East Siders help map their neighborhood

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 25, 2007

By Daniel Barbarisi

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — East Siders stood poised around maps of the Hope, Mount Hope and Blackstone neighborhoods, ready to pounce.

Jonathan Harris, a consultant working with the city’s Planning Department on the Comprehensive Plan process, handed out colored markers, with the brief instructions that residents were to mark the areas in their neighborhoods that they wanted to preserve, and strike those they wanted to eliminate.

“Red is keep. Green is change. Go.”

Soon, arms were intertwined like it was a game of Twister, and the map was marked up with red and green.

Sadly for the Brown Bears, Brown Stadium was the first to go.

“Move the football stadium down to the river. We don’t need it in our neighborhood,” said Pamela Vogel, who said she felt that way despite being a Brown graduate.

Yesterday, in events at the Martin Luther King School on Camp Street and the Church of the Redeemer on Hope Street, residents of the East Side got their first chance to tell the city what changes they wanted to see in their neighborhoods.

City planners are conducting a charette for the Mount Hope, Hope and Blackstone neighborhoods as part of the Comprehensive Plan process, where planners are dissecting the city neighborhood by neighborhood to see what changes are wanted and needed.

Some of the popular suggestions — like improved walking paths, and renovations to Billy Taylor Park — may result in real changes. Others, like the stadium demolition, seem unlikely.

Planners are trying to determine where the boundary lines fall between areas, and so residents were asked to define their “neighborhood” — but no two definitions were the same. Jim Kelley circled the entire map — including the cemeteries. Wayne Rosenberg and Priscilla Shube drew a long, kinked neighborhood that looked like a gerrymandered congressional district, seemingly without logic — until the family pet is factored in.

“This is where we look for our cat,” Rosenberg explained.

Moderators asked hyper-specific questions to gauge residents’ interests in topics from crime to the best places to grab lunch.

“Where do you shop? What’s the longest walk you’ve ever taken in your neighborhood? How far do you walk without driving? What’s your favorite place to eat?” asked Steven Cecil, a consultant with the Boston-based Cecil group, which is assisting the city with the process.

The sessions soon evolved into discussions among residents about the best and worst parts of their neighborhoods: which buildings need replacing, where residents think illegal drugs are sold, and where a good turkey sandwich can be found (they recommend the Butcher Shop on Elmgrove, in case you’re curious).

The answers will help the city formulate a neighborhood plan for each area.

Once the neighborhood plan is completed, it will go before the City Plan Commission and serve as a handbook for zoning and planning decisions in individual neighborhoods.

This is the second of a total of 11 charettes to be held through 2009. South Elmwood and Washington Park received the attention of city planners this spring. The Olneyville, Smith Hill and Valley neighborhoods are next.

The charette continues this morning at 9:30 with sessions on neighborhood character, community safety, affordability and youth. A roundtable with area elected officials is scheduled for tonight.

The charette will wrap up Thursday night with a session starting at 7.

dbarbari@projo.com