Cranston forum lends support to PawSox, new ballpark plan
CRANSTON — The room inside the Oaklawn Range featured roughly 100 Cranston residents when Paul Okolowitcz got up and sought to debunk a certain rumor that’s been circulating in the media lately.
Okolowitcz lives in Nick Mattiello’s district. The House Speaker has repeatedly said that he’s knocked on doors in his district and the vast majority of the people do not want to contribute to the taxpayer’s portion of the $83-million PawSox ballpark proposal.
Not a single person raised their hand when Okolowitcz posed the question.
“I even asked my wife if (Mattiello) came to the door,” said Okolowitcz Jr after the conclusion of Tuesday night’s hour-long program. “She said he never came.”
The PawSox held a “Cranston Community Night” that given the size of the hall was pretty well attended. Among those on hand was Steve Frias, who lost to Mattiello in a hotly contested 2016 election for the district’s House seat. Fries was wearing a PawSox hat.
PawSox consultant Guy Dufault said of the 3,800 mailers and 5,000 flyer drops that were distributed to Cranston residents, 48 people replied. Those 48 individuals along with those from local trade groups received an invitation to Tuesday’s presentation and slideshow by PawSox and City of Pawtucket officials, which was followed by a question-and-answer session.
“We invited them not knowing if they were pro or con,” said Dufault, “but we had overwhelming support tonight. We were very
pleased to offer them the information.”
Dufault said that the Speaker’s office was notified of the event. Mattiello did not attend Tuesday’s gathering.
“I told him I would do a review of the night and give him a recap,” said Dufault.
The speakers were Pawtucket Director of Administration Tony Pires, Pawtucket Commerce Director Jeanne Boyle, PawSox Vice Chariman Mike Tamburro, and PawSox CFO Joe Goldberg. They all took turns in expressing why the PawSox ballpark proposal is necessary to Pawtucket’s future.
Boyle called the project, “the missing piece in the revitalization of Pawtucket.”
Questions were asked of the four-person group of speakers that ranged from what would happen to McCoy Stadium should the PawSox leave for the desired Apex department store site and what other attractions would take place at the new venue besides Triple-A baseball.
“You’ve got local owners who want to do the right thing,” Tamburro told the room. “We want to do this for the state and we want you to understand it.”