Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot & Who’s Not? - August 19, 2016

HOT

Joe Paolino

Paolino has pounded the table to draw attention to the ongoing problem of panhandling. This week he brought a group of nearly 50 stakeholders together and forced Mayor Jorge Elorza to attend a meeting to build a strategy to help solve the problems.

Elorza left the meeting early.

Kudos to Paolino for the leadership.

HOT

Parker Gavigan and Doreen Scanlon

Gavigan leads the iTeam at WJAR-10 and Scanlon is the top anchor over at ABC6 and combined they make cute babies. Congratulations on the birth of Graham Gavigan.

HOT

Robin Muksian

Anyone who has a PhD is “Rhetoric and Composition” and wants to work for the City of Providence is HOT. Robin Muksian has been named the Director of Administration for the City of Providence, as announced by Mayor Jorge Elorza. 

In the role, Muksian will oversee the City of Providence's administrative aspects and operations while serving as senior advisor to the Mayor. 
Do remember though, Directors of Administration get graded in those Blue Books based on their ability to plow the snow and fill the potholes.

HOT

Judy Shoemaker

Judy Shoemaker has been the consistent driving force at ABC6 going back to the days in New Bedford. She has retired after collecting 9 Emmy Awards and host of others awards.

Congratulations to Judy on an amazing journey - she now transitions to fulltime marketing consultant.

HOT

Bryant Football

The Bryant Bulldogs football team has been named the best football team in Rhode Island entering the 2016-17 season by CBS Sports. 

"Bryant didn't meet its conference title expectations in the Northeast Conference (NEC) last season, but there's still no one better in the state," said CBS Sports about Bryant. 

HOT

Hilton Waterfront Hotel

The Hilton’s owners have spent tens of millions to revamp the hotel that sits next to the India Point Park in Providence.

“The new Hilton Garden Inn Providence will provide guests with an unparalleled experience. We have coupled the highest standards of guest hospitality synonymous with the Hilton brand with the thoughtful amenities of our now transformed property,” said Kimberly Greene of the hotel’s ownership group

It is good news for Providence and tourism.

HOT

Oberlin

We are #7!

One of America’s preeminent foodie magazines has named Providence’s Oberlin one of the best new restaurants in America.

Bon Appetit has named Providence's Oberlin restaurant on Union Street as the 7th best new restaurant in America.

This is the second big honor this year for Ben Sukle, the owner of Oberlin.

In January Providence was named one of 10 cities in the United States and one  of "52 Places to Visit in 2016" worldwide by the New York Times in their annual "Places to Go" issue and the Times cited Oberlin as one of the reasons Providence is worth a visit.

NOT

Lifespan

A GoLocal report unveiled that Lifespan, the multi-billion dollar healthcare giant that is the only significant non-profit that is not making a contribution to the City of Providence, claimed tens of millions in savings under Obamacare -- but said that it could no longer afford to pay the city. Peer hospitals in Boston pay twice the amount to that city.

It is hard for Lifespan’s claims to be taken seriously when their staff is amazingly well compensated (CEO is paid $2M), they have assets in the billions, revenues of $2B, and have saved $30M in uncompensated charity care due to Obamacare.

NOT

Dean Esserman

The former Providence Police Chief is now on sick leave from his position as Police Chief in New Haven — he went on leave right off his suspension for his abuse of a waitress.

The waitress episode was just the most recent bizarre event in Esserman’s  strange career. As Providence learned New Haven is now learning.

NOT

Stephan Pryor

Head of the Commerce Corporation seems to think that economic development is limited to giving massive incentive packages to out-of-state Fortune 500 companies — and that he has done only once.

When the West Valley Inn announced that they would need to close at the end of August, after 40-years in operation, and displacing 70 plus staff members, one would think that the Commerce Corporation would reach out to the company to try and see if any of the agency’s programs could help to save the iconic restaurant, but, no.

As of Wednesday of this week no one from Commerce had outreached to the family that owns the West Valley Inn (Governor Raimondo did place a call).

NOT

Providence (for Retirees)

A new study ranks Providence as the worst city in America to retire.

Providence ranks 150 out of 150 cities ranked.

"Americans are actually working more years compared with previous generations yet only grow further from financial freedom. In 2015, 21 percent of workers expected to retire at age 65, but only 9 percent actually were able to do so, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s latest Retirement Confidence Survey," writes WalletHub.

NOT

Newspapers

No one wants to pile on these days, but the proverbial clock is on the field for the newspaper industry's last defender (and investor) is now predicting that the end is near.

Warren Buffett, the owner of more than 30 newspapers, has now declared that the future of newspapers is dismal.

Buffett said in an interview in Politico, "Newspapers are going to go downhill. Most newspapers, the transition to the internet so far hasn’t worked in digital. The revenues don’t come in. There are a couple of exceptions for national newspapers — The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are in a different category. That doesn’t mean it necessarily works brilliantly for them, but they are a different business than a local newspaper."

Not great news for newspaper ownership groups when the premier investor in the United States turns sour on his own assets - publicly.  

“But local newspapers continue to decline at a very significant rate. And even with the economy improving, circulation goes down, advertising goes down, and it goes down in prosperous cities, it goes down in areas that are having urban troubles, it goes down in small towns – that’s what amazes me,” said Buffett. 

“A town of 10 or 20,000, where there’s no local TV station obviously, and really there’s nothing on the internet that tells you what’s going on in a town like that, but the circulation just goes down every month. And when circulation goes down, advertising is [going] to go down, and what used to be a virtuous circle turns into a vicious circle.”