Nearly eight months after the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission agreed to hold off trying to sell Parcel 35 so the R.I. Public Transit Authority could determine if it wanted the two-acre parcel for a transit hub, the status of the land and hub remains uncertain and transit advocates are getting frustrated with the lack of communication.
In February, the I-195 commission agreed to delay for seven months issuing a request for proposals for Parcel 35 or negotiating with other parties for the property located on the west end of the I-195 district near Interstate 95 in Providence.
At the time, RIPTA and Gov. Daniel J. McKee had expressed an interest in the open lot as a location for the bus hub that is slated to be moved from Kennedy Plaza in the heart of downtown Providence. The I-195 commission gave RIPTA until Oct. 1 to make its assessment.
But since then, there has been little said publicly about the proposal, including whether the Parcel 35 is still a possible location for the hub. Both McKee's office and the I-195 commission have not responded to repeated requests for an update in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, a RIPTA spokesperson deferred questions on the October deadline to the McKee administration, issuing a statement from interim CEO Christopher Durand that referenced public feedback he said “indicate[s] that the location near the train station is a leading choice among our riders, positioning it as a true intermodal center,” describing Kennedy Plaza as a “sprawling footprint ... spread out across an urban park” rather than the desired “single central location with upgraded amenities and an overall experience that riders have a right to expect.”
For Randall Rose, a member of the Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition, this uncertainty is part of a lengthy line of frustrations.
Public funding for a bus hub would come from a $35 million bond for mass transit infrastructure approved by voters in 2014. But some transit advocates have opposed the relocation of the transit center away from Kennedy Plaza because potential sites that have been under consideration are not as centrally located.
At a “transit talk” held by RIPTA in May, the agency conducted a survey of attended to the public workshop to gauge public opinion about where the transit hub should be located in the city, but Rose said leaving the hub in Kennedy Plaza wasn't one of the choices.
Rose says his group was then promised a meeting in July with RIPTA to discuss the coalition’s goal of retaining the bus center at Kennedy Plaza.
That didn’t happen, he said.
“The reason you haven't heard anything is because they are not doing this with any transparency,” he said. “It's being ushered through no matter what the public thinks.”
In January, RIPTA’s board of directors approved a $16.9 million contract with Next Wave Partners to begin developing cost estimates, design options and conduct site assessments.
But Rose argues that the quasi-public agency is in no position to take on such a massive project and the possible debt that may come with it.
“There is no guaranteed maximum price. And that’s a recipe for cost overruns,” he said. “So, we are left with an extremely expensive project that is opposed by bus riders and offers no clear benefits to the state's public transit system.”
John Flaherty, deputy director for GrowSmart Rhode Island, says he understands the desire to give transit riders more than what Kennedy Plaza can offer.
“It leaves no room to have any other kind of use. And it's not especially welcoming to pedestrians making their way across [the plaza],” he said.
Flaherty doesn’t support a move to I-195 land, but he is concerned that without more communication from the state, many people are left to fill in the void with “self-selecting” and “unscientific” polling issued by opposing sides.
“When it comes to determining the public will, it's a little challenging based on what's been put out,” he said. “The advocacy organizations come out with their data saying riders want to stay put. I am not especially trustworthy of that. And RIPTA says riders want to be near the train station. There has been all this posturing about what riders think. I don't put a lot of stock into any of it.”
Whatever the outcome, Flaherty said it's important to remember the original aim of the 2014 bond issue, which was really a reemergence of the discussion of eventually relinking train and bus transit service.
“The goal should be having amenities you may expect at an airport or a train station,” he said. “Much of the narrative has been that riders are being pushed out of Kennedy Plaza by powerful people. Well, I'm a rider. And I look at it from the perspective of what is going to make the transit system work better?”
But Rose said that many riders coming into Kennedy today are not using it as place to transfer to another bus line.
“Because their final destination is walking distance from there,” he said.
Rather, he sees an ulterior motive being pushed by private real estate concerns surrounding Kennedy that are “looking to make a profit by investing at the right time.”
“It’s being treated as a plaything for real estate deals at the public expense,” he said. “I can understand why they are keeping it out of the public eye. It's a very suspicious deal that looks weaker and weaker the more you look into it.”
