What Representative Trillo should be supporting are the efforts expressed at a recent conference at Brown University about “building walkable communities.”
The conference dovetails efforts to revitalize Main Streets throughout this country, a program that several Rhode Island communities have embraced. The goal is to make Main Street USA a desirable place that attracts residents, who then frequent those small businesses that Trillo fears are being displaced by the mega stores.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
An attractive, safe and inviting Main Street can be the very best remedy for many of these businesses.
We were impressed that a hundred people attended this first walkable community program, hearing from Dan Burden, the founder of Walkable Communities, Inc., a Florida organization that is helping communities become more attractive to pedestrian traffic.
And we were equally impressed that this effort is being sponsored by and spearheaded by the state Department of Transportation, with the Department of Health as its partner. The DOT is now developing six focus groups to gather public input on how to make Rhode Island streets more walkable. The health department is offering grants of $10,000 to communities that develop programs to encourage safety and thus encourage pedestrian traffic.
These are the kinds of programs that create the atmosphere in which small business can not only survive, but thrive.
