It is a commonly expressed frustration – the little guy can’t make a difference. Distant power brokers seem to control the debate and the outcome.
But last month, the citizens of West Greenwich did make a difference, in numbers so overwhelming it’s easy to forget that it was each voter going to the poll that made it happen. By a 98-percent majority, the residents approved an $8 million bond issue to help The Nature Conservancy purchase and preserve 1,566 acres of forest.
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What’s so impressive about this action is not the self-imposed 20-year tax increase – unusual as that is – but the careful thought that went into that decision. The town studied what would happen if the land were developed – one piece of the three-parcel tract already had been approved for a 168-home plan – and it realized the stress on the town’s infrastructure would cost more than letting the forestland stand.
So residents chose to pay more up front to save down the road, and in the process, protect the character of their community.
Grow Smart Rhode Island and similar groups have been advocating for this kind of strategy for years. They believe Rhode Island can retain its special charm by concentrating development within existing urban cores and leaving its rural acreage untouched. It is a difficult choice to make in this age of sprawl, but one that will ultimately cost less and provide immeasurable benefits in quality of life.
So we say, bravo to West Greenwich, and ask, who’s next?
Twenty years strong and still counting
In the spring of 1986, Robert and Roger Bergenheim, father and son, decided it was time for Rhode Island to have a local, weekly business journal. And so Providence Business News was born.
Last Thursday, PBN celebrated its 20th birthday with a bash at Providence’s Federal Reserve surrounded by friends and supporters, readers all. It was only appropriate that we shared the evening with our readers, since you are why we work hard every week to report timely, incisive business news and information that helps you do battle every day.
Our only regret is that we could not invite all our readers, but we were afraid that if the party got too big, we wouldn’t be able to recover quickly enough to get out next week’s edition.
And speaking of the edition, we want to point you to a special section in this week’s PBN. It is a collection of the 20th Anniversary series that we have been running since Jan. 9 – a collection and review of the biggest stories of the last two decades.
We want to thank you for being our readers for the last 20 years, and we look forward to serving you for the next 20 and beyond.
