In resurgent Downcity, a call for more collaboration

When Arnell Milhouse was a college student in Providence in the early 1990s, downtown was vacant and underappreciated. Since then, however, he has seen the area undergo a metamorphosis, and now he sees the potential for it to improve more to the benefit of business owners, residents and visitors.

PBN: What are the biggest issues downtown merchants face?
MILHOUSE: Getting the message out about the vast array of world-class offerings that downtown Providence provides. The perception is that Providence 2007 is the same as Providence 1990.

PBN: What do you see as the biggest change?
MILHOUSE: We have to go back a little further. There was the Outlet building, the Shepard building, and in the 1970s and early 1980s, it was thriving before the Outlet burned. So for a good 15 to 20 years, it was dormant; no one dared open a retail business downtown. …
So now the greatest difference is that when you walk down any of these streets, there are some remnants … of old downtown, but I hear it all the time from my customers, “Oh my God. I just took a walk down Fountain Street, Westminster, Dorrance, and I cannot believe all these businesses.” … And one thing that has exacerbated the issue has been, even though it’s welcomed, the Providence Place mall. People forgot that downtown was an option for shopping.
PBN: You say the mall is welcomed, but has it hurt downtown?
MILHOUSE: I say yes and no. When the mall arrived, there was not this retail shopping in mass in downtown. … So all the investment was in the mall, and for a long time, because the mall was there, it hurt downtown, because business owners and merchants would only look to the mall as an option to move into and do business in Providence. Then what really started happening is daring and risk-taking entrepreneurs, such as myself and many others, said “This is ridiculous, I don’t have to necessarily do business in the mall, because I know that if I create a great business that has great services and something the people want, they’ll tear my doors down to get to it.” And that’s what I’m experiencing currently.

PBN: How much have the retail offerings increased?
MILHOUSE: Forty new retail businesses in the last two years, and it’s ramping up.

PBN: What other issues is the DMA focused on?
MILHOUSE: Parking, parking, parking. The parking issue has started to be addressed. However, the lion’s share of the work lies ahead, for instance available metered spaces. It was a great victory a few years ago when the city went around and did a survey of all the existing metered spaces, and they found flowers growing out of those meters. So they replaced and brought in new meters. [But] there still aren’t enough metered spaces, especially when you take into account that there weren’t enough two years ago for shoppers. … And we need to make it more efficient and look back at the laws and signage that were built back in the 1980s. There were businesses in the 1980s that needed a loading zone … but now that business is gone, but the signs are still there.

PBN: Is paid parking considered part of the solution?
MILHOUSE: It is. However, what happens is … no one loves to pay for parking. It’s a mindset and it’s a perception – paying for parking is inherently evil in the eyes of consumers today. They see the parking lots, but they’re driving around praying and doing their rain dances … so it creates congestion, and it wastes time and potential sales.

PBN: How is all of this being addressed?
MILHOUSE: [The DMA and Providence Foundation] are putting forward a proposal to the mayor … to investigate a handful of initiatives that we can create and check off in the next six to 12 months. … And the City Council has brought a resolution to the mayor as well. …
Another issue being addressed is the zoning, licensing and contracting issues. Some business owners are having a really tough time getting their doors open, connecting the dots and knowing who to talk to. … Now the DMA and City Hall are looking to partner in the creation of a pamphlet, a step-by-step guide.

PBN: What other things need to be addressed?
MILHOUSE: There needs to be greater synergy among the vested groups in downtown. And that goes from City Hall to the City Council to the Providence Foundation and property owners.

PBN: You don’t feel there is a synergy now?
MILHOUSE: Each of these groups is autonomous … and that can lead to a lot of reinventing of the wheel and inefficiencies in operations. For instance with planning, by bringing more and more people together within the DMA and the DMA reaching out to other organizations, we’re finding mountains of information and plans that we didn’t know about but have a direct impact and bearing on a decision we’re going to make. And the other thing is trying to address the lack of unity, which is one of the toughest things that the DMA is going to tackle. … I believe downtown has to be known for it collaborative efforts among the various groups. If we don’t learn to collaborate, other cities are going to eat our lunch.

PBN: What do you expect Providence to look like in five years?
MILHOUSE: The demand is already there for new businesses, the demand for living, the demand for shopping. I know that my business is up. The demand is there so Providence is going to be two or three times what it is today easily. It’s going to become a community again, where people live, eat, shop, play, commune, worship, walk and just live it up.