Cranston tied in political knots.

Commentary

Another day, another political turmoil. And Cranstonians are growing weary of it all.

That might just be what prompted two candidates running for special election to replace a city council member who resigned to run as Independents – they’re picking up on residents not wanting to participate in partisan politics anymore. Quietly, people have gone from a raised eyebrow – to anger at it all – to finding it all humorous at this point – and “I’m checked out of all their games” being a resident’s comment, followed by, “it’s almost embarrassing to be in this group anymore,” spoken by a council member.

Latest: The future of The Park Theatre

The iconic Park Theatre has been struggling for years – not being profitable as a business venture by almost anyone who has tried, and its infrastructure strained from lack of upkeep and updating. A few years ago, Cranston City Councilor (and restauranteur) Ed Brady became the new co-owner, redid seating and did other updates and opened with a Cranston flair. Unfortunately, a series of unconnected events from a boxing event to a networking event to various concerts and speaking events never established a true identity for the facility – branding ended at the iconic sign and a series of really good outdoor photos. Professional promotion and publicity was almost non-existent, except for mediocre social media attempts. Before long, it was obvious the Park would struggle once again. A leaking roof and broken HVAC/AC system pushed it to the brink where today they are asking for donations and a whole community effort to save the building.

Enter Learn365RI. Lots of money offered to local city and town mayors to add supplemental education programs to their community – with the caveat that they also open centers for jobs, education and community support. Millions were offered and nearly – but not all – RI mayors and town managers jumped on board. Cranston was one. Identifying where to invest that caveat money was a challenge – and the Park Theatre, across from city hall and the Cranston East High School seemed a natural.

A cursory mention of the idea drew what most ideas from the Republican Cranston Mayor does these days – immediate backlash by the Democratic majority of the Cranston City Council. Almost immediate oppositional statements were released, primarily by Councilors Ferri and Donegan. Councilor Ferri said there were plenty of other city owned buildings available. A request as to what buildings he had in mind was met with this response: “I prefer not to discuss this with you. Please stop emailing me I have already unsubscribed to your page” – adding – “I have gotten over 200 responses in opposition to this plan. In just 2 hours. !”. (Later in a television interview he said he had gotten “over 100” responses).

Within hours the Mayor sent out his statement expressing chagrin at an idea that was floated, but not in any way fleshed out – but would be presented to the group looking into locations.

A day later the debacle made the front page of the Providence Journal and the social media efforts against it began.

By the end of the day yesterday, the idea of rescuing the Park Theatre was taken off the table, as it looked like over $3 million of the $6 million available would be needed just to get the building operational. But the Mayor says what they learned by looking at the building will be presented to the group looking for a facility, anyway.

A victory for the City Council members? The question now is – should the Park Theatre be rescued? The iconic building at the center of Rolfe Square? We surveyed – albeit informally – people’s feelings about the building via an “X” (formerly known as Twitter) survey. 46.3% favored saving it – with private money. What ideas do the Cranston Councilors have? Or was the issue to defeat what might have been the mayor’s plan – and they’ll have nothing further to say about it?

Mayor Kenneth J. Hopkins expresses disappointment in the rush to judgment on The Park Theater

Mayor Hopkins expressed disappointment in several local officials who have expressed opposition to an idea that has not yet even been formulated on the potential acquisition of the historic Park Theatre. In a press release, Hopkins noted:

“Like the Budlong Pool discussion, people choose to stake out political positions on an issue without the facts or taking the time to gain the full base of knowledge that responsible public officials on matters of public policy should gather,” Hopkins said.

“It is wrong when we cannot explore ideas without council people running to the press or posting on social media misinformation or incomplete information,” Hopkins stated, adding “it is a sad day when governmental leaders cannot undertake consideration of possible projects for the good of a community without attention seeking politicians throwing their political grenades.”

“We were not even at the point to intelligently discuss this with the full city council or public, however the concept of potentially pursuing The Park was agreed upon by the council president and council majority leader,” Hopkins continued. “In order to be transparent you have to have something to be transparent about.”

“I look out my window every day at the building and hope it succeeds as a cultural, entertainment and art center for Cranston’s residents,” he said. “A dark and boarded up theater leaves a void on our main street and it hurts our quality of life that people come to Cranston to live and work.” 

“The Park Theater was just one idea,” Hopkins said. “It is important to note that all members of this group expressed a desire to perform due diligence regarding The Park Theater facility.”

“My interest in the future of the Park Theater has nothing to do with who owns it,” Hopkins said. “I care about the building and its future as a community asset to serve the residents of Cranston. I will continue to carry out my duties as Mayor without trying to grab a quick headline or curry favor on a perceived issue like some politicians who operate with no vision or willingness to give thoughtful consideration to grand ideas.

“I will continue to work to keep the Park Theatre open regardless of its ownership,” Hopkins concluded. “It would be a shame if it went the way of duckpin bowling.” 

_

Regarding the educational program, with the “strings attached” to it, the city has said it may now opt not to take the money due to the lack of sufficient planning time and ability to identify another location that would meet with Council and community approval.

Theatre follows the Pool

The discourse over opening the Budlong Pool in Cranston has been festering, literally, for years, and coming to a crescendo recently when proposals volleyed back and forth – bigger pool, smaller pool, deeper, shallower, splash pad, no splash pad – shade, no shade. The latest proposal seemed to almost land on the laugh button when it was to cut the pool down to half its size – a plain, rectangular pool, with no bells and whistles. No splash pad or shade or added features. Creativity, beaten to death by political “discourse”.

This idea followed a public meeting to show the ideas for what the pool could be developed into to the community – one person speaking was a potential mayoral candidate – openly saying she is considering challenging the Mayor in the next election.

Many have assumed it is all about the fact that the Council is democratic controlled by a thin margin and the Mayor is a Republican. A member switched parties, and therefore control of the council, and a few members have left and now control could be up for grabs, even though the Council should be non-partisan. When the Mayor and the Council are in opposite parties, gridlock and wresting of control only grows as elections get closer.

The pool is still waiting – as one councilor said, “we’ll still be here at Christmas going back and forth and 2024 will come, and nothing will have been built”. Residents know this is the case.

The Pool – the Park Theatre – the Special Election – what next?

Last Sunday at the Park, Michael Flynn spoke at a private sold-out event about religion and patriotism. First Amendment aside, the thought that Flynn is still spewing his perspectives shocks most people, but this is what makes America – America – freedom of speech, even when we cringe at it all.

The newly organized group, a Political Action Committee, Cranston Forward, sent out their red-light warning and organized a demonstration at the public event, as they “stand up for democracy”, asking people to bring signs against the insurrectionist being allowed to speak in Cranston.

–

According to reports, 5 people showed up, holding handmade signs.

_

What’s the future of Cranston hold? Will there be any kind of a pool built while officials argue over it’s size, type, depth, and so on – 19+ meetings to design by committee, when politics is the elephant in the pool. Will the summer of 2024 be lost because of all this “discussion”?

Will the city buy the Park Theatre or help in some way? Rescuing it from destruction and developing a community service resource center across from city hall? Will a private group surface? Will the City Council come forth with its own ideas to save the Theatre?

Will the city council retain its democratic majority – or flip back to republican in this “bi-partisan” group after the next special election? Will one candidate do as he said – if elected he’ll switch parties to Democrat because unless you’re in the majority at the Cranston City Council you can’t get anything done.

Moving Forward for Cranston

Meanwhile Cranstonians may not “deserve their pool”, as one councilor said, but it would be nice to keep what has been an institution for years for the city residents.

In a matter of weeks, TopGolf will open – and a City Council which, during one election, promised those seated at a candidates’ forum, “no TopGolf”, and later voted unanimously for it at a council meeting with the TopGolf owner in attendance, who later stood and shook the hand of each Council member (Mayor Hopkins being a Council member at the time) – will be faced with coming up with solutions for any issue that follows – traffic being the most likely concern.

Will the intersection of Pontiac Avenue and Sockanosset grow worse by the next development? Yes, it will.

Costco, come on down! Set to locate at a large piece of land with plenty of parking and space – one that doesn’t encroach on residents? Is that really where COSTCO will end up? It’s 3rd time location choice a charm? We’ll see. Notably, it will once again be only the Pontiac Avenue exit off Route 95 that will bring all the customers – all the TopGolfers – all the Garden City and Chapel View shoppers to their destination. While traffic may not be insurmountable to that Cranston bottleneck area, and new off-ramps are being constructed, what happens up on “95” will be another matter altogether.

Lots of questions – lots of concerns – lots of emails filling up our boxes – lots of long nights at council meetings (and thank goodness for ZOOM to save us from those unforgiving wooden benches). But residents will be walking their kids to some new schools, with others planned. Open houses will be held at new buildings, and to see new murals.

Residents will be shopping and dining, anticipating a festive holiday season at Garden City Center. They’ll be pruning their trees, cleaning the drains, maintaining their homes, and wondering if aging in place will be possible for them as this isn’t the cheapest place to live. But it is, in spite of, not because of, politics, one of the nicest places for a good quality of life in all of Rhode Island.

So – cut it out. Move forward. Together.