RI Senate President Voices Frustration on Fane and Makes Bold Promise to St. Joseph Retirees
RI Senate President Voices Frustration on Fane and Makes Bold Promise to St. Joseph Retirees
"I think [the timeframe] had been a little lengthy, obviously -- this individual came in, he had half a billion dollars in his pocket to spend, and I don’t think he was treated as well as he should have been," said Ruggerio.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW ABOVE
"What concerns me here is not just the Fane project, it’s the whole concept of when a developer comes into the state, I think they have to treat him a lot better — especially when we have a lot of land available for development," said Ruggerio. "So I was just not happy with the fact that it’s been three years [and] he spent about two million dollars on this project and he doesn’t have a shovel in the ground yet, so I don’t think that bodes very well for us as well as our economic developments."
Fane’s proposed 46-story residential tower was first proposed in November 2016.
"We’re looking at the whole development issue, as it pertains to inspections and things of that nature to expedite the inspection and permitting process. I think that’s very important, it saves potential developers time and saves money, so we’re looking to do that. We have some legislation pending right now," said Ruggerio.
The Fane organization asserted that the recommendations are non-binding — and that the 195 Commission will have the final say in whether to green-light the project — or not.
“Rather than weigh in on the design of the project, the DDRC chose to focus primarily on the height of the project, which has already been supported by the I-195 Commission and, through a robust public process, approved by the Providence City Council," said Dante Bellini on behalf of the Fane Organization.
St. Joseph Pension Fund Collapse
In the State House interview, Ruggerio made a big promise to the 2,700 members of the failed St. Joseph Health Services pension fund which was thrust into receivership in August of 2017 and has been mired in litigation since.
“We’re looking at [church] pension funds,” said Ruggerio, who is the primary sponsor in the Senate of legislation to force church retirement plans to make full, regular disclosures on the financial health of their plans to participants.
Regarding the St. Joseph’s retirees, Ruggerio made a bold pledge.
“I don’t know what went awry at Fatima and Roger Williams but this is a terrible situation for these people to be in — and [for] some of these people these are small pensions, these are not large — $250, $300 a month. I mean, people rely on that to live,” said Ruggerio.
“Right now the proposal is forty cents on the dollar and I think that can be improved. If I have to do anything legislatively to get these people to be made whole I’ll do it. I just think this is a terrible situation and someone is at fault.”
Since the collapse, 58 of the retirees who are members of the fund have died.
