A proposal to dramatically change the Providence skyline (Cranston: gangs, car)
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No so much a sin as parochial architectural timidity. And, to call St. Florian, designer of the National World War II Memorial "just another bauhaus copyist" is to not understand the diversity of his enormous talent.
OH c'mon. The WWII monument in DC is Ok but I find nothing great about the rest of his work.
Obviously you do, so we sure disagree.
There's a LOT of bad architecture in Providence and some horrific planning disasters. Thankfully it has a solid enough core and great historic bones in nearby neighborhoods to make up for it, but PVD has some pretty bad buildings (just like many other cities). They've also leveled some good ones.
For examples of bad architecture in Providence see:
Garrahy Judicial Complex - a massive, anti-urban brick fortress/box just 2 blocks off of Providence best pedestrian scaled street (Westminster).
The Regency Plaza which takes 4 blocks of the city center and turns it into parking lots with 3 ugly, anti-urban towers.
Then there's this monster with zero street-level/pedestrian activation which is attached to a gorgeous gem of a building.
This building (that's mercifully hidden by trees), with a nice fence all the way around it - because nothing says "Welcome" like a big iron fence. And this streetview shot is the "nice" side - the back is parking lots and loading docks.
And that's just some of the architecture - it doesn't speak to the bad planning . This is also a city that leveled part of a dense downtown core to build an elevated highway (which it then leveled half a century later and is now trying to rebuild). Moreover, it's demolished a big chunk of the downtown core to make room for parking. The result is stuff like this. Even the first Fane proposal - that horrific brick thing - was better than the above. At least that was a small footprint with ground-level retail that would have put pedestrians on the street. Lots of what's been built since the end of WWII is far, far worse. than anything Fane has proposed.
I liked the first Fane proprosal all right as long as it didn't exceed the height requirements. Agree with you about some of the Prov bldg disasters but our fair city is still an architectural destination and the good far outweighs the mistakes. So let's appreciate what we already have.
The federal highway plans affected A LOT of cities. The 50s and 60s were crazy for freeways and now the error of those ways is becoming apparent.
I liked the first Fane proprosal all right as long as it didn't exceed the height requirements. Agree with you about some of the Prov bldg disasters but our fair city is still an architectural destination and the good far outweighs the mistakes. So let's appreciate what we already have.
The federal highway plans affected A LOT of cities. The 50s and 60s were crazy for freeways and now the error of those ways is becoming apparent.
The mediocrity of the first Fane proposal might have been acceptable if all that brick and off the shelf blandness were required in order to "blend" in with its downtown neighbors. Much like the Omni and even the Mall. Thankfully, none of that reserve is necessary at the location away enough from downtown.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
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Senate President (and LIUNA alum) Dominick Ruggerio to Providence City Council: Are we going to do this the easy way or are we going to do this the hard way?
“We need to move past nimbyism if we are going to grow and thrive as a state,″ said Ruggerio, promising to introduce legislation in the next legislative session “that removes some of the impediments to redeveloping the rest of our former highway land by granting more authority to the I-195 Commission.â€
He did not read the next sentence in his prepared text: â€...so the city doesn’t stand in the way of progress.â€
Senate President (and LIUNA alum) Dominick Ruggerio to Providence City Council: Are we going to do this the easy way or are we going to do this the hard way?
A little thuggish indeed. Anything taking the final decision on the tower out of the hands of the elected Providence City Council is wrong and will backfire.
“This seems like an effort to punish Providence for resisting the Fane Organization’s poorly thought out proposal for a subsidized parking garage and luxury housing tower complex on the waterfront park site,” his statement says. “Our city has a right to push for better development on the I-195 land.”
That quote is from Sam Bell, who is the Democratic nominee for Senate District 5. Taking a stance against the Senate President probably means that he's got his work cut out for him in his first term
Last edited by ormari; 10-03-2018 at 05:25 AM..
Reason: Clarification that Sam Bell is a candidate for state office.
That quote is from Sam Bell, who is the Democratic nominee for Senate District 5. Taking a stance against the Senate President probably means that he's got his work cut out for him in his first term
Unfortunately, Sam Bell will be entering the senate as a Progressive & a newbie, rather than an entrenched power. Probably, the most powerful Providence senator is Mary Ellen Goodwin. Watch what she does.
A little thuggish indeed. Anything taking the final decision on the tower out of the hands of the elected Providence City Council is wrong and will backfire.
Thuggish indeed. It's a hostile takeover attempt. Is "Dominick J. "Rubbers" Ruggerio related to the Ruggerio crime family? He was born in 1948 but nothing I've seen says who his parents were.
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