Sounding off on "The Working Waterfront"

In a recent Providence Journal editorial, the author expressed delight that a developer had thrown in the towel on the concept of developing a hotel/condo/marina project on the Providence waterfront. The author states that "our leaders" should be pushing for the full development of all of the state's ports, encouraging marine based industry, trade and the creation of high paying jobs.

Sounds good in theory, but this appeal goes out to leadership which over the years has not been able to stem the tide of businesses leaving the state. Having worked with business owners across the State for close to thirty years, it seems to me hat leadership has not been able to respond to the challenges these faced by these individuals. As a result, manufacturing has given way to tourism in Rhode Island.

If you have been to San Diego's waterfront or the River Walk in San Antonio http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com , you have an idea of what leadership can do to capitalize on tourism and revive an economy.

In the case of San Diego, the downtown area had become desolate and forgotten. Leadership began the process of reviving the area with the dredging of the bay. The material was then deposited to extend the downtown footprint and on the new real estate, hotels, marinas, restaurants, museums and parks were built. Soon thereafter the interior sections away from the water were renovated and restored. Shopping and restaurants followed. The area is now vibrant and a great place to vacation.

San Antonio's Riverwalk is simply spectacular with hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment venues surrounding the river which is still bordered by lush gardens and waterfalls. The water taxi system is efficient and a pleasure to ride.

Why con't these things be incorporated into Providence? The downtown revival in Providence has been significant, but the next step could be taken to further enhance Providence as a tourist destination and infuse dollars into our state economy.

While I agree with the author that valuable waterfront land should not be littered with condominium developments, we need to capitalize on the fact that Rhode Island is such a nice place to visit by building more infrastructure so that once again people in Rhode Island will be employed and we can say that Rhode Island is a great place to live as well.

With more tourism dollars flowing in, we could alleviate the stress on small businesses and make Rhode Island a place that both existing and small businesses can thrive in.