To the Editor:
Excellent article, thank you. I’m curious as to the involvement levels of the residential property owners in Smith Hill. Where are they in this collaborative effort to improve infrastructure and services that could lift the vitality of these communities? I grew up in a healthy and vibrant working class neighborhood in Queens, New York and the secret to sustained pride of place was the high ratio of resident owners to renters. Absentee landlords who lack incentives to upkeep property where they no longer live, who aren’t present to demand and maintain clean streets or support local businesses, who may not feel the need to lobby legislators for services and programs, may be a contributing problem. Insufficient owner engagement creates a power vacuum that is difficult to fill by tenants who are struggling with skyrocketing rents and who may question the return on their own investment in time and energy to improve a situation where they have no equity and where their immediate surroundings leave them discouraged.
Ted Herman
Providence, RI
