A few thoughts as we digest our turkey and gear up for the serious holiday
shopping season…
It’s time to embrace the idea of our colleges and universities being major
players in the downtown Providence landscape.
In recent weeks, the college crowd has made headlines for underage drinking
at downtown bars. It’s a serious issue and one that police are aggressively
addressing. The rowdy behavior – and the more dangerous issue of drunken driving
that is linked to it – is not a good thing for downtown. But it is a correctable
problem. Strict fines – for both the bar owners and the students – would go
a long way.
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Nightclubs and bars run on tight margins. A $1,000 fine, for example, is bound
to get security efforts up to speed. And I imagine the same fine on a student
would make them think twice about putting themselves and others at risk.
But the recent negative publicity should not overshadow the enormous positive
impact that colleges and universities are having downtown.
For years, city officials have been slow to embrace the colleges. So much
of the property they occupy is off the tax rolls and they are certainly a burden
on police and emergency services.
But at least a part of that issue was addressed this spring when Providence
Mayor David Cicilline reached an agreement with the four private colleges residing
in the capital city – Brown University, Johnson & Wales University, the
Rhode Island School of Design and Providence College – in which they agreed
to voluntarily contribute $3.8 million to the city in fiscal year 2003 and nearly
$50 million over a 20-year period.
More recently, we have seen examples of Brown and RISD stepping down from
College Hill and solidifying their presence downtown. RISD is moving forward
with ambitious plans to house at least 500 students in 10 floors of the old
Rhode Island Hospital Trust building at 15 Westminster St.
RISD is leasing the space from the Gilbane Building Company. What it means
for the city is a large dose of 24-hour activity for a downtown that in too
many instances shuts out its lights after 5 p.m.
In the Jewelry District, Brown Medical School has become more aggressive in
occupying formerly vacant spaces, turning the area into one of the fastest growing
throughout downtown.
With the Route 195 relocation project picking up speed, downtown is about
to get bigger. And with more investment from our colleges and universities –
downtown will not only be bigger, but better.
A well-deserved recognition
I have had a note in my calendar to call the folks at Dorcas Place
– the adult and family literacy center in Providence – for far too long. They
do wonderful things there and I plan to visit soon.
This brief mention doesn’t begin to tell the Dorcas Place story, but I wanted
to pass along the news that they have been honored by the New England Literacy
Resource Center for an innovative workplace literacy program.
Nine programs “dedicated to the advancement of adult literacy and college
transition for New England’s under-served populations” were honored at the second
annual “Effective Transitions in Adult Education” conference in New Hampshire.
Dorcas Place was recognized for its mission to assist low-income adults realizing
their full potential through literacy, employment, advocacy and community involvement.
“More than ever, education is the key to obtaining good jobs that pay a decent
wage,” said Silja Kallenback, director of the New England Literacy Resource
Center. “We know from research that parents’ literacy practices are directly
related to their children’s school achievement. Adult education plays an important
role in helping adults become informed, active community members.”
Dorcas Place does just that – and so much more.
Fish from far away
Is there such a thing as “fresh seafood?”
James Anderson, professor and chairman of the University of Rhode Island’s
Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, has published a
book entitled “The International Seafood Trade.” In it, he discusses in detail
the globalization of the fishing industry.
For example, would you guess that bay scallops, traditionally from New England,
today are primarily raised in China, according to Anderson. And, he reports,
nearly 90 percent of all shrimp, the No. 1 seafood consumed in the United States,
is now imported from farms in Thailand, India, Vietnam, Ecuador and China.
“The globalization of the fishing industry and the decline of many fish populations
in U.S. waters has meant that the fish we eat no longer comes from where it
once came from … it now comes to us from around the globe, from southern Chile
to northern Russia to tiny islands in the most remote places on the planet,”
said Anderson.
Anderson’s research illustrates a fascinating link between economics – and
appetites.
“When we shut down our fisheries here, our consumption of fish doesn’t go
down,” he said. “We just get it elsewhere. What has happened is that fish are
generally flowing from the developing countries to the developed countries.
And the future of these developing countries depends on their ability to harvest
their resources smartly and sell them profitably to the rich countries.”
