EDITORIAL

Rebuilding neighborhoods

Posted 10/23/14

Schools frequently define a neighborhood – lose the school and the community loses a sense of identity, if not a place to hold events; from candidate forums and a polling place to a venue for scout …

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EDITORIAL

Rebuilding neighborhoods

Posted

Schools frequently define a neighborhood – lose the school and the community loses a sense of identity, if not a place to hold events; from candidate forums and a polling place to a venue for scout meetings and PTA fundraisers.

With the decline in the school age population and the consolidation of elementary schools, that loss of neighborhood has been going on for sometime now.

When Potowomut School closed, that section of the city lost its only municipal building. While not as dramatic, as in both areas there is an adjoining junior high school, Longmeadow and Bayside lost when the Greene School closed, as did Lakewood with the closure of Christopher Rhodes.

Greene School has been re-purposed for a school administration office, so the building is not standing as an empty reminder of what it once was. That hasn’t been the case in Potowomut or Lakewood.

Potowomut School has been torn down and, as a result of City Council action Monday, construction is expected to commence on a fire station. The station will have a community meeting room as well as a police substation. There will be a place for community activities on municipal grounds.

Rhodes School is another matter, but exciting things are happening that could go far in rebuilding community.

After closing in 2008, Rhodes was leased to the Rhode Island School for the Deaf as a temporary home during construction of new school. After the school department turned the property back to the city, a citizens committee, chaired by former City Council President Bruce Place, explored uses for the building. The committee was looking for a use that, at the very least, would not disrupt, and at best, enhance the neighborhood. The city sought proposals to convert the school into adult housing but there were no takers.

The committee then opened the bidding process. This time there was a single bidder, the Artists’ Exchange, currently located in Cranston.

The Exchange, owned and operated by Gateways to Change, has offered to lease the school for 10 years at $1 a year. They would relocate their operations to Rhodes, where they would expand their programs. As part of the arrangement, they would offer programs to Warwick residents for free or at a discount.

As part of the plan, the Exchange would divert the $6,500 it is presently pays for monthly rent into maintaining and upgrading Rhodes.

The City Council has enthusiastically embraced the proposal, even suggesting the Exchange consider a lease-purchase of the building. A lease-purchase is certainly worthy of exploration, but let’s not get hung up on making this more complicated than it need be.

As important as it is to have a vacant building, subject to vandalism, usefully occupied, it is an opportunity to rekindle that sense of community Lakewood lost when Rhodes closed.

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