Pawtucket’s mayor makes pitch to legislators
A day after officials said there wasn’t enough time in current General Assembly to review financing for a new PawSox park, Grebien, paperwork in hand, makes plea
PROVIDENCE — A day after state legislative leaders made similar statements that there was not enough time in the current General Assembly session to properly review proposed financing for a new Pawtucket Red Sox ballpark, Mayor Donald R. Grebien took to the front steps of the Statehouse, armed with copies of the proposed legislation he said would be submitted Wednesday, and asked them to stay in session “for an extra week or two if necessary to get it done … and get it across home plate.”
The mayor also cautioned that the PawSox, who he said have made clear that they would “stay monogamous” until July 1, may altogether leave Pawtucket and Rhode Island if the financing is not approved during the current session. Grebien said, “they have not made any threats … It is my understanding that all bets are off at this point.”
It was less than two years ago that Grebien joined a throng of PawSox fans and Pawtucket denizens at the steps to the State House, but in 2015 his cries to keep the team in his home city came as the franchise's new ownership group were seeking to relocate the organization to a new riverfront ballpark in downtown Providence. On Wednesday, the refrain similar, only this time the plans were to move the team to a new riverfront ballpark in downtown Pawtucket. The rally was in a stark contrast in tone to a celebratory press conference on the grounds of Slater Mill last Tuesday – just across the Blackstone River from the Apex parcel where the new ballpark would be situated – at which the financing proposal was unveiled. The stadium's financing plan called for the PawSox to commit $45 million for the construction costs – the single largest private investment in Pawtucket history – with city and team officials touting that the ballpark would be self-sufficient, requiring no new taxes. Grebien on Wednesday said that it was always his understanding that Gov. Gina M. Raimondo would be supporting legislation as it was introduced, given how closely the city and PawSox were working with Commerce Rhode Island. The mayor said that as recently as Friday morning, he’d had a conversation with the governor and he believed the commitment was there from her.
“We were finalizing all of this, so I don’t know what happened yesterday,” Grebien said.
“This legislation could have been ready a month ago,” he’d said earlier in the afternoon. “The governor asked us to work with Commerce RI to develop acceptable legislation. We did that – and now to be told that it is too late – is completely unacceptable to me … Far too much is at stake for political gamesmanship that’s overwhelming our process now.”
The mayor said that state leaders “broke the city’s heart” with the news on Tuesday that the ballpark financing would not be heard in the House or Senate during the current General Assembly session.
The mayor during the press conference at the Statehouse said the relocation of a stadium to downtown Pawtucket “will more than pay for itself and drive economic development throughout the region.”
“It will help put Rhode Island back to work, bring new revenue into a state that surely needs it and will generate jobs, jobs, jobs for years to come,” the mayor said. In a two-page letter to Raimondo, House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, the mayor wrote that the proposal would preserve tens of millions in state and local aggregate revenues over 30 years – revenues which he said would otherwise be lost without the ballpark in Pawtucket.
“The numbers in this agreement speak for themselves and are too good for Rhode Islanders and the City of Pawtucket pass up,” Grebien said. “If we can’t put our political concerns aside, we risk los- ing the team and the nearly $2 million a year in existing state revenues they currently generate. That’s $60 million of lost revenue over the next 30 years if the team leaves Rhode Island.”
“We also risk losing the opportunity of increasing that $2 million to almost $5 million of annual state revenues while bolstering the City of Pawtucket’s revenues by well over $1.7 million,” the mayor continued. “We have a choice, are we willing to invest $42 million – and that is with interest included – over the next 30 years to get $220 million aggregate state revenues? I think it’s worth that investment.”
A common refrain among public financing foes has been that this will be nothing more than a government-backed boondoggle akin to 38 Studios. Grebien refuted any such assertions.
“I know that there is fear among some of our elected leaders of 38 Studios related pushback. But this deal is the opposite of 38 Studios,” the mayor said. “Every component of this proposal has been studied and vetted publically. There are protections in place, such as the team being responsible for all cost overruns. PawSox baseball in Pawtucket is a proven model over the last four decades and is in no way speculative.”
“We cannot afford to be afraid of the politics of 38 Studios and let this great initiative pass us by,” he continued. “We can keep putting our heads in the sand and saying no or we can finally show true leadership and move our state and the city of Pawtucket forward.”
Grebien said that the legislation was ready to be released on Tuesday when “everybody was thrown for a loop” and blindsided with Ruggerio’s statement that it was too late in the session for a thorough, public review of the proposal.
Grebien additionally said that Raimondo at no point asked the city to delay the legislation, instead noting that the city and PawSox were working in partnership with Commerce RI and “had every expectation that Commerce RI was getting all of the information to her and were following their lead to get it to the General Assembly.”