Old Playbook

Having lost a Nineteenth Century major league franchise, Providence Grays (debuted first black professional baseball player, featured Babe Ruth, won first ever inter-league championship by beating Boston Red Stockings and New York Metropolitans, wound up as the Washington Senators), this field of garden dreams and plantation schemes has been in decline ever since. Rhode Island was a premier destination through the 19th Century. Newport is still rated around 10th in USA. Providence once had clubs, corporate headquarters, department stores, fountains, gardens, hotels, parks, remarkable bronzes, restaurants, sports venues, and theaters worth seeing, State once successfully mixed business with pleasure and sustained nation’s highest per capita income. What went wrong?

If tourism is your principal industry, better be extremely conscious of attractions you present and how to keep them pristine and safe. Never going to rival Disney World, planet’s #1 tourist trap, even if you're cooler year round. Disney has air conditioning everywhere, an army of gardeners who primp plantings overnight, battalion of technicians who maintain buildings and rides, and cohorts of alligator wranglers. Here, casinos ravaged discretionary cash, factories failed, navy pulled out, robber barons caused recessions, series of hurricanes devastated resorts, and string of obtuse officials undermined reputation. No building or housing standards are enforced, except those that collect fees for permits. So little was done to promote tourism, visiting suggests slumming. Fiscal health means diverse enterprise, and state has done its best to eliminate farming, manufacturing, and mining, the 3 core industries upon which all others depend. Where do eco-sensitives think food and smart phones come from? Virtual world is a conduit, not a source. Coal, gemstone, and gold mines ran out, yet heavy metal sediment could still be recovered. Some small produce farms, orchards and ranches defy punitive property taxes to hang on, though manufacturing has been scaled back even further after centuries of toxic effluent left untreated. But at least Rhode Island isn't involved in the death dealing enterprises of tobacco cultivation or weapons manufacture, like state to its west.

Governance may enhance or ravage a place. No matter how much corporations or individuals invest, when elected administrators or robotic bureaucrats create and enforce untenable policies, nobody thrives. Seems somewhere along the line our winning playbook was mislaid or went obsolete; losing strategies have been repeated ever since, a merry-go-round for aliens and rogues, not citizens and taxpayers, spinning continually downward. Takes insanity to repeat same behaviors that caused self harm and dug a grave for what was once so vital. New administrations must be repeatedly retrained on how to serve public, even though democracy is ancient. Hopefuls ought to pass tests in civics and history before they're allowed to run as candidates, followed by drug and mental health screens. Already, a representative hooked on opioids had to resign, and string of sociopathic politicians were disgraced for malfeasance. One representative pleaded desperately because he was on the verge of raising $50,000... for what, he never disclosed. Not like taxpayers weren't already paying him hundreds of thousands in salary. Just betrays his contempt for constituent and temerity of entitlement.

In Athens 2,500 years ago, citizens were conscripted to serve as legislators. Any who didn’t vote or voted ignorantly was deemed ἰδιώτης, idiot. Parasite, παράσιτος, was reserved for those who didn’t act in public’s best interests, instead filled themselves piggishly alongside society's hard working contributors. Legislature has forever seemed loaded with both. Casts doubt on old truism, “That government is best that governs least.” They get reelected again and again, and serve no interests except to stuff own pockets. The business of government is far too important to leave to idiots or parasites. If enough Athenians gouged offender’s name on an ostraka, a shard of pottery, and handed in, accused would be banished from city for 10 years, “ostracized”.

From this millennia old model of democracy, society retains right to recall representatives, but it’s a lot harder now, no longer just a few thousand votes of no confidence. Impeachment costs almost as much as one scoundrel can steal with impunity. Imagine trying to impeach tag teams trying to outdo each other? So many crooked officials have been caught, hardly anyone notices anymore. None have served a 10 year sentence. You can hardly blame those who do for being angry and occupying demonstrations after generations have passed without equitable resolutions.

Instead of ensuring maximum advantage for majority, what have Rhode Island's leaders done? To rebut a new round of state sponsored ads asking people to put up and shut up, only dialogue works to expose problems that require solutions and prioritize them as to extent of detriment. Better talk than terrorism; in other states fed up populace has lately acted out their frustrations. If you can't stand negativity, why not invite a positive response by doing what's right for entire community? Say what you really think. Examine failed policies, neither naming names nor spinning excuses. These plays they've applied and ploys still tried only aggrandized individuals, possessions and pride. Who did they think they were fooling?

• Appointed bad candidates to important roles, such as cabinet members and other highly visible positions, who show no interest or knowledge of Rhode Island customs or populace, so straight away looked shabby. For decades they allowed a fiasco at DCYF. Wouldn't attracting talent based on merit make more sense?
• Built landfill within miles of Scituate reservoir, state's main water supply. Didn't carry forward on Big River expansion or promote gasification or other measures to reduce waste. Cancer rates are high, usually linked to water supply. Home recycling is allegedly being dumped instead of sorted. If small countries such as Switzerland manage 100% recycling and zero land filling, why can't visitor-hungry Rhode Island?
• Caused banking crisis by withdrawing hundreds of millions from a few credit unions, which collapsed them all, devastated small businesses statewide, and fortified biggest banks, probably its sole purpose. Skip ahead a decade: Biggest banks, CDOs, subprime mortgages, and Wall Street aggression diverted trillions from middle class nationwide and drove millions of families out of homes. From 2006 to 2010, recession begun by dopey Dubya slammed all Americans. Only a fool or liar would deny this severely impacted situation locally.
• Cut aid to cities and towns to make up for state shortfalls, so property owners’ tax bills increase to cover losses and services are cut, another zero sum shell game.
• Despite recently expanded rail and road infrastructure, railroads don’t visit warehouses near seaports. Closest state comes to a shipping hub are cars unloaded into Quonset lots, coal dumped into train cars from ships stopping at Providence Pier, gas and oil pumped into tanks lining banks, and smugglers running dope up Mount Hope and Narragansett Bays, though all are intermittent and tentative.
• Destroyed reputation through criminality and scandals. Plunder Dome continues as an ongoing capitol hill farce, a theater of the absurd under a big marble dome.
• Drove out smelly or ugly enterprises, even if they didn’t pollute and instead employed residents, when it can be controlled with zoning codes on plenty of empty industrial sites. What’s the alternative, welfare? Already can’t afford yet have country’s fewest TANF families, about 6,700, and highest unemployed rate, arguably 35%. Congress approved $20 million to expand Port of Providence, yet Save the Bay argues it's just to exonerate a toxic site owner. Without a line item veto, any sketchy rider can be sneaked into a bill.
• Enable panhandlers. Why are there so many? Elsewhere, beggars are restricted to avoidable precincts. Conversely, prosecute talented buskers, hawkers, musicians and performers who enliven urban dead zones. Listen to local ACLU, who have historically been on the wrong side of every argument - against majority's liberties and rights - for a half century. In fact, heed every loud blockhead and crackpot instead of major demographies.
• Force dangerous industries into residential and rural areas, probably land owned by friends and relatives of legislators, and thereby multiply ill will. Half empty industrial sites already exist for this, yet seldom get considered, though eminent domain could be applied. Then sell electricity or products outside state with no benefit to local community.
• Give sweetheart deals to billionaires, cable monopoly, corporations, and realtors every time critics fall asleep. Few journalists who still investigate do bidding of old money and university boards. Not to say that a convention center or sports venue wouldn’t attract improvements and create minimum wage jobs, but when will they address essential issues, like free parking, living wages, low cost housing, and public transportation, without which no city can thrive. Who here can afford games and shows?
• Let politicians align with party most likely to win, so no voter is ever really represented. We had a Republican governor run for nomination as a Democrat president. Huh? Party platforms and priorities mean nothing anymore.
• Make excuses about road jurisdiction, who’s stuck with responsibility. Named roads belong to city or town, numbered roads to state, except interstates, which feds control and fund. All are crumbling potholed disasters owned by a public who can’t afford them anyway.
• Permit persistent joblessness statewide. For a population of 1.05 million, only 514,000 positions are offered. So many have given up looking for work within state, has begun to resemble a freegan squat. census shows a decade long exodus of 150,000, and 20% employed daily and paying taxes in neighboring states. Recipients trapped in aid arrangements don't dare leave.
• Prescribe pills to criminally insane without behavioral therapy, and set them loose on public to repeat malicious conduct. About 9,000 individuals are hospitalized annually for mental and substance disorders. Note related panhandling comment; to deny begging is to expose this perverse turnstile. All should not be indefinitely locked up, just use more discretion in profound and violent cases. Already know that drugs and poverty cause mental disease, yet they’ve cut funding for interdiction and intervention, increased wealth inequality, legalized drugs, and misappropriate taxes. Each makes situation worse, but together bring total bedlam.
• Privatize economic development at high cost for a net loss, scandalous and shameless. Look to "eds and meds" for leadership. Colleges, hospitals, medical startups, and nonprofits disappoint, evade taxes, and glean; can see why like minded governors lean on them.
• Raise no new revenue. Distrustful residents suspect they'll misappropriate any new resource, such as bridge or road tolls. Yet all New England states, except sparsely populated Vermont, have tolls on interstates earmarked for infrastructure upkeep. Whoever registers vehicles here could be given transponders that permit free passes through booths. At least 25% of traffic comes from out of state, so residents pay road costs and outsiders pass for free. A Hopkington plaza could consolidate collection and eliminate existing bridge toll mainly targetting Rhode Islanders.
• Spend billions on enormous highway projects to the exclusion of basic road maintenance. Lots of cash means quite a bit can invisibly be diverted. Zooms out of state travelers through; never invites them in. Feds probably prefer, so they don't have to witness urban blight they caused. State favors because it brings in federal funding, fills campaign chests, and forestalls bankruptcy.
• Tolerate crime, gangs, graffiti, lapses in minimum housing standards, mounting homicides, neighborhoods left to decay, overfull prisons, recidivism, and vermin infestation. "What do you expect us to do?" is they perennial response. If you repaint immediately and roust loiterers, doped up vandals get dispirited, give up, go elsewhere. To address, courts could issue more community service along with fines, or state create more minimum wage jobs for cleanup and maintenance.
• Train an army of workers for tourism, which, unlike Caribbean or Florida, means only 6 months of work each year for them. Among key reasons corporations don't headquarter here are high cost of utilities with an ineffective PUC, lack of qualified chemists, engineers, and researchers, poor business climate, and state inventory taxes. Hospitality can't be your only opportunity; must have many reasons for visitors to book hotel rooms.
• Transplanted foreign nationals with no interest in citizenship to ensure elections or federal funding, then turned a blind eye to ensuing bedlam. Entirely different from becoming a place where people want to emigrate due to opportunities, then can’t complain that new citizens have outcompeted you for your job.
• Treat political office like a stepping stone to selfish ambitions elsewhere, even hire PR teams at taxpayer expense to promote self on national stage, so forever leave everything in worse condition.
• Turn municipal workers (fire, police, teachers) into beggars by cutting promised pensions and forcing continual renegotiation of contracts. Some cities operate for years without contracts, no way to retain best and brightest, but sure to minimize public safety.
• Wrangled every failure into another fee paid by middle class, so decimated middle and increased gap between poor and rich. Repeated bond referenda have dug debt so deep, $12 billion, revenue mainly goes to paying interest. Every citizen owes about $12,000, and repays constantly in terms of services not performed for taxes paid.

All this is just a fraction of what they figure they got away with, not to mention what else. Can't deny widespread discontent. No wonder knee-jerk reactions to government proposals are vehemently reject and vow to fight. "Not in my back yard!" Change isn't always bad, may sometimes mean improvement; stagnation spells doom. Trust must first be built through deeds, not words. Every constituent has been conned so many times circumstance demands consistent decorous performance from governance. Do the job for which you were elected, community servant, not supreme monarch. Citizen apathy, resentment and stupidity compound nightmare: hit-and-run scofflaws, hostile waitresses, neighbors who don't know each other, rude bus drivers who don't run on schedule or stop for those they might dislike. Not just those elected, everyone together needs to restore balance and seek partnerships. But parochial attitudes pervade outlying districts; yokels who'd rather see cities go bankrupt also vote against burgeoning local businesses, such as a century-old seaside inn, as if they had any say on what neighbors do with own property. Some are so privileged they don't need opportunities, expect to deny others a livelihood, and presume to exclude everyone else from their overgrown hideaways. Puts in doubt any chance for economic stability or responsible governance.

To thrive you must strive for balance. All news is not bad. Magazines rate beaches among top in nation. Roads do get repaved, though approaches haven't always been sensible, like first addressing main streets and park roads, and generating more revenue to cover instead of borrowing. Garden City has flourished on private investment. Proves that adapting to whatever economy throws at you has a magnetic effect on retail customers, who could make purchases online instead. Other successes despite above snafus include:

• Bike paths, despite ridiculous expense of reengineering and refurbishing abandoned rights-of-way designed to handle burly train tonnage for dainty bicyclist poundage amounting to $1 million per mile, have attracted eco-tourists, complied with federal laws, enabled funding influx, provided 70 miles of commute corridors for poor workers, and yielded an estimated 20:1 return, to date, $1.3 billion. Compare to $10 million per mile for simple highways, or $500 million per mile for I-way and Viaduct Projects, which will last 5 times shorter before replacement 10 years hence. Maintaining entire bike net since inception, except for repairing engineering mistakes in erosion control and safety improvements, has been 50 times less than constructing 1 mile of highway, though they spent $25 million on a hard-to-access linear park parallel to Washington Bridge when repairing Bold-India-Point-to-Point Bridge for a small fraction would have sufficed.
• Entrepreneurs, micro-startups, and small businesses like diners, dives and shops, which have been state's flimsy mainstay, employ biggest percentage of workers, though tax paid municipal and state positions expend more revenue than they generate yet forget to inspect eateries, supposedly state's biggest draw after beaches, on any regular schedule endangering patrons. Kudos to joints that source from local aquaculture, farms, and ranches.
• Historic preservation enhances ambience and maintains links to illustrious past. Costs are mostly paid by owners voluntarily adhering to standards.
• Intermodal connections, while jeered by know-nothings and naysayers, are proven improvements. Airports from which you can hop on a shuttle or train, ferries that visit many bay ports, rail terminals, and smooth roads bring in big revenue as long as they directly connect with each other.
• Waterfire, which annually raises its own $2 million budget, imports $70 million in total spending from around nation and world. None of this would have been possible without Cianci fighting public opposition and spending millions to relocate confluence of Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket into Providence River. The denigrated, late mayor honorarily and personally ignited very first Waterfire held ever since. Return on this investment already exceeds $1.7 billion.

What can be concluded? Modest investment of taxes with federal matches applied toward beautify, health, practical and safety improvements increase commerce and tourism. But quality of life more directly tracks availability of housing, jobs and transportation. You can promote a delightful facade, but won't play complete game without underlying strength. You can't legislate every problem away, or rely on politicians to act fairly. The ultimate blame lies with everyone who thinks one's only responsibility is to vote. Careful study, community awareness, crime reportage, evaluating performance, keeping up property, knowing issues, and paying taxes all come before voting. Foremost, more must give a damn what happens and whether state has any future, which is why you so seldom see such outspoken tirades as this regarding Rhode Island, possibly too small to warrant attention.

Best Fest?

Inexplicably, Rhode Islanders intermittently convene for no reason other than to watch others convene, mill around, sit placidly, or stuff faces, while some march streets beating drums, blaring brass or car horns, blocking traffic, or shooting weapons, stuff otherwise deemed annoying, frightening or illegal. Supposedly, everyone loves a parade. State is famous for nation’s oldest run annually from 1785 or so on pertinacious impetus in Bristol. Independence, Memorial and St. Patrick’s Days are similarly marked in other locales. Such gatherings have existed since primitive times but usually as appeasements to angry spirits or fertility rights. Don’t expect to meet anyone attractive; generally they’re populated by misshapen married couples and rambunctious prepubescent children. In 1995 this discriminatory oversight was partially remedied by the Foo Fest outside AS220 in downtown Providence, where slacker teens and young adults can mingle and shuffle until wee hours to ear splitting noise stalked by homeless crackheads and middle-aged creeps.

Precedent European festivals morphed from medieval liturgical rites to modern vernacular revels. Here they come in several flavors: arts, crafts, farm, film, food, history, music, saints and sports, stuff definitely worth celebrating. Almost all involve anachronistic cacophonous music and questionably palatable snacks. Oddly, parish patrons are honored in the same fashion, when rock & roll was once denounced from pulpits. Rhode Islanders no longer recognize science or technology, which over a century ago made state the nation’s richest per capita but during last several decades reversed to poorest, unless you consider musters of vintage vehicles parked for fatuous fans to drool over and wax nostalgically. Can’t imagine how to classify air shows or balloon rallies except for dangerously unnecessary, while Waterfires arguably fall under paeans to air pollution or an umbrella of Fluxus art.

Similarly, a Memorial Day exhibition of “Boots on the Ground” (shown) reminded everyone of their debt to nearly seven thousand Americans from every military branch who’ve died in this century’s War on Terror. Naturally, donations from the few who attended didn’t cover costs, because people would rather not know how their luxuries are secured. In the same decades and a half these fatalities are dwarfed by a half million victims of motor vehicle crashes, though both part of a continuing holocaust offered to their chief god, Big Oil. With 4 million accidents annually nationwide, pedestrians in boots fare better than motorists with butts in cars.

Around nation locals tend to honor whatever sustains them. Often that means agriculture and ranching. Not to be outdone, Rhode Island has its week long Washington County Fair every August, though neighboring states have bigger versions soon thereafter within short driving distances. Come September farmer markets pop up around cities. Arrive on foot, follow your nose, and taste samples from stall to tent. With farm-to-table all the rage, you assume freshness but question comparative quality, high prices, and lack of refrigeration or sanitation. Patrons buy to support local agriculture lest open expanses become housing developments. But prices reduce by half if you visit actual farms with their inherent odors and intimidating remoteness. Up in Woonsocket you can watch cows being milked at Wright’s Farm, though aromas might put you off a pastry shop purchase. Or you can visit your neighborhood supermarket, where exactly the same produce is sold at competitive prices.

Why so many arts events? Nonprofits exist to draw federal grants for which only nonprofits can apply. Once secured, some must be spent demonstrably, and what better proof do they need than another public event crammed into jammed calendar. Summer is prime time, though events occur year round. Just don’t bother trying to join vendors, as all spots are already taken by insiders whose families stole land from natives in distant past.

Consequently, nothing cutting edge, the very definition of art, will ever be shown, rather inferior examples of outmoded tastes with a paint-by-number and velvet elvis vibe. Scituate includes a few fine arts in its primarily craft fair and flea market, whereas Wickford limits recycled junk to stores already serving that purpose, though both focus on hackneyed commerce over ineffable expressions. Food concessions outsell frustrated artists, who retreat with wares to small galleries in seaside tourist traps. Museums at least purport to collect worthwhile examples, though upon huge endowments they preferentially treat the rich with token free admissions which the poor still can’t afford. Pawtucket, with over 600 working artists, used to sponsor a workspace crawl, where you could get to know artist personally, the best reason to collect art, but corporate sponsors probably didn’t figure it was well managed and participants concluded money and time spent weren’t delivering sales results in a depressed economy.

These are not the only assemblies that occur, with micro-scale social media meet-ups occurring daily, sometimes planned to visit festivals as a group with ease of parking and safety in numbers in mind. Often small fees are levied to join, then members wait forever for something to occur that fits their busy schedule and promises proximity to someone with whom they’d want to spend time. Unfortunately, there are no celebrity meet-ups, though there are rigged raffles at which you can throw money with a remote chance of receiving a brief greeting backstage or before party.

The above examples prove that you can’t rate festivals. Everyone has own reason to attend and size hardly matters, since you really meet only a few among a throng. You’d think theme events would attract likeminded patrons, but chances of succeeding commercially would thereby be limited. Your best bets for social success are cash clubs, private parties, or staying home.

Ocean Notion

Suddenly Rhode Island has a new logo and slogan. Didn’t need one for going on 400 years, though many were bandied about waiting for a sucker to buy. One could only “Hope” that “What Cheer, Netop” could have evolved past “Greetings, Friend”, “Hi, Neighbor”, or something crooked legislators and secret societies whisper among themselves. Could try anagrams, as did superstitious 17th Century colonists, to find contemporary hidden agendas within, such as: Cheap Whorer
Help Wretch Atone
No Teacher Wept
Path to Nowhere
Poe, Thence Wrath
Thwart Heap Once
We Cheat, Ne’er Hope

Catch phrases having 14 letters don’t cure disgust, fear, or triskaidekaphobia generally felt when considering relocating assembly plants or corporate headquarters to this coastal playground.

But words don’t have much meaning anymore since journalism died and was buried by propaganda infotainment used to sell useless products and whip up resentment. Sure, as article describes, there might well be proportionally more smart Rhode Islanders, but you can hardly attribute this to the 13 institutions of higher learning, since students can’t wait to leave for more fertile ground once they graduate. You don't have to be very bright to notice how desperate circumstances have become. Smartest people find ways to thrive independently and refrain from rinky-dink political ambitions imagining them a preposterous stepping stone to national stage.

A common sense belief holds that every Rhode Islander has brooded over its slate gray bay and watched waves thunderously crash away. Not true. Have actually known Northern grown Rhode Islanders who never visited Narragansett or Newport where bay meets sound, perhaps peeked at brackish Providence River from I-195 while passing. In fact, interstate throughways within borders aren’t close enough to sea to see the slightest glimpse. Only a small subset of residents have fished, hung five, sailed, stink potted, swam, or worked waves off shores. Yet discriminatory logo depicts a sail, and registration plates show a perfect surfer pocket atop Ocean State legend, mere marketing hype, not marine truth.

Privileged individuals have time to promote their own version. Although there’s aquaculture, shipping, and 348 miles of tideline, what Rhode Island is mostly about involves empty buildings, exit ramp panhandlers, failed businesses, fiscal crises, garish graffiti, lawmaker indictments, legal prostitution, miserly banking, nonprofit begging, tax exempt churches and colleges, urban blight, and yokels who don’t know enough to turn off the lights and walk away from a zoom through transportation nexus unwillingly built by taxpaying residents bled dry by government mismanagement. Nothing too cool or warm about any of this, should have known dark and humid just wouldn’t have flown in the long (5 word state name) and short (4 letter motto) of it.

After imploding project towers up Hartford Avenue, they now want to turn iconic Industrial Bank (Superman) Tower into another tall warehouse for impoverished renters. Developer wants contributions from tax coffers for this new “Project”. Creative capital? Without an adjacent parking garage, no emergency care facility or supermarkets nearby, or similar services within walking distance, who else would want to live there? If not for the major mall next to statehouse, downtown would be a ghost town. The Outlet Garage once served same purpose, now a college campus pedestrian quadrangle. Almost all important buildings require security screens, since they seem to deem undesirable most who roam streets. Eagle Square with both market and parking has better per capita occupancy. Abusive ticketing at metered parking keeps visitors away. Success would flow from steady traffic turnover and will to invest, but mayor still acts as if capitol were some vital metropolis instead of worn out gotham no longer beholden to old money.

Spring here is generally a foggy transition from frosty slop to sultry sweat that keeps you indoors or inside cars, while greenery hints then surfaces under summer haze. You might have an occasional notion to seek ocean for a few months each year, but that’s all. Brooks, rivers, streams and tributaries relentlessly keep pace right alongside, so cause disgrace and define place more than anything occupying this simple space. Blackstone, Kickemuit, Moshassuck, Narrow, Palmer, Pawcatuck, Pawtuxet, Pocasset, Providence, Sakonett, Seekonk, Woonasquatucket, and Wood Rivers carved its plots and terrain. Sensibly excluding Big, Branch, Chepacet, Clear, Ten Mile, and West, called rivers but really streams, maybe “13 Rivers, 13th State” better represents Rhode Island, since no ocean actually touches any border.

Drops, puddles and trickles are humble, cling together, and dream of rejoining seas, among planet’s most powerful forces alongside gravity and insolation. Marketeers know that adjectives bright, deep, and powerful caress conceit, not describe accessible, comfortable, local, lowly, preferable reality. A well worn shoe depicts Rhode Island better than whatever cryptic slogan or stylized notion some outsider decides from internet sources having never been or lived there.

Twice Rode Nice Roads

Since it's called "riding" should share a few favorite Rhode Island roads. Totally subjective, scenic vistas are limited in a fairly flat state unless you enjoy bay views and beach waves, of which there are plenty. Rare high points do provide overlooks, none more impressive than from Newport Pell Bridge on a clear, still morning. East Side of Providence has Prospect Park where a statue of Roger Williams glowers over city below. Chapel View in Cranston and Stone Hill in Johnston offer glimpses of faraway downcity skyline. So you’re fairly warned, “riding” can also imply deriding, as in running down moronic foibles and petty pretenses in a diminutive state with so few claims to fame.

Some stretches attract better by season. From January through early April dangers from icy or narrow roads exist. But you may still be tempted by midday spins past foggy coves, frozen ponds, or snow covered fields. Winter quiet can be eerie or peaceful depending upon what surrounds. Naked landscapes look completely different than when draped in leaves. Birches akimbo and stark with white bark stand apart from gloomy pines huddled in lines and shamed maples and oaks with tanned cloaks scattered underfoot.

From late April through June, you can reliably plan to be where displays and events occur, such as historic reenactments, orchards in bloom, or renowned parades worth seeing once. Annual highlights include Gaspee Day Parade and the Memorial Day commemoration of armed service at Exeter's Veterans Cemetery festooned with thousands of American flags. Midway through May, URI’s East Farm on North Road has 200 blossoming crabapple trees and hosts visitors at a small merchant fair.

Shade eases your passage on sweltering July and August afternoons, although so do ocean breezes if you can tolerate thick traffic. About the best way to observe nation's oldest 4th of July parade in Bristol is to park in neighboring Warren and take bikeway in. Otherwise, it a long walk unless you know someone or live on parade route. Renown for art and culinary schools, festivals for both appeal. Aquaculture and seafood are saluted annually in South County. Arts and crafts are shown in Scituate, Westerly and Wickford. Pawtucket organizes an open studio crawl in September. Providence has several permanent galleries and tastings events held at convention center.

Colorful foliage attracts in October north and west of capitol. Curious foodies taste clam cakes and johnnycakes at Usquepaug and Richmond fairs. November afternoons with purple skies and yellowed expanses radiate a sense of belonging. December doles out hectic short spins amidst holiday shoppers, but also opportunities to pass fabulous light displays at night if suitably equipped. LaSalette Shrine in neighboring Attleboro and Slater Park in Pawtucket will get you more than half way through your annual search for a million points of light.

Naturally, loops through major parks, such as Colt, Goddard, Lincoln and Roger Williams, are usually pleasant. Comparatively ideal are 80 miles of 7 linear parks in state's bikeway system, since devoid of car fumes and motorist impatience and relatively flat. However, few are lit at night, patrolled, or planted as parks with flower beds, specimen shrubs, or stately trees, but they do cross swirling eddies on old train trestles and pass fascinating architecture built centuries ago from native granite. RIDOT offers a map online with all bikeways in detail and suitable roads indicated in blue.

Wary of drawing an army, excluding worthy, implying safety, or insulting ordinary, reluctantly list 10 appealing, brief circuits that take in some of state's best ambience whether you bike or drive. In either case, proceed carefully and share roads nicely. Since all forms of travel present risks, participants assume all responsibilities.

1. Sakonnet: Begin at Island Park in Portsmouth and head north. Cross Sakonnet Bridge, then south to Main Street in Tiverton. Cross bridge on Namaqutucket. Again intersect RI-77, right to Seapowet through bird sanctuary, then along Puncatest Neck. Optionally, descend to Fogland Beach on Sakonnet River. After a few miles more south on RI-77, turn east onto Meeting House to Little Compton Commons, where you can explore quaint village and read Rhode Island Red plaque. After all, this chicken is, perhaps appropriately, the state bird. Willow, South Lake, Brayton, Bulgarmarch, Fish and Souza get you back to Sakonnet Bridge on quiet back roads after about 29 miles. Or you could backtrack along RI-77 and include shops and treats at Tiverton 4 Corners. During Summer, an authentic clam shack awaits your return.

2. Newport: Begin at Kings Park on Wellington, then loop Harrison, Ridge, Ocean, and Bellevue Avenues. Can’t beat boats in harbor, Fort Adams, Light at Castle Hill, ocean spray at Brenton Point, and opulent mansions, though traffic can be formidable. Best to choose early morning or offseason. Return on Memorial Drive and take left onto Thames Street, where you’ll see “The Wave” bronze, and wend south past a warren of small restaurants and shops before ending after about 15 miles. A right instead on Memorial to Purgatory will extend to Sachuest Point Reserve and vineyards of Middletown for tasting(s).

3. Narragansett: Another route that offers sea shores and superior vistas begins at North Kingstown Park n’ Lock at intersection of RI-1A and RI-138. Head south on Boston Neck Road past Chase Farm and note view across Narragansett Bay to Jamestown and Newport. Cross bridge at Narrow River and look both ways for more great views. Continue past town beaches and underneath The Towers on Ocean Road until you reach Scarborough Beach. Directly backtrack for about 22 miles. If you want more, extend to Point Judith Light and/or include a loop west to Sand Hill Cove and village of Galilee. Throughout are eateries and places to try namesake beer, several open year round.

Add interest on return by turning left after Narrow River onto Old Boston Neck through Middlebridge, then right up Bridgetown to retrace through Saunderstown, where there’s a small snuff mill museum associated with colonial portrait painter Gilbert Stuart, then back to start.

4. New Shoreham: All of Block Island suggests Scottish moors. The Nature Conservancy designated it among “The Last (12) Great Places” in the Western Hemisphere, so definitely worth a 45 minute boat trip if seas are calm or shorter flight from Westerly. From ferry landing within an hour by bike you can ring 10 miles of lower island on West Side, Cooneymus past Rodman Hollow, Lake Side, and Mohegan Trail, stopping by Southeast Lighthouse high on a bluff above Atlantic Ocean. To double distance, go up Corn Neck to North Lighthouse and retrace before afternoon ferry back to Point Judith. Or, by all means, lounge on a pristine beach or quaff brews within sight of ferry dock.

5. Glocester: Start around intersection of RI-44 and RI-116 in Greenville. Smith Avenue to Snake Hill passes orchards in Spring bloom, Mainly shady in Summer, town is renowned for its good road surfaces and low population density. Turn northwest onto Turtlelotte Hill. Cross and trace Putnam Pike for a mile, stop at Brown & Hopkins General Store (among nation’s oldest, open daily since 1809) in ancient village of Chepachet. Retrace up Turtlelotte Hill to Pound and sharply turn onto Paris Irons. A right on Snake Hill then quick left on Old Cranberry Hill tracks down Sandy Brook onto Rocky Hill Road. Elmdale leads to Polebridge, then a left on RI-116 north to right on Windsor. A left on Greenville ends your 20 mile spin.

6. Smithfield: Same start as 5, this is a hilly, shady Summer route with nice Fall foliage on back roads practically deserted midday. Go north on Austin Avenue to Mapleville Road. Either bear left onto strenuous Evans or right onto easier Tarkiln. Both lead eventually to Colwell. Right on Mattity then Nichols brings you to Log Road, a technical challenge for cyclists with twisty turns and undulating terrain dangerously south down and past Stillwater Reservoir. Pleasant View with its unpleasant traffic can’t be avoided, but a right off RI-116 onto Pleasant View Circle back onto Austin lets you to skip the nasty intersection at RI-44 near end, having covered, in all, about 17 miles.

7. Cumberland: Another reliable Fall foliage circuit starts near end of RI-99 (off RI-146), wherever convenient for you, and takes in varied water views and wide fields of Northeast Corner. Follow Mendon Road east to Cumberland Hill. Turn left on West Wrentham north. Turn east on rolling, twisty, tight Tower Hill, and right on Diamond Hill. Off route south on Diamond Hill Road is Phantom Farm with hot beverage and pastries. Again turn east on Reservoir crossing causeway. Continue north, bearing left on Burnt Swamp. To extend, you can continue straight with lefts on Hancock and West and a right on Arnold, up steep hill to The Big Apple, where fruits and treats are sold in September and October. Or instead take a left on claustrophobic Sumner Brown admiring allée of trees at Mount St. Rita cloister, then, in both cases, south on RI-121. The entrance to Diamond Hill State Park and Ice Cream Factory are to your left just ahead, from which you can backtrack. Or go straight on Pine Swamp then turn southwest on West Wrentham to Elder Ballou Meeting House, where, behind cemetery, cumberlandite, state’s official stone, was once mined for its iron content. Mendon Road to end completes about 15 miles, 18 or 20 with snack detour(s).

8. Scituate: Many bicyclists challenge themselves year round with this 14 mile circuit of lower Scituate Reservoir along State Routes 12, 14 and 116. Beware of fast vehicles, narrow roads, and sweaty climbs. Trees are mostly conifers and oaks, so colorful foliage doesn’t draw, yet does include Ashland Causeway and Gainer Dam, magnificent views across state’s largest manmade lake. Access from wherever you wish. Many choose the commons at North Scituate, about 3.5 miles north of route at the intersection RI-6A and RI-116. Others choose the village of Hope, 2 miles south of route, past the sporadically entertaining water aeration plant with scores of 30’ tall plumes. Where RI-12 intersects with RI-14/102, Ponagansett Road offers a mile detour to an impressive waterfall on the Barden Reservoir. There are no temptations en route, though Sunset Orchards nearby in North Scituate offers baked items and local fruit once harvested. In Spring, just past orchard there’s an impressive display of private rhododendrons you can visit for a small donation.

9. Lincoln. Begin anytime except in Winter at either Flanagan Campus of CCRI or Twin Rivers Casino off RI-146. Head east on Twin River Road, which leads into Lincoln Woods State Park. Bear right and follow park road past Olney Pond. At first real intersection (unmarked) turn right and descend through a rare covered bridge to exit onto RI-123. A right and 3 blocks ahead visit Eleazer Arnold House, a 17th Century stone ender. Further is Front Street with snacks and stores. Retrace RI-123. At Moshassuck River (sources are Olney and several smaller ponds) pass Moffet Mill (1812), one of state’s first machine shops, and Smith’s federal fieldstone Hearthside House (1810). Bear right at waterfall to continue tracing historically significant Great Road through Lime Rock village (1665). Turn west on Wilbur. Pass Conklin quarry, the source of limestone from which RI’s statehouse was built. Cross over RI-146 and turn left on RI-246, which parallels highway. Turn west on Harris to Jenckes Hill, then south on Angell. Turn east on Twin River to complete 12 interesting but strenuous miles.

10. Warwick: One of state’s busiest and most populous cities is also pretty flat along bayside coves, so makes for decent Winter spins if you're careful. Begin in Pawtuxet Village on the Cranston side of river. Little waterfalls below bridge are what give river its native name. Head south on Narragansett Parkway alongside bay to Spring Green, through neatly kept Governor Francis Farms on Algonquin, then Squantum which leads to Warwick Avenue. Watch for jets and planes on final approach to Green Airport. Carefully navigate dicey intersection of Airport and West Shore Roads, among state’s worst. Once safely on West Shore, proceed a dull mile to a left on Royal in quaint Conimicut Village with its picket fenced cottages. Bellman becomes Shawomet, then Point leads into Conimicut Park with a panorama of Providence River spilling into Narraganset Bay. Point leads back to West Shore. Next left on Tidewater, Longmeadow, then Palmer bring you to Rocky Point, a former amusement park which now features a biking/walking path and fine overlook. Backtrack Palmer to either bike path or Oakside to intersect Warwick Neck Avenue back to West Shore Road north. Turn left on Church, then right on Beach back to Conimicut. Retrace West Shore to nasty Hoxie, then Squantum to Narragansett Parkway. Fair Street leads to Post Road and ride's end after 17 miles ready for a hot beverage at Little Falls Bakery & Cafe.

Wages of Sin

Several Rhode Island cities and towns entered into or face bankruptcy: Central Falls, Coventry, East Providence, Johnston, Narragansett, Newport, Providence, and West Warwick. Distressed municipalities result from all sorts of reasons, but usually it comes down to either malfeasance or mismanagement. Seems no reason for this cancer not to spread throughout, since state has suspended municipal aid. It’s too easy to divert money from the treasury into pockets when times are good. Mayors or overseers often overestimate future revenues and promise too much to workforce in retirement entitlements. A less understood reason lies in an insufficiency of scale. If you give breaks to businesses for locating or staying within your borders, it restricts residential taxes you could assess and shrinks footprint for other investments. Foremost, people must somehow be able to secure gainful employment, which explains these acts of desperation.

Empty mills can be filled with artist lofts, entrepreneurial startups, or residential apartments instead of given away to subsidiaries of big businesses who employ ever fewer workers locally. Abandoned or neglected properties contributing nothing also waste resources when they burn or collapse. Centuries of oil dripping from machines make mills tinderboxes with massive remediation necessity. Holding companies interminably dodge responsibilities and taxes. Knocking them down could solve several problems at once. As long as they aren’t toxic brownfields, sell the land for revenue producing construction.

Taxpayers and voters who absorb all the costs figure they have something to say about such fiascos. They can complain all they want, but it won’t do anything. The next mayor will inherit intractable obligations forged over decades. Better state arrests, incarcerates and seizes assets of miscreant bureaucrats formerly entrenched, but that, though possible, hardly ever happens. Better voters recall seated officials before holes get too deep, but that’s even more unlikely. Lasting solutions require foresight and intelligence, attributes forever in short supply. Progress is only possible when unsophisticated people work very hard on personal dreams in a cooperative society. Modernity is littered with educated slackers and greedy loners reacting to a dystopian plight. The medical adage of "do no harm but neglect no need" applies to every relationship, especially leadership.

In you can believe generalities and rankings, Forbes lists Rhode Island as the 8th worst place to make a living despite top 10 for livability. Sure, if you’ve got deep pockets and never need to work, buy a capitol city townhouse and lounge around aimlessly. Employers here sustain less than half of Rhode Island's residents. A disproportionate number of jobs are minimum wage and part time. One in six is illiterate in any language. About the same percentage has already retired. About 15% work in neighboring states. Economic development, though paid millions to a private organization in recent decades, has mostly been neglected for a half century. Despite efforts to improve Providence, most of Little Rhody decayed and shrank, in particular Pawtucket, West Warwick and Woonsocket. Census in 2010 revealed a 10% exodus with people leaving for opportunities elsewhere.

Shortly after land was granted to Roger Williams to establish these so-called plantations, his associate William Coddington, revered for founding Portsmouth then Newport, tried to sell it back to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Maybe Coddington was onto something. When a state is too small to exist on its own, annexing it cures many ills at once. Importantly, it sweeps away bad governance and patronage jobs. For what seems forever, state has been state’s biggest employer. Those currently holding elected office will speak eloquently for independence and pride of place, yet won’t ever deliver on promises for an unemployment percentage below 35%. Laughably,they boast it's below 6% based on new UI claims from thousands who exhausted eligibility. Furthermore, they entice unskilled immigrants and newcomers with benefits by taking them away from long time residents who established them through blood and sweat. Handouts and privileges cost someone, usually those hanging on by their fingernails.

Centuries before mills dotted adjacent villages, each a small fiefdom run by Anthonys, Browns, Knights, Slaters, Spragues, and such ambitious capitalists. Hardscrabble farmers and hungry immigrants flocked to mills for the promise of survival for which they traded backbreaking labor during 7-day workweeks. But geopolitical catastrophes, including Civil War and WWI, shuffled places where work could be done profitably. Unprepared to remake themselves to meet changing needs, owners closed shops. Well healed already, what did they care? Their patriarchal attitudes toward workers also led to devastating strikes, which further bolstered competition elsewhere. This remains one of the biggest risks facing business developers. It’s not that needs don’t exist for which manufacturers provide answers. It’s that getting humans to interact is fraught with abject failures and inappropriate responses. But it's sinful not to try. History proves that populations are best sustained by agriculture, manufacturing and mining. RI's decline is directly linked to destroying these 3 core industries that create all wealth and embracing "clean" finance institutions (banking, insurance) which contribute no profits and only count proceeds. One might argue Rhode Island lost resolve to sustain profitable enterprise long ago: factories relocated overseas, farms became golf courses and tract developments, and mines were emptied.

Today you can't visit any village without dozens of empty storefronts and fading FOR SALE signs. Antique retailers, bike recyclers, and dingy diners (folks still need to eat) are about all that's left. The wages of sin are distrust, reluctance, suffering, and this vicious downward spiral. Burnt so many times by business and governance, citizens find it nearly impossible to get enthusiastic and rally loyally. This is when dictators and theocrats appear and seize power. Conservative and religious hate has become planet's greatest threat. You never know just how bad things can get until you stop caring for equality and freedom. The sleep of reason produces monsters.

Hue and Cry

By history and reputation Rhode Island should display and revere certain colors: Black, brown, gold, gray, green, red and silver.

Blackstone River flowed firsts and startups for which state is still famous. Black bears are spotted occasionally on outskirts. Not even getting into 1st RI Regiment of Revolutionary War Blacks, first state to abolish slavery, nor the triangle trade of Africans and blackstrap molasses upon which state was founded. Black always represented primordial ooze, current color of Mosshasuck, Pawtuxet, and Woonsasquatucket Rivers, the ink of polluted tattoos that trace livelihoods through local veins.

Brown University is indubitably Ivy League down to its green twining vines, but James, John, Joseph, Moses and Nicholas all made indelible marks on district culture. You could once list Brown & Sharpe among nation's biggest manufacturers; its former brown brick edifice glowers across I-95 from local blush limestone statehouse. Besides, much of state's industrial past left a legacy of EPA brownfields, while agricultural remnants are literally fields of brown muck for much of the year. Lush verdancy only describes the scores of faux and toxic golf courses. Brown recluse spiders and brown snakes might require a visit to Jane Brown Hospital. Mercy L. Brown will always be the favorite reputed resident vampire. Archives indicate 5,487,000 records of Browns in Rhode Island alone. Nationwide, it's the 4th most common name; of the other top 100 surnames, only Gray and White are also colors.

Tolkien twisted an old adage, "All that is gold does not glitter. Not all who wander are lost." Yet Rhody’s Independent Man has been gilt and stands rigid atop capitol dome. Indeed, from Durfee Hill to Foster Center they find and mine deposits in pyrite and quartz. Costume adornments sparkle of phony glitter, though limited fine jewelry is also made. More businesses here deal in than fabricate from precious metals, though aluminum, copper and steel scrap are mostly collected. Bathed in brackish fog, bundles and heaps of riparian iron noticeably oxidize into shades of black and brown. Despite empty hotel rooms and hospitality investments, rust never sleeps here. Out-of-state workers do; 15% of residents work in CT and MA, since state’s alleged Economic Development made so few opportunities unemployment resembles levels of The Great Depression.

Greene Homestead Spell Hall is on National Register of Historic Sites, one of many colonial houses across state.

A section of SW Coventry is named for Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene. Although born in Potowomut, he's more associated with Savannah, Georgia. Second in Command to Commander-in-Chief George Washington, Greene enlisted as a private and rapidly rose through ranks on his avid bookishness, innate wit, and savage aggression. Hero of the Southern Campaign, Greene practiced tactics that secured an American victory, though you hardly ever hear his name mentioned other than as one of many localities that bear his misspelt and nondescript surname. Rather, denizens raised verdigris bronzes of Burnside, President Lincoln’s most inept Civil War general, and several other notables to celebrate immigrant nationalities. Local airport PVD was later named after native son and US Senator Theodore Francis Green.

Rhode Island Reds were not only a hockey team, it’s also the name of state’s official bird, an embarrassing breed of chicken that lays brown eggs. Though many localities for some odd reason fondly recall British fiefdoms, colonists settled for hundreds of names given by indigenous red race: Apponaug (where you roast oysters), Aquidneck (on an island), Ashaway, Connimicut, Cowesett (pine place), Kickamuit, Louisquisset (meeting place), Meshanticut (many tall trees), Narragansett (narrow river), Niantic, Occupessuatuxet (whence Hoxie), Pascoag (river divide), Pawcatuck (open stream), Pawtucket (water falls), Pawtuxet (little falls), Quonset (long place), Sakonnet (rocky outlet), Shannock (salmon fishing), Usquepaug (end of pond), Wampanoag, Weekapaug (head of pond), Weybosset, Woonasquatucket, Woonsocket (steep descent), Yawgoog (fire pond). Despite suburban myth, rhododendrons (means "rose tree") are neither named for Little Rhody nor native to New England, but they do reliably bring shades from magenta to rose every spring, since they thrive in acid soil, as did asters, goldenrod, Joe-Pye weed, violets, witch hazel, and worthy precolonial flora. Cumberlandite, state's official rock, contains reddish iron ore. Plentiful swamp maples turn vivid red each autumn.

Famous smithies have become scarce, so silver has no cache anymore. State's flag features an anchor, blue banner of hope, and gold stars on a white field with yellow fringe that hark back to Cromwell and King Charles II, nothing for which state now stands. Anchorages are few; navy is gone; quahogs were ignored. If you wave a pristine flag through state's polluted air or water, it will stain as slate gray as surrounding ocean. So little sun shines here, solar power isn't as viable as in Arizona and Vitamin D deficiency is pandemic. Folks look forward to snow because it brightens outlook. You'd think photovoltaic panels could repurpose fanged farmland that no longer produces. White supposedly stands for purity, not besmirched corruption or tarnished complexity, as inappropriate as a whore in a bridal gown. Blue is for sky, unseen most of the time. “Blue sky” connote corporations that pay big dividends, not something you're ever likely to see here. But “the blues” do describe depression and seasonal affective disorder, so that might fit a bit. Yellow is a curious color, craven yet driven, so one to approve.

State's flag ought to be a brown and gray herringbone field with black veins and green or red edges trimmed in gold leaf, and yellow lettering, thereby admixing artificial with natural. Any rainbow expectations have always been crushed by old time elite, who still cling to privileges bestowed by monarchs. Yeah, things were simpler then; one died or lived upon an inbred idiot’s whims, never had to compete among thousands of other candidates, set up shops to exploit and tax impudently. Unless enough residents take up the “hue and cry” against, all are judged just as much to blame as in old English law.