Peace Dale has no convenience store, no ATM, no streetlights in the main commercial area and no post office, but if Rhode Island Housing’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program is successful, a lot of these things could change.
Over the summer, residents gathered, as they will for the next few months, to discuss what they think their town needs most. Peace Dale is one of the eight communities to receive a portion of the $400,000 handed out by Rhode Island Housing to help communities create five-year plans addressing jobs, economic development and other issues they deem in need of change. Peace Dale received a $48,000 planning grant for the program.
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The other communities that will receive grant funding are Central Falls, North Kingstown, Pawtucket, Providence, South Kingstown, Cranston and Woonsocket.
Linda Ozga is a project consultant for South County Community Actions and active in the Peace Dale revitalization. She said listening to the residents has been very helpful in the beginning stages of the project.
“As far as where we are going and where we want to be I don’t have the answers,” she said. “The people of Peace Dale have the answers.”
“I’m going to use the community as editors of my draft plan,” she said.
What Peace Dale needs most is beautification, according to a survey Ozga organized.
Shirley Page, the chairperson for the steering committee for the five-year revitalization plan and sales associate for Hallberg Realtors, said this is an idea whose time has come.
“My experience in Peace Dale is only 16 years, but it’s needed it (beautification) ever since I’ve lived here,” she said.
There is a large dirt parking lot across from PJ’s Pizza, where owner Peter Tsagaroulis suggested this beautification could start. PJ’s and the dirt lot are located on Kingstown Road, which bisects the main commercial district of Peace Dale.
Several years ago the Peace Dale post office closed down and merged with the Wakefield post office, and the town lost its zip code. Page said reclaiming a zip code is not part of the revitalization, but being more self-sufficient is.
“This grant money has certainly brought more attention to the area as its own,” she said. “It’s definitely an area that should be defined as its own entity but over the years it probably lost some of its boundaries as a result of some of these things.”
Page also noted that Peace Dale has no Laundromat.
“It would save a lot of people that spot a trip to Wakefield,” she said. “The idea of this whole program is to preserve the historical factor while entertaining modern conveniences.”
Ozga agreed.
“The number one business that residents I’ve talked to wanted was a market, and ideally one that has an ATM or a post office,” she said. “I don’t know one person that asked, ‘why can’t we get a McDonalds?'”
Adolf “Frank” Wolcheski, proprietor of Frank’s Barber Shop said more area businesses would boost his business.
“The more the merrier,” he said.
Julie Marzilli owns Amici Salon and Wellness Center, located right down the street from PJ’s. Marzilli, agreed there should be more activity in the area.
“I just wish there was something else open in the evening and people were more comfortable coming here then, but it’s just not a main walking area like Wakefield is. People need more than one business to pop into at night,” she said.
Tsagaroulis said he has done as much as he can to help advance the revitalization program.
“I’ve been doing a lot of screaming and yelling so far,” said Tsagaroulis, whose business is one of the few in the area that are open in the evening.
Tsagaroulis said streetlights would be one way of improving the area’s evening atmosphere. Anything to place more emphasis on the commercial area would be helpful, he said.
“The thing that attracted me to Peace Dale was the price of the real estate and the potential of this area,” he said. “It’s just beautiful.”
“As long as we stay with it, things can change,” said Tsagaroulis. “Persistence is the name of the game.”
