RI Mayors React to 2013 Best Cities Rankings
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Following Monday's release of GoLocalProv's "New England's Best Cities 2013", Rhode Island officials have begun weighing in on their city's spots in the rankings.
# 15 Cranston -- Mayor Allan Fung: "I am so proud of our ranking in this list...we beat out some major New England cities, which just affirms that Cranston is a great place to work, live, and play.
I think one of our best assets is that Cranston has an urban setting, but a suburban feel. We're particularly proud of our parks and fields for contributing to that.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFrom my first day in office, economic development -- balanced economic development -- has been one of my main goals. Just look at Chapel View and Garden City. They're booming, we're adding jobs.
There's still work to be done, of course, still challenges ahead, but I'm proud of where we are, and where we're going."
#19 Warwick -- Mayor Scott Avedisian:
"I think one of Warwick's best assets is that we've got high quality of life. We've got 39 miles of coastline here, we've preserved over 1000 acres of open space. Most of the residents don't consider Warwick to be a city, rather a collection of villages.
Take Apponaug -- by the end of the year, we should begin construction on the major roadwork project there, which should be finished in a year. I want to thank everyone for their patience during this time as we work to make Warwick even better.
The train station at the airport has been a major asset to Warwick. Our city employees are fantastic. Our CFO, Ernest Zmyslinkski was just recognized by PBN as the top government agency CFO.
We're consistently ranked as one of the safest cities in the state, and country. I'm incredibly proud of that statistic."
#22 Pawtucket -- Mayor Donald Grebien
"It’s gratifying to see that Pawtucket rose four notches in again making GoLocalProv’s list of the top 30 larger cities in New England.
Our best assets include:
Our heritage as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution at Slater Mill, which is now on the verge of becoming part of the National Park System.
Our ready proximity off I-95 as an affordable place to live and do business, located between two major metro centers; that ready access will soon get a major boost with the scheduled completion of the Pawtucket River Bridge project on the highway later this year.
The wealth of artists, artisans and design and other professionals who have relocated to Pawtucket over the past decade.
We are also fortunate to have a major hospital (Memorial) and a growing number of medical facilities.
An incredible wealth of ethnic and cultural diversity.
A continued declining crime rate that we announced just today went down by about 6 percent last year after declining more than 8 percent the year before.
This being baseball season, I would be remiss not to point out we are the proud home of the Governors’ Cup champion PawSox, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
Quality of life that includes the recent extension of our bike path and healthy food initiatives in the community (the Healthy Places by Design Coalition) and in the schools.
And most importantly, that we are a community where people truly care about each other and about our city."
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