The State of Rhode Island is operating on a very thin fiscal margin with no room for error. Our business climate is poor for reasons well known to Rhode Islanders and discussed many times on the pages of this newspaper. Because of this, we have trouble attracting significant new businesses to Rhode Island. It is in the state's interest to retain existing businesses, and help them expand.
One such business is the Pawtucket Red Sox. A revised bill passed overwhelmingly this month by the Senate, after extensive financial review and public hearings, included changes that makes the deal financially viable for the city, the state and the owners. This included concerns that I presented in written testimony to both the Senate and House Finance Committees.
The original bill shifts some revenue streams from the owners to the city. On the state’s side of the deal, its debt payment is covered by the $2.2 million in sales and income taxes that are already generated at the existing McCoy Stadium and will be enhanced by increased attendance at the new stadium. (Studies commissioned by the Senate and others show attendance increased significantly at 14 other new minor league ballparks).
If we don’t use this revenue to keep the PawSox in Pawtucket, then we will lose it to Massachusetts. Can we afford to keep letting Massachusetts siphon off our tax revenues and our jobs? I work in Newton, Massachusetts. Many of my coworkers are fans of the PawSox and can’t understand why Rhode Island would let them go to Worcester.
Did the departure of America's Cup have an impact on Rhode Island? Can the Bristol July Fourth parade be replaced? Like the PawSox, these are signature institutions, unique to Rhode Island. Losing these is losing our identity. As we lose these signature institutions, we become more and more like an amorphous suburb of Massachusetts, only without the economic and educational benefits of Massachusetts.
We have to grow our own economy to gain equality to Massachusetts in those areas. We can’t grow our own economy by giving away an economically viable Rhode Island institution to Massachusetts.
House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello seems willing to put his political interests ahead of the state’s, fearing that some Cranston voters may hold any support for the PawSox against him in the next election. This damage was self-inflicted. It is the result of a bad, behind-closed-doors stadium deal that he proposed with his political cronies for Providence.
The Pawtucket project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that should not be held hostage to the speaker’s personal political interests and fears. If the speaker does not have the integrity to put this up to a vote, then we have to depend on our state representatives to force the issue. If they do not, then none of them deserve reelection, either.
They were elected to represent our interests, not the speaker's.
William H. Ferguson, a Pawtucket resident for more than 40 years, worked for the State of Rhode Island in the facilities and energy fields for more 30 years. He is co-director of sustainability and energy project manager for the City of Newton, Massachusetts.