Permitting process
Ask State Sen. Lou Raptakis, D-Coventry what he thinks the most pressing business issue is before the legislature, and he quietly unrolls a six-foot long document, a compilation of all the permits he is required to have to operate his pizza parlor. Ask Ed Berman, president of E.W. Berman the same question and he’ll tell you it’s the different rules for different cities, towns and state agencies to obtain permits to either conduct his business, or undertake a particular construction project.
While there is little dispute that the most pressing issue – business or otherwise – is health care, there is also little dispute that businesses for years have complained about the permitting process, on a variety of levels.
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Berman will tell you there are many inconsistencies from town to town, that there is enormous time wasted, money spent and energy expended trying to get through a process that he sometimes refers to as a “nightmare.” Raptakis agrees, particularly for a small business where, like so many small businessmen and women, he is literally the chief cook and bottle washer.
Berman says it’s not much better in other parts of New England, but points to some southern states that have established single clearinghouses, where a business person can go and have all his or her permit needs processed. He’s not talking about relaxing regulations, but rather streamlining the process.
We think a single clearinghouse, plus consistency in regulations and their application from town to town, would go a long way toward making the whole permitting process far more business friendly.
Addressing poverty
The General Assembly, the business community and everyone in Rhode Island needs to take seriously the recent report that shows a growing disparity between rich and poor in Rhode Island. Not so much because the rich are getting richer, but rather because the poor are getting poorer.
However, we’re not convinced that the solution lies in raising the minimum wage, providing tax credits that will create entry level jobs, or trying other symptomatic responses when none of these deal with the underlying systemic problems that lead to poverty.
The solutions are complex and go far beyond Rhode Island. In a global economy where lower paying jobs are being moved offshore for even lower wages, we are convinced this is an international issue.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t attempt programs that provide opportunities for the poor, improve neighborhoods, or develop programs that provide better housing and assure accessibility to our health care system.
We need to find ways to assure that the streets in our inner-city neighborhoods are clean and safe. We need to assure that after-school programs are staffed properly, recruit actively, and provide meaningful programs for neighborhood children who might otherwise find their activity on a street corner. We need to entice professionals and businesses to relocate to neighborhoods, possibly with tax incentives, so there are suitable role models for neighborhood youngsters and neighborhood economic development.
We need to invest in our education system, develop business-education partnerships, provide training for adults who have yet to transition to steady, full-time positions that offer not minimum wage as an end, but real opportunities for advancement.
We will never wipe out poverty, but we can make an effort to provide opportunities for those who have the will to seek a better life for themselves. As some politicians have recently suggested, there is no single solution, but we need to focus more on the programs that deal with the problem, rather than those that deal with the symptoms.
