Doyle gives 'cautiously optimistic' state of the city address

PAWTUCKET - Mayor James Doyle gave his annual state-of-the-city address Tuesday, one that expressed a cautious optimism for the future even as the city's finances continue posing major questions.

Speaking before the Pawtucket Advisory Group of the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Doyle announced a better-than-expected bond rating, told listeners of major redevelopment blueprints that are finally being realized, and described an even bigger economic initiative that might soon come to fruition.

"The biggest thing" coming down the pipe, according to Doyle, is a planned new Pawtucket/Central Falls commuter rail stop, one that is expected to enter the permitting and design phase by early 2010, said Doyle, opening up all kinds of new economic development opportunities.

"If we can make this massive project happen, the ancillary benefits will be incredible," said Doyle in an interview with The Valley Breeze.

"During my last state-of-the-city address, I reported this project received a $1.9 million federal appropriation that required a city match to conduct the engineering study and develop a construction plan," said Doyle in a transcript of the speech released to The Breeze last Friday. "Today, I am happy to report the ($400,000) proceeds from the sale of the Lynch Arena will be used as the city's match to access these funds."

"With the amount of federal dollars being committed to projects that create jobs and have the ability to enhance long term economic growth, I am confident that our commuter rail project will be fully funded because it is the most comprehensive stimulus project in the region," Doyle continued.

Click here to view Mayor Doyle's state-of-the-city speech:

www.valleybreeze.com/www/State-of-the-city_address.pdf

According to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, the rail stop project here will follow shortly after the completion of the Green Airport commuter rail stop, which is currently under construction.

Doyle spoke glowingly about the prospects for more development in the immediate future as he praised those who are rebuilding the city's once great economic center, its downtown.

A myriad of other projects, including the rehabilitation of the Slater Cotton Mill, the Union Wadding Complex, and other business and residential developments continue to transform Pawtucket's downtown area, said Doyle, while the long-planned Broad Street rejuvenation project and $150-million Pawtucket River Bridge project continue to progress.

Several other redevelopment projects, "some that will come to fruition, some that won't," said Doyle, are also in the works.

"These are the economic times during which you want to start planning these things," Doyle told The Breeze.

Other good things are happening on many levels in the city, according to Doyle. He said during his speech that while many other communities are having their bond ratings downgraded due to growing financial problems, Moody's Investment Service recently maintained Pawtucket's "A3" rating.

Moody's did, however, downgrade the city's outlook to "negative," Doyle told those in attendance at the Comfort Inn, explaining that Moody's "cited continued School Department deficits as the primary reason they placed the city on the negative outlook list."

Like so many of Pawtucket's other unanswered questions, reduced spending in the School Department is one of a number of "contingencies" that will determine future success, said Doyle prior to his speech.

"The school scenario is not a good situation," he said, pointing to a deficit pegged at $4 million or higher. "On the city side, everyone's going to be subject to furlough days that will basically amount to a 4.62 percent pay decrease, and on the school side they've done nothing."

"School Committee members continue pounding their chests" over a new teacher contract that grants pay increases, said Doyle, while their deficit remains.

"It continues to amaze me, that while city workers forego raises for their fourth straight year and will endure 12 unpaid furlough days, the School Committee believes that a contract that allows for a one-year pay freeze with raises during the second and third year is a good deal for taxpayers," Doyle told those gathered at the Comfort Inn.

Other than lambasting School Department spending, Doyle remained positive during his speech.

Public/private partnerships like the one between the city and the Pawtucket Foundation continue to flourish, producing and implementing a "master plan" for the city unlike any in the past, Doyle told The Breeze.

While short- and long-term decisions will have to be made contingent on a number of factors working out, said Doyle, "a lot of communities don't even get this far."

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