[Summit] Summit Digest, Vol 27, Issue 21
Bresler E
breslerfamily at gmail.com
Thu Jun 28 13:04:12 UTC 2007
Hello,
Maybe it is because you replied to the digest version of our neighborhood
email, but I literally have no idea what you are talking about. What
building? Who is putting it? Where? Is this related to a meeting I didn't go
to? Am I the only one confused?
Elianna
On 6/27/07, Thomas Nosal <thomas.nosal at mail.mcgill.ca> wrote:
>
> This is clearly not the proper location for this building but i feel that
> abandoning discussion of this project would be very ill-advised
> decision. I'm all for the further development of Providence; my only
> reservations for this particular building are whether it's going to house
> office space (if so, not the place at all) or whether it's for apartments.
> If the latter, I would love to see a project like this geared for the middle
> class in a neighborhood like this (as opposed to yet another luxury condo
> skyscraper). my conclusion: give this a chance..don't shoot it completely
> down like the fox point apartment building planned a few years ago.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: summit-bounces at sna.providence.ri.us on behalf of
> summit-request at sna.providence.ri.us
> Sent: Wed 6/27/2007 5:57 PM
> To: summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> Subject: Summit Digest, Vol 27, Issue 21
>
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. FW: URGENT: PLEASE CALL THE CITY TO KEEP BRADFORD STREET OPEN
> AND KEEP OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WALKABLE, BIKEABLE AND HUMAN SCALE
> (Greg Gerritt)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:57:51 -0400
> From: Greg Gerritt <gerritt at mindspring.com>
> Subject: [Summit] FW: URGENT: PLEASE CALL THE CITY TO KEEP BRADFORD
> STREET OPEN AND KEEP OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WALKABLE, BIKEABLE AND HUMAN
> SCALE
> To: Summit Neighborhood <Summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
> Message-ID: <C2A8559F.1F533%gerritt at mindspring.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: WBNA Action Alerts <wbna at wbna.org>
> Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:28:40 -0700
> Subject: URGENT: PLEASE CALL THE CITY TO KEEP BRADFORD STREET OPEN AND
> KEEP
> OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WALKABLE, BIKEABLE AND HUMAN SCALE
>
>
> Wednesday, 27 June 2007
> URGENT: PLEASE CALL THE CITY TO KEEP BRADFORD STREET OPEN AND KEEP OUR
> NEIGHBORHOOD WALKABLE, BIKEABLE AND HUMAN SCALE
>
>
>
> The vote
>
> On Wednesday, July 5th at 7pm, the Providence City Council will vote on a
> petition to abandon Bradford Street to make way for a 32 story skyscraper
> (in a spot zoned for 3 story) in the heart of Federal Hill and on the edge
> of Downtown. This project has not followed the proper city process for
> review of street abandonment and adequate public input has not been given.
> It will have an enormous impact on our city and our neighborhoods.
> The Issues
>
> 1. Clearing the Way for Massively Overscaled Buildings in Our
> Neighborhood.
> The West Side and Federal Hill are not New York City or Hong Kong!
>
> This vote would be a critical step to make way for a 32 story skyscraper
> that would occupy x blocks in a neighborhood of mostly 2 and 3 story
> buildings (zoned for 3 story) in the heart of Federal Hill at the Gateway
> to
> the West Side. It would open the floodgates to more extremely tall and
> massive buildings that would tower over and shade out the existing
> buildings
> and over time completely change the character of our neighborhood from one
> that is walkable and human scale to the scale of major high rise cities
> like
> New York.
> 2. Closing Off a Street and Making it Harder for us to Get Around our
> Neighborhood.
>
> The proposed abandonment in and of itself would also hurt the neighborhood
> by making it harder to get around this part of the city by eliminating a
> route that is now used by people in cars, on bikes and on foot.
> 3. The Process Has Failed To Give Us a Chance to Review and Comment on
> What Would be a Massive Change to Our Neighborhood and the Way We Live
>
> This project has not followed the proper city process for review of street
> abandonment and we have not been given a chance to comment. (see process
> information below)
>
> Please call or email the Mayor, Councilman Lombardi, your city council
> person, the Planning Department, Rep. Costantino, Senator Jabour, and the
> media. See below for contact information for the elected representatives
> and the media.
>
> PEOPLE OF PROVIDENCE we need you to speak out. ASK THEM to:
>
> --Vote against this decision because
>
> ? the process was wrong
>
> ? the project hasn?t had adequate public input
>
> ? the street is used street by the public
>
> ? this project and the street abandonment violates the city?s
> comprehensive plan, zoning code, the West Side Action Plan, the Broadway
> plan and the Broadway Historic District
>
> ? we have worked to make this a walkable, bikable, livable
> neighborhood, not a cityscape of massive towers sprawling over many
> blocks.
> Contact Information
>
> Mayor Cicilline 421-2489
> Councilman Lombardi 453-3900
> City Council members 421-7740 (ask for City Council office)
> Providence Planning Department 351-4300
>
> Representative Costantino rep-costantino at rilin.state.ri.us
> <mailto:rep-costantino at rilin.state.ri.us> (222-8028)
> Representative Jabour 751-3300
> Providence Journal Bulletin City Editor, (401) 277-7303
>
> letters at projo.com <mailto:letters at projo.com> (send a letter to the
> editor)
> Poder Spanish language radio (401) 726-8413
>
> WJAR TV (401) 455-9105
> CBS 12 ? WPRI (401) 438-3310
>
> ABC 6 ? WLNE (401) 453-8000
>
>
> More Information on Bradford Street project
> For a rendering and site plan see the Providence Projects and Construction
> forum of the Urban Planet website:
>
> http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=26324&st=100
> <http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=26324&st=100>
>
> Scroll down to the second post by Cotuit (post #104).
> Project overview:
> ? Developer: Frank Zemiello
> ? Architects: Newport Collaborative.
> ? Proposed height: 330 feet high (32 stories with a 4 story
> parking
> garage (with 1 story below ground) for 275 cars
> ? # of Units: 180 luxury condos
> ? Proposed Changes to Local Streets: Proposal to partly abandon
> Bradford Street and gain air rights in order to build over Federal Street.
> In addition, the orientation of several streets will be modified [see site
> plan on Urban Planet].
>
> Update:
> On June 16th, the developer went to the City Plan Commission (CPC) and the
> City Council Public Works Committee to get approval for the partial
> abandonment of Bradford Street and air rights over Federal Street. Kent
> Millard and Kari Lang, WBNA, went to present letters they had written on
> the
> project. The applicant requested that the issue be continued and the CPC
> did
> not take any public comment.
>
> Later that evening, the City Council Public Works Committee held a public
> hearing on the abandonment of Bradford Street. Proponents for the project
> were the architects, the traffic engineer and the lawyer for the project.
> The opponents for the project were Kari Lang representing the WBNA and
> Anne
> Tait, also from the WBNA and a Federal Hill resident.
> Immediately following the public hearing, the Public Works Committee met
> to
> vote on the abandonment and the street abandonment was approved. The
> petition for the air rights over Federal Street was continued.
>
> Apparently street abandonment are supposed to follow this review process:
> CPC and Public Works > Public Works Committee of City Council > City
> Council
> > Mayor
>
> Here's where things are at in the process:
> CPC [Continued] and Public Works [Approved] > Public Works Committee of
> City
> Council [Approved] > City Council > Mayor
> Given the huge changes and impacts of this proposal, the entire
> application
> should be reviewed by City Plan Commission at a properly noticed public
> hearing. If the Council votes yes on July 5th, this abandonment will
> likely be on the agenda which means that this could all be over by the end
> of next week.
>
> Strategies:
> In order to have this street abandonment reviewed properly, a two-pronged
> approach needs to be adopted:
>
> 1. Legal - Presumably, the decision by the Public Works Committee can be
> appealed; the question is, who can appeal it (abutters, neighborhood
> groups,
> etc.) and when?
>
> 2. Political - Kent spoke to Councilman John Lombardi -John said only two
> other people had contacted him to say this project was a bad idea. In
> fact,
> until recently, he had heard nothing but support for the project. Kent
> told
> him that until he'd gotten the e-mail from Kari this past Monday about the
> hearings on Tuesday, he had no idea that this project was moving forward.
>
> Councilman Lombardi suggested that people contact the Mayor, State Rep.
> Steve Costantino, State Senator Paul Jabour, Planning Director Thom
> Deller,
> Federal Hill Merchant's Assoc. President Michele Ahlborg and Providence
> Housing Director (Dominica Manor) Steve O'Rourke to tell them of our
> concerns regarding the abandonment and the public process. Councilman
> Lombardi and the entire city council are probably the most important
> people
> to contact on this, although calling the Mayor is also important.
>
> Press coverage would certainly be helpful; letters to the editor or if you
> have a contact at the Journal or Phoenix, that would be a terrific of
> broadening the base on this issue.
>
> Talking Points:
> 1. By skipping over the CPC, the public review process has been subverted.
> As such, public input has been severely limited on the abandonment of
> Bradford Street.
> 2. Bradford Street is one of the few 2-way streets that links Broadway and
> Atwells Avenue and it is used by people on a daily basis.
> 3. The site plan shows a short street with no name that would connect
> Newton
> and Bradford Streets and allow traffic to continue to flow between Atwells
> and Broadway. Unfortunately, this street does not exist; it?s a parking
> lot
> used by nearby restaurants. Unless this connector street is built,
> Bradford
> will be completely cut off. Before there is any talk of abandoning
> Bradford
> Street, the construction of this street must be reviewed and completed.
> This
> is just one of many details that have been overlooked in the public review
> process.
> 4. The site plan with its reconfigured street grid isolates the project
> from
> the street and the neighborhood - no attempt is made to integrate with or
> enhance the surrounding area.
> 5.At 330 feet, this building will be almost twice the height of Dominica
> Manor and will tower over the 3- and 4-storey buildings in the
> neighborhood.
> 6. This project will act as the new development standard for the
> neighborhood that will transform the scale, density and character of
> Federal
> Hill in a profound way.
> 7. This project is not in keeping with the existing comprehensive plan or
> zoning code. The comp plan speaks against superblocks and abandonment of
> streets. This area is zoned for 3 story buildings and this one is 32
> stories. It also is not in keeping with the developing Providence
> Tomorrow
> comp plan.
> 8. This would be another wall between the West Side/Federal Hill and
> Downtown. We already have I-95 as well as superblock developments like
> Bishop McVinney (which is planned to be razed to return to the historic
> street pattern), Dominican Manor, and the Public Safety Complex. We need
> projects that actively engage and enhance the streetscape-not another
> major
> barrier bewtween us and downtown.
> 9. Consider the impacts of a building of this size and scale on the
> Broadway historic district, Atwells Avenue ? Providence?s little Italy,
> the
> skyline of Providence, the sewer and water supply, traffic, shading and
> shadows and the scale of the residential streets which will be overtaken
> by
> more massive skyscrapers..
>
> It?s a complicated but important issue that speaks to how the city reviews
> development projects throughout Providence. Please spread the word and
> contact your elected officials and even the press ASAP. Also visit the
> Neighborhood Forums section of www.wbna.org for more discussion of the
> project.
>
>
>
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