The Bucket Blog

Division St. returned to 2-way traffic a couple of weeks ago, and your Frymaster has observed all sorts of automotive antics. In general, it seems the Pawtucket Police Department is NOT strictly enforcing any of the new regulations, particularly certain left turns.

Remember I said here that drivers westbound on Division would NOT be allowed to turn left onto East Ave? Naturally, they do, and it’s quite an impressive feat - best viewed from afar. They must cross two lanes of oncoming traffic with a high concentration of trucks and then go the wrong way up a one-lane merge lane.

Of course, some take the expedient path, darting through Mr. USA’s parking lot.

It’s all good fun. Until somebody gets T-boned/pancaked by a truck in excess of 18 tons.

A minor plus: the #99/Pawtucket Ave RIPTA bus is restored to its original route which is a quicker path out of downtown than the current loop up Exchange Street.

The real fun for me, though, is the prohibited left turn off the I-95 southbound exit ramp. That is a joke. Despite copious signage, everybody takes that left. And for good reason. I have seen exactly one car get ticketed for a violation versus, oh, 100 violation per hour.

The reason for this change is that - in heavy traffic conditions - the short stretch over the highway will back up with cars trying to turn left again down Division. If this back up were to extend to the travel lane of the highway, it would almost certainly cause an accident. With the jersey barriers now keeping cars off the outermost section of the bridge, there is basically no run-off lane.

This situation is DOT’s big nightmare. But, apparently, they’re relying on the local PD to enforce these rules. It’s that or the state force allocated to this project is under instructions to focus on the truck violations and perhaps to only deal with the southbound ramp if it becomes necessary.

One thing is for certain: the state police will know if the ramp is backing up because they are constantly, constantly on site.

After a late supper, the lady and I went for an evening stroll. We quickly found ourselves downtown, and chose to walk around and behind Slater Mill. As we passed by the bus station, something struck me as odd and completely out of character: there were no bums.

You can burn me on the pyre of acceptable terminology, but that’s what I call ‘em. Bums. Winos or rummies works, too. For me, this nomenclature allows us to differentiate genuinely homeless people - working folks who fall on hard times - from the seriously addicted who may or may not need mental health services. I’m talking about the public-defecating, passed-out-drunk, pissed-their-pants-and bleeding-from-a-head-wound-probably-suffered-in-a-recent-fall type bums. See the photos from June, 2006, below for reference.

I know from sad experience a lot about the difference between these two groups. You’re a bum because that’s what you do: you bum around looking for the next opportunity to score. It could be drugs or booze or food or sex or a place to sleep. Virtually all the bums I’ve known claim to have chosen the lifestyle.

I’ve never known what to do with that statement.

Be that as it may, there were no bums hanging around the bus station or the wall behind the bus station by the river. “This is Pawtucket, right? Downtown? Bus station?” I asked.

Surely, there would be at least one loner back behind the mill, right? Wrong.

There was only that old, old masonry waterworks and the sonic blanket of the falls. We studied that rarefied stretch of river between the mill falls and the main street bridge: a short rapids about the size of a football field with a big drop at the far end. An impressive number of swallows darted here and there, feasting on insects intoxicated by the heat and harsh glare of the decorative lighting.

We lingered to read the inscription on the pillar holding the statue of a heron (as in the new header graphic…). Apparently, we got it from some guy in San Francisco.

We crossed over Main Street and followed Roosevelt along the river. Now the woods around the highway bridge and below the Town Landing are known bum havens. The intrepid explorer will find various encampments in perfect ruin.

But there were no bums down by the river, either. Only some people fishing at the high tide. And so we returned from a warm evening’s walk, with not a bum to be seen. How could this be, Pawtucket?

The answer is simple: bums don’t like normal people. That’s why they’re bums. Bums want nothing more than a place where nobody cares that they’re there. Abandoned buildings, hidden voids in the industrial sprawl, and, particularly, the most downtrodden city centers. The kinds of cities where you can pass out in a stairwell and sleep for 10 hours because zero people will pass by.

Since I live quite near a liquor store, I have a good sense of the bum factor, so this whole story is tongue in cheek. I’ve been seeing less and less and less of the regulars, the hardcore winos who wait for the liquor store to open. Probably no location is a better barometer of this than the stairway of the municipal garage on Main St. I used to refer to the levels as Urine Level, Feces Level and The Bunkhouse. And not for nothin’.

But traffic has fallen dramatically over the passed year. When more-or-less normal people inhabit a place, those who fear and distrust normal society find someplace else to be.

As promised some months ago, the Division Street bridge is returning to two-way traffic. DOT has reconfigured the intersection at George St. (According to Google Maps, this is Grace St that intersects with George. Division starts at the bridge.)

One important improvement is the addition on new crosswalks and crosswalk signals that go along with the new traffic lights. Where previously, two sets of lights had controlled traffic at both Grace Street and at the old highway entrance/new Grace St section, only one set of light now hang at the yet-again-newly-configured intersection. There is no longer a stop light at the original Grace St corner, nor is there a crosswalk or crosswalk signal at the original Grace St, so this is a potential danger spot.

DRIVERS HEADING WEST ON DIVISION/GRACE WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO TURN LEFT ONTO EAST AVE. To get to Ferdie’s, Mr. USA or other East Ave attractions, continue up Grace St to the lights at George, turn left, then left again back onto the original road. Now take your right onto East Ave.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how many people a) try to make that left turn anyway or b) try to turn left into the parking lot of the 50/50 Bar.

I was at a meeting in Providence, where it rained pretty hard. When I got back to Pawtucket, it was all over but the cleaning up. Yesterday’s storm brought substantial amounts of hail up to golf ball size along with very heavy rains. [Photo courtesy of Wayne Losey.]

According to witnesses, Main Street in front of the Grant was a swiftly moving river of ice and water that flowed over the curbs onto the sidewalk. At its peak, it reached to within a few feet of the front doors. The river took a right turn on East Avenue and met up in front of Adams Furniture with another stream coming down the East Ave connector from Park Place. This confluence produced a pile of ice about 6 or 7 feet tall.

The problem in the street and in buildings is that the hail clogs drains so that rainwater immediately begins to pool. We have third-hand reports of cars on that stretch of East Ave being mostly or completely submerged.

Witnesses also say that the City’s response was swift and effective. Within a few minutes, bucket loaders responded to clear ice from Main Street and East Ave.

Eye-witnesses are encouraged to comment to fill in missing bits or to correct any misstatements.

Summer before last, I wrote this tiny item about a couple of local, independent horror filmmakers who were shooting in Pawtucket. Turns out that director Richard Griffin and producer Ted Marr of Scorpio Films Releasing live in town and are quite the prolific team.

Friday’s premiere of Beyond the Dunwich Horror will be their seventh feature film in less than five years. (May 23, Columbus Theater, screenings at 7 and 9 pm.) The film modernizes and adapts H. P. Lovecraft’s novella The Dunwich Horror. Here’s a recent interview with Griffin about the film on horror blog Cinema Suicide.

I’m curious to see how they handle the material at hand. I’ve seen one of their films - Creature from the Hillbilly Lagoon, aka Seepage - and a trailer for another. Both were campy and funny, with lots of laugh lines to go along with the gore and suspense. But Lovecraft doesn’t bring a lot of yucks to the table, if you know what I mean. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them make the story completely their own.

If you’re into horror and independent film, this is a must-attend event.

Following up on the death of Jason Swift in February, Rhode Island’s police and mental health communities are responding already. According to these reports on WRNI, the RI Municipal Police Academy, the RI Council of Community Mental Health Organizations, and the RI chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness are finalizing a grant proposal to receive $250,000 from the US Justice Department to bring Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs) to Rhode Island.

The CIT program began in 1988 in Memphis, TN and has grown to include many cities as well as the states of Utah and Ohio. The program puts select police officers through an intensive 40-hour training program. Instructors are police officers from other CIT programs. This compares with a 4-hour general session on mental health that officers receive now.

CITs are specialists in defusing mental health crises, and such a program would likely have resolved the case of Jason Swift non-violently.

The nearest CIT program is in New London, CT, and the New London team has already volunteered to train the Rhode Island force.

All Rhode Islanders should be proud that these parties have acted decisively to develop protocols that protect police, the general public and the mentally ill.

Update: Your Local News Sources Suck (’cept WRNI, natch)

Do I even need to say it? P-Times, is this not worth your effort? Projo, do you care? Phoenix, are you even a newspaper?

Everybody who’s got, support WRNI. They are the closest thing we have to the press.

1 — 50-50, formerly E & A Bar, in now open. Location: the 5 corners just west of the Division St. bridge. I checked it out, and it’s fine. Nothing spectacular, but clean and nice. They offer sandwiches and other pub fare, but I did not try any. More info as it comes to light.

2 — Rode the Blackstone Valley Bike Path yesterday afternoon and am pleased to report virtually zero bug consumption on my part. Recent rains have flooded the lowest riverside ground, so the bugs may be resurgent. Again, more info as it flies into my mouth.

I reckon you all know that I do some consultanty-type work around economic development, and I usually blather about it in the RI section of Urban Planet. I’m always on about the clusters, that is, similar but not identical enterprises located near each other. Rather than competing, clusters tend to support the constituent enterprises.

Restaurants in particular cluster well, creating restaurant districts. Christopher Alexander et al stress this heavily in the municipal-level section of A Pattern Language. A must read for any urbanist or such like animal.

Pawtucket now has such a cluster. In embryo, it’s true. But still a cluster.

The former E & A Bar - which was actually nicer than you think - has been sold, rehabbed, and appears to be open as 50-50, a sports bar. The new owners installed large windows and a full light door in the wall facing Division St and Bridge 550. That should be an interesting place to sit on Friday afternoons over the next several years.

The little ISC (Irish Social Club) plays a key role as an overflow space when the newly-resurgent East Ave Cafe gets too loud. I was in East Ave last week, and I’m proud to report that I was well above the average age. For me in that place, it’s a first.

Cantinho, featured years ago in a National Geographic article, has become the epicenter for Cape Verdean culture in the region with numerous live acts. Sadly, their success has created issues with neighbors. The owners have not made the necessary acoustical installations to use the space as music and dance venue. The whole space is windows. And, like any bar, “things” happen when young men drink.

The Modern Diner now seems out of step with their early hours and cash-only policy. And the enigmatic Jacs Wraps soldiers on.

Only the skeevy Greek Social Club remains from the this neighborhood’s dark and boarded-up recent past.

It’s not lost on me that this neighborhood is growing toward critical mass completely outside the scope of direct or even indirect city support. It’s outside their designated “arts and entertainment zone,” yet it provides the one service around which all others will - what’s the word? - cluster.

I use the technical terminology. The official name is the Narragansett Bay Insurance Company presents the Pawtucket Foundation Prize Exhibition, but that doesn’t make much of a headline.

And really, it’s a pretty big deal. $5,000 in prize money. Four of it goes to 1st prize, so it pays to win.

Regulars know I’m pulling for my erstwhile Grant-mate Joanne Luongo. It seems she’s on a winning streak after winning at Silvermine and showing successfully in New York over the winter. So much so that she needs to get a bigger studio.

The opening shindig is this Saturday, May 3rd, at 6pm, then gallery hours run Fridays noon-7 and Saturdays 10-4. The show will hang in a temporary gallery on the first floor of the Main Street wing of the Pawtucket Mutual Insurance building. That nasty white thing across from the Grant.

Update: 5/5/08

I am stunned to be including this link to coverage of the event in AllPawtucket.com.

The Back Story

Once again, I have the opportunity to show our slackin’ local journos how to write a story. Now on the Radler/RI Media Group connection, of course they’re not gonna make a big deal of that. But this is a bona fide story. And it goes a-like so.

NBIC is the juice in this art show, and I expect this to be the first in a series of investments that organization will make in the Pawtucket arts scene, becoming over time the dominant benefactor. “Says you.”

Not for nothin’, but the first words I heard from the NBIC CEO Nick Steffey was “I am an urbanist.” He lives in a local mill conversion, he walks to work, and he believes in the mission of making Pawtucket a center for the creative economy. And to that end, the aforementioned juice behind the competition.

Now, it’s not every company in Pawtucket that feels like giving away 5 grand, but if you just got a capital investment of $200,000,000 you might tip a little better(1).

Whoa. 200 mill? Who’s got that? NBIC, doofus.

It made, like, zero impact a few months ago when this story(2) slunk through the Fishwrap. They casually toss away a name that should set off every journalistic alarm they have: Soros.

George Soros is wikkit rich and wikkit smaat. He got that way by investing in smart people who specialize in turning losers around. Soros Strategic Partners and Pine Brook Partners have made a series of investment in various industries like energy, film production and insurance.

What is Soros Strategic Partners? Mysterious, that’s what. Here’s pretty much everything there is to know. There’s the SEC Info and this blurb from the press releases:

Soros Strategic Partners LP (“SSP”) is a private investment vehicle intended for long-term duration investments primarily for the benefit of Mr. George Soros and members of the Soros family. SSP focuses on capital-intensive start-ups, buyouts, and growth equity transactions, and seeks to acquire world class assets that can generate strong and growing cash flows.

What makes this little insurance company the kind of thing that George Soros would want to back? A brilliant business plan, that’s what. NBIC isn’t just another insurance company. They’re the company that will sell insurance to people that others won’t.

The term is “risk management.” Insurance companies have it all figured out. They have numbers on top of numbers about who gets hurt and who wrecks their cars and whose houses get destroyed by a hurricane. Or at least they thought they had it all figure out.

Then came “climate change” which I’ve heard more aptly described as a “atmosphere accelleration.” Suddenly, a lot of houses that those companies used to insure are no longer “acceptable” risks. Poof, no insurance.

Ask anybody with low-lying property. They used to have private flood insurance, now they have government flood insurance because that’s the only insurance there is. Ask the people in Mississippi. They had insurance until Katrina came to visit. Now they have…questions.

So now the people in this area with property like that have NBIC. It’s a bit buried in the press release(3), but they say they seek to help:

homeowners who have experienced disruption in the marketplace

Or, more specifically:

NBIC is offering consistent coverage in catastrophe prone areas where some competitors have exited.

That’s a nice euphemism for having turned tail and run: exited.

So there’s your story: brilliant, contrarian business plan garners big investment and urbanist CEO generates goodwill with handsome prize for local artists.

(1) There is absolutely no connection between the capital investment and this prize. That’s silly. No doubt NBIC view this as a well-placed investment to build goodwill in the community, fulfilling their social responsibility mission. And they’d be right.

(2) Check out the out-dated footer on the archive page. Only shows how little attention they pay to the website which, of course, is the future of their enterprise.

(3) When the company’s press release is better than the local papers biggest business story in 30 years, that’s just sad.

The continuing expansion of the Blackstone Valley Bike Path further supports the notion that this region - finally - has some good, long range planning going on. Over the winter (!) about 2 or 3 more miles were paved, including an outstanding wood-plank bog walk in Valley Falls (green oval on the illustration).

Like other bike paths, this follows train tracks for much of its length. But unlike any others in this region, a good chunk is sandwiched between the river and the canal. Substantial lengths run directly beside the river. But best of all, there is almost zero interaction with cars. Those three orange boxes show where the only traffic crossings are. Three crossings over about nine miles of track.

(The graphic is kinda big, and it will look better if you open it in its own window/tab. For you super geeks, the Google Earth path is attached. Go nuts!)

BV Bike Path/Google Earth File

Location of Parking Lot

BTW, let’s PLEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEE get some services in the parking lots. You know, a cart with bevs and snacks? There is nowhere to get more fluids. Litter? Make cart licensees responsible. Litter = immediate loss of license.

Everybody get out there and use it. Remember — walk on the left, facing the bicycle traffic.