Saving Providence’s port

The dream of hotels, condos, shops and restaurants along Providence’s waterfront made for pretty pictures. But it’s a good thing that local business and political leaders stuck with keeping this area a working port - helping to maintain Rhode Island’s maritime industry and hundreds of high-paying blue-collar jobs.

There are more than enough pretty places in Rhode Island - and indeed Providence - to exploit for tourism and condo development without destroying one of the region’s key economic assets.

Mayor Taveras deserves credit for dropping the attempt of previous mayors to rezone the Allens Avenue area for extensive mixed use, something that would almost certainly have brought in condo/ hospitality business developers (and campaign contributors) while putting less glitzy (but much better-paying ) existing businesses at risk. City officials now plan to add only office development to the mix for the port area. The financial crash was aided and abetted by grotesque over-development of condos. Let’s get back to real, broad-based-wealth creators — trade, manufacturing and technological innovation.

The mayor and his economic-development director, James Ben-nett, clearly understand the importance of industrial jobs and a port infrastructure to Rhode Island’s future. This is a significant competitive advantage that Providence has over landlocked cities of the Mid-west, for instance.

Providence received some good news recently, with the announcement by Sims Metal Management, an international metals and electronics-recycling company, that it has acquired Promet Marine Services on Allens Avenue.

Promet, with a 600-foot pier served by rail and capable of berthing deep-draft ships, and some nine acres for shore-side operations, has long been a leader in the local marine-trades sector. With the sale, for an undisclosed sum, and the new owner’s intention to retain all current Promet personnel and hire more over the coming months, our marine industry seems stronger than ever, and likely to play a growing role in the city’s economy.

Scrap is in high demand in many markets around the world. Sims’s entry into the region should translate into higher prices for scrap from area manufacturers, helping them to hire more workers and reinvest capital.

This is the kind of development the Ocean State needs. It also speaks to the wisdom of having dredged the badly silted Providence River channel, in 2004. 

The biggest export from the Port of Providence is scrap metal, all part of the noble, and in this instance profitable, effort to recycle what we discard. In recent days two large ships at the port have been loading scrap, and clanging has reverberated across the Providence River as hoppers suspended from huge cranes have been swung out over the ships to drop tons of the stuff into their cavernous holds, raising clouds of rust-colored dust.

It’s exciting to watch, and the sound should be music to the ears of residents of a region coming out of a long recession. The more activity in our commercial sector, the less we will have to extract from taxpayers to upgrade infrastructure and pay pensions.

Still, that doesn’t stop people from complaining, and underscores the danger of locating condos and hotels near the port, which would only increase the complaints. But the complainants are not totally devoid of our sympathy. Maybe if they had some peace and quiet they could study economics.

Below are pictures of home heating oil and road salt trucks being supplied on a busy winter day (January 25th) at Sprague’s Allens Ave terminal.

Did you know that most of Rhode Island’s gasoline and home-heating oil comes into the state by barge? Without tank barges making those deliveries, we would all be a lot colder this winter! Rhode Island also exports ethanol via barge, a vital part of the state’s economy. The barge industry also provides opportunities for good-paying family-wage jobs. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate is the nation’s fifth-highest; expanding opportunities for maritime jobs is important. Because the Port of Providence is the only deep-water port in New England besides Boston, commercial waterways transportation is an economic engine for the region.

The Port of Providence recently won $10.5 million in federal funds to buy two harbor cranes to expand cargo handling and make the port more competitive. More cargo transported in and out of the port will mean more jobs. Port-related employment has increased 300 percent in the past 15 years. With over 30,000 Rhode Islanders out of work, Rhode Island’s historic maritime industry and the state’s ports could not be more critical.

Barging is the most economical and efficient mode of cargo transportation, given the enormous carrying capacity and fuel efficiency of a barge. One coastal barge can carry the same amount of liquid cargo as 336 tanker trucks. Without barge transportation, imagine the congestion that would result from thousands more trucks on our already clogged highways, not to mention the additional air pollution!

Barging brings us the home-heating oil that keeps Rhode Islanders warm in the winter without facing shortages and much higher costs. Barges also transport the bulk commodities that are the building blocks of the U.S. economy, including millions of tons of coal to power plants for electricity production, petroleum products to heat our homes and fuel our vehicles and airplanes, chemicals essential to our industries, concrete for construction projects and salt for our winter roads. Vital industries depend on barge transportation to deliver these commodities. Without barge transportation, the costs of these materials would skyrocket.

The barge industry is the safest and most environmentally friendly cargo transportation. Barging produces lower air emissions than rail or truck, and U.S. Coast Guard statistics show that more than 99.999 percent of oil transported by tank barges is delivered safely. In fact, tank-barge spills have declined by 99.6 percent since 1990. In 2009, tank-barge oil spills reached the lowest levels since 1973, when Coast Guard record keeping began. Spills from barges accounted for just 9.3 percent of marine- spill volume, less than tank ships, cargo ships and marine transportation facilities.

A study by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University found that the fuel efficiency of tugboats and towboats combined with the superior carrying capacity of barges make barging the most efficient and affordable transportation mode for freight, compared with rail or trucking. The industry offers good jobs on its vessels, and thousands of other shore-side jobs depend on a vital waterways-transportation industry. It’s essential to Rhode Island.

Chris Brown, president of the Rhode Island Commercial Fisheries Association, said the New England groundfish industry has declined from 1,200 vessels to about 477 in 30 years. But with all the cutbacks in fishing effort, he now expects big increases in fish stocks and catches.

He called on the committee to make sure no port areas are converted to condominiums or hotels, because the state is going to need more space to serve the fishing industry as it’s reborn.

During hearings of the commission and as a result of tours of port facilities around the state, Senator Walaska told the Propeller Club gathering in East Providence, “members became better educated about the opportunities and challenges faced in the maritime industry (and are) very supportive of not only maintaining existing port activities but also identifying ways to expand and provide new opportunities for water dependent businesses to relocate to Rhode Island’s waterfront and grow our maritime jobs base.”

Senator Walaska told the organization that the commission, which issued an interim report earlier this year, is planning more hearings in the coming months. Among the areas that will be under study, he said, are a strategic plan for the state’s port facilities; a review of channel maintenance dredging requirements and considerations; development of a Marine Highway System hub in Rhode Island in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, and coordination of state efforts to expand maritime commerce with municipal land use regulations.

“It is critical during these difficult economic times for Rhode Island to work in partnership with port managers and water dependent business owners,” he said. “These partnerships should promote all of Rhode Island’s waterfront assets in a way that will increase job opportunities for the thousands of Rhode Islanders now unemployed or underemployed.”

“The Ocean State’s history is deeply rooted to the working waterfronts of the state and I expect the work of the commission will continue this tradition for the benefit of the state’s residents and businesses,” he said.

The processes of creating the GIS‐based Inventory and forming a supportive network of public and private partners have contributed to initiating a rich dialogue amongst government, private sector, and community interests. This is now helping Rhode Island examine how urban waterfronts can be better embraced as tools for important state goals such as the creation of quality jobs, reliance on a mix of traditional and renewable energy resources, and development of a more efficient, effective and secure marine transportation system. All of these goals are illustrative of pressing economic, social, and environmental issues now facing Rhode Island and the New England region.

Within this context – fostering marine‐based industry as one means of solving key problems – the GIS‐based Inventory points to a critical challenge: land appropriate for coastal commercial use, or acreage with adjacent Type 6 waters, is extremely scarce. Timely implementation of balanced planning approaches is sorely needed to integrate and make best use of the remaining parcels’ full array of economic, social, and environmental assets.
– Page 37, Rhode Island Ports & Commercial Harbors report

And all are opposed to Mayor Cicilline’s proposed rezoning of the industrial South Providence waterfront, which would allow bars, restaurants, hotels and other non-industrial uses.
- Primary for Providence mayor is tough to call, Sunday, September 5, 2010

Democratic mayoral candidate Rep. Steven M. Costantino said last week that he is opposed to Mayor David N. Cicilline’s plan to rezone the industrial South Providence waterfront to allow for bars, restaurants, hotels and other non-industrial uses . . .

Fellow Democratic mayoral candidates City Councilman John J. Lombardi and Angel Taveras, a former Housing Court judge appointed by Cicilline, have also stated their opposition to the mayor’s proposed rezoning plan.
- Costantino opposes waterfront rezoning plan, Monday, September 6, 2010

Mayoral Candidate Statements On Allens Ave’s Working Waterfront

Steven Costantino

Costantino will work with business to develop jobs along a working waterfront

Jobs speech:

And our waterfront is flush with opportunity for sustainable jobs. There is no doubt that a working waterfront is part of the comprehensive and smart plan for this city’s economic development.

John Lombardi

2007 comments and vote against comprehensive plan with Allens Ave waterfront changes:

Some council members have argued that the city doesn’t need to submit the plan in stages at all, and can wait for the neighborhood planning process to conclude. Councilman John J. Lombardi said last night that the city does not need to rush things, as the current plan should still function legally and govern local development even though it has expired.

“To go forward as we are, it may just be unwarranted and inappropriate,” Lombardi said.
Source: http://www.projo.com/ri/providence/content/MC_PLAN_10-16-07_577GEAE.30b7e9d.html

The plan was passed 10 to 3, with several council members saying that they did not see the need to pass the plan now, and urging their colleagues to wait until the charettes are completed.

“Now is not the time to turn our backs on our neighborhood. Let our citizens be heard,” said Councilman Kevin Jackson, who was joined by Josephine DiRuzzo and John J. Lombardi in opposition.
Source: http://www.projo.com/ri/providence/content/MC_COUNCIL_11-02-07_MK7NEM4_v9.3148874.html

Angel Taveras

Protect Providence’s Working Waterfront from development that could endanger the industrial productivity of the Port of Providence.
Source: http://angelforprovidence.com/en/issues/jobs-a-economy.html

Jobs & Economic Development speech:

(6) I will protect jobs at the Working Waterfront - an invaluable economic asset for our city - from development decisions that would endanger the industrial productivity of the Port of Providence.

Notes opposition to mixed-use zoning in 10 News Conference interview (at 20:45)