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(rshsdepot) Pawtucket-Central Falls, RI

From yesterday's Providence Journal.

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

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Council Rejects Plan to Save Train Station


Mar. 1--PAWTUCKET -- Last month, the City Council gave preliminary approval 
to a measure that would pave the way for a developer to tear down the 
Pawtucket-Central Falls train station and build a small shopping plaza in 
its place.
Last night, the council gave equal time to a competing proposal, put forward 
by the Pawtucket Foundation and supported by Mayor James E. Doyle, that 
would preserve the train station and explore the possibility of restoring it 
as a commuter rail stop.

The measure, which involved acquiring the train station by eminent domain, 
failed on a 4-to-4 vote.

Supporters of the Pawtucket Foundation proposal crowded the council chamber. 
The list of speakers included such heavyweights as Arnold B. "Buff" Chace, 
the Providence developer busy turning empty commercial buildings into 
upscale apartment houses, and Friedrich St. Florian, the architect who 
designed the Providence Place mall and the World War II memorial in 
Washington, D.C.

But the majority of council members were nevertheless skeptical of the 
Pawtucket Foundation plan, which involves acquiring the property by eminent 
domain while the developer, Oscar W. Seelbinder of Memphis, Tenn., is 
offering Jean Vitali, the mother of newly elected City Councilor Albert J. 
Vitali Jr., $1.4 million for the property.

Vitali recused himself from the public hearing. Other council members, among 
them Robert E. Carr, David P. Moran, David Clemente and Paul J. Wildenhain, 
made no secret of their skepticism, peppering speakers with adversarial and 
sometimes argumentative questions.

For example, when Arthur Hansen, the Central Falls director of planning, 
said that Mayor Charles Moreau and the Central Falls City Council supports 
the Pawtucket Foundation plan, Carr asked, "I was just wondering if Central 
Falls will be paying half of the cost of eminent domain."

When Peter F. Kilmartin, a state representative well liked by council 
members, said he had gotten the General Assembly to appropriate $400,000 for 
a study to explore the feasibility of the Pawtucket Foundation proposal, 
City Councilor Paul J. Wildenhain demanded to know why no one from the Doyle 
administration has sat down with the developer to work out a compromise.

"This is an abuse of public power. This is the power of the few trying to 
influence something for their own benefit," Seelbinder's lawyer, Thomas V. 
Moses, told a reporter during the hearing.

"It's very frustrating, trying to meet with public officials and being 
rejected. 'We're proposing the exact same project," Moses declared.

Moses didn't elaborate, but, in prior statements, he and Seelbinder have 
said that the developer's plan calls for restoring commuter rail service to 
the station, just as the Pawtucket Foundation proposal does.

In an interview, Mayor Doyle disputed that, pointing out that the developer 
himself said he plans to tear down the train station and redevelop the 
3.4-acre property as a shopping plaza before looking into the restoration of 
commuter rail.

The Pawtucket Foundation plan, by contrast, would solicit proposals from 
developers who promise to preserve the 90-year-old Beaux Arts train station 
and restore commuter rail service before developing stores and businesses on 
the site.

Doyle also took exception to Moses' charge that such influential downtown 
property owners as Morris Nathanson and Ranne P. Warner are pushing the 
Pawtucket Foundation proposal because it would increase the value of their 
properties.

Nathanson, an internationally known restaurant designer, turned a mill 
building on Exchange Street into offices and artist studios. Warner, a 
Boston developer, is busy turning a neighboring building into condominiums 
and lofts.

"These are people who've taken the time to come and make a significant 
investment in the city," Doyle said. "These people, are not, believe me, 
driving this process in any way, shape or form."

Nathanson didn't deny that the Pawtucket Foundation plan would increase the 
value of his property. But he said that restoring commuter rail service 
would have a broad economic impact benefiting people on both sides of the 
tracks.

"The thing about the train station is it's great for the poor people. It's 
great for the people in Pawtucket and Central Falls who really need it," 
Nathanson said.

"Just think of this: You'll have all these elderly people here who'll have a 
way to get to Boston, a way to get to Green Airport. Just think of what it 
means for people here who cannot afford to have their kids live in high 
[-priced] housing in Boston, but who want to go to school there. They can 
commute."

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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