Angel Taveras mayors message: Great(er) Providence

April 10, 2012 - Rhode Island

Angel Taveras, Providence mayor

Providence is New England's sweet spot - rich with culture, architecture, intellectual capital and quality of life. It is Rhode Island's capital city and strategically located on the Boston to Washington DC corridor, within an hour's drive or flight of either one of them. It is perfectly poised to play a leading role in the circumference of this multi-billion dollar economy.
Given the challenges the nation has faced these last few years, in our housing and financial markets and with escalating energy costs, we have learned that if we are to survive, we have to pull together and respond as one.
In the New England region and throughout the northeast, we enjoy an embarrassment of riches: some of the world's best universities and institutions, a mindset of entrepreneurialism, a highly-skilled labor pool and a talent for innovation. These are the tools to grow our economy and they can only increase America's position worldwide. But, first, we have to overcome our centuries-old habit of parochialism.
Our proximity to one another allows us to build upon our capacity and to do it more quickly. We know no one state can do it alone; Rhode Island can and must play an integral role, for its own good and that of the region's. By being true partners in New England's economy, we can contribute more fully to America's vitality.
America's resurgence
As our economy has grown from maritime to manufacturing, New England's cities and states have taken advantage of our natural assets to strengthen our respective positions - our design skills, our enviable ports and deep waterways, our work ethic and our ingenuity. The globalization of economies and loss of manufacturing to the Pacific Rim has forced us all to take a hard look at what we were doing, how we were educating and training tomorrow's workforce, and where we were investing our time and resources.
And despite the recent hardships, we continued to invent, create and innovate.
For America to succeed, we have to build on that talent. We must persevere, be more nimble, more collaborative and capture opportunities where they lie.
Regionalism
Rhode Island and New England are critical partners in America's resurgence: our unmatched concentration of resources - human and otherwise - can all us to rebuild our place world-wide. With the threshold of new technology and scientific discovery before us, we all have a role to play. We can and should be working as a team - within our states and regions - to assure our competitiveness.
Providence wants very much to be an active partner with our New England counterparts, in reclaiming America's dominance. Our affordable housing, historic mills, immediate access to all forms of transportation, deep working port, critical mass of world-class universities and students, and now - the emergence of our Knowledge District - with hundreds of acres of land uncovered with the relocation of Interstate 195, can be essential to our New England counterparts in their growth.
Visit us at www.providenceri.com or call my director of economic development, James Bennett, at 401.680.8400.
Angel Taveras is the mayor of Providence.
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