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I love Rhode Island. I grew up here and expect to spend my final days here. It is all about memories. I remember Salty Brine coming to St. Pius School back in the 1950s. I was in the crowd when U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy gave his address in front of Providence City Hall while
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Our state remains plagued with fiscal and policy mismanagement.COVID-19 has decimated Main Street around the state, and no community knows that better than Newport, where every single event was canceled this summer. Weddings, festivals, tennis and golf tournaments ... it was all canceled. As the shopworn statement goes, “You live by the sword, you die by the sword.” This is the story of Rhode Island. We depend on tourism to drive our economic engine. And now unemployment in Rhode Island is the second highest in the nation because of our high reliance on tourism. Candidly, I do not see this bouncing back quickly because of the negative impact that the pandemic has had on the discretionary income used by all of us for travel and entertainment. This is the Achilles’ heel for Rhode Island. When you heavily depend on one market segment, your economy is highly exposed. University of Rhode Island economist Leonard Lardaro has often stated that Rhode Island is the first state into a recession and the last state out of a recession. The current $10 billion state budget is in dire straits, and there are few income generators available to feed this insatiable beast. A sad state of affairs to be sure. Unless our leaders have the courage to develop a culture that is more business-friendly and welcoming, Rhode Island will never attract significant investment. The fragility of our economy cannot be overstated. Continuing to rely heavily on tourism to buoy our state’s economy is not a long-term solution to support the business community. While leadership has made all the promises to change over the last 10 to 15 years, little has been accomplished. Our state continues to rank at the bottom in the national rankings for business friendliness. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed our state’s weaknesses. The question remains on the table: what is leadership going to do about it? If history is an indicator, nothing will be done. Something to think about on Election Day. Significant changes are required, or many of us who truly love this state will be forced to move. Larry Girouard is founder and president of the business consulting firm The Business Avionix Co. LLC in Newport.
Sadly after the November election it will be the same as usual or worse. The primary showed more Progressives winning or gaining ground. Your article was insightful and hits the nail on the head. Running a business is difficult enough but in RI it is more difficult than anywhere else!
Yet another “business” guy blaming the state and government for it’s poor performance. The business climate in this state is not as bad as this individual wants to spin it. Taxes and regulations are way higher in business centers like New York, Boston, and San Francisco and yet jobs are created there. The real problem with our business climate is the lack of education attained by the vast majority of native Rhode Islanders. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to fill positions with local talent? You can’t. Of the last 12 high paying positions at my company filled within the last few years only 1 was a native Rhode Islander. ONE! The rest had to be recruited from out of state to move here. Stop blaming the government and regulations for a problem that the local workforce created.
“Unless our leaders have the courage to develop a culture that is more business-friendly and welcoming, Rhode Island will never attract significant investment. The fragility of our economy cannot be overstated. Continuing to rely heavily on tourism to buoy our state’s economy is not a long-term solution to support the business community.”
The two concepts stated here can co-exist and thrive off each other:
1) “…to develop a culture that is more business-friendly and welcoming…”
2) “…Continuing to rely heavily on tourism to buoy our state’s economy…”
One example would be to utilize the Tourism industry to drive attention to RI products and services.