With a clear goal in mind, Trinity Brewhouse owner Joshua Miller has taken the helm of the Downtown Providence Merchants Association (DPMA).
“We want it (downtown) to be as attractive — or more attractive — as any other part of Providence, including the mall,” Miller said. “That’s my vision about what we’re trying to accomplish.”
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Miller has replaced Paul Brooks, who stepped down as president of the organization because his downtown gift store, Chasen’s, will be closing in May.
Miller will serve until the next president is elected in the fall.
The DPMA has been around for a while, but Miller said the group has become more active in the last three years.
“I think the mall was a big catalyst for the downtown merchants to get organized,” he said.
While the DPMA evolved from retailers, Miller said it has since expanded to about 50 members, including many non-retailers with an interest in downtown like the Rhode Island Transit Authority (RIPTA), Keep Providence Beautiful/Groundwork and local churches.
Miller’s first official action as president was to appoint standing committees to follow through on the three issues that tend to dominate the group’s discussions month after month.
“People come in every month very frustrated with issues of parking, lighting and security,” he said. “That’s why I formed those committees.”
The first 15 minutes of every meeting will be dedicated to reports from the standing committees. Miller hopes this will give the group time to discuss the new issues that arise.
“It’s not belittling issues, it’s bringing them to a different level,” said Miller.
The group tries to get a different visitor to attend every meeting, such as RIPTA General Manager Beverly Scott and Providence Chief of Police Colonel Richard T. Sullivan. Miller said that getting key figures to a meeting is a good way to open up issues for discussion.
When Colonel Sullivan visited the group’s March meeting, “a lot of the things we saw as problems, he saw as problems,” Miller said. “He has recognized that there are problems unique to downtown.”
The group’s most recent (April 12) meeting outlined the expectations for each new standing committee.
The lighting committee will research and map every streetlight downtown, learning the rules and regulations of bulb replacement and which electric company to call to do so. The lighting on Fountain Street, it was pointed out, has already been improved with the replacement of burned out bulbs.
The parking committee will look into ways of advertising that shoppers may park downtown free of charge on weekends and after 4:00 p.m. on weekdays.
The safety committee will look at the logistics of implementing a network of cell phones – a type of neighborhood watch – to link merchants with security officers at Johnson & Wales University and the University of Rhode Island.
“There are so many eyes and ears downtown,” said Miller.
“Everybody here represents someone who’s seen something going wrong,” said Charles Meyers, owner of the Metropark garages downtown.
The eventual goal is for a complete security network downtown.
The meeting also featured City Council President John Lombardi as a guest.
“I want to be invited to every meeting,” he said. “I’m the City Council President, but a couple of blocks away, I’m also a business owner.”
Lombardi, who has his law office on Broadway, told the members he would help them in any way he could.
He suggested the DPMA get traffic engineers and community police officers to attend meetings to address concerns about lighting and security.
“They work for you,” said Lombardi.
Lombardi also said the group should reach out to the larger community.
“What’s the vision?” he said. “How are we going to help the artist community? How are we going to help the entertainment community? This is where the vision is going to come in. I look around this room, and I see clout. Use it.”
