Explore North Burial Ground Tuesday, July 28

Enjoy an evening exploration of the historic and environmentally sensitive North Burial Ground with historian Robert O. Jones and ghost stories from writer, raconteur and neighbor Mark Binder at a FREE public event hosted by the North Main Street Committee and the Summit Neighborhood Association on Tuesday, July 28 at 7 PM.

See you here: Tuesday, July 28 at 7 PM.

This event will be enjoyed by families, neighbors and anyone with an interest in Providence history. The tour will meet on North Main Street at the cemetery entrance gate opposite the Providence Armory at 7 p.m. (This gate opens to marble steps into the cemetary. It  is on the southbound side of North Main Street, just after the last office buildings, one long block after Walgreens as you head toward downtown.)

Robert O. Jones will lead a short walking tour from the gate. A local naturalist will provide an ecological context. At 8PM, we will return to the steps for snacks and ghost stories from Mark Binder.

Pre-registration is requested but not required. To register or to get more information, contact Greg Gerritt at 331-0529 or by email at gerrit@mindspring.com.

North Main’s new LEED-certified building

Neighbors got an in-depth look at the process and beautiful results of new “green building” techniques used to rehabilitate the new Home and Hospice Care of RI facility at 1085 North Main Street at our Tuesday evening  (May 26) preview tour. If you missed it, you may want to attend Home & Hospice Care’s public Grand Opening on Sunday, May 31 at 2PM.

Keith Davignon and Jamie Hughes of Vision 3 Architects and Greg Post and Greg Pezza of New England Construction showed how a careful use of recycled and low-impact materials, energy-efficient design and innovative technologies helped ensure that this building will be Rhode Island’s first LEED-certified medical facility when it opens for staff and patients in June.

Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island provides end-of-life and bereavement care for terminally ill people and their families. The new building will provide private rooms for 24 patients and flexible space for  administrators and caregivers. H&HCRI staff also travel to homes, hospitals and nursing homes to care for about 400 patients in total at any time.

Proposal deadline extended to June 21

SNA’s Board of Directors has given prospective consulants three additional weeks to submit proposals. The new due date for submission of qualifications and proposals is June 21.  Please respond to the SNA No Main RFP June 14 2009 with Project Overview.

Home & Hospice Grand Opening May 31

If you miss our Preview Tour on May 26 – or if you just like to celebrate a great new addition to the neighborhood, then don’t miss the Grand Opening of Home and Hospice Care of RI’s fabulous new building at 1085 North Main. Here are the details:

Sunday, May 31, 2:00 pm
Home and Hospice Care of RI Grand Opening. Dedication, Ribbon Cutting, Tours and Reception of new facility at 1085 North Main Street. RSVP by May 22, 2009 to Pam Cassidy: (401) 223-4001 ext. 241 or email to pcassidy@hhcri.org.

North Main consultant wanted

The Summit Neighborhood Association has issued a Request for Proposals seeking a part time project manager on a consulting basis for the North Main Street Project. The project manager would help the Project Steering Committee and the SNA Board pursue their goals of stimulating and guiding investments in the North Main corridor that contribute to our neghborhood’s vision of North Main as a thriving urban corridor with a dense mix of retail, service, entertainment, commercial and residential uses.

If you are interested in applying, please see the SNA No Main RFP June 14 2009 with Project Overview. Proposals are due by June 21.

Smithfield Ave may be two-way by summer’s end

The last minute discovery that Smithfield Avenue is not entirely controlled by the state will probably not block plans to return this intersection to two-way traffic before Labor Day thanks to anticipated federal stimulus funding for city construction projects, according to Councilman Kevin Jackson of Ward 3.

See North Main’s new LEED-certified building May 26

Please join the North Main Street Project  for an advance tour of the newly renovated Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island facility at 1085 North Main Street on Tuesday, May 26 at 7:00 pm. Our preview will provide an inside look at one of Rhode Island’s few and perhaps only LEED-certified building rehabs, with the architect, builder and client all on hand to share their experiences. Our thanks to Executive Director Diana Franchitto for this great opportunity.

Home & Hospice Care provides compasionate end-of-life care for more than 400 terminally ill people and their families at any one time. HHCRI nurses visit more than 200 of these families at their homes and a slightly smaller number at nursing homes around our state. They currently can care for up to 10 patients at their current home on George Street in Pawtucket.

The new center will provide peaceful private rooms for 24 patients as well as showers, dining areas, quiet spaces and rest areas, so that families will be comfortable spending extended time at the facility. About half of the building space will used as administrative offices and as work and meeting space for their clinical care nurses, who spend most of their days on the road.

This project fulfills three key goals of the North Main Street Project. First, it adds an important new service to our area and strengthen’s the Summit nieghborhood’s claim to be a neighborhood for every stage of life. It restores and re-activates what has been dead space for many years. And, by recycling an old building into a LEED-certified facility, it models the neighborhood’s environmentally progressive vision for North Main.

Officials ask DOT to make Smithfield intersection two-way

At the initiative of City Councilman Kevin Jackson the Providence City Council has approved a resolution that the intersection at Smithfield Ave. and North Main Street be made into a two-way connection. State Representative Gordon Fox has formally requested that the RI Dept. of Transportation, which controls both streets, begin work leading to the change.

Survey says: Fix Smithfield Ave.

Most folks think the Smithfield Avenue intersection on North Main can’t get much worse than it is, while a gloomy few think it could if made two-way.

Summit Neighborhood Assocation’s unscientific survey of readers via newsletter, email and this web site on whether to make the one-way intersection into a conventional two-way connection drew 35 online respondents and five mailed responses. Only five said “no,” while 30 said “yes.” Five people hit the “don’t know” button.

New Max Formal sign has Obama link

For 56 years since 1953, Max Formal Company has supplied linens and clothing on North Main Street.  Now, a new sign on the south wall of its building at 1164 North Main beckons new shoppers to the store.  But this is no ordinary sign.  It was designed by Obama campaign poster creator Shepard Fairey, whom owners Paul and Debbie Formal have known since he was a student at RISD.  In addition, Paul employed Miriam Jackson, a local artist, to hand-paint the sign on the wall.  Local art + local business = winning formula.

Aaron Masri