufacturing jobs alone were cut in half to 600.
With those economic conditions in mind, the state established the entire city as an enterprise zone in 1992, a special designation that allows businesses to take advantage of tax credits for creating jobs.
EDC oversees the program, but referred questions about it to Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee’s office last week. The Chafee administration did not immediately respond to requests for information on the Central Falls special economic district. At one time, Cumberland-based New England Economic Development Services Inc. managed the city’s enterprise zone program, but was dropped about five years ago in a cost-cutting move.
Scott A. Gibbs, president of NEEDS, said the short-term savings likely did more economic damage in the long run.
“The economic-development business is both an information business and it’s a heavy customer service business,’ Gibbs said. “It’s labor intensive. If you don’t have somebody managing your clients, adding real value to your clients, you can’t be effective in this business.”
In an e-mailed statement, Pfeiffer said he is moving to change that. He plans to appoint a current city employee as the contact person at City Hall to “coordinate and oversee economic-development efforts” by the end of 2011.
The EDC says the city should take things further.
As part of its economic-development recovery plan for Central Falls, the EDC recommended that the city establish a redevelopment agency that would analyze economic conditions in certain neighborhoods, identify promising industries and sectors and find funding sources.
Central Falls should develop a business-improvement district to coordinate marketing efforts and also partner with The Pawtucket Foundation to “brand” Broad Street in both cities, the EDC said.
There have been some encouraging signs. In addition to revitalizing Broad Street storefronts and the prospect of commuter rail, locals point to recent projects converting some mill buildings on Roosevelt Avenue into apartments and condos.
Then there’s the William Wheat Chocolate Mill proposal.
A nonprofit backed by members of the family that owns confectionery giant Mars Inc. wants to construct a replica of an 1800s mill on the Blackstone at a Central Falls site believed to be the first chocolate mill in the country.
The group envisions the site being a companion to the historic Slater Mill in Pawtucket, running tours and selling chocolate.
But Central Falls’ current state is threatening the plan even before it gains momentum. Cheerleaders such as Billington aren’t giving up yet.
“They’re saying, ‘Do we really need to be there?’ ” Billington said. “But our job is to keep the morale up, keep the progress going, against all odds.”
“If there’s any city in America that needs an opportunity, it’s Central Falls,” he added. •