Great to see some inroads into healthy futures. Thanks

Does this help us on the economic agenda too????

Diverse group lays groundwork for city's economic growth

PAWTUCKET - The city is primed and ready to take the next step in its economic rebirth, said a group of local businesspeople and professionals last week.

And that makes this the most important time in a long time for a clear focus and direction in bringing future vitality.

If the quality of the people assembled on the third floor at City Hall was a barometer for success, a new plan for focused economic development should live up to the lofty expectations this new ad hoc committee has set forth.

City leaders, businesspeople, planners, lobbyists and residents gathered for the first time as part of the newly formed City Council Economic Development Committee during a period in time they say shows a clear need for a public/private partnership in business development.

An improved business climate and job growth, in a city with one of the highest jobless rates in the state, are pivotal to the future of Pawtucket, said committee members.

Led by City Councilor Albert Vitali Jr. as chairman, and Councilor Jean Philippe Barros, members of the council's Economic Development Committee plan to be a "go-between" when developers approach city officials with their proposals and a "catalyst" in seeing those projects through to completion.

"This committee is sorely needed," Vitali told The Valley Breeze. "Everyone's over here, over there, doing their own thing."

Committee members will hear presentations from developers, answer questions and concerns, and make recommendations to city officials on how best to proceed with each issue as it comes up.

Banking professionals, attorneys, developers, entrepreneurs, non-profit leaders, heads of civic organizations, and members of the city's Planning and Redevelopment Office were all there last week to share both their frustrations with the past and hopes for the future of a city they love.

The city doesn't have "a vision, a master plan that the people can buy into," some said, which is why a "catalyst" group like theirs is needed.

Vitali said after last week's meeting that the council's new Economic Development Committee will be "non-political" in its work as members make suggestions to Mayor James Doyle's administration.

The city's ongoing conflict with developer Carpionato Properties over a hotel deal that went wrong on land off Division Street is a perfect example of why a committee like this one, with members who will listen to the developer's concerns and get as many questions answered as possible, is needed, according to Vitali. Meeting with a developer to answer his or her questions can be the difference in whether they come to Pawtucket to do business or not, he said.

Members of the Economic Development Committee will follow up last week's initial meeting with another next month to share at least two or three suggestions each on what the city needs to be doing to attract and keep new business.

Some goals of the committee, as detailed at its first meeting last week, include:

* Figuring out what Pawtucket's "brand" is and then marketing that brand throughout New England, the United States, and even globally;

"Pawtucket has a brand, but we just have to set that forth and market it," said Lenny Lopes, a Providence attorney who lives in Pawtucket's Bayley Lofts.

* Creatively helping those looking to do business in the city to get the capital they need for their projects, perhaps even incorporating more tax incentives;

At least four property owners in the city's downtown are currently ready to go on development projects, according to Thomas Mann, executive director of the Pawtucket Foundation, but a continued lack of access to the financial capital needed to move forward is hampering their efforts.

* And streamlining the approval process for those seeking to do business in a difficult financial climate, among others.

Last week's meeting marked a return of a City Council Economic Development Committee that last met six years ago under then-City Council President Donald Grebien.

At the time, said Vitali, the committee "seemed to be helping" efforts to attract economic growth, but then the committee was dissolved with a new council slate in place.

Members of today's committee, one revived by City Council President Henry Kinch, aren't hampered by having to worry about their next election, according to Vitali, and can bring a certain level of coordination to sometimes fragmented economic development efforts.

Kinch has indicated that the committee, the only city-sponsored group working in such a capacity, will provide valuable input at a time it couldn't be needed more.

Numerous projects both in the planning and development stages across the city make this a crossroads for what the future Pawtucket will look like, say officials - and they'd better not mess it up.

Kevin Tracy, senior vice president with Bank of America and vice chairman of the Pawtucket Foundation, told his fellow committee members that local officials might do well to visit Manchester, N.H., where Bank of America has been part of an ongoing economic transformation.

The city will also be well served if leaders create short-term, medium-term and long-term goals for economic development, said Tracy.

"It needs to be in a coordinated and meaningful way," cautioned Mann.

Also on the 17-member City Council Economic Development Committee are resident Danielle Clark, Ronald Piatek, president of Piatek Machine Company Inc., Esselton McNulty, chief executive officer of the Pawtucket YMCA, Jack Gannon Esq., with the Pawtucket Credit Union, Herbert Weiss, economic and cultural affairs officer with the city's Department of Planning and Redevelopment, businessman Louis Yip, owner of the China Inn, John Galvin, chief financial officer for Collette Vacations, Barney Heath, assistant director of the city's Department of Planning and Redevelopment, Robert Andrade, chief operating officer and executive vice-president of the Pawtucket Credit Union, and a yet-to-be-named member.

RI Department of Health Honors Pawtucket Police Chief Kelley for Work on HIV Prevention

Left to right: Paul Loberti, Julnelle Fortes, Chief George Kelley, and Felicia Delgado, Project RENEW Coordinator.

November 19, 2009 - Pawtucket Police Chief George Kelley was honored with a Leadership Award from the Rhode Island Department of Health's Community Planning Group for the Pawtucket Police Department's innovative and successful work in helping promote programs that educate high-risk women on HIV prevention.

Under Chief Kelley's leadership, the Pawtucket Police Department has participated in, and helped to fund, a groundbreaking partnership with Project RENEW - a community-based program housed at Pawtucket Citizens Development Corporation (PCDC) designed to help former prostitutes create new lives and new hope.  The working relationship between Project RENEW and the Pawtucket Police Department has been nationally recognized as breaking new ground in helping law enforcement connect with former sex workers and helping them rebuild and reshape their lives.  

Chief Kelly -- along with his police officers and Pawtucket Mayor Doyle - were recognized by the Rhode Island Department of Health for devoting hundreds of hours to the helping these women reconnect with the community and breaking down long held stereotypes and barriers along the way.  

Hats off to the Chief, his officers, Project RENEW and the Mayor for a job well done!