Looks like Mayor Menard is now speaking for you and me too!

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Woonsocket Mayor, Susan D. Menard wants to develop a Municipal Economic Development Zone (MED Zone) that borders the town of North Smithfield and the residential areas of Woonsocket. Mayor Menard is quoted as saying on a local radio talk show that, “Dowling Village project is on a faster track on the Woonsocket side of the border than North Smithfield. North Smithfield politicians, knowing the project will be good for them in the long run, must be sensitive to the "not in my backyard" constituency which showed up at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting”.

Looks like Mayor Menard is now speaking for the elected officials of North Smithfield and the Woonsocket City Council. Will Mayor Menard be speaking for the General Assembly next? The ramifications of her misguided actions will be far reaching.

At the Monday March 7th Woonsocket City Council meeting, Mayor Menard spoke through her City Council as they refused to listen to the 55 voices of reason that showed up in opposition to the MED Zone. The 55 people in attendance were Woonsocket residents and business people who are respected in their neighborhoods and the Woonsocket business community.

The MED Zone was enacted by the General Assembly to regenerate business and remove existing “deteriorated and blighted areas” in West Warwick that experienced economic hardship. It does so by enabling the MED Zone host community to charge and retain 3.5% retail tax as opposed to the 7% tax that is charged to all other retail businesses in the state.

The following section is taken verbatim from MED Zone legislation.

“Various sections of several towns in the state, including, but not limited to, the town of West Warwick, are deteriorated, blighted areas which have created very difficult challenges to economic development;”

The MED Zone was written for a site specific “deteriorated and blighted” area of West Warwick and expanded to “several towns in the state”. The area identified by Mayor Menard for her MED Zone is not in an existing “deteriorated and blighted” area. It is proposed for undisturbed land that holds greater promise as a true economic engine for high paying jobs. The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIDEC) is attempting to attract biotech and other high paying jobs to Northern Rhode Island. These are jobs that can support families and retain an educated and skilled workforce in Rhode Island. The area for the proposed MED Zone and Dowling Village is ideally located to facilitate RIDEC’s goal of “pad ready site” locations for high tech companies in Northern Rhode Island. This will help to grow Rhode Island’s economy and local municipal tax base. This would also help to retain highly trained and educated workers that have been leaving our state.

Retail jobs associated with the big box stores proposed for Dowling Village and the MED Zone are not high paying positions unless you are in upper management.

Not only will many small businesses that have served the residents of Woonsocket and North Smithfield go out of business, but hundreds of jobs will be lost in Smithfield, Lincoln, North Providence, Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, Cranston and Warwick as retail businesses in these areas suffer from the MED Zone’s ripple out impact. All other state retail operations must charge a 7% tax as opposed to the MED Zone’s 3.5% tax. For 10 years, Rhode Island will lose millions of dollars in retail tax revenues as shoppers abandon the existing highly developed shopping areas throughout the state and stream north to the MED Zone. How will the state recoup the millions in lost revenue and help find jobs for the displaced workers when the free market equilibrium is adversely impacted by the MED Zone?

Will state legislators pass the loss of millions of dollars in tax revenues onto the entire state in the form of an income tax increase? Your guess is as good as mine. What we can be sure of is that Mayor Menard will attempt to speak for our elected officials and promote the MED Zone over the objections of Woonsocket’s, North Smithfield’s and the rest of the state’s residents.

Please contact your elected officials in North Smithfield, and in the State Assembly. Tell them you don’t want to subsidize big box retail development that funnels profits out of our state. Tell them you are pleased to support local businesses and existing retail shopping in neighboring communities. Tell them you want to retain the cultural and rural character of Woonsocket and North Smithfield. Tell them quickly before Mayor Menard speaks for you.

Carol Ayala
North Smithfield, RI