It’s been another busy tourism
season in Newport, with the folk and jazz festivals, the Newport Music Festival,
induction ceremonies at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and of course
the mansions, restaurants and beaches.
One summer staple, however, has
been missing in the City by the Sea this year. There have been few, if any,
complaints about traffic congestion. And there has been little hue and cry regarding
public parking.
So what’s the difference?
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To a significant degree, one difference
has been an increase in the utilization of public transportation programs, specifically
a Park & Ride discount program at the Newport Gateway Center and RIPTA’s
trolley service.
We commend the Foundation for Newport
and The Preservation Society of Newport County for financing the expansion of
RIPTA trolley service along Bellevue Avenue. We also applaud the 10 businesses
and organizations that committed to a “Park & Ride Rewards” program, which
included free admission or gifts as incentives for visitors who use the trolley
to get around Newport.
Among the perks made possible through
the program were admission breaks at various mansions and historic sites and
all day parking at the Gateway Center for $1.
The results have been impressive.
The number of cars taking advantage
of the Park & Ride discount at the Gateway Center garage was up 50 percent
in June compared to the same month a year ago. Ridership on the RIPTA trolley
was up 24 percent.
This success points to the possibilities
that result from partnerships. It also illustrates an important message…that
is, public transportation works.
Heed RIPEC’s warning
The Rhode Island Public Expenditure
Council has panned the state’s FY 2003 budget.
This should serve as a wake-up call
to state legislators – and the five gubernatorial candidates — and remind them
that serious work needs to be done during the General Assembly’s next session
if the state is to turn itself in the right fiscal direction.
After examining the final state
budget signed into law by the governor, the RIPEC board noted that one decade
after Rhode Island’s worst fiscal emergency, the state “again may be witnessing
the fiscal health of the Ocean State unravel.”
RIPEC correctly points out that
Rhode Island’s current spending plan represents a “decisions deferred” approach
and relies too heavily on tax and fee increases and one-time tobacco settlement
proceeds.
The state budget, according to the
fiscal watchdog group, does not include enough specifics, regarding which state
programs need to be modified, or where personnel reductions could be made.
In short, the state budget seems
to raise more questions than it answers. We hope that the next governor and
the legislature will begin providing those answers in January.
Education bears brunt,
again
Just a month or so ago we lamented
the harsh state budget cuts that are forcing the elimination of programs, increased
fees and higher tuition at Rhode Island’s three state colleges. When pressed
to find answers to a budget shortfall, lawmakers took the easy way out and slashed
higher education spending. It is a shortsighted approach with dire long-term
consequences for the economy.
It is not at all comforting
to see that our neighbors in the Bay State are also in a fiscal mess and there
too, education is bearing the brunt of the pain.
As we report on page one of
this issue, state colleges in Southeastern Massachusetts are struggling to find
faculty – and funding.
An early retirement program instituted
by the state as part of its effort to bridge a budget shortfall is working.
Talented professors are leaving in droves. At the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth campus close to 60 faculty positions will go unfilled this fall. The
story is the same at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater and Bristol Community
College in Fall River.
This may be good news for the Bay
State’s bottom line, but it’s bad news for those students – many of them adults
returning to school to make themselves more marketable in today’s work force
– who may not find the classes they need this fall.
It’s time for our governments to
invest in education as a means to spur economic growth – not look at it as an
easy avenue for short-term savings.
