east side monthly february 2016
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Are We Ready? City hopes for the best, prepares for the worst; Rethinking traffic improvements on Blackstone Boulevard; Community reactions to Wayland Square parking metersTRANSCRIPT
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94 Congdon StreetMichael Young
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contentsFeBRUARY 2016
19
19 | Plows at the ReadyWhat has the City done to prepare after last year’sbrutal winter
23 | FebRuaRy VacationHow to make the most of your kids’ week off
This Month
On the Cover: The Snowpocalypse of 2015.Photography by Barry Fain
www.facebook.com/EastSideMonthly @EastSideMonthly
Some residents express a need for a real conversation about speeding on Blackstone Boulevard7 | News 10 | In the Know 13 | Neighborhood News
Community
Community ties just got ramped up28 | Education 31 | East of Elmgrove
Close to Home
In the kitchen at Mile and a Quarter35 | Flavor of the Month 37 | On The Menu 39 | Rhody Bites 43 | Calendar
On the Town
50 | Author Jon Land on why thrillers are so compelling
The East Sider
4 | Editorial/Letters
Every Month
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the city isn’t flaking out on snowy concerns, and neither should you
4 East Side Monthly February 2016
It seems like just last week that the staff here was scurrying around put-ting the finishing touches on last month’s 40th anniversary issue. A lot of work. A lot of memories. A lot of fun. Now that it’s done, we hope you’ll see it as we do, a love song to the wonderfully quirky place we all call home.
So what is it that makes life here so interesting? First off the East Side attracts a broad range of people. Each of our neighbor-hoods has its own unique sense of character. Some are fancier than others. Some more historic. Al-most all are stable. Some are even edgy. But the appeal for most peo-ple who choose to settle here is not just our quality of life, but the reasonable pace at which it’s lived.
On the one hand, the East Side is a place that attracts doers, activ-ists, people who often have strong thoughts and like to make changes. Yet it’s also a place that encour-ages collegiality, where neighbors
seem genuinely interested in who lives next door. We tend to take our neighborhood associations se-riously and participate in our list-servs. We’re also one of the rare places that during election season actually engages with the candi-dates who ring our doorbells.
Our geography is limited, only a few square miles, yet it’s a place that’s laid out well, with plenty of quiet spaces to discover, and rare-ly feels small or claustrophobic. Steeped in history, many of our streets date back centuries; oth-ers just go back a mere generation of two. Houses are generally de-scribed as where Mr. and Mrs. So and So lived. Stores of course are more in keeping with the Rhode Is-land tradition and are places where something else used to be.
And though we take pride in our traditions, our shared history, we’re also a unique place that doesn’t ever seem to feel old. Part of that is we’re replenished annually by new
students coming to our universi-ties. We often attract new people coming into town. And occasion-ally we still replenish our stock with second and third generations.
The response to last month’s an-niversary issue has been quite over-whelming, a testament to how much residents love it here on the East Side.
With this in mind, we encourage our readers to send us their feedback, fondest memories, criticisms, frustra-tions or whatever by emailing us at [email protected] or writ-ing us at our office, 1070 Main Street, Suite 302, Pawtucket 02860. We hope to organize the responses into a form that we hope will be interesting.
And finally, but most important, we’re honored to have been an inte-gral, and hopefully useful, part of this incredible community and sincerely appreciate the unwavering support you have shown us over the years. We pledge to do our best to contin-ue to earn your trust as we head into our fifth decade. Thank you.
Forty Years and Counting
Editorial
PublishersBarry FainRichard FleischerJohn Howell
Executive EditorBarry Fain
Media DirectorJeanette St. Pierre@JeanetteSTP
City EditorSteve Triedman
1070 Main Street, Suite 302 Pawtucket RI 02860
tel: 305-3391 | fax: [email protected]
www.eastsidemonthly.com • @EastSideMonthly
Calendar announcements and news releases should be submitted by the 1st of the preced-ing month. We reserve the right to omit and edit items. Letters to the editor are welcome. We will not print unsigned letters without exceptional cir-cumstances. East Side Monthly is not responsible for typographical errors. Corrections will be run at discretion of editor.
Copyright ©2016 by East Side Monthly. All rights reserved.
MONTHLY
EST 1975
East Side
Account ManagersShelley Cavoli: [email protected]
Louann DiMuccio-Darwich: [email protected]
Ann Gallagher: [email protected]
Kristine Mangan: [email protected]
Dan Schwartz: [email protected]
Elizabeth Riel: [email protected]
Kimberly Tingle: [email protected]
Stephanie Oster Wilmarth: [email protected]
Contributing PhotographersHilary BlockMichael CevoliBrad Smith
Creative DirectorJulie Tremaine@JulieTremaine
Digital EditorTony Pacitti@TonyPacitti
Managing EditorGrace Lentini@Gracie_NomNom
EditorCourtney Denelle@CourtneyDenelle
Art DirectorMeghan H. Follett
Assistant Art DirectorVeatsna Sok
Advertising Design DirectorLayheang Meas
Graphic DesignerKatie Leclerc
Classified AdvertisingSue Howarth
Contributing IllustratorsAshley MacLureLia Marcoux
Erin BalsaAlastair CairnsMichael ClarkMary K. ConnorJill DavidsonMike Fink
Don FowlerWendy GrossmanNancy KirschStephanie OboddaElizabeth RauDan Schwartz
Contributing Writers
InternsKelly LaskeBrad McGarry Kevin Patterson
To the Editor:Some Brotherly LoveWe moved to Philadelphia over twenty years ago after living on the East Side for many years while I worked a Lifespan and began raising a family here. Your anniversary issue brings back so many memories and reminds my wife Janet and I why we still miss Providence – the fun, the quirkiness and most of all, the sense of shared community. Many thanks to East Side Monthly and congrats for all the great issues you have fea-tured and the many contributions you have made to that community over so many years.
Dr. Dennis Novack
Our BadYour anniversary issue is a beauty… a true keeper. I’ll save two copies for my sons. The issue took me back to my (relative) youth – and then some. But
guys, how did you manage to come up with the wrong location of the NBC “Providence” house in your trivia quiz? It was and remains at the north-east corner of Freeman Parkway and Tabor, not Laurel and Taber! That said we all appreciate the wonderful work you do covering our East Side.
Joan Slafsky
Editor’s note: This is especially em-barrassing given the major writer for the series, Elle Triedman, not only is the sister of Steve Triedman, a long-time editor of the paper, but actually was featured on the cover of one of our old issues. Hopefully our forgiv-ing readers will cut us some slack since we only missed by a block.
The Govenor’s State of the East SideI feel very lucky that my family is able to call the East Side home. One of my favorite things about where
my family and I live is all the activity in our neighborhood. Within walking distance of our house, Andy and I can start the day by taking Ceci and Tommy to our library on Rocham-beau, then head over to Hope Street to grab a bite to eat or do some shopping at locally-owned busi-nesses, stop by the farmers market (a family favorite!) and then wrap up our evening by watching a game at Brown Stadium. It’s rare for a city to feel so tight-knit - the East Side is a special place.
Governor Gina Raimondo
Correction:In the January issue we incorrectly stated that Mary Murphy was one of the heads of URI’s journalism program when in fact it was Linda Lotridge Levin. Mary was a photog-rapher for The Providence Journal. We apologize for the mistake.
Letters
Samantha Westmoreland
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CommunityEast Side Stories | neighborhood news & notes
East Side News
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Though two much-loved busi-nesses have returned to Wayland Square, some recent arrivals aren’t be-ing as well received. Those would be the new parking meter pay stations that were installed on each block of Wayland Avenue between South An-gell and Waterman Streets. These pay stations, which accept credit cards, print out a ticket that visitors then have to place visibly on their dashboards, as opposed to parking alongside an indi-vidual parking meter. This eliminates the need to carry around change, and the City is expecting to generate $4.2 million in parking revenue this year. But for businesses in Wayland Square, the new metered parking looks more like a loss than a gain.
In December, we ran a letter penned on behalf of Wayland Square Merchants. In it they made the argument that re-placing the once free, two-hour parking with paid parking serves as a deterrent to local business.
“Most business transactions are completed in five to 15 minutes,” they said in the letter. “We have lost the freedom of the in-and-out customer.”
“The timing of these meters is an-other burden to deal with,” says Jiro Darakian, owner of Milan Fine Cloth-iers. “The snow last winter destroyed business. We have dealt with water lines being replaced for two years in a row. Then we had storefronts flooded making the street look des-olate. We were looking forward to a normal season and then we were hit with the meters.”
He goes on to say that the meters were put in discreetly and without no-tice and that enforcement of the new parking policy, complete with a heavier
$25 fine, has been “overly aggressive.”In total, Wayland Square will have 45
metered parking spaces, an initiative that is rolling out across the city.
“It was first discussed in the mayor’s budget address in late April,” explains the City’s Communications Director, Evan England. The idea is that me-tered parking will encourage greater visitor turnover, thus providing a boon to businesses, but some don’t see it that way.
“According to the City of Providence they were doing us a favor by putting in the meters,” says Darakian. “How? By moving cars in parking places? We already had that. Except our cus-tomers didn’t need to pay for the two hours of parking. If [they] stayed over the two free hours the attendant was right there with a ticket.”
England assures that the City has taken feedback seriously, citing Hope Street and Federal Hill as examples. Residential street parking and valet parking respectively would have been negatively impacted in those areas. Hope Street’s proposed parking me-ters are being reevaluated after it was clear that the shopping and residential areas are too close for meters to not result in penalties for residents. On Federal Hill, meters were strategically placed on Atwells to avoid valet areas, earning side streets the bulk of the metered spaces. “It’s something we’ve studied significantly,” says England. “It means more revenue and makes it eas-ier to enforce. We also see a positive benefit to businesses and a decrease in traffic congestion.”
“The street looks empty and de-serted during the day,” says Darakian. “Who wants to shop in a ghost town?”
Parking Woeson Waylandnew metered parking has somebusiness owners concerned
By Tony Pacitti
The new parking pay stations have been appearing across the city
8 East Side Monthly February 2016
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Community East Side News continued...
In December, Department of Pub-lic Works officials presented a proposal to install traffic calming measures on Blackstone Boulevard. The plan, devel-oped quietly by a small group, called for 24 speed lumps/humps, 19 raised crosswalks and three new driver feed-back signs. The proposal was almost unanimously rejected – only one person offered support – but the issue remains.
“The physical characteristics of Black-stone Boulevard – especially the curb-to-curb pavement width and limited number of intersections – are the big-gest contributors to excessive vehicular speeds,” says East Side resident and civil engineer Jon Ford. “There are few visual cues to drivers that they should slow down and pay attention.”
City Councilman Sam Zurier has met with citizens over the last few years to discuss the issue of speeding. As for the December meeting, he admits that the proposal should have been developed with broader input, and feels that Black-stone Boulevard is too big of an area for such a small group to have approached the issue so quietly.
“For Blackstone Boulevard, if you start with a broad base discussion it might be
possible to find a solution to the speed-ing problem that addresses other issues that the rest of the neighborhood finds important,” says Zurier.
Matthew Moritz, an East Side resident and member of the Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition (RIBC) attended the meeting with a group of people he described as “new urbanists” with a vested interest seeing something done on the boulevard. “I don’t think any of us were really wowed by what was proposed. It didn’t seem to include new design thinking,” though he did admit that he could see potential in the proposed raised crosswalks.
“Things I’d like to see are narrowing the lanes. That’s proven time and again to slow speeds.” Though he fears that given the rowdy tone of the meeting, the City may be hesitant to consider any changes until the next time the boulevard is re-paved.
James Kennedy maintains the blog Transport Providence, where he advo-cates for a more bike friendly city. He wasn’t at the meeting, but he is disheart-ened by what he perceives as an unwill-ingness to entertain alternatives to calm-ing traffic on the boulevard.
Kennedy agrees that the design of
traffic lanes could be modified to more effectively keep speeds at the posted 25mph speed limit. He suggests narrow-ing the traveling lane, which is currently 14 feet wide, closer to 10 feet. RIBC had made the same suggestion when the lanes were repainted in 2008.
“Narrowing lanes is the number one way that cities around the country and the world have had success calming traf-fic to posted speed limits,” says RIBC Ex-ecutive Director Alex Krogh-Grabbe.
Another idea that Kennedy and RIBC would like to see explored would be to swap the parking and cycling lanes, pro-viding a safe buffer between motorists and pedestrians, as well as serving a vi-sual means of narrowing the street which would in turn keep vehicle speeds closer to the posted limit.
“It would be a big improvement,” says Kennedy. “We’d just have to switch the bike lane with the parking lane.”
“I’d need to see what the experts think,” Zurier says of the idea. His con-cerns are that passengers exiting parked vehicles run the risk of getting clipped by cyclists, while cyclists have to be more aware of car doors. Both seem similar to the risks any cyclist, driver or passenger
face anywhere else in the city. “It’s unusual,” admits Moritz. “Anything
unusual is dangerous, but the relative risks are lower.”
According to Krogh-Grabbe, the City is currently in active pursuit of this con-cept downtown on Sabin Street.
In 2014, then-Brown professor and current East Side resident Hugo Bruggeman proposed the more radi-cal idea of returning the Boulevard’s west side to two way traffic and ex-panding the east side as a strictly recreational, local-traffic-only area in a Providence Journal editorial. His hope was that the City and residents would read it and take a serious look at everyone who utilizes this space, what their needs are and figure out an opportunity to meet those needs. In other words, Bruggeman, was try-ing to start a conversation. Like Ken-nedy and the RIBC, he wants to see that conversation eventually turn into some form of sensible solution.
“When people hear traffic calm-ing they assume they know what that means,” says Kennedy. “People want to go out with their fourth grader on a bike and know that they’ll be safe.”
Eliminating the Need for Speednobody liked December’s traffic-calming proposal for Blackstone,but there’s still a conversation to be had
By Tony Pacitti
The sun stops, mid-set. Soft li-lacs and deep mauves illuminate Ken-nedy Plaza while tiny city dwellers sell balloons in the square, take horse-drawn carriage rides down Dorrance and snack on burgers from Haven Brothers Diner. Downtown is alive, yet completely still, a bird’s eye view fro-zen in vivid color. “I love the way they light the buildings,” explains Peter J. Thornton, the illustrator behind this en-ergetic city scene. “It’s just beautiful.”
Thornton grew up in Providence and comes from a family of creatives. His father was a painter who also worked as RISD’s museum photographer for 35
years, and his mother studied fashion and illustration. “It’s kind of what I grew up doing,” explains the native Rhode Is-lander. “Not throwing a football with dad, but drawing.” Naturally, Thornton ma-triculated at RISD for illustration and has worked on a number of children’s books over the years, a whole series of which, if you go by his drawings, are obviously set in Providence.
“Ah yes, the ‘Everybody Serves’ se-ries,” reminisces Thornton. The four books - Everybody Cooks Rice, Every-body Bakes Bread, Everybody Serves Soup and Everybody Brings Noodles follows a young girl and her little brother
while they interact with culturally diverse neighbors, learning how similar types of food are differently prepared around the world. While the story itself is engaging and illuminating for young readers, it is the bright, beaming images that bring the tale to life, and the influence of Provi-dence is evident on the page.
Among his myriad enterprises – illus-trating books, putting pastel to sandpa-per for his expanding Providence prints collection – Thornton also teaches spin at the Hope Street YMCA, sings in sea-sonal choral group The Voices of Christ-mas and whacks paddles in an East Side ping pong league. A showing of his work
– specifically of the city prints – will take place sometime in early 2016 at City Hall. Keep your eyes on ESM for updates.
An East Sider Finds His Muse in the CityPeter J. thornton captures the diversity of everyday life in Providence
By Elyena “Nellie” de Goguel
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10 East Side Monthly February 2016
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Even Then We KnewWhen the news reached our offices that the irrepressible Buddy Cianci was actu-ally getting hitched, we were certainly as surprised as the rest of you. But when we learned that our sister publication Provi-dence Monthly had played a minor role in introducing his fiancé to our community back in 2011, that blew us away. It seems his fiancé, Tara Haywood, was featured by our magazine as one of Providence’s most eligible singles, describing her oc-cupation at that time as model and ac-tress. A Rhode Island native, Tara grad-uated from LaSalle, URI and later the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and has held a variety of media positions throughout New England and New York City over the past decade.
The two met back in July of 2014 when Tara volunteered to do work for Buddy’s re-election campaign, though he had known her family for many years. The two “were pretty much inseparable by September of the same year,” reports WPRI-TV. In checking back into our Providence Monthly archives, we dis-cover that she said she appreciated men who were “well-spoken, nicely-dressed and intellectually stimulating.” She went on to admit she was “a bit old-fashioned, but loves to laugh and occasionally do unconventional things.” We’re not sure if marrying Buddy qualifies as one of the latter, but from our view, his con-troversial political life notwithstanding, Buddy did some incredible things for the City and certainly has paid dearly for his transgressions. Having withstood myriad health and personal tragedies and now with three grandchildren to shepherd, here’s hoping this new partnership pro-vides well deserved support and seren-ity for him and his family going forward. Congratulations, Buddy.
Are Carports on Benefit Street Catching on?Last month in this column we shared the news that Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola has been renting a house on Benefit Street and we were counting the days before Geoff’s anointed him with a sandwich named in his honor. Unfortunately since then, news has gone viral that neighbors
are upset with a temporary carport that he had constructed to ensure his timely attendance at all Pats practice sessions (mandatory regardless of snow conditions as Jonas Gray and others have learned over the years). Given that Benefit Street is arguably the City’s purest example of historic preservation, it isn’t surprising that the neighbors are as protective of their turf as the Pats are of theirs at Fox-boro. How the project got approved in the first place is anyone’s guess, but it will be coming down at the end of the month. As one neighbor suggested, “You’d think having recently signed a five-year contract with the Pats for $31.5 million, he’d have the funds to hire a plowing service to be there at his beck and call. Hell pay me and I’ll sleep overnight in my truck and be ready to go whenever he wants.” That said, we love what Danny has done for the team this year and are happy he has chosen to be part of College Hill for the season. We also look forward to seeing the carport festooned with a Super Bowl championship banner before it’s taken down. Go Pats!
The Power of a FlowerDespite the fact that the winter of 2015-16 is off to a warmer than expected start (thank you Señor Niño), even under the best of conditions Providence is not the best place in the world to spend a win-ter. But over the years, every February, there has always been at least one pre-dictable oasis of warmth and sanity here in Providence: The Annual Spring and Garden Show at the RI Convention Cen-ter. This year it will be held on Thursday, February 18 (10am-7pm), February 19-20 (10am-8pm) and February 21 (10am-6pm). Along with its spectacular garden-ing displays, booths, flower competitions and food, this year’s show will be adding a live musical component on Friday and Saturday evenings. Whether your taste is boogie-ing amidst the begonias, hip-hopping with the hollyhocks or just do-ing something silly with a lily, this year’s show will brighten up even the dreariest of winter days. Enjoy!
Pictures PerfectWhen the beloved Acme Video on Brook Street closed its doors in 2013, the East Side lost access to its incredible col-lection of over 5,000 separate DVDs. The store hung in there even outlasting Blockbuster. But thanks to the Herculean efforts of the Providence Community Library, neighborhoods around the city, including the two East Side branches in Fox Point and on Rochambeau, have Acme’s entire collection available for borrowing, absolutely free. The collec-tion includes TV series, classic comedies, thrillers, children’s titles, timely dramas… again all free with a library card. Staff members Cynthia Reed and Tim McGinn are getting the well-deserved praise for putting in the long hours cataloging the huge collection. Thanks PCL for making this available to all of us. Go. Select. Enjoy.
Another Day, AnotherList for ProvidenceOne more end-of-the year tourism list has been released but this time Provi-dence actually did pretty well. And it’s a biggie. The NY Times travel section has released their list of the top 52 destina-tions to visit in 2016… Mexico City, Bor-deaux and Malta are one, two, three…
but little old Providence was one of seven American cities that made the cut this year, coming in at number 33, trail-ing only Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota (#5), Park City, Utah (#12), Grand Rapids, Michigan (#20) and Washington, DC (#26). Plus we beat out cities like Sydney, Australia, Tyrol, Austria and Malaga, Spain. There was a slight problem that has stifled a little bit of our exuberance however. The photo of Providence that accompa-nies the selection is actually a gorgeous shot of the newly restored Ocean Cliff House… in Watch Hill! Probably best to keep this as our little secret.
The East Side CulinaryMigration ContinuesThe migration of fine gourmet dining to the East Side has accelerated with the news that Persimmon, the Bristol based upscale landmark, will be taking over the building that once housed the pop-ular Rue de L’Espoir on Hope and John Streets. They will join Ebisu, the hot spot from the other side of town, that will bring its Japanese fusion fare as Wara Wara to Hope Street in the space formerly oc-cupied by Blaze. Then there’s Tallulah’s Taqueria on Ives Street that has already come up from Newport with its gourmet tacos and burritos. Hope there is a cor-responding influx of exercise centers to keep pace with our expanding waistlines
It’s all Right to be PCAs we go to press, both the Providence College basketball and hockey teams are still ranked nationally in the top ten. While some slippage is unavoidable, what a season it has provided for local college sports enthusiasts. If you want to see what the buzz is about, two of the school’s biggest games are coming up this month. At the Dunk on February 6, arch rival Villanova comes to town also being ranked in the top ten. Should be a dandy. Meanwhile on February 19, the Friars hockey team will face one of their biggest opponents when Notre Dame comes to Schneider Arena. Other games are sprinkled throughout the month for both teams so we don’t want to hear that there’s nothing to do in this town when it gets cold.
Community In the Knowby Barry Fain
One of Providence Monthly’s most eligible singles, Tara Haywood, is engaged to Buddy Cianci
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 11
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What’s happening p Thayer Street
For what’s happening on Thayer visit: ThayerStreetDistrict.com
Providence Children's Film Festival
Coming to the Avon Cinema in Feb 6th to Feb 21th. Check our Website for details:
www.ThayerStreetDistrict.com
Parking Meters on Thayer Street changed from 2 hrs to
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Neighborhood News is a space that East Side Monthly makes available to community organizations free of charge. The content does not neces-sarily reflect the views of the editors of this publication.
SummitneighborhoodAssociationCaroling For A Cause Brings Neigh-bors Together in Spirit of the SeasonAbout 25 adults and children braved unseasonably balmy weather on Sun-day, December 13, to go Caroling For A Cause in the neighborhood.
Covering the area of Bayard Street to Summit Avenue and Fourth to Sixth Streets, the group serenaded residents with traditional Christmas carols – plus one requested rendition of “The Han-nukkah Song” – and were rewarded with jars of peanut butter or cash dona-tions to benefit the food pantry of St. Raymond’s Church. In all, $100 and 24 jars of peanut butter were collected.
The festive evening began at 4pm in the foyer of event partner Miriam Hos-pital for hot drinks and cookies. Then, since it was the Hannukkah season, there was a short explanation of the Jewish Festival of Lights and a dem-onstration of a menorah by Monica An-derson, the hospital’s director of com-munity relations, with a little help from some Jewish members of SNA.
Then it was off into the night, laugh-ing all the way, under the leadership of Jon Howard, a former SNA president. As the singers got to houses whose porch lights were lit, doorbells were rung, residents came out and carols were sung, led by members Jeff Davis and Kurt Anderson. Younger singers scampered up the steps to collect the donations from the audiences and pile the jars into the back of an accompany-ing car. New songbooks were used this year, compiled by a committee of Deb Mero and Ellen Santaniello.
The last carols were sung on Fourth Street, almost to the Hope Street com-mercial section, where many restau-rants beckoned. As the singers dis-persed, there were vows to “See you next year!”
Water Line DelaysCommunity GardensInstallation of a water line to the Sum-mit Avenue tot lot, which is the first step in the construction of community gardens there, is being held up by unac-ceptably high contractor bids.
According to Wendy Nilsson, the superintendent of the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, the first bid came in at $17,500, significantly above the architect’s estimate of $5,000 to $7,000. The contract was put out again and a bid of $22,000 was returned. Deputy Superintendent Brian Byrnes said contractors were busy prior to winter and few bid on the project, so it is being wrapped into other jobs to at-tract a more reasonable price. He also said the City is considering other op-tions, including finding a master plumb-er with experience laying water lines.
Nilsson assured the SNA that the project, which is only one part of a re-vitalization of the whole park, has not been forgotten.
Residents Invited to Directors MeetingsThe SNA board of directors meets at 7pm on the third Monday of ev-ery month in the cafeteria of Summit Commons, 99 Hillside Ave. Although the December meeting was cancelled because of the holiday, the regular
schedule has been reinstated. The sessions are open and neighborhood residents are encouraged to attend. Minutes of all board meetings are posted on the SNA website at www.sna.providence.ri.us under “Meetings and Agendas.” Summit Neighborhood Association, PO Box 41092, Provi-dence RI 02940. 489-7078, www.sna.providence.ri.us, [email protected]. –Kerry Kohring
Wayland SquareNeighborhood Discussion Group at Books on the Square Wednesdays, January 27 and Febru-ary 24, from 7 to 8:45pm, Books on the Square, 471 Angell Street at Elmgrove Ave., next to CVS. Free and open to all.
Weather permitting, these will be our first meetings since last October.
(The bookstore will be closed, and our meeting cancelled or postponed, if the City should declare a parking ban that day. Check our Yahoo! Group’s website listed below for any updates.)
Commercial NotesThere have been several notable changes in local businesses over the last few months.
Mrs. Robinson has moved up the street to 180 Wayland Avenue, on
one side of the Salted Slate (formerly Farmstead), and Wendy Brown Home has moved into 190 Wayland on the other side, nearer Medway. Both were long established at other Wayland Av-enue sites.
Diagonally opposite, on Wayland and Medway (next to the Running Company in the former Runcible Spoon/Opulent Owl/CVS building) will be a branch of Pasta Beach, an Italian restaurant already present in Boston and Newport.
A block further down, on Waterman and Wayland, the former United Way/FM insurance building is finally reno-vated and occupied.
Moe’s Southwest Grill and Massage Envy had already opened for business as I write this at the New Year, while Washington Trust, a southern Rhode Island bank that has been in business since 1800, was finishing work on a new branch. The bank’s drive-in window will be one story below Wayland Avenue next to the parking lot, while the upper level will house walk-in services.
More InformationCheck our Yahoo! Group’s public mes-sage board (below) to stay abreast of current local events and issues. Or join the group to receive regular announce-ments by email, including select notices of neighborhood meetings, civic affairs and cultural events. groups.yahoo.com/group/waylandsquare –David Kolsky
Waterman Street Dog Park The Fence is Up!The Waterman Street Dog Park has crossed a major milestone. The perim-eter fence is now up! The fence, which lets dogs roam free, is one of the most important parts of the park. This is an exciting step that means the park is al-most here.
The park is almost completed, and it’s slated for a grand opening in the spring. After the snow melts, the Dog Park Association will be working with the Parks Department on tree plant-ings, clearing paths and spring clean-ings. Soon, our neighborhood will have a state of the art dog park for the whole community to enjoy. Waterman Street
Carolers organized by the Summit Neighborhood Association gather in front of a house on Sixth Street during the annual Caroling for a Cause
Community Neighborhood News
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Dog Park Association. [email protected], www.watermanstdog-park.org –Samuel Bell
Blackstone ParksConservancySecrets of the Blackstone Woodland When you see the photograph of little girls hugging a large tree in the Black-stone Parks Conservation District, one thing is obvious: They get it. No one has to tell them how precious and ex-citing nature is.
This Blackstone Parks Conservancy (BPC) outing of pre-schoolers to the park overlooking the Upper Narragan-sett Bay, one of many programs de-signed to expose children and adults of all ages to the delights contained in these parks, took place in early sum-mer. The last warm-weather program was in early November.
Many people explore the Conser-vation District in their own ways. A mother who regularly brings her three pre-adolescent children to explore the park, studied grubs living under a log one day last fall, then carefully rolled it back to its original position. Birders come often, as do walkers and run-ners. Occasionally artists will set up easels at York Pond.
For the Blackstone parks to thrive, more people need to embrace them, which can begin with asking ques-tions. Much that has happened and is happening in the woods and water is hidden from view.
Extraordinary discoveries pertain-ing to the complexity of life may be in the offing. The BPC hopes that some of the children exposed to nature in these parks will eventually help find answers to questions such as: What happened in here millennia ago? How was this land used in the 1700s and 1800s? What is happening now under the surface? Perhaps they will help crack the secrets of the new frontier, the. By the time they grow up, scien-tists may know if it’s true that groups of trees communicate and protect each other.
As humans always have, we de-pend on nature for survival. But now exploitation of resources is out of balance. Will today’s children help right that imbalance?
The BPC is always exploring ideas
for the future and experimenting with ways to protect fragile land – and thus the bay – from the effects of erosion. Invasive plant species are receiving special attention as well.
We know surprisingly little about the land where Blackstone Park sits. We do know that most of the ancient forests of Rhode Island were cut down in early Colonial days and shipped to England. Thus little old-growth for-est remains. But we don’t yet know what Moses Brown saw while riding out from his country house (at what would later become Wayland Square).
Learning more about the use of Mo-ses Brown’s land could affect our un-derstanding of the small part of it that was deeded to the City as parkland in 1866. These are questions we hope one day to be able to answer with the help of experts able to analyze former land use or researchers willing to ex-plore records at the Rhode Island His-torical Society.
One thing we do know is that all our questions start with wonder – wonder and a kind of delight in the two parks that have been passed down to Provi-dence over more than 150 years, pub-lic spaces that the Blackstone Parks Conservancy has the honor to help the Providence Parks Department manage. If we ever need reminding, all we need do is to watch the children in the woods.
Healthy Urban Green Space for All!
More and more people are checking out our website (see below) and Facebook page. Please keep look-ing, and send in those East Side Marketplace receipts. Blackstone Parks Conservancy, P.O. Box 603141, Providence, RI 02906. 270-3014, www.blackstoneparksconservancy.org, [email protected]–Jane Peterson
College Hill neighborhood AssociationOfficers Elected for 2016 After our successful Holiday Party in December at the Lippitt House, the College Hill Neighborhood Associa-tion (CHNA) reelected its current slate
of officers for the upcoming year. The officers will be Josh Eisen (president), Heidi Heifitz (vice president), Sara Bradford (treasurer) and Anthony Petrocci (secretary). At the same meeting, Brown University presented the amendments it will be proposing to the Providence Plan that will affect its five year master plan. The three major elements will be a continuation of its successful program to rehab some of its unused building so they can be sold to faculty members and returned to the City tax rolls, a plan to resurface its ballfields along Arling-ton Avenue and, most significantly, a proposal to tear down seven houses it recently purchased along Brook Street near Wheeler that will cre-ate a temporary surface parking area that within three to five years will be repurposed for residential or adminis-trative uses. If you’d like to inspect the plans or learn more about the projects check the University’s website.
As we begin the New Year, the Board is actively encouraging any Col-lege Hill resident who has an interest in becoming more active in preserving and enhancing the quality of life in our community to consider volunteering to be on our Board of Directors. There are also opportunities to get involved in an exciting new initiative to work
with the City to help upgrade the de-sign and landscaping of Prospect Ter-race which is such an iconic part of our neighborhood. College Hill was recently named the fourth most beau-tiful residential area in the country by the lifestyle website Thrillist.com and with your help perhaps we can move up to number three!
News from Thayer StreetThe walk up and down Thayer Street has become less crowded, more at-tractive and technologically cutting edge. Thirty-four black traditional trash containers have been replaced with the installation of twenty So-lar Compacting BigBelly Trash units funded by the Thayer Street District Management Authority (TSDMA). If you are thinking of driving to Thayer to see a movie, have lunch or dinner and doing a bit of shopping, you will soon discover that the Thayer Street Merchants were successful in get-ting the City of Providence to adjust their parking meters, changing Thayer Street from two hours to three hours and Meeting Street from three hours to four hours.
Thayer Street now has four new businesses in the district: Franc-esca’s, the Tech Repair Shop, the Mighty Sharp Barber Shop and the
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Lincoln School children visit Blackstone Park
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Sushi Cafe and Bar. We are happy to welcome them to the neighborhood. And finally the Avon Cinema and the Wheeler School be hosting the annual Providence Children’s Film Festival coming to College Hill from February 6 to February 21. Information on the film festival can be found on the front page of www.thayerstreetdistrict.com.
Come Join UsAnd finally as you continue to whittle down those New Year’s Resolutions for 2016, we urge you to consider being a more active member of the CHNA. It’s a great way to meet your neigh-bors, to improve the quality of life of our community and to have some fun in the process. Just go to our website and all will be explained. College Hill Neighborhood Association, P.O. Box 2442, Providence, RI 02906. 633-5230, www.collegehillna.com, [email protected] –Barry Fain
Fox Pointneighborhood AssociationEvents this MonthFPNA Board Meeting, 7pm, Monday, February 8 at the Vartan Gregorian Bath House Community Room, 455 Wickenden Street.
FPNA Targets WickendenImprovementsFPNA Board member Vincent Scorz-iello, who also is president of the Wickenden Area Merchants Associa-tion, WAMA, will be exploring ways to improve the shopping area, in particular its lighting. “We will need to work with the City and others to find funding sources for a long-term project like lighting Wickenden Street,” Scorziello said. “Of course, WAMA would wish for the kind of lights found on Westminster Street in downcity.”
Councilman Seth Yurdin attended FPNA’s December board meeting and suggested starting to work with the Providence Department of Plan-ning & Development, before contact-ing other agencies.
As it so happens, FPNA’s January meeting (which was after this pub-lishing deadline) will be attended by
Christopher Ise, a principal planner with the planning department. “FPNA and WAMA will be brainstorming ideas with him to see what might be possible to help revitalize Wickenden Street,” Scorziello said.
The City has recently developed a Neighborhood Planning Liaison Pro-gram by assigning planners to be liaisons to specific neighborhoods, Ise wrote in an e-mail to FPNA. “Our goals are to gain a better under-standing of community needs, solve neighborhood issues, build on op-portunities and improve communica-tion between Planning and neighbor-hood residents, businesses and other stakeholders.”
“Our first goal of this program is to work with neighborhood stakehold-ers to update the action plan for your area to make sure that it reflects your current ideas and needs,” Ise added. “Once the action items are updated, we can help to identify funding to complete specific projects, build on opportunities that exist and resolve other issues as needed.”
Looking for ideas, Scorziello told FPNA about a November meeting that he attended of the Hope Street Mer-chants Association. “They unveiled and explained their lighting project called Off-Grid on Hope Street,” he explained. “They worked with Jonathan Harris, an engineering professor/industrial de-signer at Johnson and Wales, to design custom, off the grid solar-powered lights,” Scorziello said. “Their goals were not necessarily to light the street, but to tie the street together with an ‘identity piece,’ work with local design-ers and materials.”
“After about two years they have the design finalized and are starting to fundraise for the project, which will cost $150,000 to have the lights made, installed and maintained for five years of maintenance,” he continued.
“Unfortunately, their solar solu-tion would not work for Wickenden Street, which is a narrow, tree-lined street,” Scorziello said. “Our goal is to actually provide more light on the sidewalks, which is insufficient, at present.”
If you are interested in working on improving Wickenden Street, contact [email protected]. Scorziello, who will be leading advocacy efforts as liai-son between the two organizations,
needs the talent of someone in seek-ing funding grants.
Worst Winter Remembered…“Living in Fox Point during last winter was transportationally challenging, to say the least,” FPNA Vice President Daisy Schnepel said. “Our streets are narrow enough and were further restricted because only single lanes were plowed on side streets.”
“It was impossible for two cars to pass easily,” she continued. “Often-times it necessitated backing up to allow another car to get through.” Ex-tra travel time always had to be add-ed to any venture out, she said. “Even with overnight parking restrictions, the City was unable to adequately plow the streets before the parking bans were lifted.”
In a meeting with all neighborhood associations, Mayor Elorza intro-duced Adolfo Bailon as the Director of the Mayor’s Center for City Ser-vices, MCCS, to coordinate response to citizen complaints involving all city departments. While PROV-CONNEX, www.providenceri.com/provconnex is a good place to start, MCCS, stands ready to ensure that complaints do not “get lost in the process.” He can be reached at 401-421-2489, Ext. 5527, and [email protected]. Also introduced were Grace Diaz, MCCS Senior Ad-visor on Community Relations and Alexandra Batista, MCCS Community Relations Representative.
FPNA Donates to PTO ProjectFPNA’s Board voted to donate $300 to the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School to help pay for a snow blower for Freddie Bucci, lead custodian. The effort to supply the snow blower was initiated by the school and the Parent Teacher Organization, PTO. A spokes-man for the PTO said the city was quite slow to respond last year, caus-ing the custodian an unreasonable amount of work removing the snow. “It is a token of appreciation of his work that will make his job easier and safer for those walking in and around the school,” PTO Board Member To-moko Shibusawa said. Fox Point Neighborhood Association, P.O. Box 603177, Providence, RI 02906. 270-7121, www.fpna.net, [email protected] –John Rousseau
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CURBING SNOWY CONDITIONS
How the City learned its lesson after last winterBy Tony Pacitti
Last winter was easily the worst in recent memory, with Governor Raimondo declaring a state of emergency in the wake of winter
storm Juno and federal relief coming from FEMA. But what’s still talked about a year later are the con-ditions of the roads in Providence and the City’s in-ability to keep up with the snow.
Here are some numbers from last year accord-ing to the National Weather Service. January 1-March 31 of 2015 reached all-time lows, with the three month daily average sitting at a bitter 26 degrees. The winter of ‘95-‘96 may still wear the crown for snowiest Providence winter on record with anywhere from 90-100 inches total, but last year’s 76.2 inches takes the cake for the simple fact that not once in three months did we experi-ence any significant melting. February alone saw 31.8 inches, beating out a 53 year old record set in 1962. That’s just shy of Providence’s seasonal average of 34.3.
On many roads across the city, pavement seemed to have been replaced by slick, bumpy layers of ice, which of course exacerbated our annual crop of fresh potholes. Side streets were a lost cause and stretches of main roads were barely passable, causing many to joke that they didn’t know Mayor Elorza’s “One Providence” meant one lane of traffic. All of this begs the question: What, if anything, has the City done to ensure that the conditions of last year’s snowpocalypse aren’t about to be repeated?
ACCUmUlAtION BY tHe NUmBeRSLet’s address this right now – last winter was espe-cially difficult to manage. The volume of accumula-tion, the back to back to back snowstorms, the failure to reach temperatures above freezing. Mother Na-ture did New England absolutely no favors last win-ter and it’s safe to say that cities all across the area struggled to keep up with her ferocity. Boston.comreported on July 13 – yes, July – that the last of Bos-ton’s snow farms had finally melted. That’s 22 days
after the summer solstice. That said, there were problems with Providence’s efforts from flake one.
“I think the City got a little behind on the first storm in terms of moving the snow,” says Russell Knight, Director of the Providence Department of Public Works (DPW). “They weren’t able to clear the roads adequately, so it froze.”
Each subsequent storm built off of that initial foundation of frozen precipitation, making roads more and more difficult to clear, let alone navi-gate. “Because of that, some of the side streets couldn’t be plowed and that caused a snowball effect,” he adds.
Knight, who came on as DPW director in late March, found himself inheriting the problem of what to do with the frozen streets and unwieldy snow-banks. Now as he approaches his first full winter at the helm of the DPW, he has to deal with the loom-ing shadow of last year’s problems.
Chief among the concerns of residents and busi-ness owners was that the City had failed to plow streets from curb-to-curb, which narrowed major roadways and made them difficult, if not flat out dangerous, to drive on. Wickenden and College Hill, already steep and formidable in the mildest of win-ter conditions, became especially perilous.
Though Knight acknowledges that the City didn’t do itself any favors by not sufficiently dealing with winter storm Juno, he points out that in some cases getting streets cleared curb-to-curb was impos-sible. “People were parked on the streets and ve-hicles weren’t moved,” he says. “We really need to get cars off the streets and parking bans need to be enforced more rigorously. People say they can’t find [off-street parking]. There’s always a way to find it. Coordinate with friends and neighbors, or even business owners. It’s the community helping the community. They’re going to have to find a place and they need to start now.”
“Leo Perrotta, the Parking Administrator, has done an excellent job the past several years com-municating when snow-related parking bans are
going into effect and when they were lifted, by email notices,” says Paterson Park resident David Parr. Parr, like many residents, expressed frustra-tions with neighbors who didn’t move their vehicles prior to plows hitting the road. Others wondered why the City wasn’t taking a more active role in moving them.
“The City needs to deal with cars that remain parked on main streets,” suggests Blackstone resi-dent Barbara Badre, specifically citing business areas like Hope Street and Wayland. “Something needs to be decided on how to deal with people who park illegally overnight, prevent snowplows from getting the snow cleared and cause so much inconvenience.”
Donna Personeus, Executive Director of the Thay-er Street District Management Authority (TSDMA), agrees. “They need to aggressively tow cars,” she says, “but it went beyond that. They never came back to clean up [the street]. Busses couldn’t even get down Thayer.” In the end, TSDMA ended up paying for removal of snow that the City should have dealt with.
The City’s Communications Director, Evan Eng-land, confirmed that the City does intend to be more aggressive when it comes to towing those in violation of parking bans. “That’s why it’s crucial that people know about parking bans. It’s never ide-al to tow. At the end of the day it’s not about pun-ishing individuals, it’s about getting to those curbs.”
Another major complaint was that plows were piling snow up on corners. Though shoveling side-walks in front of homes and businesses remains the responsibility of residents and business owners, frustrations mounted higher than snow banks af-ter pedestrian access to the street was hindered by mountains of snow.
“People find themselves trapped at corners, un-able to climb over the barrier of snow to get onto the street,” says Wayland Square resident Marcia Lieberman. “This is especially important for those who cannot climb over the snow mounds. Basic
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safety requires that there must be a place where we are able to get onto the street.”
“Don’t get me started on corners that have been left uncleared or, worse, plowed under a mini-moun-tain of snow by overzealous city plow operators,” adds Wayland Square resident Arthur Norman.
According to Knight, “adjoining property owners are responsible for clearing pedestrian access to walk-ways.” Young East Siders with strong backs, take note.
Then there’s the concern that some streets hadn’t been plowed at all, a problem that plagued the entire city. Knight points out that Providence’s nearly 2,100 streets come to a total of 375 miles. That includes even tiny side streets and dead ends. DPW has been talking with its inspectors to, among other things, discuss which of those smaller streets had been missed, which streets had proved problematic and how better to en-sure that all roads are dealt with.
“[People] need to be understand-ing that the primary routes in the city, the thoroughfares, are going to be the top priority to make sure that all of the emergency services have access and can operate,” points out Michael Borg, director of the Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). “The last priority are the smaller streets, but it all gets done.”
Small streets in lower income neighborhoods in particular seemed neglected last year, but a drive down even the most prominent East Side roads proved treacherous. Borg adds that this year all city plows and con-tracted vendors will be equipped
with GPS devices that will allow DPW to track which streets have been plowed and, should calls come in about any that were missed, dispatch plows to deal with them. Until then, the City asks for patience.
“When you get a real heavy snow-fall the plow may run down your street and an hour later there’s three inches on top of it,” Borg argues, but when it comes to plowing, patience tends to run out faster than the snow removal budget.
UppING tHe ANte, ANd tHe BUdGetThere were no shortage of citizen complaints with last year’s snow removal and the City has been tak-ing them all to heart. For starters, the budget for snow removal is up $300,000 over last year’s budget for a total of $1.9 million. It’s worth noting that by February 11 last year, WPRI was reporting that the City had already spent two-thirds of its $1.6 million budget. FEMA will be reim-bursing the state up to 75% of any el-igible costs from last winter – “over-time, procurement of vendors, snow removal that goes above and beyond the normal costs of the snowstorm,” explains Borg – but at the time of press what that total will be is still be-ing worked out. According to Borg, the process of dealing with FEMA is a slow one.
The City’s fleet of plows is also larg-er this year. In total, Providence DPW has at its disposal 30 large trucks to plow the main roads and 11 smaller trucks that are better equipped for side streets and dead ends. On top of that, Park and Recreation has two large trucks and eight pickups armed
with plows, and 95 independent ven-dors are lined up to assist the City with snow removal.
“We now have two city trucks per ward and we’re bringing in vendors to augment our workforce if needed in big storms,” says Knight.
East Side residents frequently brought up the idea of imposing alter-nating side parking for people with on-street parking stickers. While the City sees merit in this tactic, putting some-thing like that into effect requires a lot of effort and infrastructure.
“As we were flushing out the pro-gram it was something we realized would take an extended educational period to get right,” says England. The City is hoping to begin a pilot program for alternating side park-ing in warmer months and possibly implementing it next winter. “The last thing we wanted to do was imple-ment it incorrectly.”
As for the issue of where to put snow in the event of precipitation like last year’s, the City will utilize parks and municipal parking lots as “snow farms.” They’ve also worked out a deal with the 195 Commission to use 100,000 square feet of the 195 land for snow if necessary. One thing that’s not on the table is dumping excess snow into any of Providence’s waterways.
“That’s highly frowned upon by the DEM,” explains Knight. “That’s not one of our plans because there is a lot of stuff in that snow, whether it be oils or salts, that can contribute to ecological problems, so we don’t want to go down that road if we don’t have to.”
“Coming out of last winter shaped a lot of what will be happening
PROVIDNECESEASONAL AVERAGE
PROVIDNECESEASONAL AVERAGE
SNOWFALL IN FEBRUARY2015 ALONE
SNOWFALL TOTAL
FOR 2015
34.4
”
31.8
”
48”
76.2
”
Average car height
pROvIdeNCe SNOWfAll At A GlANCe
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 21
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this year,” says Borg. “From my perspective one of the best things we’ve done has been hold-ing a series of meetings with all of the critical city departments and discussed how we handled last year and what we’re going to change. All of those discussions culminated in a table-top exercise that was conduct-ed [in December] with all of the key players in the city.”
This exercise, facilitated by Borg, had critical decision makers and de-partment leaders gather to hash out a number of scenarios. Beginning with a typical, light snowfall of only a few inches and working up through heavier weather incidents like a mild storm, blizzard or a dreaded ice storm – “probably the worst case scenario in a winter disaster,” says Borg – decision makers were able to experiment with hypothetical condi-tions to see how they might respond.
“Everybody in the room under-stands and walks away knowing what a department’s responsibilities are, what assets they have and what ac-tions they’re going to take,” says Borg “It’s all synchronized within the city. It’s not just one department act-ing on its own, it’s one unified action by the City.”
Another big player this year is the newly acquired CodeRed sys-tem, an emergency notification system purchased by the state and given to all municipalities. Used for any number of emergency notifica-tions, in regards to winter weather emergencies, CodeRed can be used to notify residents or parking and travel bans, as well as other public safety announcements. CodeRed is
available as a free app on Apple and Android devices and once signed up, residents can receive important emergency notices via email, text, voicemail or landline. The idea, ulti-mately, is that this will allow the City to reach more people more quickly in the event of a situation where cit-izens would need to act. Residents can sign up for these alerts through the app or at www.providenceri.com/PEMA/codered.
Not intended to replace previous methods of announcing parking and driving bans – emailing residents with parking stickers, social media, updat-ing websites – CodeRed is just an ad-ditional tool for getting the word out.
COmmUNICAtION At tHe fORefRONtDPW has been meeting with neigh-borhood groups to discuss specific problems and to try to assure resi-dents that this winter will be different.
“College Hill Neighborhood Asso-ciation (CHNA) has met several times with Captain Russell Knight to iden-tify problem areas from last year and request curb to curb clearing, and with the mayor’s office to request better scheduling and communica-tion of parking bans,” says CHNA President Josh Eisen.
Personeus adds that the new DPW head has generally been much more responsive and open to feedback. “I get a very timely response from him. As someone who has to manage an area on College Hill I’m very happy about that. It’s a positive. I felt that they better understand the needs of the area, but only time will tell.”
“We’re prepared this year. There
has been a tremendous effort on behalf of the City and all of the key players to be ready for this coming winter,” Borg says, boldly. “I feel very confident in all of the efforts and work that everyone has put in to re-spond and keep Providence working and operational.”
Knight echoes that sentiment, while also asking for some compas-sion from citizens.
“Our men and women are ready to serve the city of Providence as best they can, and they’re going to. Our plow drivers are out there sometimes for 24 hours straight. We don’t have a second team.”
Tensions run high on both sides when it comes to the handling of winter storms. For residents, bliz-zards aren’t just tallied in inches of snowfall, but time and money lost be-cause of school cancellations, keep-ing businesses closed or not being able to get to work. For the City, even a relentless series of storms like last year’s is a series of problems they’re required to deal with. Failure to do so, regardless of the circumstances, is exactly that: failure. Though DPW and PEMA assure that they’re ready this time, for residents it’s difficult to shake the memory of last year.
As we go to press we have yet to experience any kind of snowfall we should be concerned about. Maybe with El Niño doing whatever it is El Niño does, we’ll catch a break. We aren’t getting our hopes up, but ev-eryone seems to agree; the best thing for residents, city officials, plow drivers, everyone, would be no snow at all. This is New England, after all, so anything could happen.
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Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 23
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Break away from the playground and out of your weekend rut. Colder temperatures mean slightly less full schedules, so make the most of your kids’ time off with quality bonding that’s fun for parents, too.
Let Them Run and PlayThe Providence Children’s Museum is a place designed to make learning fun. Exhibits like Coming to Rhode Island, about the state’s history of immigrants from around the world, and ThinkSpace, which allows kids to experiment with shapes and spaces, feel like play but are teaching kids about the world around them. The museum has fun activities planned for every day of February vacation week. Closed Mondays, except during school vacation. $9; babies under 12 months free. 100 South Street. 273-5437, www.childrenmuseum.org
Expand Little Minds with Fine ArtThe RISD Museum makes it easy to start your kids on the path to cultural enlightenment with their family pro-gramming. The museum offers a Young Explorers Guide to engage kids with the art, and tips for parents on how to talk to little ones about learning to express their artistic opinions. Tours for Tots are interactive themed tours for families with kids age three and up, including story time and gallery activities. Art enrichment classes like See and Sketch and Open Studio are offered for slightly
older kids. $3-$12. Admission is free on Sundays. 20 North Main Street. 454-6500, www.risdmuseum.org
See the World Through FilmBack for its seventh year, the Provi-dence Children’s Film Festival is hap-pening February 6-21, and this time, it’s out of this world. This year’s “Cos-mic Celebration of Film” has multiple venues around Providence that are showing short and feature films, all throughout February vacation. There’s also a weekend of filmmaking work-shops for kids age 6-12 happening on Valentine’s weekend. www.provi-dencechildrensfilmfestival.org
Glide Through WinterYour kids may be better than you at most technological things, but when it comes to ice skating at the Rink at Alex and Ani City Center, well, they’re probably going to be better at that, too. At least this time it’s because of the penguin skate aids that help wobbly little skaters glide across the ice. For you, if it’s been a while, you’re go-ing to need a refresher lesson – but don’t worry, they offer those, too. $7 adults, $4 kids. 2 Kennedy Plaza. 331-5544, www.al-exandanicitycenter.com
Explore Literature TogetherThe Sayles Gorham Children’s Library inside the Providence Athenaeum is the perfect place for little minds to get lost in the magic of books. Events include regular story hours, Nature Days with the Zoo, where Roger Williams critters
take over the library, and Family Movie Nights. While you need a library mem-bership to check out the books, you can go and explore for free. Fees vary. Most activities included with member-ship. 251 Benefit Street. 421-6970, www.providenceathenaeum.org
Take One Lump or TwoIf Alice in Wonderland is the only thing your kids know about proper tea, it’s time to visit The Duck and Bunny. The Wickenden Street “snuggery” serves brunch and dinner every day, and cup-cakes all the time, but they also serve English-style afternoon tea, complete with tea sandwiches, fresh scones and mini cupcakes. A kid-friendly af-terschool tea is specifically designed for young palates, with caffeine-free teas. No white gloves or curtseying required. 312 Wickenden Street. 270-3300, www.theduckandbunny.com
Be a Family That Oms TogetherSometimes it’s not about running around like crazy, but cultivating still-ness. Bring kids age 5-12 to Family Yoga at the Motion Center in Hope Artiste Village. Classes, that are for both kids and adults, include breath-ing exercises, partner and group ac-tivities, basic yoga postures and tools to calm both mind and body. The Yoga Pretzels class is exclusively for ages 4-6 and introduces kids to yoga in a fun, interactive, energy-releasing way. 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. 654-6650, www.motioncenteryoga.com
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Make the most ofFebruary vacation with
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Fully licensed by Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families, the ECC adheres to all DCYF regulations, policies, and procedures. Committed to meeting national standards of quality, our ECC is also accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) as well as Bright Stars. Our care providers and teachers are carefully screened, chosen for their love of children, and trained in CPR and first aid. We also have a registered nurse on staff. For more information or to schedule a tour, contact us at 401.421.4111or [email protected].
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Soon after graduating from Brown University, I became a high school teacher in a Bay Area suburb. When asked, I’d share that I’d attended Brown, and more often than not would get a quizzical look or head shake. “Brown? Huh. Where is that? Never heard of it.” Due to financial and famil-ial concerns, when college was a goal, it meant acceptance to the University of California system for most of my stu-dents and their families. I learned fast that the degree from a fancy institution that told me so much about myself did not automatically confer much value in actual real life. While other lessons emerged – about privilege, access, elitism and the plain fact that we live in a huge country within which many people tend to stay put – I realized that I had derived far too much of my self-worth from association with the institu-tion I’d attended.
Where I’d gone was not who I was: this was one of the key insights that helped me become a functional adult. Now I’m the parent of kids who are going to be figuring out how higher education will help them achieve their life goals (as opposed to defining who they are). Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania, by New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, has served as a useful reinforcement to the perspec-tive I gained in California in my 20s.
Many families in the United States as-pire for their children to attend college, though not all students head directly to higher education from high school. The most recent data indicates that 65.4% of Rhode Island’s high school graduates attend college right away (the national average is 65.9%). A similar percent-age of these students complete their four-year degrees within six years (or two-year degrees within three years), though far fewer students of color, who are also more frequently first-genera-tion college-goers, do so. All this data and more tells us that college atten-dance and completion are not a given for many. For those who do attend and complete college, most aim for an insti-tution of higher education that’s decent, affordable, often close to home and not necessarily considered elite.
However, a smaller number of stu-dents and their families choose to emphasize admission to a small set of elite colleges, of which Brown, with its admission rate of 8.5% of all applica-tions, is but one. While the advice that the book’s title dispenses doesn’t apply to all of us, it does apply to many who live and work in or near this university or others like it. Some of us – parents of high school seniors – are now entering the anxiety home stretch, with accep-tance and rejection letters starting to arrive. For us, Bruni succinctly defuses the college admissions mania, using data and many anecdotes to demon-strate that high school students who aspire to a meaningful higher education experience actually have a surprisingly wide range of choices that may well not include the most elite schools. In addi-tion to looking at the trajectories of spe-cific students, some of whom “made it” into the Ivies or equivalents and some of whom did not, Bruni spends time with college admissions staffers who take pains to emphasize the extreme arbitrariness of choosing among a mass of similarly qualified young people for a handful of spots in a college class.
Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be shines brightest in its estimation of fit, rather than elite status, as a key factor for college choice. Bruni urges stu-dents to consider options carefully, to look at colleges that offer programs and opportunities that will serve their long-term goals, even if this means getting out of their comfort zones. In this counsel to students and their families to think through their own needs and values, rather than mind-lessly pursuing status and prestige, Bruni’s advice takes on meaning to a much larger audience. While not all of us, nor all of our children, will be ob-sessed with attending a highly com-petitive university, nearly all of us at one time or another have lost a grip on ourselves as we focus too narrowly on that which confers prestige. When we can see the intrinsic value of our children, rather than deriving re-flected glory from their accomplish-ments, we help them stay connected to who they really are. Nothing shines brighter, or opens more doors in life, than the confidence that results when we believe in our children because of who they are.
Close to Home Education
College, RedefinedA refreshing look at higher education as status symbolBy Jill Davidson
Illus
trat
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by
Ash
ley
Mac
Lure
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 29
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Fundraiser for MLK Elementary at Flatbread Company on February 16On the evening of Tuesday, February 16, Flatbread Company is hosting a fundraiser for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. Flatbread Com-pany offers pizza, salads and more, and is located at 161 Cushing Street, at the corner of Thayer Street (Rhode Island-style directions: where Adesso used to be). Mark your calendar and plan to meet friends and neighbors, enjoy great food while supporting one of our neighborhood’s public schools. It’s worth braving the winter chill for the warmth of delicious food for a great cause.
Arts Re-emerging atHope High SchoolHope High School’s theater program, a long-time jewel that has lost its gleam during the past few years, is starting to shine again thanks to the efforts of local theater professionals and Hope alums. Led by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, the co-founder of Providence’s Mixed Magic Theater, a group of the-ater believers are restoring a black box theater that had been turned into a classroom. While there’s still work to be done, Mixed Magic Theater used the space for a Kwanzaa production in December. Next up is the pressing challenge of restoring Hope’s audito-rium for use by Hope theater students and outside groups, a huge effort that may find funding from the recently available school construction funds released by the Rhode Island General
Assembly. Hope’s sustained commit-ment to visual arts education is also getting a boost. The school has built a new visual arts lab and is deepen-ing its partnership with Rhode Island School of Design through dual-enroll-ment courses. With these improve-ments, Hope can once again offer strong arts curriculum to Providence’s students so that a new generation of home-grown artists can shine.
Dual Language Kindergarten Enroll-ment Opportunities at PPSDStarting in the 2016-2017 school year, the Providence Public Schools will of-fer two dual language immersion pro-grams at Carl Lauro Elementary School. These programs will offer Spanish-English and Mandarin Chinese-English instruction, options that Providence families favored in surveys conducted at the start of this school year. These programs will be open to incoming kindergarten students, who will re-ceive instruction in all subject in both languages through fifth grade. Lauro’s offerings join an existing Spanish-Eng-lish dual language immersion program at the Leviton Dual Language School. Kindergarten enrollment for the 2016-2017 school year is ongoing through March 14, 2016. As part of the enroll-ment progress, families will have the option to indicate interest in both the Leviton and Carl Lauro dual language programs. For more information about Providence Public Schools’ kindergar-ten registration dates and options, vis-it www.providenceschools.org.
Education continued
Smart News
Illus
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ion
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Mac
Lure
Pho
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y K
atie
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Stop by Flatbread Company on February 16 for theDr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School fundraiser
30 East Side Monthly February 2016
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401-742-1895r o b e r t a l a n m a t t h e w s . c o m
The “mayor’’ of the East Side has his ramp. Let us rejoice. My faith in humanity is restored. An affable and courageous young man named David Goodman can now enjoy kiddushes on the lower level of Congregation Beth Sholom, the Orthodox Jewish syna-gogue at the corner of Camp Street and Rochambeau Avenue. He’s been a member since his family moved to the neighborhood a few years ago after his father, Jeremy, got a job as executive director of the Roger Wil-liams Park Zoo. The Goodman’s other claim to fame is that they live in the lime green house on Elmgrove Avenue formerly occupied by Governor Gina Raimondo. That house has a ramp, too – installed after David, who gets about in a wheelchair, moved in so he could live comfortably and happily, which is all anyone really wants.
Last April, I wrote a column about how nice it would be to install a ramp on the synagogue’s lower level, where members also attend dinners, festivals, parties and other events that bring peo-ple together to chat about their kids and jobs and everything in between. David appreciated that the upper level was ac-cessible to wheelchairs but was frustrat-ed by the limitations down below.
I wrote about how four burly men would carry David and his wheelchair down a flight of stairs after Saturday services. In time, that became too dangerous. So David had to remain topside while Jeremy and his wife, Ma-rina, and their other children, Jack, 14, and Dina, 11, took turns going up and down the steps to keep him company. That was a tolerable arrangement, but not a compassionate one, especially for someone who has faced more challenges in his 17 years than most will experience in a lifetime.
David was born with cerebral palsy, autism and cognitive challenges. He’s an affable guy, affectionately called the “mayor’’ of the neighborhood by his mom and other admirers because he loves being around people and talking to them. David can read and write, and he also has a great mem-ory. But he can’t walk on his own. He
needs his wheelchair to see the world.About a year ago, Marina and
other members of the congregation launched a campaign to raise money to pay for an accessible entrance. An-other selling point was that it would also benefit parents with little ones in strollers and older members. The re-sults are in, and I’m happy to report that the congregation collected a whopping $27,000. “We’re thrilled,’’ says Marina. “You never know what to expect. This is quite a happy surprise.’’
Contributors included family, friends, good-hearted Providence res-idents and the John D. and Katherine A. Johnston Foundation, established in 1928 to help improve the lives of phys-ically disabled children and adults. Among the East Siders who donated were Jonah and Rashmi Licht, both doctors; Judy and Jay Rosenstein; Dr. Farrel and Barbara Klein; Dr. Howard Mintz; and Grace Novick. Manocher Norparvar, another East Sider, donat-ed his time by drawing up blueprints for the project. This kind of generosity, to be honest, doesn’t happen often, so
David clearly is special. In December, the congregation un-
veiled the new entrance during a Han-nukkah party with the New England Yachad, which is part of the National Jewish Council for Disabilities. David was there. So was his family and all the other people who adore him. He was gabbing with everyone, as usual.
“I just want to thank the community for contributing to this project,” said Rabbi Barry Dolinger, of Congrega-tion Beth Sholom. “It was a large col-laborative effort and a moral impera-tive. Judaism is largely about learning to care for the other. A congregation that isn’t fully inclusive is fully broken, and I couldn’t think of a better time than Hannukkah – the commemora-tion of the rededication of our nation-al Temple in Jerusalem – to dedicate this entrance to our synagogue.”
David is a story for these turbu-lent times. All is not lost. Goodness can prevail.
Elizabeth Rau can be reached at [email protected].
Close to Home East of Elmgrove
Making a Difference in One LifeA congregation, and a community, come togetherto help improve one teen’s lifeBy Liz Rau
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32 East Side Monthly February 2016
Because we all need help sometimes.We provide a place for everyone to call when they need help. 2-1-1—three simple numbers, one human connection. United Way 2-1-1 in Rhode Island handles 200,000 requests for help each year, connecting our neighbors to basic needs like housing, food, and
childcare. But that’s not all. Call 2-1-1 for free tax preparation, services for aging parents, and for
help navigating new choices in healthcare. Free and confidential, 2-1-1 answers the call—24 hours a day, 365 days a year—even in a snowstorm.
www.LIVEUNITEDri.org
All of our fundraising costs, including this ad, are paid by a trust.
“I always thought 2-1-1 was just for people who were struggling, but now I know it’s a resource I could call if I was looking for information to help my aging parents.”
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 33
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ARTISTIC ICONS SERIES at
WALKING WITH ‘TRANE An electrifying live music/dance tribute to jazz legend John Coltrane
Urban Bush Women
February 27
“Their expressive powers shake the theatre!”
—The Village Voice
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 35
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On the tOwnRestaurant and Food | Dining Guide | Calendar of events
Flavor of the Month
Man Meets GrillMile and a Quarter’s David Ashworth aims to be the best grill chef in townBy Nicolas Staab
When it comes to Italian-style cooking in Providence, everyone will point towards Atwells Avenue. But across the river, South Water Street contains a small hub of Providence’s finest. Right in the thick of it is the beautiful, dark and cozy restaurant Mile and a Quarter. Looking out over the Providence River and the competitive restaurants along the street, chef David Ashworth describes his pas-sion for cooking every dish with preci-sion. He started running kitchens when he was 20-years-old, and aims to be the finest grill chef in the state.
Where did you cut your teeth before Mile and a Quarter?I became the head chef at John Carlo’s when I was 20-years-old. It was defi-nitely the best life experience possible for me. I got to learn Italian flair, the old school authentic way, and it stuck. I was there for 13 years. I had to lead at a young age and quickly refine my cook-ing style. The grill was in the middle of the dining room, so I got to meet al-most every customer while running the kitchen. It was hectic, but something I felt very comfortable doing.
Running a kitchen is very special to you. What makes all your hard work worthwhile?When I’m in the kitchen, I feel like I’m in my domain. I like being busy, feel-ing that sense of control and precision. Cooking everything from scratch and feeding a whole dining room authen-tic food… it’s exciting. When guests are leaving and say thank you just because they appreciate our cooking makes it all worth it. I can also be creative. I can do what I want, when I want. It’s freedom.
Is there a favorite cooking technique you like to use? Definitely the grill. I aim to be one of the top echelon grill chefs in the state. I’d love to take Bobby Flay on (that’s a personal goal of mine). I just love grilling. I’ve been doing it so long it’s like second nature now. There’s a lot of pressure, too. You have money in your hands so you can’t mess it up. When
you cook a good steak or a grilled fish there’s nothing else like it.
What are you trying to capture with the menu selection at Mile and a Quarter? We’re trying to bring that old school Italian cuisine to the city. To give peo-ple the tastes and flavors that were strong in Providence for so long. We want to be the ones to bring it back. We try to give the best ingredients and authentic experiences while still get-ting a bang for your buck.
Do you have any favorite ingredients you come back to time and time again? Well, you need to have garlic, butter, tomatoes and fresh basil. After you nail down those core ingredients, you can basically play around with any-thing and get creative. But don’t take the dish farther than it has to go. I’m a big believer in simplicity. I think chefs try to do so much with dishes these days. It’s like a seesaw – you’re even for awhile and then you add that one ingredient that tips it over. If you try too hard, you lose the dish. Simple
taste and flavor is the most important. You’re buying well-cooked steak, not the sauce on top.
Is there one dish you’d recommend to a new guest? I’d have to go with two. The Lobster Ravioli is the best around. It’s a nice pink cream sauce, bountiful lobster-stuffed raviolis, roasted asparagus and seared sea scallops. Everything on the dish is large and loud. It shows our flavor, ex-citement and passion in the kitchen.
Also, our ribeye. I think we have the best cut steak in the city. It’s all choice prime. You never hide it, just flavor it with a little bit with butter. It’s one of those great steaks that will catch your eye if you’re a true meat eater.
Are there certain characteristics a chef needs to run a successful kitchen?You have to go all in on everything. You never know who’s judging you or tasting you. When you cook a dish, you have to make it the best it can be. The opportu-nity is on the plate. But, overall, you have to strive to be the best. You’re only as good as your competition. Look outside
the window: to the right, Bacaro and Capriccio, to the left, Al Forno. You re-ally can’t get into the fire any deeper than that. But that’s what draws out the best in me and my staff. We keep a high standard.
Is there one thing you harp on when it comes to cooking and serving guests your creations?Presentation is big. You eat with your eyes. If it looks good, it’s going to taste good, too. You want to show how much work went into cooking each plate. The cleaner the plate, the more attentive you seem. Give each guest the reassurance that you took the time to handle their individual dish with care. Your guests can judge you off one plate. They can tell your character, see your sense of pride in what you do, how you create.
Mile and a Quarter334 S Water Street
Providence331-1500
www.MileAndAQuarterRI.com
Chef David Ashworth of Mile and a Quarter
36 East Side Monthly February 2016
559 North MaiN Street, ProvideNce (Whole FoodS ShoPPiNg Plaza)
401-274-4790
Craft Beer • Fine Wine • Artisanal Spirits
Organic, Biodynamic & Natural Wines to Choose From
Lagunitas IPA 12pks $12.99
(reg. $15.49)
Lunar Apogé Cotes Du Rhone $15.99
(reg. $18.99)
Celebrate the Month of love!
Bluefin Grille at the Providence MarriottOne Orms Street | Free and easy parking
marriottprovidence.com • (401) 272-2400
SPecialS at the Bluefin Grille
all Month lonG!• oysters (6 for $12): from Coast to Coast
• oysters and bubbly Special
• valentine's Cocktails • Desserts: • red velvet Cake & berry
Coulis, Whipped Cream $7
• Chocolate Praline Crunch & raspberry Sauce, Candied Pecans $7
Celebrate the Month of Love with a getaway!
Use QR code for packages on our website.
756 Hope St.(near Rochambeau)
401.521.0101stockpvd.com
Stock Culinary Goods is now the exclusive retailer ofGarrison artisan chocolates, including the
Legendary Lovers bon bon collection.
Revealing Rhode Island’smost delicious coupling
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 37
On the town On the Menu
For the Chocolate Lover in EveryoneMore offerings from Garrison Confections now at Stock Culinary Goods By Grace Lentini
For a state so small, we certainly have an embarrassment of craft beer riches. As our palates become more attuned to hoppy and malty varieties, it makes sense that home brewing is gaining in popularity. Enter Brew It Yourself New England, your friendly neighborhood home brewing supplier. Brewing entrepreneur Brian Buongiovanni is an avid homebrewer who received a starter brewing kit three years ago and hasn’t stopped since.
“I think one of the misconceptions about homebrewing is that it’s difficult, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” explains Buongiovanni. “Thanks to major advances in equipment and ingredients it can be as easy or as advanced as you’d like it to be.” So if you’re thinking of taking the plunge and are looking for a simple recipe, an amber ale or pale ale is a great place to start. According to Buongiovanni, both styles are simple and tasty.
If you’re thinking you’d rather dabble in wine making, he suggests attempting a robust red like a Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec. If hard cider is more up your alley, you’re in luck because apparently ciders are very easy and fun to make. “I just brought in a special yeast strain specifically designed for cider making,” he says. “Up until now, cider mak-ers have relied mostly on champagne yeast, but this market is constantly changing and there’s always a company out there working to meet the needs of customers and releas-ing products tailored to the home fermentation field.”
In addition to producing a tasty treat for you and for friends (or just you, who are we kidding?), you can fulfill your dream of playing mad scientist and bringing something to life. “I have customers that regularly email me with special orders and entire recipes that they need filled,” Buongiovanni explains. “I’m always happy to help.” Available at Nikki’s Liquors, 32 Branch Avenue, Providence. 861-9006, www.biyne.com
It seems that love isn’t the only thing in the air this month. What would you do if I told you that you could get locally made chocolate anytime you wanted to? (Jump for joy and buy some immediately is the direction this writer is thinking.) Well, now you can, and it’s avail-able exclusively at Stock Culinary Goods. Although Stock has been carrying Garrison Confections for years, it’s only been in small quanti-ties as it made sense for Andrew Shotts (owner of Garrison) to pro-duce. “Expect truffles, chocolate covered pretzels, cranberries, ginger and nuts, toffee, tablets (chocolate bars), ultimate caramel popcorn and more,” explains Stock Culinary Goods owner Jan Faust Dane. “An-drew approached me and said, ‘how about all the chocolate all the time?’” Jan’s answer was obviously a resounding yes.
According to Jan, there’s been a steadily growing audience for Gar-rison’s, especially on the East Side since Garrison’s used to be located on Hope Street. And since many customers miss having their locally made chocolate so easily accessible, this is the perfect solution.
“This really is a triumphant return to Hope Street. It’s not a popup, it’s supposed to be forever; it’s like a Garrison’s kiosk within Stock,” says Dane. “I’m a huge fan of Garrisons, and one thing I’ve observed is that when people want Garrison’s, nothing else will do. They are focused on getting a gift that is focused on what we do here in RI and that’s delicious.”
Now you can get that perfect gift for your chocoholic friend, boss or loved one, especially since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Dane’s plan is to no longer run out of chocolate, which means that the East Side won’t run out of chocolate. Looks like the winter is going to be pretty sweet after all. 756 Hope Street, Providence. 521-0101, www.StockCulinaryGoods.com
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Garrison Confections at Stock Culinary Goods
Home Brew Hotspot
355 Hope StreeT, Providence401.751.6777 • tortillaflatsri.com
Mexican & SOUTHWESTERNComfort
Cuisine
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 39
The Olive TapExperience a world of flavor at The Olive Tap, an olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop that’s a must-try for food-ies in Providence. “We are absolutely passionate about food,” says owner Greg Holtcamp. “When we opened the store, we wanted to appeal to foodies who un-derstand that you get your best results from the best ingredients.”
Offering a wide selection of oils and vinegars - from Tuscan Herb, Sorrento Lemon and Greek Koroneiki Oil to White Balsamic Vinegar with Sicilian Lemon, Fig Balsamic and Aceto Balsamico Vinegar - The Olive Tap has something perfectly delicious waiting for you to take home. Their White Truffle Oil, unlike most of the chemically flavored options you find in the grocery store, is organic, and made with organic Italian truffles. The team is
passionate about working with small, artisan producers. “We know who owns the ranches, we know where everything comes from,” Greg says. “Regardless of cost, we’re going to bring in the very best that we can.”
Every Friday, The Olive Tap hosts a tasting event from 6-9pm. Chef Brie Goldsmith makes different dishes, with ways to showcase fine olive oils and vin-egars other than just putting them on sal-ad. “We have a lot of fun talking to people about dishes,” Greg says. “We’re foodies here.” The store also hosts cooking events every other Saturday. But it doesn’t have to be the weekend to taste the epicurean delights at The Olive Tap. Any day, stop in to sample fine olive oils and vinegars. There’s always a fresh loaf of Olga’s bread waiting for you to take a taste.
485 Angell St, Providence • 272-8200
The Olive Tap frequently hosts tastings and specialty food events
Insider Tip:
RHODY BITESA Sponsored Statewide Dining Guide
View our full Restaurant Profiles on RhodyBites.com
The Olive Tap
10 Prime Steak & Sushi Gourmet steaks and sushi. 55 Pine St, Providence, 453-2333. LD $$$
Angelo’s Civita Farnese Restaurant Ital-ian American comfort food classics. 141 Atwells Ave, Providence, 621-8171. LD $-$$
AQUA Poolside cocktails with seasonal American cuisine. 1 Orms St, Provi-dence, 272-2400. LD $-$$
Aruba Steve’s Island cuisine, handcraft-ed cocktails and Caribbean flair. 520 Main St, Warren, 289-2677. LD $-$$ Aspire Seasonal Kitchen Contemporary New England fare. 311 Westminster St, Providence, 521-3333. BBrLD $$-$$$
Besos Kitchen & Cocktails Tapas and eclectic cuisine and cocktails. 378 Main St, East Greenwich, 398-8855. BrLD $$$
Bistro 22 New American rustic cui-sine in Garden City. 22 Midway Rd,
Cranston, 383-6400. LD $-$$
Black Bass Grille Classic seafood, histor-ic waterfront setting. 3 Water St, South Dartmouth, MA, 508-999-6975. LD $$
Blend Café Modern Latin-American infused fare. 745 Reservoir Ave, Cran-ston, 270-5533. BBrLD $-$$
Bluefin Grille at the Providence Marri-ott Downtown Seasonal and sustainable seafood in an elegant atmosphere. 1 Orms St, Providence, 272-5852. LD $-$$
Breachway Grill Classic New England fare, plus NY-style pizza. 1 Charlestown Beach Rd, Charlestown, 213-6615. LD $$
Café Nuovo Contemporary New World cuisine. 1 Citizens Plz, Providence, 421-2525. LD $-$$$
Capriccio Upscale international food with a northern Italian/Mediterranean accent. 2 Pine St, Providence, 421-1320. LD $-$$$
Carriage Inn & Saloon Regional com-fort food accompanied by a whiskey bar. 1065 Tower Hill Rd, North Kings-town, 294-8466. D $-$$
CAV Eclectic cuisine and art in an his-toric setting. 14 Imperial Place, Provi-dence, 751-9164. BrLD $$-$$$
Celestial Café Organic farm-to-table fine dining. Oak Harbor Village, 567 S County Tr, Exeter, 295-5559. BrLD $-$$$
Centro Restaurant & Lounge Contempo-rary cuisine and cocktails. 1 W Exchange St, Providence, 228-6802. BLD $$$
Champlins Seafood Dockside fresh seafood serving easy breezy cocktails. 256 Great Island Rd, Narragansett, 783-3152. LD $-$$
Chez Pascal/The Wurst Kitchen Sea-sonal farm-to-table cuisine with a French accent. House made sausages, hot dogs and accoutrements. 960 Hope
St, Providence, 421-4422. LD $-$$$
Chapel Grille Gourmet food overlooking the Providence skyline. 3000 Chapel View Blvd, Cranston, 944-4900. BrLD $$$
Circe Restaurant & Bar South Beach meets New England seafood favorites. 50 Weybosset St, Providence, 437-8991. BRLD $-$$$
Clean Plate Delicious comfort food in a casual setting. 345 S. Water St, Provi-dence, 621-8888. BBrLD $$
Decadent Designs and Cafe Custom cakes and pastries alongside a fresh cafe with soups and sandwiches. 1285 Park Ave, Cranston, 942-9300 BL $
DeWolf Tavern Gourmet American/Indian fusion. 259 Thames St, Bristol, 254-2005. BLD $$-$$$
The Dorrance Fine dining with ex-quisite cocktails. 60 Dorrance St,
Key: B breakfast Br brunch L lunch D dinner $ under 10 $$ 10–20 $$$ 20+
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40 East Side Monthly February 2016
For full restaurant profiles, go to RhodyBites.com
Providence, 521-6000. D $$$
Eleven Forty Nine City sophistication in the suburbs. 1149 Division St, War-wick, 884-1149. LD $$$
Ella’s Fine Food & Drink Elegant din-ing meets international cuisine. 2 Tow-er St, Westerly, 315-0606. D $-$$$
Flatbread Company Artisanal pizza, local ingredients. 161 Cushing St, Provi-dence, 273-2737. LD $-$$
Fresco Italian American comfort food with international inspirations. 301 Main St, East Greenwich, 398-0027; 140 Com-stock Pkwy, Cranston, 228-3901. D $-$$
George’s of Galilee Fresh caught sea-food in an upscale pub atmosphere. 250 Sand Hill Cove Rd, Narragansett, 783-2306. LD $-$$
Harry’s Bar & Burger Handcrafted slid-ers, brews and pub games. 121 N Main St, Providence, 228-7437; 301 Atwells Ave, 228-3336. LD $-$$
Haruki Japanese cuisine and a la carte selections with casual ambiance. 1210 Oaklawn Ave, Cranston, 463-8338; 172 Wayland Ave, Providence, 223-0332; 112 Waterman St, Providence, 421-0754. LD $-$$
Iggy’s Doughboys & Chowder House Classic clam shack fare, plus famous doughboys. 889 Oakland Beach Ave, Warwick, 737-9459; 1157 Point Judith Rd, Narragansett, 783-5608. LD $
Iron Works Tavern A wide variety of signature American dishes in the histor-ic Thomas Jefferson Hill Mill. 697 Jeffer-son Blvd, Warwick, 739-5111. LD $-$$$
Jacky’s Galaxie Local Pan-Asian chain offering sushi and classic entrees in a modern atmosphere. Locations in Providence, North Providence, Bristol and Cumberland, jackysgalaxie.com. LD $-$$$
Jigger’s Diner Classic ‘50s diner serv-ing breakfast all day. 145 Main St, East Greenwich, 884-6060. BL $-$$
Julian’s A must-taste Providence staple celebrating 20 years. 318 Broadway, Providence, 861-1770. BBrLD $$
Kabob and Curry Award-winning Indian food serving Providence since 1987. 261 Thayer St, Providence, 273-8844. LD $-$$
Kartabar Mediterranean-style cuisine, chic setting. 284 Thayer St, Provi-dence, 331-8111. LD $-$$
KitchenBar Contemporary comfort cuisine. 771 Hope St, Providence, 331-4100. BrLD $$
Laurel Lane Country Club Upscale pub cuisine overlooking a picturesque golf course. 309 Laurel Ln, West Kingston, 783-3844. LD $-$$
Legends Pub and Grub Hometown pub food and brews with ample sports viewing. 1458 Park Ave, Cranston, 270-4170. LD $
Lim’s Restaurant Upscale Thai and fresh sushi. 18 South Angell St, Provi-dence, 383-8830. LD $$
Luxe Burger Bar Build your own cre-ative burger. 5 Memorial Blvd, Provi-dence, 621-5893. LD $
Maharaja Indian Restaurant Indian cui-sine and traditional curries in a warm setting. 1 Beach St, Narragansett, 363-9988. LD $-$$
Malted Barley American craft beer, gourmet pretzels and creative sand-wiches in downtown Westerly. 42 High St, Westerly, 315-2184. LD $$
McBride’s Pub Traditional Irish pub fare in Wayland Square. 161 Wayland Ave, Providence, 751-3000. LD $$
McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood & Steak Mixed grill selections and sig-nature fish dishes sourced locally and seasonally. 11 Dorrance St, Providence, 351-4500. BLD $$-$$$
Mia’s Prime Time Café Upscale café cuisine by the Pawcatuck River. 1 West Broad St, Pawcatuck, CT, 860-599-3840. BLD $$
Mill’s Tavern Historic setting for New American gourmet. 101 N Main St, Providence, 272-3331. D $$$
Napolitano’s Brooklyn Pizza Classic Italian fare and traditional New York-
style pizzas. 100 East St, Cranston, 383-7722; 380 Atwells Ave, Provi-dence, 273-2400. LD $-$$
Nordic Lodge Surf and turf buffet se-lections perfect for family gatherings. 178 E Pasquisett Trl, Charlestown, 783-4515. LD $$$
Oceanside at the Pier New England fare overlooking the Atlantic. 1 Beach St, Narragansett, 792-3999. BrLD $$
Ocean State Sandwich Company Craft sandwiches and hearty sides. 1345 Hartford Ave, Johnston. 155 Westmin-ster St, Providence, 282-6772. BL $-$$
The Olive Tap Extra virgin olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars and gourmet food and gift selections. 485 Angell St, Providence, 272-8200. $$-$$$
Paragon & Viva Contemporary dining and nightlife. 234 Thayer St, Provi-dence, 331-6200. BrLD $-$$
Parkside Rotisserie & Bar American bistro specializing in rotisserie meats. 76 South Main St, Providence, 331-0003. LD $-$$
Pat’s Italian Fine Italian favorites, nat-ural steaks and handcrafted cocktails. 1200 Hartford Ave, Johnston, 273-1444. LD $-$$$
Phil’s Main Street Grille Classic com-fort food; great rooftop patio. 323 Main St, Wakefield, 783-4073. BBrLD $
Pho Horn’s Fresh authentic Vietnam-ese dishes in a colorful setting. 50 Ann Mary St #403, Pawtucket, 365-6278. LD $-$$
RHODY BITESContinued
Ella’s Fine Food and Drink
You won’t find another restaurant quite like Ella’s Fine Food and Drink. First, there’s the concept: seasonally influenced American food with a dis-tinctly Asian flair, prepared with classi-cal French techniques. Next, there’s the team: husband and wife duo James and Jeanie Roland, who own the restaurant (and another in Florida, The Perfect Ca-per) with Chef Jeanie in the kitchen ev-ery night.
But really, there’s the food. The din-ner menu ranges from gourmet comfort
food to worldly cuisine. In the lounge, things are more casual, but equally delicious. The lounge menu offers cre-ative smaller plates like Duck Confit with warm bacon dressing and a duck fat fried egg. There are salads like the Salade Parisian: frisée, arugula, shaved Gouda, pan fried chicken and hazelnut vin. During the warm weather, enjoy dining and drinks on the outdoor patio – but during any season, enjoy creative, gourmet takes on local bounty at Ella’s Fine Food and Drink.
Worth The Drive:
Ella’s Fine Food and Drink
The Filet la Maison – A house filet mignon with asparagus and Drambuie-peppercorn sauce, served with a side of lobster mac and cheese
2 Tower St, Westerly • 315-0606
Can't Miss Dish:
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Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 41
Mon-Thur 11am-10pmFri-Sat 11am-11pm
Sun 11am-9pm
50 Ann Mary Street, Pawtucket(Off N. Main in Job Lot plaza)
365-6278 • phohorns.com
The Best NoodleSoup in Town
@RhodyBites facebook.com/RhodyBites
Pizzico Diverse Italian and fusion cuisine in a rustic yet eclectic atmo-sphere. 762 Hope St, Providence, 421-4114; 308 County Rd, Barrington, 247-0303. LD $-$$$
Providence Coal Fired Pizza Old world coal-fired pizzas, appetizers and entrees made from scratch. 385 West-minster St, Providence, 454-7499; 6105 Post Rd, North Kingstown, 885-7499. LD $-$$
Public Kitchen & Bar American food with changing daily inspirations. 120 Francis St, Providence, 919-5050. BrLD $-$$
Rasa Authentic and contemporary Indian. 149 Main St, East Greenwich, 398-2822. LD $$
Rasoi Vegetarian-friendly Indian cui-sine. 727 East Ave, Pawtucket, 728-5500. LD $$
Red Stripe Casual French-American bistro. 465 Angell St, Providence, 437-6950; 455 Main St, East Greenwich, 398-2900. BrLD $$
Rick’s Roadhouse House-smoked bar-becue. 370 Richmond St, Providence, 272-7675. LD $-$$
Roberto’s Italian fine dining and large wine selection in the scenic East Bay. 450 Hope St, Bristol, 254-9732. D $$-$$$
Sa-Tang Fine Thai and Asian fusion cui-sine with gluten-free selections. 402 Main St, Wakefield, 284-4220. LD $-$$ Scampi Seafood and Italian cuisine with expansive water views. 657 Park Ave, Portsmouth, 293-5844. LD $$
The Sea Goose Seafood with New England and southern flair. 265 Post Rd, Westerly, 315-0788. LD $$-$$$
Theatre 82 & Cafe Hybrid art space with all day breakfast, coffee and theatre-inspired entrees. 82 Rolfe Sq, Cranston. 490-9475 BL $
Siena Impeccable Italian cuisine. Lo-cations in Providence, East Greenwich, Smithfield, 521-3311. D $$-$$$
Simone’s Gourmet brunch followed by upscale Mediterranean cuisine. 275 Child St, Warren, 247-1200. BBrLD $$-$$$
Sophia’s Tuscan Grille BYOB eatery with classic Tuscan dishes and home-made desserts. 1729 Warwick Ave, Warwick, 732-6656. BLD $-$$$
T’s Restaurant Plentiful breakfast and lunch. Locations in Cranston, East Green-wich, Narragansett, 946-5900. BL $
Taullulah on Thames Farm-driven, a la carte and prix fixe menus in a sim-ply decorated setting. 464 Thames St, Newport, 849-2433. BrD $$$
Tavern by the Sea Waterfront Euro-pean/American bistro. 16 W Main St, Wickford, 294-5771. LD $$
Ten Rocks Tapas Bar Cape-Verdean in-spired small plates, handcrafted cock-tails and frequent live music. 1091 Main St, Pawtucket, 728-0800. BrLD $-$$
The Coast Guard House Modern New England Fare with Bay views. 40 Ocean Rd, Narragansett. 789-0700. LD $$-$$$
Tortilla Flats Fresh Mexican, Cajun and Southwestern fare, cocktails and over 70 tequilas. 355 Hope St, Providence, 751-6777. LD $-$$
Trinity Brewhouse Rhode Island’s original brewpub. 186 Fountain St, Providence, 453-2337. LD $-$$
Twin Willows Fresh seafood and water views in a family-friendly atmosphere. 865 Boston Neck Rd, Narragansett, 789-8153. LD $-$$
Vanuatu Coffee Roasters Artisan-crafted, single origin coffee, pastries and breakfast sandwiches. 294 Atwells Ave, Providence, 273-1586. BL $-$$
Vetrano’s Ristorante & Pizzeria Italian cooking like grandma would make. 130 Granite St, Westerly, 348-5050. LD $$
The Village Casual dining and live en-tertainment. 373 Richmond St, Provi-dence, 228-7222. BrLD $$
Vittoria’s NY Pizza Best pizza north of Manhattan. 224 Post Rd, Westerly, 322-1901. LD $-$$ Waterman Grille Riverfront New American dining. 4 Richmond Sq, Providence, 521-9229. BLD $$$
Wes’ Rib House Missouri-style barbe-cue, open late. 38 Dike St, Providence, 421-9090. LD $$
Whiskey Republic Delicious dockside pub fare. 515 South Water St, Provi-dence, 588-5158. LD $-$$
XO Cafe Creative cocktails and New American fare. 125 N Main St, Provi-dence, 273-9090. BrD $$
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42 East Side Monthly February 2016
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Explore new worlds at the...
PRESENTATIONS
WORKSHOPS
FEATURES
SHORTs
For complete schedule of films, workshops, special events and how to
buy tickets, visit website www.pcffri.org
Saturday, February 6KICK OFF EVENTDrop-in Workshop @
Providence Children’s Museum
Film Screening @ Providence Athenaeum
Friday, February 12OPENINg NIghT PArTy!
(special tickets required)5:30pm reception
6:45pm Film Screen Premiere: LANDFILL HARMONIC
February 18 & 21yOuTh FIlMMAKEr ShOWCASE
Films made by young filmmakers from around the globe!
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sponsored by taco/ the White family foundationsupported by the neaseason sponsors
March 3 – april 3
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 43
Dance Melds with Jazzat Walking with ‘TraneGear up to be electrified at Walking with ‘Trane: A Live Music and Dance Tribute by Urban Bush Women, an all-female tour de force in American dance, as they rattle the stage at the VETS with their dazzling and dynamic tribute to John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme on February 27. 8pm, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Providence. 421-2787, www.thevetsri.com
On the town Calendar By Courtney Denelle
10 events at the top of our listDON’T MISS THIS MONTH:
1 Rhode Island Spring and Garden Show. February 18-21 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. www.riconvention.com
2 Providence Children’s Film Festival. February 6-21, with nu-merous locations in Providence.
www.providencechildrensfilmfestival.org
3 AS220 Industries Open House. February 23 at the Mer-cantile Building in Providence. www.as220.org
4 Artist’s Exchange Craft Bash. February 27 at Artist’s Ex-change in Cranston. www.artists-exchange.org
5 The Sweet Spot. Wednesdays and Thursdays at Local 121 in Providence. www.local121.com
6 Space Horizons 2016 – International City on the Moon. Feb-ruary 19-21 at Brown University in Providence.
www.spacehorizonsworkshop.com
7 Live Music Yoga Class with Trinity Flow. February 18 at All That Matters in Providence. www.allthatmatters.com
8 Girls Who Code Club. Thursdays at Rochambeau Public Library. www.provcomlib.org
9 The Drawing Room: Back to the Basics Intensive. Feb-ruary 23-28 at the RISD Museum. www.risdmuseum.org
10A Skull in Connemara. February 25-29 at the Gamm The-atre. www.gammtheatre.org
Februarymusic | performance | social happenings | galleries | sports
DYNAMIC DANCE
Treat your senses to all the earthly aromas of springtime at the Rhode Island Spring & Garden Show February 18-21
Pho
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44 East Side Monthly February 2016
On the town Calendarcontinued...
MUSICarena & club | classical
ARENA & CLUBAURORAMondays: Free Live Music. 276 West-minster Street, Providence. www.auro-raprovidence.com.
AS220February 10: The Baz, 1031 and Kyles Dogs Head. February 11: Modern Lives, Wichita and Littlefoot. 115 Empire Street, Providence. 831-9327, www.as220.org.
CHAN’S FINE ORIENTAL DININGFebruary 5: Joe Lewis Walker. February 6: Neal Vitullo and the Vipers. February 13: Popa Chubby. February 26: Johnny Winter All Star Band. 267 Main Street, Woonsocket. 765-1900, www.chan-seggrollsandjazz.com.
FIREHOUSE 13February 6: Demon Boy, Thirsty Silver, Gwell-O and Necrophiliac Meat Circus. February 11: Within the Ruins. February 24: Dan Baird and Homemade Sin. 41 Central Street, Providence. 270-1801, www.fh13.com.
LUPO’S HEARTBREAK HOTELFebruary 4: Lotus. February 5: Um-phrey’s McGee. February 6: Get the Led Out: The American Led Zeppelin. Febru-ary 12: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Febru-ary 26: Parmalee. 79 Washington Street, Providence. 331-5876, www.lupos.com.
THE METFebruary 13: Defeater and Caspian. February 20: Playing Dead. 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. 729-1005, www.themetri.com.
TWIN RIVERFebruary 12: The O’Jays. February 20: Voyage: A Musical Tribute to Journey. 100 Twin River Road, Lincoln. 723-3200, www.twinriver.com.
CLASSICALBILTMOREThursdays: Live jazz. 11 Dorrance Street, Providence. 421-0700, www.provi-dencebiltmore.com.
RHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONICFebruary 20: RIPO Presents Ride of The Valkyries. Fridays: Amica Rush Hour. Saturdays: TACO Saturday Classical. 1 Avenue of the Arts, Provi-dence. www.riphil.org
PeRFORMAnCecomedy | dance | theatre
COMEDYCOMEDY CONNECTIONFebruary 12-14: April Macie. February 21: Guys as Dolls Drag Extravaganza. Febru-ary 25: Ralphie May. 39 Warren Avenue, East Providence. 438-8383, www.ri-comedyconnection.com.
EVERETT Every Friday: Friday Night Live. 9 Duncan Avenue, Providence. 831-9479, www.everettri.org.
FIREHOUSE 13February 5: Randy and Mr. Lahey from Trailer Park Boys Live. 41 Central Street, Providence. 270-1801, www.fh13.com.
DANCEAS220Mondays: Intermediate/Advanced Modern Dance. Tuesdays: Yobalates. Wednesday: Open Level Modern Dance. Sundays: Beginner and In-termediate Ballet. 95 Empire Street, Providence. 831-9327, www.as220.org.
FESTIVAL BALLET SCHOOL February 1-7: Hansel and Gretel. Mon-days: Beginner Ballet. Thursdays: Inter-mediate/Ballet. 825 Hope Street, Provi-dence. 353-1129, www.festivalballet.com.
PROVIDENCE TANGOFridays: Free Tango Lessons. 172 Ex-change Street, Pawtucket. 288-1170, www.providencetango.com.
RHODE ISLAND CONVENTION CENTERFebruary 26-28: Imagine National Dance Challenge. 1 Sabin Street, Providence. 458-6000, www.riconvention.com.
THEATREAURORAFebruary 4: The Burbage Theatre Com-pany Presents Happy Birthday, Wanda June. February 11: Sweet Little Variety Show. February 18, 26 & 27: The Burbage Theatre Company Presents Titus An-dronicus. 276 Westminster Street, Prov-idence. www.auroraprovidence.com.
ARTISTS EXCHANGEFebruary 5-20: Pride and Prejudice. Theatre 82, 50 Rolfe Square, Cranston. 490-9475, www.artists-exchange.org.
AS220 February 19: Frost/Nixon. Blackbox,
95 Empire Street, Providence. 831-9327, www.as220.org
GAMM THEATREFebruary 2-7: Grizzly Mama. Febru-ary 25-29: A Skull in Connemara. 172 Exchange Street, Pawtucket. 723-4266, www.gammtheatre.org.
OCEAN STATE THEATRE COMPANYFebruary 4-14: Breaking Legs. Febru-ary 24-28: 1776: The Musical. 1245 Jef-ferson Boulevard, Warwick. 921-1777, www.oceanstatetheatre.org.
PROVIDENCE PERFORMING ARTS CENTERFebruary 6: Shen Yun. February 14: Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage. February 16-21: Pippin. 220 Weybosset Street, Providence. 421-2787, www.ppacri.org.
TRINITY REPFebruary 4-29: The Hunchback of Seville. 201 Washington Street, Provi-dence. 351-4242, www.trinityrep.com.
VETSFebruary 27: FirstWorks Presents Urban Bush Women Walking with ‘Trane. 1 Avenue of the Arts, Provi-dence. 421-2787, www.thevetsri.com.
WILBURY GROUPFebruary 1-6: Stupid F#*%ing Bird. 393 Broad Street 400-7100, www.thewilburygroup.org.
SOCIALhAPPenInGS
expos | fundraisers | seasonal
FOR FOODIESBOTTLES Fridays: Beer Tasting. Saturdays: Wine Tasting. 141 Pitman Street, Providence. 372-2030, www.bottlesfinewine.com.
FARM FRESH RHODE ISLANDWednesdays and Saturdays: Wintertime Farmers’ Market. Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. www.farmfreshri.org.
#RHODYRESOLUTION
The Art of Learning Something NewIt’s never too late to live artfully. This month, pick up the brush and get to work, as Hamilton House offers two art classes with curriculum suited for experienced artists and neophytes, alike. From February 2-23, put those thoughts and feelings to paper in Drawing the Simple and Complex, and learn basic foundational tools that will help you realize your vision. From February 5-26, let your creativity and whimsy lead the way in Loosen-ing Up with Acrylics, and express your flights of fancy with bold and buildable acrylic colors. 276 Angell Street, Providence. 831-1800, www.historichamilton.com.
Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 45
On the town Calendarcontinued...
NEW HARVEST COFFEE ROASTERSFridays: Free coffee tasting. 3-4:30pm. Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. www.newhar-vestcoffee.com.
OTHERAL-ANONSundays: 7pm. First Unitarian Church, 1 Benevolent Street, Providence. Tuesdays & Thursdays: 12:10pm. St. Stephens Church, 114 George Street, 2nd floor, Providence. Wednesdays: 7:30pm. Church of the Redeemer, 655 Hope Street, Providence. Fri-days: 7:30pm and Saturdays: Noon. Ray Hall, Butler Hospital Campus, 345 Blackstone Boulevard, Providence. www.riafg.org.
AS220February 14: Four Legs to Stand On: Creating Outreach About Addiction Support Together. 95 Empire Street, Providence. 831-9327, www.as220.org.
DUNKIN DONUTS CENTERFebruary 19-26: Monster Jam. 1 La-Salle Square, Providence. 272-7337, www.dunkindonutscenter.com.
FREQUENCY WRITERSFebruary 2-25: Revising Revision. February 2-28: Writing Fearlessly. February 27: Lost and Found Po-etics. 186 Carpenter Street, Provi-dence. www.frequencywriters.org.
RHODE ISLAND CONVENTIONCENTERFebruary 4-7: 2016 Providence Boat Show. February 10-12: Lumber and Building Materials Expo. February 12: Southern New England Go Red for Women Luncheon. February 26-28: New England Salt Water Fishing Show. 1 Sabin Street, Providence. 458-6000, www.riconvention.com.
RIVIERA BINGO PALACEFebruary 18: Drag Bingo. 1612 Elm-wood Avenue, Cranston. 521-3603, www.aidscareos.org.
TRINITY BREWHOUSETuesdays: Stump Trivia. 186 Fountain Street, Providence. 453-2337, www.stumptrivia.com.
GALLeRIeS
AS220 MAIN GALLERYFebruary 7-28: Wildflowers. 115 Empire Street, Providence. 831-9327, www.as220.org.
ATRIUM GALLERYFebruary 1-29: VSA Arts of Rhode Island, Paul V. Sherlock Memorial Art Show. One Capital Hill, Providence. 222-6996, www.arts.ri.gov/projects/atrium.php.
CHAZAN GALLERYFebruary 1-10: Rhode Island College Printmaking: Yizhak Elyashiv and Ste-phen Fisher. February 18-29: Dena Haden, Caroline Morgan, Lachlan Tur-czan and Max Van Pelt. 228 Angell Street, Providence. 421-9230. www.chazangallery.org.
KIDS & FAMILY
BROWN UNIVERSITY BOOKSTOREEvery Saturday: Children’s Story Time. 244 Thayer Street, Providence. 863-3168, www.bookstore.brown.edu.
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AND PLANETARIUM Saturdays and Sundays: Public Plan-etarium Shows. 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence. 785-9457, www.providenc-eri.com/museum.
PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARYTuesdays: Zumba4Toddlers. Tues-days: Baby Books Storytime. Wednesdays: Cradle to Crayons. Thursdays and Fridays: Lego Club. Saturdays: Magic the Gathering: Card Game Club. Rochambeau Li-brary, 708 Hope Street, Providence. 272-3780, www.provcomlib.org.
RISD AUDITORIUM February 13: LIVE ACTION! Foley and Field Audio Filmmaking Workshop. Feb-ruary 13: LIVE ACTION! Green Screen Filmmaking Workshop. February 14: Lightpainting Filmmaking Workshop. 30 North Main Street, Providence. www.providencechildrensfilmfestival.org
RISD MUSEUMFebruary 2, 6, 9 & 13: Tours for Tots. 20 North Main Street, Providence. 454-6500, www.risdmuseum.org.
ROGER WILLIAMS PARK ZOOFebruary 1-29: Winter Wonder Days. February 7: Rock and Roar: A Rock-a-baby Kids’ Concert Series. 1000 Elm-wood Avenue, Providence. 941-4998, www.rwpzoo.org.
VETSFebruary 12: Daniel Tiger’s Neighbor-hood Live! 1 Avenue of the Arts, Provi-dence. 421-2787, www.thevetsri.com.
LeARndiscussion | instruction | tour
AS220First Tuesday: Open Life Drawing. 115 Empire Street, Providence. 831-9327, www.as220.org.
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE Wednesdays: Knitting Group. 8 Stimson Avenue, Providence. 421-7181, www.in-ternationalhouseofri.org.
LADD OBSERVATORYTuesdays: Telescope Observing Night. 210 Doyle Avenue, Providence. 863-2323, www.brown.edu/Departments/Physics/Ladd/.
PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM February 2: Proust Reading Group: “Ma-dame Swan at Home.” February 5: Ath-enaeum Book Discussion Group: People of the Book. 251 Benefit Street, Provi-dence. 421-6970, www.providenceath-enaeum.org.
PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARYFebruary 6: Community Restorative Yoga. Wednesdays: Poetry Group. Wednesdays: Writers Meetup. Thurs-days: Girls Who Code Club. Thursdays: Learn to Speak Spanish for Beginners. February 13: Computer Science Meet-up. Rochambeau Library, 708 Hope Street, Providence. 272-3780, www.provcomlib.org.
RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETYFebruary 25: John Brown Open House with free admission. February 7: Valley Talks: Albert Klyberg. 110 Benevolent Street, Providence. 331-8575, www.rihs.org.
RISD MUSEUMFebruary 4: Ways of Looking for Artists: Contrast. February 18: Ways of Looking: Detail. February 18: Hands-On Art. Feb-ruary 27: Artist Development: Money Matters. 20 North Main Street, Provi-dence. 454-6500, www.risdmuseum.org.
SARAH DOYLE WOMEN’S CENTERMondays: Girls Night Out. Snacks and informal discussions for self-identified queer women. 26 Benevolent Street, Providence. www.events.brown.edu.
SPORtS
BROWN MEN’S BASKETBALL February 5: Brown vs. Cornell. Febru-ary 6: Brown vs. Columbia. February
26: Brown vs. Dartmouth. February 27: Brown vs. Harvard. 235 Lloyd Avenue, Providence. 863-2211, www.brownbears.com.
BROWN MEN’S HOCKEYFebruary 5: Brown vs. Harvard. Febru-ary 6: Brown vs. Dartmouth. February 19: Brown vs. Clarkson. February 20: Brown vs. St. Lawrence. 235 Lloyd Ave-nue, Providence. 863-2773, www.brown-bears.com.
BROWN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL February 12: Brown vs. Harvard. Febru-ary 13: Brown vs. Dartmouth. February 19: Brown vs. Penn. February 20: Brown vs. Princeton. 235 Lloyd Avenue, Provi-dence. 863-2773, www.brownbears.com.
BROWN WOMEN’S HOCKEYFebruary 12: Brown vs. Cornell. Febru-ary 13: Brown vs. Colgate. 235 Lloyd Avenue, Providence. 863-2773, www.brownbears.com.
PROVIDENCE BRUINS HOCKEYFebruary 2: Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs. February 6: Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres. February 9: Bruins vs. LA Kings. February 22: Bruins vs. Colum-bus Blue Jackets. February 24: Bruins vs. Pittsburg Penguins. February 28: Bruins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning. 1 La-Salle Square, Providence. 273-5000, www.providencebruins.com.
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE FRIARS MEN’S BASKETBALL February 10: PC vs. Marquette. February 17: PC vs. Xavier. 1 La Salle Square, Provi-dence. 865-4672, www.friars.com.
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE FRIARS MEN’S HOCKEY February 12: PC vs. UCONN. February 19: PC vs. Notre Dame. February 20: PC vs. Notre Dame. February 27: PC vs. UMASS. Schneider Arena, Huxley Avenue, Provi-dence. 865-4672, www.friars.com.
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE FRIARS WOM-EN’S BASKETBALLFebruary 14: PC vs. Creighton. February 19: PC vs. DePaul. February 21: PC vs. Marquette. 1 LaSalle Square, Providence. 865-4672, www.friars.com.
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE FRIARSWOMEN’S HOCKEY February 6: PC vs. Northeastern. Feb-ruary 14: PC vs. Merrimack. February 20: PC vs. BC. Schneider Arena, Hux-ley Avenue, Providence. 865-4672, www.friars.com.
46 East Side Monthly February 2016
Spotlight by Courtney Denelle special advertising section
With honesty and an unwavering commitment to a job well done, Iasimone Plumbing, Heating & Drain Cleaning Inc. provides a premier level of service, distinct in its quality of care and concern, which can only come from more than 35 years in the trade. Their plumbing and heating services accom-modate the installation, repair and replacement of indispensible household ap-pliances, like toilets, dishwashers and garbage disposals, as well as those larger homeowner headaches, like water heaters, boilers, sewers and drains, and all with speed and efficiency in an industry where it can be difficult just to get a call back, never mind same-day appointment scheduling.
Owner and President Louis Iasimone considers high-touch customer service to be an indelible aspect of his family trade. A life-long Rhode Islander, Louis learned the plumbing and heating trades from his father. “He was in the trade for over 50 years,” says Louis. “Like any other business, [ours] had its ups and downs, but I believe we have been in business for so long because we treat our customers with the respect and professionalism they deserve.”
It’s that unique brand of respect and professionalism that allows for fast and affordable solutions to plumbing, heating and drain clearing scenarios that could otherwise be frustrating and frightfully expensive for a home or business owner, but Louis’ prompt and friendly updates detailing the process and prog-ress is a fundamental point of difference that insists you and your job won’t be “forgotten,” setting Iasimone’s apart from the rest.
Iasimone Plumb-ing, Heating and Drain CleaningQuality you can trust, from a family business
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27 Allen Ave, North Providence300-9761 / www.iasimonephdc.com
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Februay 2016 East Side Monthly 47
Spotlight by Dan Schwartz special advertising section
The definition of luxury in the world of clothing is personal service where the staff really understands your individual taste combined with the best in fabrics that fit you perfectly. Marc Allen Fine Clothiers continues its mission of providing the highest level of garments while providing the sort of client attention where each person feels special. Over the last year the flagship Providence location has been joined by a Newport shop to serve the needs of the luxury clothing market in South County. Add to that their custom showrooms in New York and Boston (by appointment only) and the mobile unit that travels anywhere to provide concierge home and business service, and you realize how expansive Marc Allen’s operation has become.
Sitting in the second-floor clubroom with style experts Will and Colin, they discuss how the recently revamped made-to-measure line is allowing for the best fit at a price-point that’s accessible. Colin explains, “we worked with a European firm and designed our own models which are proprietary just for us. We took a lot of time honing this fit and style and we are very pleased with the result.” He told me the story of a client who visited the Newport location and had brought clothes he’d purchased at a luxury department store. While the fabrics of these labels were great, the fit was not, and luckily the folks at Marc Allen were able to correct the problem. The benefit of purchasing the made-to-measure line from this shop is they have those same high-end fabrics, but your expert fitting allows you to look fantastic at a price point that begins at $1,395 for a suit.
The spring lines are about to arrive and business owner Marc Streisand is heading over to Italy to do some research on the best stuff to bring back. And with the cold New England winter, it’s great to start thinking ahead for your warmer weather wardrobe. The handmade bespoke tailoring con-tinues to serve the needs for the finest in custom clothing, and note that the shop also has other elements like socks, belts, ties, sportswear and ac-cessories. At Marc Allen Fine Clothiers you’ll enjoy personal attention and you’ll look your very best.
Marc AllenFine ClothiersMade-to-measure lineoffers quality and value
Marc Allen Fine Clothiers200 South Main Street, Providence453-0025 / www.marcalleninc.com
200 South Main St, Providence401-453-0025
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buying photography, art, etc. Call 401-286-9329.
ElEcTRIcal SERVIcESAll types. Energy efficient & securi-
ty lighting & new circuits. Master licenses: RI #A3338, MA #16083A.
Insured. Call Larry 529-2087.
PaWS-N-claWS, llc Dog walking/pet sitting.
Professional, reliable pet care. Insured & bonded. Call 401-369-9000 or www.pawsnclawsri.com
SHaREd OFFIcE SPacELarge, bright 4 window, modern
office in lovely building in Wayland Square. Wait area, maintained rest-
room, handicapped accessible. Perfect for therapist. Available
2+day/wk. 246-1660.
SENIOR caRE
BUSINESS SERVIcES
SNOW PlOWING
MIScEllEaNEOUS
FEELINGOVERWHELMED???!!!Need your cellar, attic or
garage cleaned, but... can’tquite get to it?? You can callTAKE-IT-AWAY-TOM
at 401-434-8156Mobile 316-2273
Counselor on the Debris of Life
aUdIO/VIdEO HElPIf you need some help with your
TV, home theater or stereo, call me at 401-383-4102. Jon Bell, Simply Sight & Sound. Reasonable rates.
30 years of experience.
PROPERTy MaNaGERAvailable. On call 24/7. Rent collec-
tion. Rentals, evictions, mainte-nance. Call 421-0092.
SENIOR caRE SERVIcESHome Assistance, with humor and diligence. Offering home, garden-ing, driving assistance & compan-
ionship. Mary 728-3382.
PaRKING/STORaGECongdon St., $125 covered carport.
Benefit St. (north end), $115/mo. Call Roger, 339-4068.
EldER caRE aVaIlaBlEVery kind, patient, mature woman seeks position with elderly person. Intelligent, cheerful, reliable, with
20 years experience, including sev-eral long-term positions.
Impeccable references. Please call 781-3392 or 497-3392.
dOROTHy’S clEaNINGWe clean your home as our own! References & free estimates. Call 401-524-7453 or 401-228-6273.
HOUSE clEaNING
HOUSE clEaNINGExperienced. Local references. Free estimates. Call Lilly, 401-419-2933.
LEE’S CLEANINGSERVICE
Basic house cleaning & more.Reasonable rates. References.Over 20 years experience.
Call Lee
868-5127
785-1230
Advertise in the Marketplace
for as low as
$12!www.eastsidemonthly.com/
marketplace.html
to reserve your space.
Deadline for East Side Marketplace
is the first of the month prior.
Go toJOBS BY JIM
Garages, Attics &Basements CleanedUnwanteds Removed
Small Demolitions - Garages, Sheds, etc.Appliances & Lawn Mowers
�Motors �Machines �Batteries �Etc.
Cell 401-742-7258Reg. #4614
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Hardwood, Cut & Split$300/cord.
Vinny’s Landscaping& BOBCAT SERVICES497-1461 � 231-1851
CHRIS’LAMP REPAIR
We Make Housecalls!!!� ���������������������� �����
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401-831-8693www.chrislamprepair.com
PROFESSIONal INcOME TaX Service. 25+ years experience,
honest and reliable. IRS Taxpayer Advocacy Panel appointee. Sue, 228-6203 [email protected]
THE laUNdRy clUBIs now offering free laundry & dry cleaning pick-up & delivery service
to the East Side and downtown areas. Call 272-2520 for details.
INcOME TaXES40 Years of Experience. Located at
125 Wayland Avenue. Call 1-401-351-7000.
c.M. HOUSE clEaNINGProfessional, reliable, experienced. Affordable. Excellent local refer-ences. Call Marilyn at 497-8770.
50 East Side Monthly February 2016
The easT sider
Writing Sweeps East Sider Jon LandInto His Characters’ WorldBy Nancy Kirsch
Author Jon Land
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Jon Land is a 1979 Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of Brown University and an active Brown volun-teer. He has written 37 novels and one non-fiction book.
Why do you write? When you’re a writer, you have an excuse not to [grow up]. You write from… the imagination. You write from the part of you that… has never got-ten past a parent reading to them. Writing is therapy; when I write… all the problems… I’m worried about get swept away. I vanish into the world of my characters.
Why are thrillers appealing?Thrillers are the purest form of writ-ing. In quest stories [such as] Icelandic sagas, epic poems and Beowulf… the
physical quest for an object becomes a metaphysical quest for meaning. The thriller blends the two together; heroes come to grips with who they are. In ad-dition, thrillers are essentially West-erns; heroes stand defending their world against a terrible threat.
You’ve said your characters lead you. How? I don’t outline; I’m very spontaneous. When I sit down, I have a vague idea of what the book is going to be about. The characters I create evolve… there’s stuff in my subconscious mind that’s probably been worked out … I’m good at making dots; the characters are great at connecting them.
Writers are basically paranoid schizophrenics who don’t need medi-cation… we’re hearing voices in our
heads all the time… [Writers] can turn them off.
How do you create suspense?You create suspense when nothing happens – that’s a wonderful thing. The ultimate suspense is when you create characters that are so real and vivid that they scare you… without do-ing anything, that’s the ultimate “bad ass.” It’s not the gun, it’s the voice; it’s not the bullets, it’s the words.
Do your books feature East Sidereferences?[Some do], including a chase down Blackstone Boulevard, a gunfight at WaterFire… scenes at The University Club and on Thayer Street. In [the award-winning] Strong Rain Falling, a character… plays football for Phil Estes
[Brown’s head football coach]; Brown often figures in.
Your current series features Caitlin Strong, a female Texas Ranger. What makes a great series? You can read them in any order and enjoy them… each book has recurring characters, but is a stand-alone.
What are you reading now? I’m always reading because I review books… but I’m reading Finders Keep-ers by Stephen King for pleasure.
Follow Jon Land on Twitter – @jond-land – or at www.jonlandbooks.com.
Nancy Kirsch is a freelance writer based in Providence. Contact her at [email protected] or nancykirsch.com.
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