NORTH PROVIDENCE – This town is still a bedroom community and should stay as such, say members of the Town Council, who are voicing strong concerns about a seemingly relatively new phenomenon of restaurants functioning as disruptive nightclubs.
“The issue we’re facing in this town is these places thinking they can run like nightclubs,” Council President Dino Autiello told The Breeze. “This is becoming a problem.”
Unfortunately, he said, business owners are coming before the council and misrepresenting what they plan to do, and the resulting outcomes are leading to diminished quality of life in a town where residential neighborhoods back right up to the establishments.
NORTH PROVIDENCE – The Town Council approved a series of moves to make way for a new three-building commercial development at the Lucky Cottage property at 1601 Mineral Spring Ave. during a special meeting last week, calling it a “great project” for the town.
Representatives for Mike Grieco and 1601 Mineral Spring Associates said this project will not only be a great shot in the arm in reviving a blighted property as a center of commerce, but will be a step toward wider efforts to improve the look of the Mineral Spring Avenue corridor, where they said there continues to be far too much asphalt and far too little landscaping along the roadway.
NORTH PROVIDENCE – The 787 Restaurant and Lounge, in the former Oki’s space at 1270 Mineral Spring Ave., is no longer allowed to open on weekends if the owners don’t have a police detail in place, expanding on a previous requirement for a police presence.
Town Council members, several clearly reaching the limits of their patience with the establishment after numerous complaints from neighbors, made the requirement last week.
“When is 787 not going to be on agenda anymore?” Council President Dino Autiello asked owner Liz Vazquez at the April 6 meeting. He said there are simple fixes to the problems that keep being brought up. “Why are we still addressing this?”
3/9/2021
Officials drop issue of noise at local church
The Rev. Eric Perry, bottom left, expresses consternation to members of the North Providence Town Council last week about the way the Shiloh Gospel Temple was treated over noise complaints.
NORTH PROVIDENCE – Saying they’ve heard nothing but good things about the way a local church has conducted itself since complaints in January, Town Council members last week dropped the matter from their agenda.
The council had been anticipating hearing from Lt. Thomas Jones with an update on the situation, but when he didn’t attend, they told church leaders that they’ve heard from neighbors who have spoken highly of how things have been handled at Shiloh Gospel Temple at 974 Charles St.
NORTH PROVIDENCE – Speaking to the Town Council at a “speed bump summit” that never quite got off the ground last week, Mayor Charles Lombardi said he thinks the town needs its police to more consistently enforce traffic rules in neighborhoods.
Councilor Stefano Famiglietti made the move at the March 2 meeting to send the matter to both the council’s ordinance and finance subcommittees, suggesting as he did that the town might need additional enforcement to pair with any changes to traffic devices to better control speeding.
It’s clear, said Famiglietti, that the town needs to come up with some sort of solution because it can’t just keep adding stop signs and speed bumps.