The rebuilding of downtown Providence began in 1978 when Ron Marsella, executive director of the Providence Foundation, businessman Bruce Sundlun, U.S. Sen. Clairborne Pell, Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. and others shared a vision.
They planned to move the railroad tracks that split downtown, thus opening acres and acres of bleak landscape to development.
Their actions set in motion a quarter-century of activity. Architects, businessmen, preservationists and politicians worked together in the Capital Center District to move train tracks and rivers and finance a mall's construction. The revitalization gave Providence a new heart.
What they didn't do was lay the foundation for a new generation of leaders who could set Rhode Island on its next course.
Today, Rhode Islanders are wondering where the right people are with the remedy for the state's economic malaise that includes one of the highest jobless rates in the country..