November 17, 2009
The Honorable Mayor David N. Cicilline
Providence City Hall
25 Dorrance Street
Providence, RI 02903
Re: Allens Avenue & Port Redevelopment Plan
Dear Mayor Cicilline:
We the undersigned property and business owners demand to be immediately removed from the Allens Avenue & Port Redevelopment Plan commissioned by the Providence Redevelopment Agency (PRA), and recently introduced as an ordinance before the Providence City Council. While this plan was commissioned by the PRA, it was never acted on by the Agency or made available to the public before it was introduced as a Council ordinance.
The stated purpose of this plan is to declare all of the properties along Allens Avenue, the Port, and Harborside sub-areas as “blighted and substandard,” thus allowing the PRA to use its broad powers of condemnation and eminent domain. This plan would be in effect for 40 years, and at any point during this time period the PRA could begin condemnation / eminent domain procedures against any properties within the approximately 590 acre redevelopment plan area.
This redevelopment plan and the possible use of eminent domain are simply unacceptable. The plan is an affront to basic private property rights and an insult to successful area businesses and institutions that collectively employ thousands of people and are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in total economic impact. We are not “blighted and substandard,” and we will not accept this designation which is based on a superficial study of the area and contains unsubstantiated findings and baseless conclusions.
This redevelopment plan also threatens future job growth in the Allens Avenue and port area. Facing the threat of eminent domain for the next 40 years, no area businesses will have the incentive to invest in their properties to expand operations and grow jobs.
Finally, if the real intent of this ordinance is to only aid the expansion of ProvPort onto adjacent properties, then the redevelopment plan should be rewritten and the map redrawn to narrowly focus on ProvPort and these specific projects. The powers of condemnation and eminent domain should only be used as a last resort and in extremely narrow circumstances. This plan will threaten property owners and business in a 590 acre area for 40 years. There is simply no need for this incredibly overbroad plan if the real intent is to acquire properties within and immediately adjacent to the ProvPort area.
For these reasons, we again demand to be removed from this extremely overbroad redevelopment plan.
Sincerely,
John Everson, President
Narragansett Improvement
223 Allens Avenue
John Stiller, Regional Director
PSC
275 Allens Avenue
David Broomfield, Owner
I. Broomfield & Son, Inc.
Lehigh Metals Corporation
14 Lehigh Street
Stephen Broomfield, President
J Broomfield & Sons
473 Allens Avenue
David Cohen, President
Tidewater Terminal Inc.
Promet Marine Services Co.
Tidewater Realty LLC
232 – 242 – 284 Allens Avenue
Burton S. Russell, Vice President, Operations
Sprague Energy Corporation
144 Allens Avenue
Mark L. Russell, Director of Real Estate
Cumberland Farms
383 Allens Avenue
Edward Sciaba, General Manager
Rhode Island Recycled Metals
434 Allens Avenue
Andre A. Langlais, President
Multi State Electric Co.
36 Oxford Street
Anthony M. Coletta
Dads Realty LLC
283 Allens Avenue
