T.F. Green is a vital economic generator for Rhode Island, and Kevin Dillon, the newish director of the airport is slated to share some of his thoughts tomorrow:

Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) President and CEO Kevin Dillon will deliver the keynote address at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Economic Outlook Luncheon on Wednesday, May 7.  The event will take place at noon at the Rhode Island Convention Center in conjunction with Business EXPO 2008: Knowledge. Power. Opportunity.

 

Only months into his new position, Dillon already has great plans for the Rhode Island aviation industry, which he will share during his presentation. He is expected to specifically discuss improvements at the T.F. Green Airport terminal, the state’s largest commercial facility, as well as the proposed runway expansion project and the construction of the intermodal facility.

 

Commercial and general aviation airports in Rhode Island support more than 23,000 jobs and generate an estimated $2.1 billion in economic activity according to a 2006 Economic Impact Study. Created in 1992, RIAC is a quasi-public agency charged with the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the six state-owned airports. RIAC will serve as the Feature Sponsor of the Economic Outlook Luncheon.

Back in the spring of 2001, I looked at why more people don't use bikes to get around Providence.

WEATHER PERMITTING, [Ray] Alexander pedals the seven miles each weekday from his home in Cranston's Edgewood section to his teaching job at Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island in Wanskuck. With hazards ranging from hostile motorists to piles of accumulated sand and trash in the road, he says, "It's a short commute, but it's not a pleasant one. I've had motorists come up right behind me when I'm on Allens Avenue. They don't seem to believe that we have a right to the road."

Such is the plight of the humble bicyclist. Non-polluting. Human-powered. And an easy target for the hurried, narcissistic psyche that tends to envelop us when we step behind the wheel of an automobile. Although bicycling exploded in popularity with the introduction of mountain bikes in the '80s -- enough to since become the fifth most popular participatory sport, with some 42.5 million cycling enthusiasts, as measured by the National Sporting Goods Association -- bicyclists remain marginalized in our car-dependent culture.

Now, an officially sanctioned, advertiser-supported bike-sharing program, said to be the first of its kind in the US, is coming to Washington, DC.

A new public-private venture called SmartBike DC will make 120 bicycles available at 10 spots in central locations in the city. The automated program, which district officials say is the first of its kind in the nation, will operate in a similar fashion to car-sharing programs like Zipcar.

In the deal, Clear Channel will have exclusive advertising rights in the city’s bus shelters. The company has reached a similar deal with San Francisco. Chicago and Portland, Ore., are also considering proposals from advertisers. ....

For a $40 annual membership fee, SmartBike users can check out three-speed bicycles for three hours at a time. The program will not provide helmets but does encourage their use.

Similar programs have proved successful in Europe. The Vélib program in Paris and Bicing in Barcelona, Spain, both started around a year ago and already offer thousands of bicycles.

It seems like Providence has an overabundance of pedestrians getting struck by cars.

An unbylined piece from today's ProJo:

PROVIDENCE — A 13-year-old student at Perry Middle School was struck by a car as she walked to school yesterday morning. Sgt. Paul F. Zienowicz said the student, whose name was not available, was treated at Hasbro Children’s Hospital for minor injuries.

The accident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. at Hartford and Laurel Hill avenues.

Zienowicz said a westbound motorist on Hartford stopped to allow the girl to cross the street and the driver of a car on Laurel Hill mistook the stop as a gesture to allow him to drive out onto Hartford. When the driver turned left onto Hartford, he looked at the stopped car rather than where he was going and his car struck the girl, the sergeant said.

Speaking of Jef, he's been blogging up a storm, and reports, via PBN, that Smart Car is coming to Warwick:

PBN reports that one of the 74 Smart Car dealerships slated for the US will be located in Warwick, on Bald Hill Road.

The Smart Car is a tiny car popular in Europe and well suited to urban environments. Able to park head first facing the curb in a parallel parking space for example. I test drove one when they where here in Providence over the summer. It was fun to drive and I’d certainly consider buying one if I felt the need to own a car (which I don’t). The $12k sticker price is a little high though, you can get a conventional compact car for about that much with not quite as good, but good gas mileage. I think the Smart Car would be an excellent alternative for something like ZipCar. I would certainly rent one to drive to the Cape (since bus service to the Cape is such a pain in the ass and not convenient or easy or in any way makes any sense).

I assume the locating of a dealership here means that they’ve had a good reception. It’ll be nice to see some of these cars on the road. Of course, they’d probably fly better if we had better local and regional transit, and the Smart Car was seen as a supplemental transit alternative.

Downtown Providence and its environs were gripped by bumper-to-bumper gridlock, for reasons not immediately clear, yesterday at about 5:45 pm. The onramp leaving to I-95 from near North Main Street had a barely clear lane, surrounded by plenty of ice, making it fairly likely that some of our more unrestrained drivers will take a big slide.

A few weeks ago, in a piece on the prominence lent by our local TV affiliates to the weather, Tim Lehnert noted the siege mentality that has become common when even a few flakes start to fall:

While quick-changing coastal conditions and New England’s four seasons play a role, the biggest factor in explaining the prominence afforded local weathercasts is the collective memory of the Big One. “We’re still getting over the Blizzard of ’78 mentality,” says veteran Channel 10 weatherman John Ghiorse. More than two feet of snow fell in Providence during the two-day February 1978 storm, trapping thousands in their homes and cars, and leaving many southern New Englanders with a lemming-like tendency to clog supermarkets — reflexively buying bread and milk — when even a small amount of snow is forecast.
 
But our climate and once-in-a-generation severe weather events aren’t the whole story. Southern New England is hardly the only area of the country with storms and variable weather; nor is feverish coverage of low-pressure systems unique to this region. In Rhode Island — as elsewhere — high-octane weather reports are part and parcel of promoting local newscasts. Seen this way, local newscasts stoke the meteorological frenzy of viewers as much as they respond to it.

Yet it's clear that yesterday's snow storm was a bone fide news event, particularly since the government response seemed so subpar. While several factors -- the fast rate of the snowfall and the mass departure of workers from Providence -- complicated things, we've got to be able to do better than this. Liberals and conservatives agree; RI's Future and Anchor Rising are each describing the response as a failure of government. Maybe it's totally unrelated, but we know that there's not always the best communication between Governor Carcieri and Lieutenant Governor Roberts.

Sensing the worsening conditions, I split from work at about 2 yesterday, and with a short stop for groceries, it took me about an hour to travel the five miles home. The congestion and gridlock that led the newscasts was already developing, and for reasons not totally understandable.

On WLNE (Channel 6), Buddy Cianci was quick to pickup on the potential political fallout, while WJAR (10) and WPRI (12) focused more on the miserable traffic congestion and school students yet to be delivered home. We will no doubt hear a lot more about the fallout in the days to come.

N4N was dreading a dismal multi-hour experience when I went to the Pawtucket branch of the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles to renew my license this morning. Much to my surprise, I was in and out in about 15 minutes. Whether it's the Carcieri administration or something else, the DMV showed itself to be a model of efficient government service.

Some of us recall how President Bush asked us to be consumers after 9/11. As she writes in the Phoenix, Mary Ann Sorrentino tried to take him up on it, with frustrating results:

After 9/11, many of us went to New York City, responding to then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s plea to help Gotham by visiting and spending money. We toured Ground Zero, visited museums, ate at restaurants, and joined Manhattan’s determination to not let “terrorism” lock us in our homes.
 
National leaders also entreated the public to support the stricken airline industry by traveling. If we stayed home, terrified, the enemy won, or so the reasoning went. Afflicted by wanderlust, I took this seriously and traveled as much as my schedule and purse allowed.
 
So when a “last-minute deal” appears in my e-mail, we pay attention. Recently, British Airways offered great flights from Boston to London, plus two free hotel nights.
 
Dreaming ensued of a London escape. Sure enough, one could book roundtrip airfare for $225. The kick in the teeth, however, was how taxes and homeland security fees, plus airport charges, added an additional $347.99 to that ticket. The total cost became $572.99, more than 150 percent greater than the basic airfare!
 
Passengers start with this $347.99 charge since the airport taxes and so-called “security” fees are flat, and not based on a percentage of airfare. Travelocity lists such taxes/fees as:
 
• Airport Passenger Facility Charges — $2-$18, depending on itinerary;
 
• Federal Segment Fees — $3 per segment (defined as a takeoff and a landing);
 
• September 11 Security Fee of $2.50 per flight segment (maximum charge per trip of $5 one-way, $10 round-trip);
 
• Travel Facilities Tax of up to $13.40 per roundtrip for domestic flights beginning or ending in Alaska or Hawaii;
 
• For fares to Canada, a federal immigration fee of $7 per roundtrip, airport fees of $6.50 per roundtrip, and Canada Air Traveler Security charge of $8 per roundtrip;
 
• For international itineraries, foreign and US government-imposed charges of up to $200 USD per round trip, depending on routing and destination.
  
Add to these realities how the plummeting dollar is now worth less than 60 percent of a Euro and only half a British Pound, not to mention the global unpopularity of America and Americans, and how the “terror” that keeps us trapped has less to do with jihadis than with our own misguided bureaucracy and policies.
 
Domestic air tickets on so-called low-cost carriers also add significant “taxes and fees.” With gas prices skyrocketing (and gas companies enjoying record profits in recent years), airfares will only rise, so driving to our destination — when that is geographically possible — is also getting unaffordable for many.
 
As for the use to which all this money is being put, most US airports are more crowded, less comfortable, dirtier, less efficient, and no more secure than they were on 9/10.
 
We regularly hear about someone smuggling a weapon on board, wandering onto the tarmac, and other problems. Taxes and fees that cost 150 percent more than the ticket itself won’t fix that.
 
Like the old Animals’ song says, “We Gotta Get Outta this Place.” We just can’t afford to do so.

Considering Rhode Island's small size, the state should do bette with mass transit.

Writing in the Phoenix, Bill Rodriguez offers a preview of some related upcoming get-togethers:

Los Angeles drivers aren’t the only ones who can’t give up their dependence on cars. Rhode Island is small enough that the distance from Watch Hill to Woonsocket could be a mere spur line in a bigger city’s mass transit system. Yet even with regular ozone alerts in summer, and even though America’s oil addiction has led to wars and corporate governance, it remains very easy to just hop into our cars.
 
Two upcoming events will try to nudge Rhode Islanders to put the “us” back into “bus,” as the Sierra Club puts it, and build support for related solutions.
 
A one-day conference, “Getting There: Transportation for a Prosperous, Sustainable Rhode Island,” will take place in downtown Providence on Thursday, October 25. The keynote speaker is Charles Hale, the commissioner of planning who was responsible for building the country’s first new streetcar, in Portland, Oregon, in 50 years. (Hale will also speak that evening, from 5:30 to 8 pm at Local 121.) The program is free, but sign-up is required. Registration for the panel discussions on mass transit and “individual transit” (think bicycles) is $35. For information, call 401.228.7930.
 
Also coming up are three public slide talks and forums, titled “Renegotiation Growth, Transportation & Affordable Housing in South County,” which will look at three projects of architect and urban planner Troy West.
 
“Dale Carlia Intersection: A Pedestrian-Friendly Alternative to Car-Dominated Planning,” a suggestion for Wakefield, will occur October 24 at Peace Dale Library; “Tower Hill Development Design Project,” is October 25 at Kingston Free Library; a talk about a light rail loop proposal, follows on October 29 at Cross Mills Library in Charlestown. Models for the projects are on view at the libraries. For information, call 401.783.0587.
 
Mark Therrien, assistant general manager of planning at the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, will be one of the panelists on October 25. He sees the state transit system at a crossroads.
 
“Our ridership is up through the roof — we’re averaging about a 7 percent increase per year for five years, which is tremendous,” Therrien says. “We are at a ‘Where do we go from here?’ point. Gas prices and the many other reasons more people are using transit — well, it's maxing out the transit system in Rhode Island.”
 
What sort of suggestions are likely to emerge from a transportation study that the state is about to begin?
 
“Different things,” he says. “The potential for bus rapid transit — allowing people to go faster on their trips. Metropolitan is definitely the focus for Rhode Island. Included in that, we'll look at the potential for streetcars or light rail. Light rail is very expensive, so I have a prejudice against trying to fund it.”

Contrary to popular belief in some quarters, on-street parking in residential neighborhoods will not hasten the decline of Western Civilization. Patrick Ward, the force behind Citizens for Resident Permit Parking, will tell you the same thing. The Phoenix has written about this in the past.

The PBN has an update on the campaign:

“There’s a hundred good reasons to eliminate the overnight parking ban,” Ward said last week. “But I can’t think of a lot of good ones to maintain it.”

In the last 18 months, he and other volunteers have circulated petitions, organized rallies, put up lawn signs and talked to neighborhood groups.

Now the efforts appear to paying off.

City officials confirmed last week that a pilot parking permit program will be established for a four-block section of Mount Pleasant surrounding Ward’s three-unit apartment house that is particularly starved for parking spaces.

According to City Councilman Terrance Hassett, the densely populated neighborhood with limited off-street parking joins an area of Washington Park in which cars have been allowed for about a year to park on the streets overnight with a permit.

Hassett said it will take another 60 to 90 days for the new program to start, allowing for signs to be printed and installed. Acknowledging he didn’t support the permit plan when it was first suggested last year, Hassett said he was swayed by the success of the Washington Park experiment.

“We’ve discovered it can be done with few problems,” he said.

The victory for Ward’s group doesn’t end there. Kari Lang, executive director of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, said there are plans to add a pilot permit program in that neighborhood, too.

The takeaway of the local coverage this week of the latest Texas Transportation Institute traffic analysis was that we're a lot better off than congested-clogged places like Los Angeles. Such conclusions, while accurate, distract attention from a steadily growing amount of local traffic.

Critical Mass offers one approach of challenging cars.

Tomorrow, some creatively park-minded local activists will take over a bit of downtown Providence, as part of National Park(ing) Day. Art parks will form from 11 am to 2 pm, or thereabouts.