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Articles 61 - 90 of 96

Full-Text Articles in Civic and Community Engagement

New Federal Initiatives For City Revitalization, Chester Smolski Oct 1979

New Federal Initiatives For City Revitalization, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"'We have never really had a comprehensive urban policy in this country...and in the absence of understanding and coordinated assistance among government leaders, many of our cities are caught in a vicious cycle, a downward spiral that can only be broken by new attitudes, new initiatives, and a new partnership.'"


Right Mix For Successful Downtown Renewal, Chester Smolski Aug 1979

Right Mix For Successful Downtown Renewal, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It is sometimes called a 'big, small town.' It has all the trappings of a large urban center: from outdoor concerts at the Civic Center to a Go-Go lounge; parking problems and traffic congestion, to a Worthinton Street where bars and prostitutes prevail; and vacant old buildings , to new, high-rise office blocks. Sheer numbers alone in this city bring visible evidence of the activities and characteristics common to the downtowns of most large American cities."


Farewell To The Bucklin Bldg., Chester Smolski Aug 1979

Farewell To The Bucklin Bldg., Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"How does one write an obituary for a building? Does one concentrate on its architecture and long history, or does one single out the actors and forces which killed it? The current razing of the Bucklin Building can only bring sadness to the heart and the need to express, in a few, final words, a tribute to a fine and familiar structure."


Rediscovering Joys Of Walking In The City, Chester Smolski Jul 1979

Rediscovering Joys Of Walking In The City, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

""They're gonna stay in the city," is the way a major Providence developer and landowner stated it. A forecast that urbanists have been making for the past several years is now reaching fruition, and when it comes from businessman whose property investments depend on their perception of the future, there can be little question that its time has come."


Visit Radburn Where People Turn Their Backs To The Automobile, Chester Smolski Jun 1979

Visit Radburn Where People Turn Their Backs To The Automobile, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"After 50 years it is still one of America's most visited communities, yet there is little for the tourist to see or do. It consists of only 150 acres, as mall part of the municipality of Fair Lawn, with 3,000 persons living in 430 single-family houses and 196 apartments, row houses and duplexes. Except for the sizable expanses of green spaces and differently arranged houses, what is it about Radburn, located just 10 miles west of the George Washington Bridge, that makes it such a unique community?"


Downtown Buildings That Link Us To Our Past, Chester Smolski Jun 1979

Downtown Buildings That Link Us To Our Past, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It is sickening and it is sad. A building that has withstood the ravages of time throughout its 103 years of life deserves a better fate; yet there it stands, disembowled and broken by the wrecking ball. The Hoppin Homestead Building on the Westminster Mall will soon be only a memory, and its site will be marked by that ubiquitous asphalt reminder of our automobile addicted age--the parking lot. Is this the cure for old buildings in a downtown that is moving on the road to regeneration?"


The Case For Residency Requirements, Chester Smolski May 1979

The Case For Residency Requirements, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The issue has been raised previously. It came up again most recently with the applicants for jobs with the Providence Fire Department. The question is, 'Should city employees be required to live in the city which employs them?'"


Ah, Toronto, You Care About People!, Chester Smolski May 1979

Ah, Toronto, You Care About People!, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"They had a band winter here this year and the sunshine and warmer temperatures of Spring did not arrive until April 17. Spring is called a myth here because it comes so late, yet even with severe and long winters there is not one single pothole to be found in the well-maintained streets of the downtown. (Would that Providence could say as much!) This is just one of the many unusual aspects of Canada's largest city, a city decidedly different from those in the U.S. Toronto also offers proof that cities can work, that they have a future, that people …


Role For Business Leaders In A Cleaner Downtown, Chester Smolski Apr 1979

Role For Business Leaders In A Cleaner Downtown, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The recent sales promotion by the Providence Intown Merchants Association proved quite successful. Five-cent bus rides and bargain sales generated considerable business, especially on Saturday, normally a quiet day for retail sales in the downtown. This well illustrates what is possible when salesmanship and cooperation among downtown merchants are used to full advantage."


Stimulus For R.I. Housing, Chester Smolski Mar 1979

Stimulus For R.I. Housing, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It was the single largest bond issue in the state and one of the largest in the nation. The Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation (HMFC) has sold $163 million of tax-free bonds, $142 million of which will be made available at below market interest rates to persons with annual incomes up to $30,000, to buy homes in Rhode Island. This will have a sizable impact on the local real estate market and increase housing opportunities for many prospective home buyers."


Cleaning Up The Litter, Chester Smolski Feb 1979

Cleaning Up The Litter, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The last time the Environmental Protection Agency checked the numbers, it determined that eight million tons of America's annual municipal solid waste load was in the form of bottle and can beverage containers. Much of this was picked up from highways before it eventually reached municipal landfills."


Keystone For Renewal: City Neighborhoods, Chester Smolski Jan 1979

Keystone For Renewal: City Neighborhoods, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"If the heart of a city is its downtown, that central area of concentrated jobs and economic activity, then there is no question that its soul is its neighborhoods, that surrounding community of people and homes. Here in residential areas, the largest, single use of land in cities, one finds the strength, deprivation, flavor and other characteristics which congtribute to the diversity of city life."


Providence Is "The Dirtiest City Of Them All", Chester Smolski Nov 1978

Providence Is "The Dirtiest City Of Them All", Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Six months after having returned from a trip to study cities in the southeastern part of the country, I ask myself how Providence compares with the approximately 20 cities I visited. There is no question in my mind that Providence is the dirtiest of them all."


Despite The Heartaches, Urban Renewal Deserves High Marks, Chester Smolski Oct 1978

Despite The Heartaches, Urban Renewal Deserves High Marks, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The term "urban renewal" draws a mixed reaction. For some, it has meant relocated families, destroyed neighborhoods and heartache, even years after the fact. For others it has meant new construction, new jobs, increased taxes, reconstructed neighborhoods and visible signs of process."


Is This What We Want For Our Small Urban State?, Chester Smolski Oct 1978

Is This What We Want For Our Small Urban State?, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The big advantage of a small state is that it is comprehensible, and some might say managable. Certainly, it is easier to work with the 39 cities and towns of this state rather than the 351 cities and towns of nearby Massachusetts. And yet one wonders if this is really true."


Mayoral Candidates And Downtown, Chester Smolski Oct 1978

Mayoral Candidates And Downtown, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The next mayor of the city of Providence will have some hard decisions to make on the future of this city. There will be economic opportunities and constraints, social problems, political decisions and a host of questions to be raised and subsquently answered over the next four years which will shape the direction in which Rhode Island's capital city will move--and it is starting to move.


'Down City' Has Gone Downhill, Chester Smolski Oct 1978

'Down City' Has Gone Downhill, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"There is essentially only one downtown in this city-state of Rhode Island, and it is accessible to the entire state in less than one hour's driving time. Yet over the past 10 years the Providence downtown has been in a steady decline, with a limited selection and lowered quality of goods offered from fewer shops. The familiar names of a few years ago, such as Shepards, Gladdings, City Hall Hardware and others, no longer serve as retail focal points in the captial city's central business district (CBD)."


The Paradox Of Providence, Chester Smolski Sep 1978

The Paradox Of Providence, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Providence is a city of poor people, yet Providence is a rich city. This apparent paradox requires some explanation."


Providence Needs Downtown Development District, Chester Smolski Aug 1978

Providence Needs Downtown Development District, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"In case you have not noticed, there is a considerable amount of activity taking place in downtown Providence these days."


Baltimore: A City On The Move, Chester Smolski Jun 1978

Baltimore: A City On The Move, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"On the way to Washington D.C. one drives through a part of America's seventh largest city and, based upon the popular image of this city, there is no reason to stop in Baltimore. But if one does stop, he would be surprised and impressed by the dynamism of a city on the move."


Land Use--The Senate Buckled Under The Test, Chester Smolski May 1978

Land Use--The Senate Buckled Under The Test, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"They killed it on May 4, 1978. Quietly, behind closed doors and and out of the public eye, this small, powerful group decided that the Senate of the Rhode Island General Assembly would not pass Bill 77-H 6299 (Substitute "A"), An Act Establishing a State-Local Management Program."


Land Management Bill Must Not Be Dismissed, Chester Smolski Apr 1978

Land Management Bill Must Not Be Dismissed, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"After 10 years of study, three years of public meetings and discussion, three years of writing and revision, and now for the third consecutive year, the carefully conceived, greatly altered, and highly-detailed 136-page bill to manage the land of Rhode Island is before the General Assembly for possible enactment."


Superlative Atlanta, Chester Smolski Feb 1978

Superlative Atlanta, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"With the passing of each year a new superlative is added: the third largest convention city; the third city in the post-war period to construct a rapid transit system; the second busiest airport in the world; the safest mass transportation system in the country; and with direct flights to London in the offing, this major commercial, industrial and financial center of the Southeast can truly claim to be a New International City. Atlanta is all of these."


Atlanta, Where The Eager Citizens Join In, Chester Smolski Feb 1978

Atlanta, Where The Eager Citizens Join In, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Atlanta calls itself the "New International City," and, without doubt, this magnet urban center of the South is drawing attention and money, and creating jobs on a vast scale."


Soul City Deserves To Succeed, Chester Smolski Jan 1978

Soul City Deserves To Succeed, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream--a dream of equal opportunity and justice for all. An assassin's bullet prevented him from realizing his dream. His friend and well-known leader in the civil rights movement also had a dream--a dream to build a new town in which the injustices of society would be lessened. Today, in the rolling farmland country of North Carolina, Floyd McKissick is working to fulfill his long sought dream."


After Hours Savoring Of Downtown Providence, Chester Smolski Nov 1977

After Hours Savoring Of Downtown Providence, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"A Saturday night out--in downtown Providence? You mean "dead city?" Yes, why not?"


Impressions Of Providence, Chester Smolski Oct 1977

Impressions Of Providence, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"A recent Letter to the Editor of this newspaper pointed out part of the problem of our capital city. Whether one agrees with the writer or not, it is important to consider what he said because this is the image of the city which he carried away with him."


Revival Of Downtown Providence, Chester Smolski Oct 1977

Revival Of Downtown Providence, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Finally, on September 29, more than two years after the initial correspondence and subsequent competition, design, debate, public hearings and more public hearings, the proposal for the Kennedy Plaza auto restricted zone (ARZ) was passed by the Providence City Council. This necessary approval cleared the last barrier before the September 30 deadline of the Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA) so that Providence may be considered for nearly $5 million of federal funds to implement this project."


A New Park To Give The Downtown A Lift, Chester Smolski May 1977

A New Park To Give The Downtown A Lift, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

The recent discussions on the proposal for an auto-restricted zone in Kennedy Plaza have centered essentially on one idea: should this area continue to be used for cars and parking space or should it be turned over to pedestrians, with limited auto access, increased bus usage, and fewer parking spaces?


Rhode Island Has A Large Stake In Its Capital City, Chester Smolski May 1977

Rhode Island Has A Large Stake In Its Capital City, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"If you are number two, you try harder. But what do you do if you are number four? Figures recently released by the United States Census Bureau estimate that Providence lost 11,000 persons between 1970 and 1975, and now ranks as the fourth largest city in New England."