Greater City: Providence

Ice skating season ends March 21st

gcpvd — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:19:58 +0000

Photo by Jef Nickerson

A sure sign of spring, the ice skating season at the Bank of America City Center in Kennedy Plaza ends March 21st. The skating center is wrapping up the season with a number of events:

The 2010 skating season ends March 21st. Join us for a full week of fun!

Monday, March 15th Skating admission is just $3 all day long!

Tuesday, March 16th Tango Tuesday from 12-2pm!

Wednesday, March 17th Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Wear green while you skate between 2-4pm and receive a free pass to the Providence Children’s Museum (while supplies last). Then from 4-10pm, join us in our Beer & Wine Pavilion for a refreshing after-work drink. And don’t forget, Wednesday night is College Night from 6-10pm!

Thursday, March 18th Take an exhilarating break from watching the NCAA games and go for a spin on the ice. Afterwork Special pricing from 4-6pm is just $3 admission and $3 skate rental. And from 4-10pm, watch the skaters from the Beer & Wine Pavilion provided by Pinelli-Marra.

Friday, March 19th Join us from from 4-10pm in the Beer & Wine Pavilion provided by Pinelli-Marra. Make a night of it by walking through the tunnel to the special basin Waterfire night at 7:30pm!

Saturday, March 20th Final night of our Beer & Wine Pavilion from 4-10pm – a great way to cap off the NCAA games!

Sunday, March 21st Final day – Open 11am – 10pm! Make sure to bring your special coupon below for a deep discount!

Bank of America City Center

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Google Bike Directions

Jef Nickerson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:46:54 +0000

Photo by Jef Nickerson

Today Google Maps launched bicycle directions for 150 American Cities, including Providence.

Currently, cycling maps are not embeddable, so I can’t show one here, but go here to see a map showing cycling directions from City Hall to Roger Williams Park. The bike layer shows off-road bikeways (such as the East Bay and Washington Secondary Bike Paths) as a solid green line. On street bike routes are shown with a green and grey dashed line. The maps of course are only as good as the data Google has. Broadway for example is marked as off-road. Likely because their are nebulous plans to put bike lanes on Broadway, they are not there yet though.

Via: The New York Times

Update: Streetsblog has an audio interview with Google Engineer Scott Shawcroft about the roll out of bike directions and Google’s future plans for it.

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Shape Up RI Wednesday Walks

gcpvd — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:10:17 +0000

Join Shape Up RI for a walk on Wednesday March 10th at 12:15pm. Meet us at 12:15pm on the Rhode Island State House lawn, across from the Mall for a 1.2 mile walk. That is over 2000 steps!

All are welcome. Everyone is entered to win a Shape Up RI tee-shirt.

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Warwick Intermodal Bike and Pedestrian Access

gcpvd — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:01:00 +0000

Photo (cc) pugetsoundphotowalks

PRESS RELEASE
WARWICK INTERMODAL TRAIN AND BIKE ACCESS
Greenwich Bay Watershed Group
401 738-4347 FAX 401 679-0033

March 8, 2010

The Greenwich Bay Watershed Group is announcing an initiative to jump-start a safe bike and pedestrian pathway to the Warwick Intermodal Train Station. The path would connect to the existing Cranston-to-Coventry bike path.

With the economy turning sour, residents in our watershed are hard-pressed to find jobs locally. In increasing numbers they are becoming commuters to seek and find work in Boston, as well as in Connecticut shoreline areas. For them and us, the Intermodal should be a lifeline to badly needed jobs. It is a facility that can help make Warwick work.

With energy prices again on the rise, and mounting concerns about carbon footprints and global warming, commuters are turning to bikes and walking as modes of transport to train stations, buses, and job sites. Conveniently, the Warwick Intermodal Train Station is located just a couple of miles from the existing Washington Secondary Bike Path. But the challenges that cyclists and walkers face are significant, especially along a short stretch of Greenwich Avenue.

We are scheduling neighborhood meetings to discuss the development of this bike path link and how neighborhoods in the area can hook into this new bike path to the Intermodal.

CONTACT:
Richard Langseth
Executive Director
Greenwich Bay Watershed Group
170 Budlong Farm Road
Warwick, RI 02886
401 738-4347

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© Greater City: Providence, 2010 | Permalink | 2 comments |

Reader Submissions: Shorpy.com

Jef Nickerson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:08:50 +0000

November 1912. Central Falls, Rhode Island. View of privies, garbage dumps, etc., in back yards near Bed-bug Alley and High Street. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine for the Child Welfare Exhibit of 1912-13. via: Shorpy.com

A reader sent me some links from a site I hadn’t heard of, Shorpy.com. Shorpy.com describes itself as, “History in HD is a vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.”

All of the photos on the site are interesting, and there are some from Rhode Island. Though these are not your typical photos of a hazy glorified yesteryear. In fact, most of these photos highlight child labor in the mills of Rhode Island around the turn of the last century. Something that we don’t look back on very often.

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Video: The Sandpit, tilt-shift New York City

Jef Nickerson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:04:54 +0000

This is pretty damn cool!

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

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RIAC Intermodal Facility naming contest for college and university students

gcpvd — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:45:59 +0000

Colleges and Universities Invited to Participate in Intermodal Marketing Contest
Rhode Island Airport Corporation Launches Contest

Warwick, Rhode Island ( March 3, 2010) – The Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC), together with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has launched a contest to develop a branding/marketing name for the Intermodal Facility.

The contest seeks to engage students in Rhode Island Colleges and Universities with concentrations in business, marketing and/or communications in creating a branding of the Intermodal Facility. Names and taglines must take into account both local and regional feel and convey multi-modal transportation connectivity to Green Airport. The Intermodal will integrate trains, planes, buses, cars and planes. This is not to be confused with any future proposal for a formal name to the public facility.

Students are asked to provide a name and tagline accompanied by an essay of 1000 words or less with a rationale for their submission. Finalists will be selected and asked to present proposals before a selection committee.

(...)
Read the rest of RIAC Intermodal Facility naming contest for college and university students (266 words)

© Greater City: Providence, 2010 | Permalink | 2 comments |

PPS March Lecture – Place/Displace: Providence and the Twentieth Century (03/17)

gcpvd — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:30:04 +0000

Image from Providence Preservation Society via Facebook

On Wednesday, March 17, R. Tripp Evans, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Wheaton College, will present an overview of 20th century architecture in Providence. Providence is a city known for its extraordinary architecture from the 18th and 19th centuries. This month’s lecture, Place/Displace: Providence and the Twentieth Century focuses on the lesser known and underappreciated eras of the 20th century, the International Style of the early 20th century and the Modern movement which gained popularity after World War II.

There is growing concern within the historic preservation community that significant buildings, landscapes, and sites of these periods will be lost before their true value is fully recognized. The goal of this lecture is to educate our community regarding the design significance of these singular movements and their innovative accompanying styles.

The lecture will take place at the Providence Career and Technical Academy Auditorium, 91 Fricker Street, Providence. Please enter through the main lobby on Cranston Street.

This event is free to members of the Providence Preservation Society and costs $10 for non-members. Membership applications will be available that evening for attendees who wish to join PPS. Membership information is also available at www.ppsri.org/join.

Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. For further information about this lecture and Providence Preservation Society educational programming, please visit www.ppsri.org/March2010.

R. Tripp Evans is Associate Professor of American Art and the Chair of the Art and Art History Department at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. He earned his B.A. in Architectural History from the University of Virginia and his M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Art from Yale University.

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Downcity Design Review Committee (03/08)

Jef Nickerson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:12:48 +0000

Before we get into the agenda, let’s talk about what is missing from the agenda, namely 35 Weybosset Street.

You may remember that back in November the DRC was asked to consider allowing the demolition of the facade at 35 Weybosset Street. I was not happy about it. The DRC sent the property owner packing telling him to come up with either a plan to save the facade (as was ordered when OneTen Westminster was first proposed) or to come up with a compelling reason why it needs to go (preferably the saving option).

Months have gone by and the owner has not sought to return to the DRC. Now we have the first DRC meeting in months, and 35 Weybosset is not on the agenda. Word on the street is the owner is looking to sell the property. In the short term this is good news, as the immediate threat of demolition is gone. This is also bad as the owner seems to not be properly maintaining the facade, and if they become absentee, emolition by neglect is a concern. Also, any new owner may start the quest to demolish the facade anew, and if it is suffering from the previous owner’s neglect, they may get permission.

On with this month’s agenda:

DOWNCITY DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE NOTICE OF REGULAR MEETING

MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010 4:45 PM
Department of Planning and Development, 4th Floor Auditorium 400 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903

OPENING SESSION

Call to Order
Roll Call
Approval of Meeting Minutes of November 9, 2009
Approval of 2010 DRC Annual Meeting Schedule
Annual Election of Vice Chair

PROJECT REVIEW

1. DRC Application No. 10.03, 180 Washington Street (formerly First Bank and Trust Company Building (1972), now vacant)
Proposal to renovate the existing vacant bank building for Coastway Community Bank. Work includes landscaping the adjacent parking areas.

2. DRC Application No. 10.04, 111 Westminster Street (formerly Industrial Trust Company Building (1928), Now Bank of America Tower)
Proposal to replace the existing steel frame windows in the lantern at the top of the building with new anodized aluminum windows to match existing.

3. DRC Application No. 10.05, 55 Canal Street (Arnold Hoffman Building (1848), now RISD Illustration Studies Building)
Proposal to replace the existing double-hung windows with new replacement windows.

ADJOURNMENT

Agenda [.pdf]

Former Washington Trust Bank, Photo by Jef Nickerson

So 180 Washington is a little dissappointing. I was hoping that someone would come up with some creative re-use for this building which was vacated by Washington Trust last year. By creative I was thinking, not another bank. Another bank likely means the drive-thru will be pressed back into service, though maybe Coastway won’t want a drive-thru (I’m not holding my breath).

It will be better to have the building occupied rather than vacant, but sigh, another bank. I assume this means that Coastway is leaving their Green Street location.

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The Uncaucus Updates

gcpvd — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:30:52 +0000

Go Mobile – Uncaucus.org works on your mobile phone

One of the things we’re dedicated to at the Uncaucus is making sure technology makes it easier for you to participate, rather than harder. Today we launched a mobile phone version of the Uncaucus.org site, that will display properly in any phone with a web browser, no matter how small the screen. On your phone, just go to Uncaucus.org, and you’ll automatically see the mobile website. The site even has some extra goodies like letting you click-to-call our Candidate QuestionLine right from your phone!

Thanks to MoFuse for making mobile websites so easy.

Link

Uncaucus QuestionLine is Now Open — 401.484.8461 — Phone and Text Message Us

The Uncaucus has opened a new phone line dedicated to collecting citizen comments and questions on the Providence Mayoral election. All messages will be translated into text and posted on the Uncaucus site. We will forward questions to the candidates and offer them the opportunity to respond. You can also send a text message to 401.484.8461. Hope to hear from you soon.

Link

And we are still seeking questions for candidate surveys. Mayor, Governor, City Council, maybe District 1 and the open Providence Assembly seats. Visit this post and submit your questions.

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