Part of Mayor David Cicilline’s wish list is buying streetcars — a return to the capital city’s past.

Journal file

To Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, new federal investment in his city means streetcars.

Not the RIPTA buses with the fine wood trim that resemble trolleys. But real trolleys running on rails along city streets. He sees crater-pocked Bridgham Street in the city’s Elmwood section and dozens of other neglected city streets and sidewalks finally repaved and refinished.

In Warwick, Mayor Scott Avedisian sees a new bridge over Mill Creek on Tidewater Drive, and maybe a boardwalk and a handicap-accessible pier at Gorton Pond, a freshwater pond that is a popular spot for bass fishermen and beachgoers.

In Pawtucket, Mayor James E. Doyle sees something that young city residents have been dreaming about for well over a decade: a skateboard park in the heart of the city, right across from McCoy Stadium, at Joseph Jenks Junior High School.

It’s the dawn of a new era of big government, and big government spending. Millions of federal dollars are expected to come to Rhode Island as part of an economic stimulus plan.

The certainty of the windfall has inspired local cities and towns to dust off development plans, some long-held and many that may have just never had the money to begin with, in the hopes that maybe, finally, they’ll see the light of day.

Some municipal leaders, like Cicilline, have seen this moment coming for months, and have been assiduously compiling wish lists of public works projects that would be ready to take advantage of federal money when it becomes available. The state is also compiling its own statewide list. “Shovel ready” is the new buzz word in government circles.

“We’re [chomping] at the bit,” says Doyle, who says he has 13 projects worth at least $6 million lined up and ranked in order of importance. “These are things that have been on our radar screen for quite some time but we did not have the wherewithal to do. We could never pay for all of this. This is a one-shot opportunity for us to make this city more attractive.”

Which is precisely the attitude that some fear. Harry Staley, of the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition, a taxpayers association, doubts that the federal money can be spent responsibly in the Ocean State.

“It’s like a volcano erupting money,” says Staley. “People are going to grab this money and run in any direction that they want.”

Of the $787-billion economic stimulus package approved by Congress, the raw amount of federal dollars coming to Rhode Island state and local governments (not including the tax relief that many residents will receive under the package) is $825 million.

Some of it will come in the form of discretionary spending for state governments to dole out to communities, while another portion will come via federal grant programs, which communities or the state would then have to compete for against other public and private entities.

Infrastructure (roads, bridges and other transportation projects) will take the lion’s share of direct government spending, according to the requirements laid out by Congress. But exactly how that money will be distributed in Rhode Island is still up in the air.

Congress has also identified technology, renewable energy, health care and education as priorities, but how communities will get that money is also not clear. Likely, it will come in the form of grants that communities would have to compete for.

Governor Carcieri created the Office of Economic Recovery and Reinvestment to coordinate disbursement of the federal money that will be made directly to the state government.

To that end, he has asked the Office of Statewide Planning to start compiling a list of possible public works projects that could qualify for federal stimulus money. The office has reached out to local cities and towns over the past months.

“We are still in the gathering phase,” says Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe. “There are very strict parameters on what types of projects may or may not be funded. So, while there may be 1,000-plus projects on a wish list, we do not know how many will be eligible, and there may be much more information to be collected in order to process projects.”

Kempe says in the coming weeks, the state will develop a Web site for communities to submit their proposed projects, which the public will be able to view. Carcieri has declined to comment on which local projects he believes are most pressing, or what type of projects he thinks will likely qualify for federal money.

The fact that the state will likely hold the purse strings in this time of big government spending is a concern for local communities.

Providence Mayor Cicilline and other mayors in a national coalition have lobbied hard to have a large portion of the stimulus money flow directly to cities and towns, rather than state governments.

Their argument is that city governments can move that money and create jobs faster than most state governments can. But that plea has fallen largely on deaf ears in Washington.

“It’s important that the country sees projects done quickly,” says Avedisian, of Warwick. “We need to show people that change taking place in front of their eyes. Any delay will lead to further cynicism.”

Past efforts to pass the money to local communities via state governments have caused delays, and in some cases, outright failure, according to Cicilline.

“Money for the Neighborhood Stabilization Plan [the federal government’s response to the foreclosure crisis] went to state governments, and cities had to apply for the funds. Homeland Security funds went to the state, and some cities today still have not received the money,” says Cicilline. “It hasn’t worked out.”

For some local communities, the compromise package negotiated between the House and the Senate also falls short of expectations.

Proposed school construction aid, which would have brought $54 million to the state, was eliminated from a version of the package passed by the House.

In Providence, this would have meant a dramatic acceleration of the city’s long-term plan of renovating or rebuilding every public school. Without a federal infusion, the city will still accomplish that goal, albeit closer to the 20- to 30-year window it had initially anticipated, according to Cicilline.

Increased financing for the Community Development Block Grant program, which pays for many local projects to help low-income and poor people, was nixed as well.

Still, state municipal leaders say they are grateful they’re getting something, even if some of the state’s Washington delegation has voiced concerns that the stimulus plan –– already the largest single federal expenditure in history –– might be too small.

“We’re happy to have what we can get,” said Doyle of Pawtucket.

“The package remains a bold plan to get Americans back to work. It provides for immediate job growth and lays the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity,” Cicilline said.

But the era of big government spending also brings the potential for waste and corruption, and local government watchdog groups say they’ll be attentive to projects.

“Somebody needs to be watching that they’re spending this right,” said Jonathan Scott, chairman of the board of directors for Ocean State Policy Research Institute, a Providence-based conservative think tank. Deliberations in Congress over the federal stimulus money have “not been a transparent process thus far, and that does not bode well for the future.”

Scott, a former Republican congressional candidate, questions the merits of some of the projects already identified by Rhode Island communities.

He called the proposed $514,000 in federal money for the fishing pier on Gorton Point in Warwick a “personal priority” of Mayor Avedisian. “I’m not sure the return on investment is there for that project,” he says.

Avedisian says that the project provides an opportunity for tourism, economic development and environmental protection that will benefit both the city and state.

Scott also questioned a proposed $2-million renovation at Max Reed Field, home of the Charles E. Shea High School Raiders, in Pawtucket. “Assuming that’s for a new artificial turf, how many people are going to be put out of work that would have otherwise maintained that grass field?”

Mayor Doyle said that Max Reed needs to be changed to artificial turf to sustain the wear and tear of its use as both a soccer and football field. And while it is among the priority projects identified by his administration, Doyle says it falls within the lowest third of those projects in terms of importance.

David Talan, head of the Providence Republican City Committee and a member of Concerned Providence Residents, a taxpayers association, says it’s wrong that municipal governments are so eagerly angling for the federal money.

“It seems like a free for all. The attitude is that this is free money, but it’s not. This comes from us — the taxpayers.”

To view some of the projects proposed by some Rhode Island communities visit www.usmayors.org/mainstreeteconomicrecovery.

pmarcelo@projo.com