Providence’s Waterplace in Disrepair: There Was $18M to Fix It, Just $3M Was Spent

Providence’s Waterplace in Disrepair: There Was $18M to Fix It, Just $3M Was Spent

As GoLocal exposed on Wednesday, some of the columns that support the Memorial Boulevard Bridge in Providence have decayed and are suffering significant damage.

Now, we look at the condition of the city's heralded Waterplace Park and Riverwalk. The park and walkway are less than a mile long and were completed in 1994; in recent years, they have seen significant decay and little maintenance.

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In just the past three years, millions of dollars were appropriated and targeted to make repairs to Waterplace Park and Riverwalk, but a GoLocal review found that while the decay mounts, little of the money has been spent.

The millions — up to $18 million — were either “reprogrammed” or have simply not been spent.

Some of the damage is to the design and decorative elements of the park, but other issues are more serious and are tied to the structures.

When the park was created, it was heralded by the national and international press; the New York Times wrote a glowing story. The city was dubbed “The Renaissance City” in part due to the park. READ HERE

 

 

Now, Decay Rampant

 

 

Mortar between the stone work that supports the three bridges — Washington, College, and Crawford Street — has washed away in a number of areas due to weather, time, and lack of maintenance.

 

 

 

Major supports are broken or cracked, and decorative elements of the park have been damaged.

 

 

$18 Million Targeted for Park’s Rehab and Just $3 million Spent

The park is in the control of the City of Providence, and while millions were appropriated, little of the money has been spent by the Smiley administration.

 

There were two piles of money.

 

First, there was a federal grant. On August 12, 2022, in the final few months of then-Providence Jorge Elorza’s administration and just weeks before the election, the Congressional delegation announced they had secured $7.8 million.

 

 

U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline announced that the City of Providence was "awarded $7.8 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program to support accessibility and design improvements and resiliency upgrades to the Providence Riverwalk and Waterplace Park."

Three years later, the Smiley administration has spent just $3 million of those dollars.

After days of requests by GoLocal for information about those federal dollars, the Smiley administration admitted the majority of those funds have yet to be spent. And when they are spent — they are “planning dollars” and can’t be used for construction, maintenance or repairs.

“To date, the City has spent $3,081,103.03 of RAISE grant funding. The scope of this project is design and engineering only. At the end of the contract with Arup, the City will have construction documents for improvements to the riverwalk from Francis Street to Steeple Street,” said Josh Estrella, Smiley’s spokesman.

 

$10.3 Million in ARPA Money, Transparency Website Removed

Then, there was another $10.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money set to support improvements to Waterplace, Riverwalk, and other downtown parks.

When asked about those dollars, the Smiley administration first said Waterplace was never intended to receive any funding.

GoLocal presented Smiley’s office with what the city’s website, "PVD Rescue Plan,” said about how the ARPA dollars were being spent, and the office then said the money had been “reprogrammed.”

“This reallocation reduced the funding in the Downtown Open Spaces initiative from $10.3M to approximately $950,000 which was used to complete renovations at the Providence Rink. To clarify, the Downtown Open Spaces initiative at no point had funding dedicated to Waterplace Park projects,” said Estrella.

 

 

On Wednesday, after GoLocal's repeated questions, the website on transparency on federal spending was then removed.

 

 

 

 

Thus, between the $7.8 million federal grant awarded three years ago and the $10.3 million in ARPA funds, just $3 million has been spent.

And even when the remaining millions in “planning” dollars can’t be used for the critical construction.

Other than the expenditure of the $3 million from the federal grant, $42,673 in ARPA funds were used for projects in the Waterplace Park and Riverwalk area, according to Smiley's office.