FHNA Links Fruit Hill Neighborhood Association

The Valley Breeze & Observer and The North Providence Breeze
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1/31/07

80-year resident says neighborhood attitudes toward RIC bad for Fruit Hill

By ETHAN SHOREY, Breeze Staff Writer

NORTH PROVIDENCE - Fruit Hill neighborhood resident Edna Hopkins, 80, said she may be alone in calling for a new entrance to Rhode Island College to help alleviate traffic.

That, she said, does not mean she isn't right.

Hopkins said Fruit Hill Neighborhood Association plans she's heard for the area are all based on a faulty premise, that the "dangerous" traffic situation must be fixed. Hopkins said it's not dangerous. However, she agrees that the slow, but heavy traffic at the entrance should be alleviated.

"I should be the one complaining, not them (FHNA)," she said late last week. "I lived here when you could sled down Fruit Hill, and this road is not dangerous, no matter how they try to say it is."

As a lifelong resident, Hopkins, of Rosedale Street, has kept detailed notes on the history of Fruit Hill Avenue. She cited a 2005 article by Evan Blackwell of the former North Star, which quoted Robert Rocchio of the state Department of Transportation as saying, "While there's not a significant accident on Fruit Hill Avenue as a whole, we noticed there are some speed issues over there, people traveling at excessive speeds."

She said the remedy for the speed was also cited in the article: re-striping the road to include a 10-foot median lane, reducing the travel lane from 21 feet to about 11 feet.

Former Mayor A. Ralph Mollis said at the time that reducing the travel lane would automatically reduce speed on Fruit Hill, and Hopkins and others have said that's exactly what happened. She said few would disagree that the new lines have helped.

District 3 Councilor John Zambarano said he sympathizes with Hopkins on her claim that access roads are necessary to cut down on traffic at the Fruit Hill entrance to RIC.

"I'll be in favor of that (access roads) as long as they make it a one-way entrance on Fruit Hill and exit onto Mount Pleasant, or vice-versa," said Zambarano Monday. "Other than that, the traffic would be an absolute nightmare."

Hopkins said that Fruit Hill Avenue has maintained its charm despite emergency vehicles coming and going from Fatima Hospital, school buses going to Ricci Middle School and St. Thomas Regional School, RIPTA buses traveling to RIC, fire trucks for both the North Providence and Providence fire departments, and regular commercial and residential traffic.

Hopkins said FHNA members have been unwilling to get together with officials from RIC to discuss a compromise on possible access roads, instead choosing to protect their own interests and back yards.

"They're proposing solutions to 'problems' that just aren't logical," she said.

Among the proposed solutions, she said the association has mentioned promoting car-pooling, shuttle buses, and commuting by bike, and Hopkins said all of those ideas are ignorant based on the type of student attending RIC.

"I would really like someone to take a picture of some poor kid riding his bike to RIC in a foot of snow," said Hopkins. "The kind of students that go here have jobs that they go to right after school, and when the college put in bike racks, they didn't get any use."

She said she had two sons, two grandsons, and two daughers-in-law who all attended RIC, and she still enjoys visiting for plays and musical events.

Roland Mergener, president of the FHNA, said he is willing to talk to RIC officials like President John Nazarian about a new entrance, but has been rebuffed at every attempt to work with the school, even on discussions involving another entrance or access road.

"I don't perceive that if I'm one of the people that they need to talk to, that it's going to happen," he said. "There's at least one person at the college that finds us (the association) to be an annoyance."

Mergener said he could agree to one-way access roads if the right detailed study was completed, and all the parties were treated fairly, but until then he too will try to enjoy the college as he's always done.

"I'm not opposed to the college at all," he said. "Obviously I like the college and three of my children went to the Barnard School and a few took classes at the college."

Mergener said he worked at RIC for more than 30 years, and said that he would appreciate it if people in the neighborhood who are perpetually negative would try to help bring solutions.

Hopkins disagreed with Mergener that the association tries to work with RIC.

"They brutalized Marguerite Brown when she went to talk at their meeting," she said. "I had to apologize to her afterward."

Brown, RIC's vice president for development and college relations, had a decidedly different outlook on the FHNA's cooperation with the school.

"The Fruit Hill Neighborhood Association was invited on campus for their meeting so that they could actually see the school that they might not have had a chance to see very often," she said. "They clearly didn't feel that I had the authority they thought I should have, even though I was the president's designee."

Brown said that FHNA members sometimes have misconceptions about the school's dealings, and that was why the invitation was made. She said members of the association suggested the $7.8 million bond for RIC on last November's ballot might have hidden money that could be used for a new entrance.

"They thought 'Oh my goodness, $7.8 million,'" she said. "They didn't realize that's not very much when you're renovating three buildings."

Brown said as of right now, there is no money available for a new entrance in the next couple of years, but the plans will be featured in the school's next master plan, which is currently out to bid.

To see RIC's master plan, which includes a proposed new entrance on Fruit Hill Avenue, visit its Web site at www.ric.edu.