Nov 14, 2009 1:16 pm US/Eastern
N.E. Editorial Roundup
The Associated Press,
(AP)
The Providence Journal, Providence, R.I., Thursday, November 12, 2009:
Providence Mayor David Cicilline, still doggedly clinging to the idea of condos along Allens Avenue, should listen to Keith Stokes, of the Newport Chamber of Commerce.
Interviewed on WRNI on Oct. 22, he said that Newport's heavy promotion of residential development on Thames Street and elsewhere along the City by the Sea's industrial waterfront was a mistake, driving off marine businesses that were big employers in the city.
Newport's economy is far too dependent on tourism as a result. The economy got a kick when the condos were under construction, of course, but that's all ancient history now. And now, when the economy is mired in the worst recession that anyone can remember, the downside of a tourism economy is painfully evident.
Newport's mistake makes it doubly crucial that Mayor Cicilline not repeat it in Providence, since there's precious little industrially zoned waterfront left in the Ocean State. That's one of many reasons why the state's economy is so terrible and why well-paying blue-collar jobs have fled.
The Boston Globe, Boston, Mass., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009:
While the MBTA often makes news for its big deficits, decaying equipment, or human error, an incident Friday showed how much commuters owe to the wits and reflexes of T employees.
After a woman fell onto a subway track at North Station, other customers on the platform waved their arms at an approaching Orange Line train, and T inspector Jacqueline Osorio used her radio to warn subway operator Charice Lewis.
Trains don't stop easily.
But fortunately Lewis reacted quickly and pulled her emergency brake in time to miss — by mere inches — the woman lying on the track.
Lewis summarized the role of T employees modestly: "We do what we're supposed to do."
But when things go wrong at the transit agency, criticism rains down from all sides. That's all the more reason to award credit when quick thinking avoids what seemed like certain tragedy.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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