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.

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.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a certification program of the Green Building Council. LEED sets standards for the construction and long-term use of buildings that will minimize impact on global warming, air quality, water quality and use of natural resources. Projects earn points for everything from thick insulation to low-volatility paints and natural flooring materials. Although the application is still awaiting approval, Vision 3 and NEC are confident that they have earned a LEED Silver Certificate for Home and Hospice.

This project faced difficulties in meeting those standards because they inherited the existing building’s basic shape, orientation and relatively tight spaces for insulation within ceilings and walls. However, they earned extra points by recycling 92% of all demolition materials and using recycled materials for 12% of all new construction. High efficiency LED lights, operated by motion detectors reduce electricity use and the gas-fired heating and cooling system will be 28% more efficient that current building code requirments while allowing room-by-room climate control for patient rooms.

The project partners have transformed the former nursing home, which was an extremely plain brick box in a flat parking lot, into a stylish and warm modern building, thanks to creative use of sustainable materials, innovative interiors that curve and offset traditional “bowling alley” corridors. The building was designed for the comfort and compassionate care of terminally ill patents and their families, starting with the landscaped entrance off Second Street and continuing throughout. The new building has ample spaces where families be comfortable during a typical 7-day patient stay, including a kitchen, play room for kids, a library, outside patio and showers.

This project marks a tremendous addition and powerful example for new investments on North Main Street. Our thanks to Home and Hospice Care of RI Executive Director Diana Franchitto for arranging our tour. We’re very pleased to welcome Home and Hospice care to the neighborhood.

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.

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.

On April 8, the State Traffic Commission approved DOT’s recommendation that the North Main intersection be reconfigured for two-way traffic. However, it came to light only on April 3 that DOT does not control the small but crucial stretch of Smithfield between Nashua Street and North Main (the part of the street with Blockbuster Video to the north and Brooks Drug on the south side). The Commission decision cleared the way for re-timed signals, signage and striping on North Main, but did nothing to deliver eastbound vehicles from Smithfield Ave to North Main.

Fortunately, according to Jackson, the city quickly agreed to include this project in its public works budget for stimulus funding from the federal government. Those dollars must be committed and spent quickly, so if things go as expected, the whole change may take place by the end of the summer.  As it happens, the reconstruction of the rest of Smithfield, from Rt. 95 to Nashua is already on the state list of stimulus projects. The city will be responsible for removing the traffic island that diverts traffic behind Brooks Drug to Frost Street and a telephone pole in the island. Unfortunately, it appears that a healthy volunteer tree in the island will have to go, too.

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.

The action followed a neighborhood survey showing overwhelming public support for the change and a resolution of the Summit Neighborhood Association in January. Rep. Fox’s office says that the matter is proceeding at DOT. We have asked for specific timeframes for next steps.

So far, we can’t be sure that the change will take place. For reasons lost in the mists of DOT history, the short block of Smithfield from the intersection at North Main to Nashua Street, was made one-way decades ago. As a result, traffic approaching North Main from the west is abruptly shunted right into a peculiar detour around the backs of Brooks Drug and Walgreens, and forced left onto Frost before finally reaching a controlled intersection with North Main across from the Penalty Box pub.

A portion of $8.3 million allocated for four  Providence highway projects will go for reconstruction of Smithfield Ave, but the current plan excludes the connection to North Main. You can comment to support an expanded project to include making the connection two-way  at the federal government’s Stimulus Watch site.

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.

Positive comments focused on making it safer for pedestrians crossing between Rite-Aid and Blockbuster, on improving the intersection’s appearance and on making traffic flow logical. Doubts centered on possible unintended consequences for local traffic.
A few comment from survey respondents:
“I’ve read that urban experts now think one-way streets are bad for neighborhoods…”
“How much would this cost the city?”
“I’ve seen many close calls…. There seems plenty of space to create a two way traffic flow.”
“It would help if the street behind Rite Aid could be made more like a ‘real’ street… curbs, lanes, painted…”
“It’s about time.”
“Will present capacity be negatively impacted by new traffic lights?”
“The change to two way makes logical sense.”
“…I think Frost Street should be made two way also.”

On January 19, the SNA Board agreed to ask the RI Department of Transportation to begin feasibility studies. Councilman Kevin Jackson will submit a request on behalf of SNA. If traffic engineers find that the change would be safe, the request will go to the state’s Traffic Commission for a public hearing before work could go ahead.

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