Let me clarify some 'facts' Mayor Menard needs to address

Monday, April 18, 2005

Dear Editor,

In the spirit of Mayor Susan D. Menard's guest commentary, I would also like to present some accurate and concise information regarding the proposed Municipal Economic Development (MED) Zone. Most importantly, the original MED zone legislation was meant to be a tool to revitalize blighted areas of the city. I have spoken to at least a half dozen general assembly members over the past month who have indicated that the City of Woonsocket's proposed use of this legislation is not what they envisioned when they voted it into law. Some legislators have been far more blunt in their assessment of what the city is attempting to do.

I was taken aback recently when the city and the developer admitted that the Woonsocket side of the development would not go forward without the "carrot" of the reduced sales tax. The developer stated that the area in question has a great deal of ledge which would make readying it for development too costly under normal circumstances. Thus the MED zone law has been twisted to the extreme. It began as a tool to revitalize already developed but now blighted or abandoned areas. In the hands of the administration, it has become a tool to force construction in an undeveloped area which would probably have never been developed in the first place. Am I the only one who sees a problem here? Even the city seems to be confused. On the first page of the Master Development Agreement which the city signed with Bucci MED Zone LLC it is stated that the city will "re-develop the MED zone" and speaks of a "revitalization of certain portions of the city" and says that the developer will "invest resources in the re-development…". This raises one simple question: How do you re-develop land which has never been developed? Were the MED zone law properly applied, it would serve a dual purpose: It could re-energize a currently blighted part of the city while generating the tax revenue the city needs.

I applaud the city administration for its efforts to keep property taxes in the city under control. There comes a point, however, when one must choose between a right way to raise tax revenue and a wrong way. What the administration is attempting to do with the MED zone law is the wrong way. By exploiting a "loophole" in the law, the city has found itself on a collision course with the general assembly which threatens to destroy the MED zone law altogether. The administration is not only doing established businesses in the city a disservice by handing their new competitors an unfair competitive advantage, but is also doing a disservice to its citizens by not using the MED zone law to its full, dual purpose benefit.

One last point of clarification: the "small opposition group" to whom the mayor refers is the Valley Alliance for Smart Growth. We currently have over 300 individual supporters as well as 45 locally owned small business supporters. We believe in development. Development that makes sense, that fits with the character of the community and is fair to established businesses.

Walter Chomka, Jr.
Cumberland, RI