Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.

 

My name is Laurie White. I am the president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

I am here today to testify on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and on behalf of our partner organization, the Providence Foundation and its director Dan Baudouin.

 

The Chamber and the Foundation strongly support H-6110 authorizing the RIDOT to sell certain parcels of real property to Johnson & Wales University and Brown University.

We believe passage of this bill will dramatically catalyze the development of the knowledge economy in Providence and throughout Rhode Island.

 

And none too soon, I might add.

 

The parcels would be sold at fair market value and would be subject to an agreement on payments in lieu of taxes. The terms would be agreed upon by the parties and with our host city, the City of Providence.

 

This is a once-in-a century opportunity to fundamentally reshape our physical and economic infrastructure and to do it in a smart, orderly and strategic fashion.

 

Most importantly, the partners are ready and willing to invest.

 

We have a very exciting vision for this area. We see a vibrant, mixed-use knowledge economy district.

 

We see the area teeming with people. 

 

We see entrepreneurs --- who’ve spun their product discoveries out of the research labs of our hospitals, universities and colleges --- creating jobs and investing in the area.

 

We see lots of young people living and working in the district... engaging as active members of the community….adding to the tax base….and infusing a new sense of vibrancy to the area.

 

We see a whole host of new businesses supporting the district… servicing the residents and the employees.

 

We see intermodal transportation…

 

We see new opportunities for our workforce…. being trained for and obtaining jobs that actually exist today… not jobs that we wish existed…. or jobs that existed yesterday.

 

And most emphatically, these jobs are at all points on the economic spectrum.

 

And we see attractively designed, environmentally-sensitive buildings on nicely landscaped property… property that fits together cohesively and conveys the sense of a real destination… a real knowledge district not just a haphazard array of unrelated structures.  What we have on the ground today falls far short of its potential.

 

In other words, this once-in-a century opportunity will spawn an exciting mixture of institutional, commercial, residential and cultural users.

 

With our economy in the highly fragile condition that it is today, the willingness of these institutions to play a lead development role … and to take this investment risk… is highly commendable and builds upon the enormous contributions that these institutions already make to the economic well being and reputation of Providence and all of Rhode Island.

 

Make no mistake about it. They are the engines that will drive this development.  These two institutions alone are looking at new investment of approximately $1.1 billion over the next decade.

“In the life of a city, there are special times when enough forces are aligned to make positive change possible. For the jewelry district, that magical time is at hand.” (Jewelry District/Old Harbor Planning Framework Study)

 

We are most optimistic that as a community, we can come together in a forceful way to ensure that something new and dramatic can happen in the very near future.

 

It is a very compelling story. And we’re anxious to start telling it!

 

Thank you for allowing us to share our vision with you today.