This tongue in cheek letter was written to the editor of The Newport Daily News after it was announced that Middletown may be getting a shopping center with several big box stores as anchors.

Click Below for Full Article

http://bit.ly/Al1ady

The Brigg’s property hearing ended with a unanimous vote by the Portsmouth Town Council to reject the petitioners request for rezoning the parcel from lt. industrial to commercial. Residents packed the room and had many concerns and questions for the council. Despite the variety of speakers, the consensus was that it would not be in the best interest of the surrounding are and town in general to grant this request. We DO NEED a way to generate revenue for the town tax base. IF ANYONE has any good, viable ideas to do so, please contact the Portsmouth, RI EDC (Economic Development Committee) as they are working very hard to generate ideas for supplemental revenue. Their link is below…

http://portsmouthrienergy.com/

click on article for larger image

We Want to Hear From You!!

As a Portsmouth resident or “fan”

of “The Town of Portsmouth,”

what makes this such a

SPECIAL place for you?

if you need some help in deciding, feel free to go to this link

and watch the wonderful video of Portsmouth, (just click on Welcome)

under Portsmouth Video Tour Book…

http://www.portsmouthri.com/

Very Important Meeting January 30, 2012!

Tonight’s Town Council meeting

has several interesting land

use issues on the agenda. There is

an issue that will be

coming up regarding “BIG BOX”

Development on Corey’s Lane.

Monday night 9/12 Town Council

Chambers 7:00 p.m.
 

 

click here for previous posts:

Don’t Subsidize Big Boxes at Local Shops’ Expense

By Stacy Mitchell on September 10, 2011

Sifting though the postmortem news of Borders Group’s demise, I came across a local newspaper story about a California town that had spent $1.6 million to lure a Borders bookstore to a local shopping center. According to the paper, government officials in Pico Rivera in 2003 agreed to pay part of a new Borders store’s operating expenses by providing a $10,833 monthly subsidy for the next 15 years.

That might seem like an astonishing amount of public money to give a retail shop, but what’s truly remarkable about the deal is just how unexceptional it actually is. Handing out multimillion-dollar subsidies to large chains has become commonplace in much of the country. These deals are premised on the idea that new shopping centers and big-box stores expand employment and create economic growth. The trouble is, these giveaways have done little more than help large retailers at the expense of small businesses.

Read the rest at Business Week

 

Photo courtesy of Ed Yourdon.