Archives For Reader Submissions

Providence New capital hill

In response to recent discussions on parking at the State House reader Nicolas R. Mariscal submits a Photoshop rendering (above) of what the State House area could look like with better land use planning. Nicholas says:

I saw your post on the parking situation at the state house, and agree that the surface parking is an eyesore, like it is almost everywhere else around Providence.

So I was bored after class today and photoshopped an aerial image of the RI State House that could get rid of the surface lots, still keeping in mind that most people commuting will drive to work.

Got rid of the surface lots, and feel a parking garage with a nice facade/metal screen, lighting and shops on the first floor could go on the fourth side(blank side) of the odd postmodern plaza in the middle of all the state offices. Creating a nice courtyard between all the buildings.

I like the idea of combining a parking structure with ground floor retail uses on the State House complex grounds. There really is no good place in the immediate area to get a bite to eat or a cup of coffee for state employees or visitors. Retail at a garage could help that, and the central plaza could become a good place for workers and visitors to enjoy thier lunch.

Posted by Jef Nickerson on February 23, 2013 In Buildings, Parking, Parks/Open Space, Reader Submissions , , , , , ,
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Guest Post: Demolishing of a block in Olneyville

Guest Post —  January 3, 2013 — 12 Comments

Photos and commentary provided by a Greater City Providence reader.

Tired of those pesky real estate taxes, then tear down a block on Plainfield Street between Dyke and Atwood Streets just off Olneyville Square. What will replace those buildings, surface parking? How many more buildings will see the wrecking ball before the Olneyville’s historic mill district loses its historic status?

olneyville-001

olneyville-002

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In Buildings, Reader Submissions , , ,
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Reader Rant: Urban design by traffic engineers

Guest Post —  October 17, 2012 — 12 Comments

olneyville 001

Update: This project was done by the City without the involvement of RIDOT, which makes the entire situation worse actually.

Urban Design by RIDOT! Was the City complicit? I’m almost at a loss for words about the thoughtlessness in locating a new traffic signal control box within a public plaza in Olneyville Square. If this happened in Wayland Square instead, there would be protest demonstrations. The photos speak for themselves regarding alignment and adjacencies to building frontages and the information kiosk. How many 10′s of thousands or dollars did they spend on this piece of junk? Is this urban design by traffic engineers? This is as bad as when they place signal arm pole bases in the center of sidewalks so that people have to walk in the street. There should be a law against this. Or better yet the Design Review Commission should review all RIDOT installations within the City. Since Olneyville is a less affluent neighborhood, I suppose we should expect this new control box to sit where it is for the next 40 or 50 years. I guess the consolation is that there are new fake old streetlights.

olneyville 002

In Pedestrians, Reader Submissions, Roads , , , ,
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Reader Submission: No joy at the DMV

Guest Post —  April 27, 2012 — 9 Comments

FAILThough Governor Chafee made a great show of improving the DMV early in his term, we still hear no end of complaints about the agency. Below is an email a reader sent us about her recent experience:

I spent an hour on hold where a single sentence repeats over and over and over just to get to a voicemail box of an employee in the communications department?

I need my vehicle title returned. There seems to be an online database that I could use to accomplish this task, but can’t access without paying a huge amount of money. Why restrict it? So many of your customers could be using online tools instead of perpetually unavailable personnel to solve their problems.

I paid to register my car and my title was sequestered. Now I need to pay to recover it? And waste hours of my time to get no service whatsoever?

Your service is so terrible that dealing with you is the most dreaded errand of any errand. I’d rather spend a day cleaning toilets with a toothbrush than visit your offices. At least I would know that my goal was something that could be accomplished.

You have a new building, and NOTHING has improved except for your lobby. You should have stayed in Pawtucket, hired 10 more people for customer service, and 5 people to put any service possible online for FREE.

How have your experiences at the DMV been of late? Better? Worse? You wish you were dead so you’d never have to go there again?

In Government , , , ,
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Barry Schiller: Pawtucket’s misguided decision to close the Visitor’s Center

Guest Post —  January 17, 2012 — 6 Comments

pawtucket

Image from Google Streetview

Barry Schiller, a retired Rhode Island College math professor, is a long-time member of the State Planning Council’s Transportation Advisory Committee. He also was on the RIPTA Board of Directors 1995-1999.

Have you heard that Pawtucket officials are “doing away with Pawtucket’s RIPTA bus hub?” This was reported in the 11/29 Valley Breeze.

The article indicates that Pawtucket officials believe passengers hanging around at this hub near the Visitors Center are interfering with their hopes for downtown redevelopment. But their proposal is likely to result in passengers losing an indoor waiting room, with access to heat, seating, bathrooms, travel information, and security. Though buses will still stop in downtown Pawtucket and RIPTA has not yet worked out alternative service, closing this facility would likely make passengers have to stand around outdoors, even in the snow, cold and dark that comes at winter and at night. Further, “spreading the service” out among other nearby bus stops, as mentioned in the article, could make it harder to transfer. Passengers may have to wait at isolated locations which are perceived to be less safe.

It is ironic that this comes at a time when RIPTA is investing in enhancing service on the #99 Pawtucket-Providence line.

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In Pawtucket, Reader Submissions, Transportation , , , ,
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featured-like

Like: A train station with working clocks

gcpvd —  September 26, 2011 — 3 Comments

Clocks

The whole train station is now all in the same time zone. Image submitted by Cliff Wood.

There is a very good reason why train stations have clocks, it is so you can know how long you have before your train arrives. So the fact that each clock on the clock tower at the Providence Train Station has displayed a different time for the better part of forever has been a terrible embarrassment.

So thank goodness, the clocks are finally fixed. The above photo was sent in from Cliff Wood at 9 o’clock this morning. This is almost as exciting as when the escalators were finally fixed.

Hooray!

In Like/Dislike, Reader Submissions , , , , ,
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UPDATED: Reader Photos: Irene

gcpvd —  August 28, 2011 — 1 Comment

Readers are starting to submit their Irene photos. Share yours in our Flickr Group, on our Facebook page, or via email.

Peel

Photo © Golden Meanie

Blockade

Photo © Golden Meanie

Stinko

Photo © Golden Meanie

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In GC: Photos, Reader Submissions, Video, Weather , , , , , ,
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Reader Photos: Grove Street School

gcpvd —  August 27, 2011 — Leave a comment

Reader photos sent to us of Grove Street School demolition. This is from about 5pm today.

In Buildings, GC: Photos, Reader Submissions , ,
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Jonathan Winslow

Reimagining of Providence Station by Jonathan Winslow

Jef Nickerson —  August 18, 2011 — 9 Comments

A couple months I Rebooted Providence Station. Shortly after that, Portland, Oregon based architect Jonathan Winslow forwarded me the plan he did for the station area while he was a student at RISD.

Jonathan Winslow

On his website you can see that Jonathan’s plan is a complete re-imagining of the existing train station. The new station features an atrium allowing light to reach down to the railroad platforms, an attached hotel, expanded restaurant and retail space, visitor information, new ticket booths, expaned waiting areas, and more.

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In Reader Submissions, Reboot, Transportation , , , , , , ,
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Tighter parking enforcement but fewer points of collection

Jef Nickerson —  July 13, 2011 — 5 Comments

New parking regulations on meter in Providence.

A reader points out to us, while the city has tightened parking regulations, expanded meter collection times, and increased parking rates, the parking meter itself is becoming somewhat of an endangered species in the city.

Missing parking meters on Ship Street in Providence.

The above photo shows what I guess we could call the Ship Street Extension, where Eddy loops around under where the highway used to be. There are 9 or ten parking spaces here, but only three meters remaining. Vandals, errant 195 removal equipment, who knows. There’s also 15 or so parking spaces on Dean Street where it was rebuilt between Atwells and Spruce Street where there are meter posts, but no meters on top of them. I’m sure there are examples of this throughout town.

I don’t know how long it takes a new meter to pay for itself, or even how much a meter might cost, but if we didn’t have this dearth of functional meters where parking is supposed to be paid, then perhaps the additional collections realized from that would allow us to not have to have paid parking on Saturdays, or at the very least, it could go further towards closing our budget gap.

In Parking, Reader Submissions , ,
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