SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- Economists, researchers and urban analysts offered Rhode Islanders ideas at a forum Wednesday about how Rhode Island can pull itself from the bottom of business-climate rankings by lowering taxes, improving its educational outcomes and streamlining regulations.
But urban analyst Aaron M. Renn had a different idea.
He challenged the audience of about 70 business and nonprofit leaders and government policy makers to take what he called a "deep dive" into the state's history to uncover Rhode Island's economic structure and cultural roots. New businesses, he advised, generally don't spring up from nowhere, but instead come from what's already here.
The trouble isn't about getting the right ideas, but rather about ensuring that the people here embrace the ideas that are developed, which means the ideas will be implemented, said Renn, who said he's originally from Indiana and moved recently to West Warwick from Chicago.
Renn acknowledged during a question-and-answer session of the summit by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council that he doesn't know what cultural underpinning in Rhode Island is worthy to build upon. That's why he thinks more exploration of the past must be done.
"A great city, like a great wine, has to express its terroir," he said, using the French term that can be translated as "specificity of place." "It has to be authentic and when you try to graft on stuff from outside, that can be good -- best practices are always good -- but a lot of times it's like foreign tissue that gets rejected by the people, especially when it doesn't seem like it's going to benefit them."