Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - October 4, 2024
Analysis
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - October 4, 2024
We have expanded the list, and we are going to a GoLocal team approach while encouraging readers to suggest nominees for who is "HOT" and who is "NOT."
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Over the past 14-plus years, more than 7,000 have been tagged as HOT or NOT.
Email GoLocal by midday on Thursday about anyone you think should be tapped as "HOT" or "NOT." Email us HERE.
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - October 4, 2024
HOT
Can You Imagine?
There are a number of projects up for consideration, but we believe the ZDS design for Parcel 5 in the 195 District in transformative would be that "wow" project that we have been waiting for.
So many of the 195 District structures to date have been a mix of cheap and ugly.
HOT
Genius Among Us
The MacArthur Foundation has named Tony Cokes, a professor of modern culture and media at Brown University, one of 22 MacArthur Fellows from across the U.S. for 2024.
The award is known as a "genius grant."
The honor is accompanied by an $800,000 stipend, "awarded over five years with no conditions, to enable Cokes to advance his artistic practice. Cokes’ video works and installations examine historical and cultural moments through a signature style that places frames of appropriated text against backgrounds of solid colors or images, paired with musical soundtracks."
PHOTO: MacArthur Foundation
HOT
PC Friars Preview by Kevin Stacom
Kevin Stacom, GoLocal's sports analyst, previews this season's Friars:
The leaves are beginning to turn, there’s a nip in the air at night, high school and college football are in full swing and the full glory of another New England autumn is upon us. What makes the Fall so bittersweet around here is that as nice as it can be, we know what’s coming next- the dues-paying season of winter. The Red Sox are out of the playoffs this year, and the Patriots Cinderella stagecoach without Brady and Belichick has obviously turned into a pumpkin before Halloween.
It won’t be long before we look forward to one of those things that can make another winter of our discontent a lot more tolerable- Providence College basketball at the Civic Center, The Dunk, AMP ( just to cover all the age brackets since it’s inception)
This will be head coach Kim English and his staff’s second season at PC, and there’s a lot of not-so-cautious optimism about the upcoming 2024-2025 Season. I think a lot of fans were justifiably impressed at what a great job his team did last year when they unexpectedly lost their best player (Bryce Hopkins) to an ACL injury on January 4th vs Seton Hall.
This preview of the upcoming season is not meant to put a burden of high expectations and hype on this team but to more or less flesh out why some of the optimism might be justified. We’ve witnessed the competitiveness of a team last year doing its best to salvage a season with limited resources, so it’s only logical to anticipate the excitement of being able to watch the development of a team with a reloaded roster of players, Kim English and his staff worked hard and succeeded in recruiting from the clutches of other big-time programs.
HOT
Meet Steel Yard Resident Artist Traé Brooks
GoLocal art columnist Michael Rose has a great take on an emerging creative at the Steel Yard:
The Steel Yard in Providence is a center for those who weld and blacksmith or who create jewelry and ceramics. Resident Artist Traé Brooks, who just began a second year at the space, is a maker attuned to metal. With it, he creates sculptures, jewelry, and mixed-media works that sensitively share personal stories and show off his considerable craftsmanship.
Raised in Connecticut, Brooks earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Hartford. Active in his home state, he was an Artist-in-Residence at the Farmington Valley Arts Center and a Cohort Program Member at MakerspaceCT as well as Chairman of the Curatorial Committee at the Windsor Arts Center. He relocated to Providence for The Steel Yard, one of the region’s most unique arts centers, and his time in Rhode Island has been fruitful.
HOT
Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau Wins ‘Best of Meetings Today’ Award
The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau (PWCVB) has been named “Best CVB East” in the 2024 Best of Meetings Today Awards.
The PWCVB was nominated and voted on by meeting planners and selected among finalists by an expert panel of judges.
“We are incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Kristen Adamo, PWCVB president and CEO. “Each and every member of our team plays a part in this recognition because we keep our customers and partners at the forefront of our mission. For us, this recognition also reinforces the fact that our reimagined destination marketing model is working: the PWCVB team has leaned into its role in shaping the destination, not just by growing leisure and meetings tourism, but by being involved in every area that is important to visitors and residents alike. Our success is the destination’s success, and we are grateful to be recognized nationally.”
HOT
Winner, Winner
This week, Condé Nast Traveler announced the results of its annual Readers' Choice Awards with Rhode Island International Airport (PVD), which was once again recognized as one of the Top Ten Airports in the United States. As the #7 Top Airport in the United States, PVD was recognized as the Top Airport in New England.
Making the top 20 best hotels in New England are:
2. The Vanderbilt in Newport
6. The Chanler at Cliff Walk in Newport
8. Castle Hill Inn in Newport
13. The Beatrice in Providence
16. Brenton Hotel in Newport
PHOTO: Will Morgan for GoLocal, The Beatrice
HOT/NOT
JD Vance Won VP Debate, Trump Lost
If you are scoring Tuesday night's veep debate, JD Vance was the clear winner.
Vance was smart and strategic. He pressed the case against Kamala Harris and the failure of the Biden administration on immigration.
Walz was nervous and sloppy. He scored points on the January 6th riot, but little else.
The big loser was former President Donald Trump, as his performance against Harris was so weak, lacked strategy, and exposed his lack of emotional balance.
Vance for the win.
NOT
Attorney General Garland's Press Event in Providence
Merrick Garland, during his tenure as Attorney General, has, for the most part, done an outstanding job working to separate his job as chief law enforcement officer from partisan politics.
But this week's Providence visit looked and smelled like political photo opping when he came to hold a press event but refused to take questions.
NOT
Failure to Meet Basic Needs
A new study ranks Providence as one of the worst cities in America for those with disabilities, but that only covers some of the issues.
While the data show one set of problems, one of the leading wheelchair accessibility advocates in the state says the lack of maintenance and failure by homeowners and businesses makes mobility very difficult in the city.
One of the issues is that Providence sidewalks are littered with parked e-scooters, making them impassable for pedestrians and the disabled.
“Since being a college student at College Unbound and Ms. Wheelchair Rhode Island last year, I have had to navigate the city of Providence a lot more. I agree that the scooters on the walkways and the lack of maintenance of the public walkways are a huge issue when it comes to the inaccessibility in the area,” said Autumn Rain Johnson.
She helped make North Kingstown's Town Beach accessible this summer.
Johnson said the e-scooters are just part of the problem.
“It makes it even harder for someone like myself who is independent and navigates everyday life by myself most times. Sometimes it can be unsafe for me to pick up and move a scooter or go around overgrown bushes,” said Johnson, she was Miss Wheelchair Rhode Island in 2023.
Providence streets are littered with broken sidewalks, and many homeowners fail to keep the public sidewalks passable.
As some have shifted from lawns to gardens, they seem to have shifted from maintenance to chaos.
NOT
Poor Tesla Drivers
Tesla drivers are in part fueling Elon Musk's hundreds of millions going to elect former President Donald Trump.
This week, the Wall Street Journal unveiled that Musk's GOP funding started earlier.
Elon Musk’s financial support for Republican causes has been much more extensive and started earlier than previously known.
The Tesla CEO quietly gave tens of millions of dollars to groups with ties to Trump aide Stephen Miller and supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, according to people familiar with the matter.
The financial contributions, which haven’t previously been reported, show how Musk, who seemed to undergo a rapid political transformation this year, was a major force in funding Republican initiatives and candidates well before starting a super political-action committee in support of former President Donald Trump.
They also make him one of the biggest donors to conservative causes, which in combination with his large social-media following makes him one of the most influential figures in U.S. politics. His track record thus far in backing winners, however, is mixed at best.
In the fall of 2022, more than $50 million of Musk’s money funded a series of advertising campaigns by a group called Citizens for Sanity, according to people familiar with his involvement and tax filings for the group. The bulk of the ads ran in battleground states days before the midterm elections and attacked Democrats on controversial issues such as medical care for transgender children and illegal immigration.
PHOTO: Steve Jurvetson, Flickr CC: 2.0
