Providence City Hall looms behind the Intermodal Transportation Center at Kennedy Plaza. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
As the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) works to narrow down where in downtown Providence it will build a new state-of-the-art transit center intended to replace Kennedy Plaza, the City Council has taken a second stand to keep it right where it is.
The council’s Ordinance Committee on Oct. 2 unanimously approved an amendment to delete language from the city’s comprehensive plan that suggests there is community support for moving the hub away. It’s the second anti-hub relocation vote taken by the council this year.
“Public transit users have been loud and clear — the location of the bus hub matters,” Councilor Justin Roias said in a statement after the meeting. “Rather than pouring money into a new, less desirable location, RIPTA should invest in making Kennedy Plaza clean, safe, modern, and sustainable.”
The move appears to be symbolic — much like the full council’s unanimous vote last May to pass a resolution “vehemently” opposing the proposed relocation of Kennedy Plaza.
Some might call what the council did an important move, but not Rhode Island House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.
“No, not happening,” Shekarchi told Rhode Island Current Thursday of the potential for the bus hub to stay put in Kennedy Plaza.
Indeed, the wheels on a new bus hub are still in motion. RIPTA CEO Chris Durand said in a statement Tuesday that a new transit center “will modernize Rhode Island’s transportation system” compared to the “current sprawling footprint of Kennedy Plaza.”
RIPTA’s Board of Directors in January approved a nearly $16.9 million contract with Next Wave Partners to start design work for a mixed-use bus hub. The new building would offer a number of amenities not offered at Kennedy Plaza such as larger indoor waiting areas, expanded restrooms, digital screens to track bus arrivals and departures, and WiFi.
But where the final location is still to be determined. Agency administrators narrowed down the new Providence bus hub location down to seven sites in May, with the intention to narrow down its final three sites in July and announce a winning location in August.
“While we are still completing our analysis, I am excited to share that early results indicate that the location near the train station is a leading choice among our riders, positioning it as a true intermodal center,” Durand said Tueasday.
So why would the council take such a vote when the state’s intention for relocation is so set in stone?
“They wouldn’t be doing their job,” Marion Orr, a professor of political science and urban studies at Brown University, said in an interview Tuesday. “The council wants to take this in a way that shows some concern from folk whose voices are often ignored in these kinds of peak-level discussions around land use.”
Providence City Councilors are also limited in what exactly they can do over this project.
“The city cannot do anything the state does not approve of,” Orr said. “States create cities and have a tremendous amount of influence on what’s happening locally.”
The politics of land
The council’s opposition to a new bus hub is just another chapter in the tense relationship that exists between Providence officials and state leaders, Orr said.
Driving it: the ever-continuing debate on how best to develop land.
“For generations there’s been this tug-of-war,” he said. “The state has a unique and important interest in what’s happening in the city because it’s so vital to Rhode Island’s economy.”
And different stakeholders tend to have varying opinions on how property should best be used for the public good.
Providence’s draft comprehensive plan calls to “ensure that the bus hub feels clean, safe, and welcoming for all users.”
“And we know from the last several decades that Kennedy Plaza is not those things,” Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr. told WPRO’s Gene Valicenti on Sept. 26. “Providence is an important component of that and part of that, but the RIPTA board has to look at how our hubs and our service impact the entire state.”
The state and local relationship can be strenuous, but also productive. Such was the case during the construction of the Providence Place Mall in the 1990s.
“The state of Rhode Island played a big role in clearing the land and making way for tax breaks,” Orr said.
What could help mend the council’s relationship with the state, Orr said, is having an at-large member who could see more of the big picture development. With the existing makeup of each councilor representing one ward — it does mean they’re more receptive to constituents.
“These kinds of decisions on land use impact communities, neighborhoods, and individuals,” Orr said. “And RIPTA advocates are simply concerned about what this policy means for the people who rely heavily on the bus.”
The only elected city official tasked with that big-picture look on the city’s land use: Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. Though his office passed the buck when it came to what will be done with Kennedy Plaza.
“While we respect the Council’s decision to remove this language from the Comprehensive Plan, the decision to move the RIPTA bus hub will ultimately be made by the state,” spokesperson Josh Estrella said in a statement Tuesday.
The Providence City Council is scheduled to hold additional hearings on the comprehensive plan at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, Oct. 9 and 16.
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