brick1972 t1_iuqxe85 wrote on November 2, 2022 at 11:35 AM

The sad part about this thread is that it just proves guys like Procianti right when they say there is no point in doing urban development in Providence without acres of parking since RIers are so addicted to their cars you would think the state was the size of Montana and therefore it's nearly impossible to have a successful business without easy parking.

Of course there is also a good point here, by locating it within the miasma of that gigantic oversized for a million cars intersection that it is also not really well made for pedestrians or cyclists (the designed route for a cyclist coming from wickenden would be to take a right on south main then u turn onto South water then come back across point for instance), and with only the 92 bus stop anywhere close that it's also not a great urban design.

I'm definitely for it happy it is finally here, and will shop here and I actually don't have a lot of better ideas for where it could have been located other than other 195 parcels or maybe in the mall at street level where borders was long ago (also absorbing the restaurant space next door)

laterbacon t1_ius2ofk wrote on November 2, 2022 at 4:43 PM

I agree with your points, but the 35, 60, and 78 all go on South Water/South Main right by the new store. 92 runs E-W and the other 3 go N-S

brick1972 t1_ius59i1 wrote on November 2, 2022 at 4:59 PM

Thanks for this I actually thought the 35 and 78 still ran through Wayland and the red bridge (like e.g the 33) but I hadn't looked in a while.

60 runs on much shorter headway than I thought. Feel like when I looked at it as a possibility for commuting to Newport it ran less frequently, but that was 15 years ago. I see it's a half hour even on weekends these days so that's better.

laterbacon t1_ius6jgh wrote on November 2, 2022 at 5:07 PM

yea the 60 was one of the routes that they recently increased service on, including the 30-minute weekend headways. They alternate down East/West Main Roads, so there's one on either side of the island every hour. Now you can reliably take RIPTA to Polo!

AttackonRetail t1_iutiez6 wrote on November 2, 2022 at 10:16 PM

This isn't about it being urban IMO. I think this is about the fact that TJ knowingly opened a "neighborhood" store that will underserve the many other people who will choose to shop it and didn't plan to accomodate the people who this store would have to serve until a more appropriate non-urban location can better serve providence, EP and everything adjacent.

Let's not pretend this store is strictly intended to cater to Fox Point and the residents of East Side when the next closest options are Patriots Place and Warwick.

brick1972 t1_iutpmhk wrote on November 2, 2022 at 11:08 PM

You are making my point, not refuting it. You understand that right? The first thing all you people think of is "what does this mean for cars?"

Regardless, Trader Joe's only agreed to this development if they got a certain number of parking spots. You all know that there is a parking garage right? That's it not just 6 spots you can see in this picture or whatever? I am not privy to the details but I am privy to a lot of the basic negotiation that went on here.

At the end of the day Trader Joe's agrees with you, btw. They would much prefer to have the parcel to themselves surrounded by parking. They are not urban champions. I don't know where you got the idea that this was all Trader Joe's idea. But if we want better development then this is the type of thing we need to stop. And if it fails then that's my entire point about proving Proccianti right. Just pave over the whole fucking state so everyone has parking all the god damn time. It makes me fucking sick, to be honest.