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12.28.2001 10:40
A tumultuous year in Providence
BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal
Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- Throughout 2001 the weather report has been the same for Rhode Island's capital city: Storm clouds gathered over City Hall.
Operation Plunder Dome, the federal investigation of graft in city government, put the onus squarely on Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. He was indicted on corruption charges last spring along with other current and former city officials.
Cianci pleaded innocent and his trial is tentatively scheduled for April.
Despite the allegations Rhode Islanders have continued to give Cianci high job-approval ratings, and the mayor has done his best in public to ignore the criminal charges and continue building what he calls "my legacy" in office.
Another source of turmoil in Providence in 2001 that will carry over to the new year is the case of Cornel Young Jr., the black police officer who was accidentally shot to death by two white colleagues in January 2000.
The incident stirred up a furor in which some members of the black community alleged that the white officers were too quick on the trigger because Young was black.
Leisa E. Young, the slain officer's mother, sued the city last spring for $20 million-plus, claiming that the shooters violated her son's civil rights and that the city inadequately trains its officers.
Young's death also energized a campaign to establish civilian review of police conduct -- a concept long resisted by police -- and that proposal is expected to be fought over at the General Assembly and City Council in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the Police Department's leadership remained unsettled. Chief Richard T. Sullivan, working on an interim basis, vied with numerous other candidates for a permanent appointment to be made early in 2002.
And the U.S. Census Bureau released data showing that Providence had become the second most populous city in New England -- with 173,618 residents -- and, for the first time, "majority minority."
In other words, a majority of the population is composed of members of ethnic and racial minority groups; they outnumber non-Hispanic whites. Whether the population has grown as much as the figures indicated or the census has simply become more accurate was a matter of dispute.
Bricks-and-mortar plans symbolized the city's dynamism as much as the growth and diversification of the population.
The confirmation of a plan to move the offices of Travelers Aid, the social-services agency, to South Providence gave heart to boosters of downtown redevelopment, who see its presence as an obstacle.
So did completion of an extension of the Providence Riverwalk along South Water Street and visible progress in a reconstruction of Kennedy Plaza aimed at making it a more becoming and more efficient crossroads.
Tempering their enthusiasm was the culmination of citywide property revaluation, which caused a pronounced upsurge in many downtown assessments and real estate tax bills.
Despite the investigation, a recession and revaluation, Providence has not lost all its luster for developers.
At year end, a Texas company called JPI was preparing to begin construction of a $58 million luxury apartment complex west of Providence Place mall. But the city felt obliged to grant a $5 million-plus tax break to get the project started.
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