COMPLETE: GTECH Center

[Gusterfell]

will those blue thin rectangular pieces be lit up under the gtech sign? as is this color scheme just being tested tonight to make it fill in the entire cube at some point?

[pete11]

I posted two video clips of it here. I love it, it's awesome!

[Cotuit]

Cotuit is that you giggling like a schoolgirl at the end of the first video?

[Jerry2]

I too thought that the Fidelity sign below would take away from it being the G-Tech building. I was proven wrong. It looks very impressive. It's a shame that businesses in the CBD can't follow suit.

[Frankie811]

I too thought that the Fidelity sign below would take away from it being the G-Tech building. I was proven wrong. It looks very impressive. It's a shame that businesses in the CBD can't follow suit.

[Liamlunchtray]

It looks a zillion times better lit! I dig the colored lighting, but the transitions seem a little abrupt. I think I'd be more into fading from one to the next. Still it is WAY better than I initially thought when it first went up yesterday.

[runawayjim]

It looks a zillion times better lit! I dig the colored lighting, but the transitions seem a little abrupt. I think I'd be more into fading from one to the next. Still it is WAY better than I initially thought when it first went up yesterday.

[dgreco]

looking at the webcam, i thought it was changing more smoothly. but cotuit's video shows that it's just an abrupt change. i wonder if they'll fix that.

[Frankie811]

It looks a zillion times better lit! I dig the colored lighting, but the transitions seem a little abrupt. I think I'd be more into fading from one to the next. Still it is WAY better than I initially thought when it first went up yesterday.

[AriPVD]

"Competition" can be a good thing. Maybe the office building owners in the CBD will realize they need to brighten up that section of town. The W project will certainly help.

[Jerry2]

"Competition" can be a good thing. Maybe the office building owners in the CBD will realize they need to brighten up that section of town. The W project will certainly help.

[AriPVD]

You've got to give the retail time. They are all developing signage programs and it is more involved and expensive than you'd imagine. You will see very positive improvements in the coming months.

[Cotuit]

You've got to give the retail time. They are all developing signage programs and it is more involved and expensive than you'd imagine. You will see very positive improvements in the coming months.

[Cotuit]

looking at the webcam, i thought it was changing more smoothly. but cotuit's video shows that it's just an abrupt change. i wonder if they'll fix that.

[inProv]

Off topic, but any word on if/when Westminster and Weybossett Streets are going to become two way streets again? The RI DOT website does mention a downtown ADA-compliant sidewalk improvement project to begin in Spring '07 and downtown street circulation project ($3.5 M), although no time frame is given for this:

[url=http://www.dot.state.ri.us/projects/Provprojects2006.pdf.html]

[Cotuit]

I don't believe there is any plan for Westminster to become two-way, at least not east of Empire (there's a question of if it should be two-way through Cathedral Square when it re-opens). I don't know the timetable for Weybosset but I wish they'd get cracking on it.

[mr2448]

Off topic, but any word on if/when Westminster and Weybossett Streets are going to become two way streets again? The RI DOT website does mention a downtown ADA-compliant sidewalk improvement project to begin in Spring '07 and downtown street circulation project ($3.5 M), although no time frame is given for this:

[url=http://www.dot.state.ri.us/projects/Provprojects2006.pdf.html]

[Frankie811]

I don't know the timetable for Weybosset but I wish they'd get cracking on it.

[Lone Ranger]

Ari, something I'd really like to see next year on Westminster is a bigger effort on Holiday lighting amongst the retailers and on the street itself. I was watching some HGTV or Travel Channel thing the other night and they were showing the lighting in San Francisco, AMAZING! Next season Westminster should be more at it's critical mass with the Peerless fully (knock wood) leased and the shops that are already there. Some lighting/decorations that would really get people out to see the street would be awesome. Maybe the DID can help organize something and can get the city on the ball on lighting/decorating the streets.

[runawayjim]

What about the garlands of overhead lights on Westminster? Don't they count?

[Cotuit]

NO THANK YOU! If they ever do, Dorrance St will become a parking lot ( even more so than now ) on Dorrance St.

[runawayjim]

NO THANK YOU! If they ever do, Dorrance St will become a parking lot ( even more so than now ) on Dorrance St.

[Cotuit]

i actually think dorrance st will have less traffic if there were more 2 way streets off of it. it makes it easier to navigate not dealing with 1 way streets.

[Frankie811]

Why?

[runawayjim]

Sorry. I meant to expand on this point. On Thursday - Saturday nights, Dorrance St is always backed up, as people try to get to the clubs on Pine St., usually all the way to Fountain St. With Weybosset St being two-way, it will backup traffic more than ever on Dorrance St., probably past Exchance Terrance, and Memerial Blvd. Weybosset St, left as it is now, allows for four lanes of traffic to navigate the downtown area, heading East, towards the College Hill. But if you allow two-way traffic on Weybosset St, we will have two parking lanes along with two lanes of traffic, with parked cars heading either East or West, travel lanes heading either East or West. And since Pine St is one way, heading South, exactly where are those car on Dorrance St which choose to turn down Weybosset St suppose to go? And, what happens on a night when PPAC has a show going on? The Providence Civic Center? Trinity? And don't even get me started on Grant's Block.