1996

A work in progress
April 26
Downcity, downschmitty -- so some days downtown is hopping, but other nights it's quiet enough to hear the wind whistle down Westminster. Bill Rodriguez wondered just what the hell was going on with redevelopment anyway.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Providence is on the verge of an arts renaissance. This has been the prediction, repeated every year or two since the November 1991 charrette led by Miami architect and urban planner Andres M. Duany. But despite all the plans and committees, four and a half years later there are still many derelict buildings downtown. And the sporadic nighttime bustle of people on their way to artistic or entertaining evenings is contrasted most of the time by lonely, dark streets. Why the delay in realizing the Downcity vision? Some say it is a case of too many cooks -- too many artists and developers with conflicting agendas -- spoiling the soup. But in reality, there hasn't been a single dish called revitalization."

The thrill is gone
May 3
The general assumption when Rocky Point, Rhode Island's 150-year-old amusement park, closed down was that bad business practices led to a $9 million debt which in turn led to the park's demise. Don Skinner argued that lack of cash was just representative of some fundamental changes in the way Americans are entertained.

More and more, the journey to distraction is focusing inward on a technology within easy reach. Television, for instance, has become more pervasive, swallowing the hours of the average person's day. Computers link us to exotic destinations and to people on the other end. The younger generation has cars now at an earlier age. And there are drugs to fill in the blanks. Even a short trip to the other great amusement park, the mall, seems to satisfy the American psyche. It took more than a century, but Rocky Point, like a clown with a tiny umbrella to catch his fall, was finally knocked off balance this year and sent crashing.

Well, he is John-John's cousin . . .
May 24
Before Patrick Kennedy was berating fellow Democrat Robert Weygand over whether or not Clinton should be impeached, he was using the old appellation to lay a stiff beating on his opponent, Kevin Vigilante, in his bid for Rhode Island's first congressional seat. Michael Iacobbo followed the candidates and saw just what one goes up against when they go up against Camelot.

When [Vigilante] introduced himself to an elderly woman, telling her he was running against Patrick Kennedy, she made it clear that she wouldn't vote for anyone, short of Jesus Christ, but Patrick. "Oh no no no," she replied. "I'm sorry -- just the name is enough for me." "You don't even know me," said Vigilante. "Isn't that something -- you're one of those people who vote for a name."

A hairy matter
May 31
Even though third-party candidate Robert Healey received a stunning nine percent of the votes for governor in his 1994 campaign -- a number large enough to catapult him and his Cool Moose Party into major player in Rhode Island poli-tics -- Healey's party was basically a no-show in the '96 congressional elections. Thomas Grillo opined that Healey's ideological eccentricities might be hurting his party.

Early in the campaign, Healey refused the advice of supporters, who pleaded with him to cut his [long hair and beard] in order to be taken more seriously. "I won't sell out. I'm no phony," he says. But Brown University pollster Darrel West suggests that if Healey had submitted to a haircut, he would have increased his margin. "Yeah," Healey says in response to the commonly asked query about his appearance, "Charlie Bakst [Journal political columnist] told me that I'm a haircut and a shave from being governor of Rhode Island."

Coup de grace
July 19
Jamestown resident Nancy Jane Graham lived life in bold strokes: in 1951 the young socialite was crowned a "Catherinette" by Christian Dior at his Fete de St. Catherine; later she became a rogue photographer who snuck into East Germany to shoot a Red youth rally, having to outrun communist police to escape with her film. But Graham, like anybody, got old, sick with a disease similar to Alzheimer's, and lonely. Jody Ericson described the empowerment of Graham's decision to end her own life.

Because Nancy had led such a singular life, only she could really understand the glory of [her life] -- the beauty behind the headlines and images. And before she herself began to forget and have regrets, Nancy Jane Graham drove to a field near her house and remained proud until the end.

Boy, Joe!
September 13
Joe Paolino Jr. was a popular mayor, guiding PVD through the prosperous '80s while the Bud was, um, out of the picture. But something went way wrong -- first a big loss to Governor Sundlun in the race for the Dem nomination for governor in 1990, then a loss to Robert Weygand in his bid for a 2nd District congressional seat. Lisa Prevost said that Paolino alienated possible constituents when he played politics a bit too much.

If any conclusion can be drawn from this campaign, it is that the once-promising Paolino was tripped up by a love for the game of politics that transcended any core beliefs. In his zeal to go to Congress, Paolino employed a strategy of scapegoating immigrants as a way of playing to fears of prejudices and locking in a certain percentage of the vote. He also portrayed himself to Italian-Americans as a candidate of shared heritage who would represent them, instead of all.

The reel deal
October 4
The mall debate having raged for some seven years at this point, mall developer J. Daniel Lugosch suddenly throws this wrench into the works: instead of building a downtown cinema to draw people into the city, as had been the original plan, Lugosch yaps that the mall suddenly just must have a 20-screener inside it. Lisa Prevost explained how city leaders could assent to Lugosch.

The organization driving the Downcity effort is a private group of local powerbrokers known as the Coalition for Community Development (CCD). Chaired by former governor Philip Noel, CCD's mission is to push the Downcity plan along by funding a few key development projects, like housing and a cinema, on their own. But even though the success of their plan hinges on the strength of the downtown cinema, a majority of their members are backing Lugosch's proposal to put [a huge] cinema in the mall. Their acquiescence was predictable -- as so often happens in a state as small as Rhode Island, the financial interests of the members of CCD overlap considerably with the mall project. In fact, the chairman and vice chairman of CCD are lawyers for the deal [and] Lugosch is himself a CCD member.

The baton is passed
October 18
The Rhode Island Philharmonic was at a crossroads. Michael Caito wrote about the road taken.

The Rhode Island Philharmonic held auditions and conducted interviews last season to appoint a successor to departing music director Zuohuang Chen, who returned to his native China. It essentially boiled down to two of the five finalists, Larry Rachleff and Kirk Muspratt. Both turned in emotional, impressive performances during a Classical Series which featured laudable efforts by the Orchestra . . . The Philharmonic's Board and the musicians didn't wholly agree on the next M.D. Imagine that -- players not seeing eye-to-eye with administration! Not exactly a first . . . The appointment of Rachleff, then, whose resumé includes numerous stints involving diversified administrative and musical duties all over the country, came only after a great deal of soul-searching on the part of the board and the players. Which bodes well.

Crackdown
November 15
In a case which is still having an effect on downtown Providence's gay population, a Cumberland police officer was found shot dead in his rental car downtown in August of '96. Jody Ericson gave an update of the case that, though the police said they had no suspects, saw increased attention focused on downtown gay establishment patrons.

Richard Shappy, owner of Upstairs, an adult bookstore on Washington Street, says that since Grimes's murder, Providence police have cracked down on the hustlers loitering in front of his store on the corner of Washington and Empire streets. Police spokesman Lieutenant John Ryan denies that his department is concentrating on the city's gay bars in connection with Grimes's murder. "The murder happened downtown, and who's around then but the people who frequent that type of place," he says.

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