For many Rhode Islanders, 2008 can be summed up in one word: survival. For much of the year the Ocean State was at or near the top of state unemployment rates. A numbing recession led to a steady increase in foreclosures. The problem only worsened amid a national credit crunch that also claimed some small businesses and left many others gasping for life.
It would be easy to chalk up 2008, which began and ended with gnawing state budget deficits, as a lost year. Yet there were pockets of prosperity and reasons for cautious optimism amid the financial carnage.
At Naval Station Newport, the business of training future naval officers is booming. The 2005 round of base realignments and closures left the Newport base sitting pretty. In February, Navy officials announced that at least $43 million in federally funded construction projects are on the way there. A $24 million training school is under construction.
Despite a general slowdown in building exacerbated by the credit crunch, at least three new condominium developments hit the downtown Providence market as planned.
What began as one of the year’s scariest financial stories, skyrocketing energy prices, ended with oil down about 70 percent from its peak. The price fluctuations only intensified the state’s search for renewable energy. In September, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri picked a New Jersey company to construct an offshore wind farm that could eventually generate 15 percent of the state’s electricity.
And what perhaps is most encouraging to struggling business owners heading into the new year, state leaders showed they were listening.
Though the General Assembly was in recess at the time, legislative leaders from both chambers made public tours of Rhode Island businesses to learn firsthand what they would need to not only survive, but thrive, in the coming years.
And in December, Carcieri unveiled an economic stimulus plan valued at $165 million that included loan pledges from local banks to small businesses. •
• Banking meltdown hits large, small local banks
• Changes coming to courts, government
• Downtown condos hit market; developers need to lease, too
• Iway takes shape; more changes to come
• Naval Station Newport sees building, training boom
• Zoning plans bring waterfront to boiling point
• Recession, credit crunch hit R.I. early and are expected to stick around
• Search for renewable energy intensified in 2008
• State again begins year awash in budgetary red ink, with deficit at $360M
• Tax-credit cut trims investment plans
• Tufts stirs up the health insurance market in R.I.
• Twin River gamble may not pay off, for its owner or R.I.
• Editorial: A year to remember and a year to forget
