Money is always the Excuse, it’s never the Truth

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NEWS | ECONOMY
Mayor behind Pittsburgh renaissance: Providence must be strategic, willing to take risks

Published: January 30, 2015 01:00 AM
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By Paul Grimaldi

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s capital city has to be “intentional” about its future if it wants to find a place in a globalized world, according to the man who helped lead the turnaround of a Rust Belt community now considered the country’s most livable city.

“It is about knowing what you want,” said Tom Murphy, the former mayor of Pittsburgh. “It’s about being strategic.”

Invited here to give the keynote speech at the Providence Preservation Society’s annual meeting, Murphy found a warm welcome on a chilly New England night.

Now a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute, Murphy spoke about his travels to nearly 50 American cities in the last year. He cited Cincinnati, Denver, San Antonio, North Carolina’s Research Triangle and, of course, Pittsburgh, among others, as places that transformed themselves by creating a strategy for redevelopment.

By partnering with research institutions, building arts districts, creating regional transit systems, laying out massive public parks, restoring housing — or some combination of those activities — these communities invested in their futures.

“These were people willing to take huge risks,” Murphy said.

There were community leaders, he said, bold enough to propose wildly optimistic, complicated\ and expensive redevelopment strategies — and then confident enough to stick with those long-term goals when the inevitable criticism arose.

Pittsburgh cut city jobs and used the savings to finance the $60-million bond issue that paid for redevelopment to start. The money was used to buy old steel mills and other property where the city could guide redevelopment.

“Money is always the excuse, it’s never the truth,” Murphy said to a round of applause.

Like other urban strategists who’ve visited Providence before him, Murphy said the city has much of what it takes to spark its revitalization.

“Think of your city as a puzzle,” Murphy said. “You have these remarkable pieces on the table….”

He cited schools such as Brown University, the waterfront, historic buildings and people who are passionate about Providence.

The vacant I-195 acreage is one of those pieces, but the land’s reuse has to fit into a larger economic strategy, he said.

“You have a choice to do nothing, to nickel-and-dime your way into the future, or to be intentional,” Murphy said.

On Twitter: @PaulEGrimaldi