Grebien announces ‘Creative Economy’ plan

PAWTUCKET – “The artists and artisans of Pawtucket are a vital economic engine for the city,” mayoral candidate Don Grebien declared in announcing his “Creative Economy” plan. “Besides the important cultural benefits they bring, these are small businesses and new business means new jobs and revenue for the city.”

The plan, dubbed “Pawtucket CARES” – Creative Economy, Arts, Riverfront and Education Solutions – focuses on downtown development including transforming Slater Mill into a National Park, ongoing redevelopment of the city’s approximately 70 mill buildings, including creation of small business incubators and satellite educational institutions in mill structures as well as in downtown commercial buildings, fostering a wide variety of creative occupations, support for the Riverfront Commission’s mission to help guide redevelopment along the city’s riverfront, and linking local artists and schools.

“The name Pawtucket CARES is meant to communicate that we care deeply about what the creative community has brought to the city and what it can continue to bring with the proper encouragement and assistance,” Grebien said.

“That includes the graphic artists, Web developers, interior and exterior designers, video game developers and other cutting edge people whose creativity will foster a new economy we can only imagine but need to encourage, along with the fine artists from whose studios come works in glass, metals, canvas and a host of other mediums that have already put ‘Made in Pawtucket’ on the artists’ map around the world.”

In other highlights, the Grebien administration will:

• Work with the Pawtucket Foundation and downtown businesses to implement study findings to cut red tape and improve parking, signage and traffic circulation
• Work with the city legislative delegation and groups like Grow Smart RI to make restoration of historic tax credits a top priority in the upcoming legislative session
• Continue support of the regionally successful Pawtucket Arts Festival, the city’s three theater companies, six art galleries, musical and other special events
• Exploit excess capacity of the city’s new state of the art water filtration plant by attracting water-intensive businesses (breweries, manufacturers, etc.) to mills
• Streamline the process for mill owners and developers to meet fire and safety codes without sacrificing public safety
• Fill the vacant Planning and Redevelopment Director position with a candidate whose expertise includes promoting the arts as an economic engine
• Work with school officials to ensure the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing Arts thrives at its new location at Jenks Junior High School , and help enlist academic and other experts to promote arts and arts careers in the schools
• Work with the legislative delegation and others to create sales tax-limited districts to provide financial incentives for small businesses, creative sector and green companies and retail located in the historic downtown
• Assemble an immediate Arts Summit to gain input and involve artists, artisans, building owners and developers to map future of city Arts & Entertainment Dist.
• Attract additional stores to create an Antiques Trail throughout the downtown
• List downtown businesses in city’s ongoing property database to assist marketers
• Reorganize the city website to include section on arts-related business and other assistance, including events promotions and marketing a “brand” for the city
• Continue efforts to get storage tanks along the Pawtucket River removed; fund development of Taft Street Landing, Front Street and School Street Pier; negotiate with state, federal and utilities officials to clean up riverfront brownfields
• Work with banks and other lenders to create a fund to purchase distressed downtown properties and market them for development

Grebien also noted he strongly opposes his opponent’s economic development plans to site a baseball museum in the downtown Visitor Center and impose what he termed a “Fantasyland” of flimsy cottages on Slater Mill.

“To start with, Slater Mill is privately owned and none of these plans were ever brought to its independent board, which is just one reason why I call it ‘Fantasyland.’ It also has all the substance of a Hollywood set that looks good in front but is only supported by a two-by-four in back, and would bring about as many new jobs as a frontier ghost town.

“It’s nothing but a pale rerun of a $16,000 taxpayer-paid plan a mayoral candidate offered a month before election day in 1985, and we’re still waiting for the money and eager developers to show up for that one. Slater Mill should not be used as someone’s political plaything. It is a national treasure that deserves to be turned into a National Park, and that’s something I strongly support,” Grebien said.

“Turning the downtown Visitor Center into a minor league baseball museum is another project that may sound appealing at first but is another fantasy concept when you look at it even a bit more closely. It would require evicting the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council which has vigorously promoted the city from its headquarters there for a decade, plus the resident art gallery and gift shop that benefits Slater Mill. It would also require displacing a tenant on the second floor [NetworkRI] that has been on a long term lease paying the city thousands of dollars. It’s also curious that no minor league officials have stepped up to financially promote such a plan, and a Southern city rejected the idea about four years ago after it found a similar project would cost $40 million,” Grebien said.

“Not to mention that this ill conceived plan calls for an alternate site adjacent McCoy Stadium, where the city owns no substantial property aside from Pariseau Field. After this same basic idea was first offered about 20 years ago by a City Council candidate, closing down the nearby fire station was touted as a possible location. That would be no less an ill advised threat to public safety now than it was then. In summary, these so called economic plans by my opponent are all show and no go,” Grebien said.

Grebien noted his own economic development plan was previously released and is available on his website at www.dongrebien.com.

Mayoral candidates spar at lively debate - VIDEO

PAWTUCKET - The two men say they want the privilege of leading this city into a better future, but in the end, only one can move on.

Democratic candidates for mayor, Henry Kinch Jr. and Donald Grebien, made their pitch to voters last Thursday, speaking on a variety of issues facing Pawtucket. Each stressed both his ability to lead during difficult times and the differences that set them apart.

Representatives for each side were claiming victory after the Valley Breeze-sponsored debate in the Jenks Junior High School auditorium. Grebien's people called it a "close one," and those in the Kinch camp said the City Council president won by a wide margin.

Available below is a video of the entire one hour debate.

The forum also airs on Cox Channel 18 on Friday, Sept. 10 at 10 p.m., and again a day before the city-wide primary on Monday, Sept. 13, at 1 p.m.

The differences between these two Democrats were showing right from the beginning of last week's lively, and often contentious, debate.

Responding to a question from Thomas Mann Jr., executive director of the Pawtucket Foundation, Grebien emphasized his desire to bring a Municipal Economic Development (MED) Zone to Pawtucket, a tax incentive zone he says has been proven to work elsewhere in the country.

Kinch, meanwhile, stated that MED Zones don't work. Because of that fact, he added, the General Assembly is more likely to do away with them than to change state law to allow Pawtucket to have one.

On spending, Kinch responded to a question from Breeze reporter Ethan Shorey by saying that he and the council did the right thing in cutting funding to the Pawtucket School Department this year.

"We have to get that place under control," he said to more than 250 in attendance last week. "They need to clean their house up like we've cleaned ours up on the city side."

Grebien said Kinch's stance is no different when talking about the "politics of the past."

"Taking that money away from the schools and not balancing a budget, or requiring them to balance a budget, in private industry those things don't work," he said. "You can't just say, I'm going to take $9 million away from you. Go figure it out. A true leader needs to sit down with them, work it out, and find the solutions."

Both candidates repeatedly accused each other of "half truths" during last week's debate.

One of their few points of agreement was that the quality of life for city residents must be improved.

One of the lighter moments came when Breeze Editor Marcia Green asked the candidates how they met their wives and where they went on their first date. Green's question comes at 23:26 of the online video.

Candidates also gave detailed answers to Green's question on what their first priority will be once in office and what achievements will they be able to point to when the candidates debate again in 2012.

For Grebien, the first thing he said he'll do is address the budget deficit. Among the accomplishments he hopes to be linked with his name are the "Welcome Mat" initiative for new and existing businesses, transparency, implementing MED Zones, working closely with the Pawtucket Foundation to make sure downtown development comes through, and reaching out through liaisons to the neighborhoods, particularly to the minority and senior citizen communities.

For Kinch, the very first thing he plans is to "redo this street sweeping program," one he says is "all over the place" and in "disarray." A problematic budget will also be an ongoing matter to be addressed, said Kinch, as will the economic development portion of his plan. Kinch also plans to spend time with members of the General Assembly to see if Pawtucket can get some of its state funding back. He also wants to be known as a mayor who listens and "gets results" for residents on quality of life issues.

One of the more anticipated aspects of the Breeze debate from both camps was Round 3, when each was allowed to ask the other one question. The following is the transcript of how Round 3 played out:

Grebien's question to Kinch: "Even though you have been an incumbent councilman for four years, and the council president for two years, the people of Pawtucket have received their largest tax increase in Pawtucket history, and now face a $12 million deficit, a bond rating going into the toilet, and an increase in their car taxes. All you've talked about was having a plan, a plan to deal with the budget deficit and a plan to avoid car taxes. Obviously, you didn't have a plan. How can the people of Pawtucket trust you when the only thing you ever delivered was a tax increase?"

Kinch's answer: "Well raising taxes is not easy, that's for sure, because when you raise them, you raise your own. You sat on the council for 11 years and raised them nine times, so you understand what I'm saying. The fact of the matter is, there is a plan but it's complex, and it's going to involve concessions from the unions, which we are already trying to do.

"Remember, budgets are not out of balance until the end of the fiscal year, and as you said at our last get together, budgets are a moving target, they are fluid, but at the end of the year you're going to have to come up to make sure that the end of the balance sheet is zero and it ends up with your input which is zero. And that is going to happen.

"A lot of it is going to depend on how much concessions we get from the unions who've already been very good about it. And there are other areas that we're going to talk about. We talked about the other day, the mayor has already initiated a plan to increase the third-party insurance carrier money. I think we're going to be able to get somewhere around $1.7 million out of that. This is probably not news to the workers, but one of thing things we're probably going to have to do is extend the furlough program, which we've already done. You know I don't want to get into a position of talking about layoffs and personnel reduction, but there could be a possibility of it because 85 percent of what we do is personnel and benefits. So there are a number of things we're talking about with the municipal workers, (it) is a fluid program as we go on, but I can assure you, the budget will have to be balanced and it will be. It will be."

Grebien's rebuttal: "I guess I'm never going to get that answered. People want solutions Henry and we've been throwing out solutions that you just keep throwing arrows at and not wanting to deal with. You had your 'day one.' It began 600 days ago when you became the council president. Your 600th day on the council is tomorrow and every taxpayer will be receiving their car tax bill, thanks to your lack of leadership and lack of making the tough decisions. We've been out there, we've put together a $10 million deficit reduction plan, we put ideas out there and solutions to the problem, more than you've done in your last 600 days on that council. People want answers, not stories."

Kinch's question to Grebien: "You have spent a lot of time over the past several weeks talking about the economic development panel that you instituted while you were council president, and you're talking about all the great results it had. Can you perhaps tell us the whole truth about that as well? Isn't it true that they only met twice, and that you only attended one of those meetings? Can you explain why you didn't do a better job with that and why you didn't attend the meetings?

Grebien's answer: "Well first, as council president you know as you certainly have not attended all the meetings, that you put a committee together of qualified individuals to make some decisions and some recommendations to the council. But let me tell you what we did do. We put a business task force together, we had site-specific licensing, we worked on the hotel project that we wanted to see happen. We recouped Northern Rhode Island Collaborative money, and we did that on a very limited budget. So those are accomplishments in just that short period of time, two years, that we did. My question to you was, if you felt that it was such a failure, why didn't you reinstitute it as council president when you took over?"

Kinch's rebuttal: "Well that doesn't answer the question, and if you're taking credit for the hotel as part of that business plan, then I don't see how you can possibly do that, but I hope we'll have a chance to talk about the hotel later. The fact of the matter is that's a big difference between he and I, OK. I show up. I just don't put forth an idea and then leave it on the shelf. Whether it's putting order back in the city car policy, whether it was eliminating the bulky trash item, the bulky fees for the trash items, whether it was resurrecting the school resource officer program. Those are real accomplishments those are things that, when I put it out there, I work to get them done. I just don't put it out there. For example, this committee met twice and one of the meetings he didn't go to, and then he goes out and he tries to tell everybody what a great accomplishment it was. And if the hotel is one of the great accomplishments of that committee, then you and I have a very different definition of accomplishment."

Here is the Kinch Platform which I requested for equality

The following are excerpts from my announcement speech. In it, I spell out why I am ready to be Mayor of Pawtucket and what my plans are for the city. To find out more about my vision for Pawtucket and the issues that I feel are important, please visit www.kinchformayor2010.org.

Thank you,

Henry S. Kinch Jr.

I am ready on “Day One” to make Pawtucket a better place to live and work. I have a proven record of getting results. Simply put, when I say, “I’ll do it”, it gets done.  That’s what Pawtucket needs, action not words.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a time for on-the-job training or taking a chance that the job won’t get done.  We need a Mayor who follows through on ideas, especially during this time of historic economic uncertainty. Pawtucket needs a strong leader with the education, experience, and drive for excellence to move us forward. I will be that mayor on “Day One.”

Tonight, I am applying for a job and here is the resume that has prepared me for “Day One.”

As Parks Commission Chairman, I personally led the effort to equip every one of our athletic fields with Automated External Defibrillator (AED) machines to treat Sudden Cardiac Arrest, which I hope will help avoid the tragedies that have occurred in neighboring towns.

As a candidate for city council, while others championed a Charter amendment to create a third municipal court judge with the associated costs to the taxpayers, I vehemently opposed it and lead the opposition to defeat its adoption. Guess what? We won!

In a community that pays more than its share of taxes, I was offended, like many other residents, when trash disposal rules were changed without notice or public input; therefore, I wrote the “Kinch Public Input” ordinance that guarantees all Pawtucket residents time to speak at all board and commission meetings. This ordinance showed Pawtucket as a leader in public policy once again.

The Providence Journal credited Pawtucket with doing, “what few cities have done, but should”, and “elevating citizens sense of their…right to free speech.” Most importantly to me, it sent the message to our residents that we care about their ideas to improve their government.

In the spirit of open government, as City Councilman, I held community meetings I entitled “Neighborhood Night Out” to hear the thoughts and proposals of the people I represent. As Mayor, I will continue city-wide “Mayor’s Night Out” for the same purpose.

I wrote the ordinance that scaled back fees on bulk items to reduce the amount of dumping in our city and to give the taxpayers a bang for their buck.

When it was clear that city vehicles were being abused for personal use, and in a recession no less, I wrote the ordinance that cut the take home fleet by half and put responsibility back into the use of city cars. That law has saved taxpayers thousands of dollars in fuel costs alone.

I resurrected the dialogue regarding the placement of School Resource Officers (SRO) in our high schools. Through a combination of grant money and personnel savings, police presence in our high schools is now a reality.

I wrote the Fiscal Note law that assures the Council is informed of the budget impact of municipal contracts before they are ratified.

Speaking of contracts, I worked with the Administration, my fellow city councilors, and the labor unions to ratify multi-year contracts that will save over 2 million dollars over the life of the agreements. These agreements have begun to make the structural changes that are imperative in a new economy. To the men and women who make up our city’s workforce, I say Thank You for doing your part.

That’s where I have been; now, where are we going?

. . .

Let me give you a preview of where I want to take our city:

I am going to focus on economic development like a laser beam. I will adopt what I will call a “North to South Strategy.”  The river that flows north to south through the middle of downtown Pawtucket is the same body of water that flows through the City of Providence. We must use it to its maximum potential.

Therefore, as one of the first orders of business as Mayor, I will direct the Planning Department to do a parcel by parcel assessment of the waterfront. I want to know which land is buildable and which is not, what is polluted and what is not, and who owns what. Once that is done, we will develop an aggressive marketing plan and strategy in conjunction with the Pawtucket Foundation, Pawtucket’s business leaders, and the Riverfront Commission

Stabilizing property taxes will rest in large part with economic development success, but it will take a tough Mayor with experience and a plan, a Mayor who will hold developers to their word and a Mayor who, if a plan fails, will take responsibility and start again, and will not blame others. I will be that Mayor on “Day One.”

. . .

I understand the tax burden that we bear. If we keep on the road we are on, nothing will change. I speak with people every day who have trouble making ends meet. I understand how it feels when things get tight at the end of the month.

To my fellow citizens of Pawtucket, I know that it is my job to provide the basic services that you expect, and deserve, at the lowest cost possible. I will look to reorganize city departments and reduce spending to save money; in fact, I have testified before the Charter Review Commission and have suggested language changes that will give the Mayor the tools needed to do just that.

I will look for any and all ways to reduce spending before I ask the taxpayers of Pawtucket for another penny.

There is real promise in the area of consolidating water distribution. Some have suggested selling our new water plant to a private entity. That is the wrong approach. But merging with other communities will lead to higher consumption and therefore, lower rates. It is time to put regionalization and consolidation of services at the top of the public policy agenda and I will lead the way.

. . .

No President of the United States is quoted more often by my generation than John F. Kennedy. There are some quotes that we all know by heart and we know where we were when we first heard them.

However, the one that has always resonated with me is from a speech he made in 1963 where he declared in part, “Our problems are man-made, therefore they can be solved by man.”

My friends, our problems are solvable. We all have to do our part, but there must be a leader to chart the course out of the woods and into the clearing as we seek solutions and make our plan for the future. I am ready to be that leader the second I take the oath of office on “Day One”.

The Winning Candidates including Mayor Don Grebien