Local heroes (continued)

LAURA MULLEN: A FORCEFUL ADVOCATE

As a person with a keen interest in the ongoing story of Providence’s evolution as a city, Laura Mullen considers this an incredibly interesting time. More development is taking place than at any time in recent memory, the new growth is bigger, and the process is faster. On the plus side, more people are interested in the tenets of responsible development — steps that can protect Providence’s idiosyncratic character against creeping homogenization — but channeling such concepts into actual policy remains a challenge, and the ultimate outcome is anyone’s guess.

As a civic advocate, Mullen sees reason for both concern and optimism. She’s skeptical about efforts to make Providence a more wealthy city, believing that doing so places more focus on shiny surfaces than the kind of organic polyglot funk — collaborative artists working cheek by jowl in old mills with jewelry job shops — that has fostered a nationally recognized arts underground. Mullen is heartened, though, by a heightened degree of communication and collaboration between artists and developers, as well as forthcoming developments in Providence, Pawtucket, Tiverton, Westerly, Woonsocket, and elsewhere that might mitigate the ongoing problem of artist displacement. "There’s a lot of stuff that’s happening right now," says Mullen, the artists’ affordable housing liaison for the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. "I think there’s a lot of momentum in a positive direction."

A good part of this forward motion can be credited to lessons learned during the demise of Fort Thunder, the fabled underground art collective in Eagle Square, and the fight from 2000 to 2001 to stop the rich 19th-century fabric of surrounding mill buildings from being razed to make way for a generic shopping complex. With a job that left her considerable free time, Mullen emerged as a potent organizer, helping to rally opposition, gather information, and bridge communication between indie-minded artists and East Side preservationists. Although Feldco Development’s resulting retail hybrid in Eagle Square left a lot to be desired, she cites the experience as "one of the most educational processes I’ve ever been involved in."

Mullen, 31, grew up in the Oak Hill section of Pawtucket, the daughter of an educator and a CPA working with nonprofits. She studied at Columbia University before transferring to Brown and graduating with a degree in art semiotics. It’s this kind of background, combined with a love of local music and Providence’s signature patchwork creativity, not to mention an unassuming, yet ardently articulate persona, that makes her a forceful advocate.

The West Side resident got a rude introduction to the perils of displacement when Zap Media, the company she worked for after graduation, and which had made a three-CD set for New York’s Metropolitan Museum, was essentially put out of business when it had to move to make way for a highway off-ramp. After taking on a couple of different gigs, she finds her present occupational mix — doing graphic design, spending one day a week at the Rhode Island State Council, and working with her partner, Ben McOsker, the major domo of Load Records — a symbiotic combination.

Mullen, who serves on the board of the Providence Preservation Society, was also a cofounder of the Picture Start Film Series (which has faded into extinction since "we’re all too old and have too many things to do;" she suggests that would-be donors support the Human Rights Watch film festival by contacting SueEllen Kroll at the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities). At the state arts council, Mullen helped to complete a survey of Rhode Island artists. By revealing that many of them earn less than $25,000 a year, it showed developers of affordable housing that artists are part of their target audience.

When it comes to Providence’s future, Mullen believes emphasis should always be placed on how new growth will affect existing neighborhoods. She thinks the time is right for an inclusionary zoning ordinance, which would require private developers to contribute to the creation of affordable housing. Mullen says interesting people are still attracted by Providence’s creative reputation. She remains frustrated, though, by how when it comes to development, the impact on architecture — rather than the effect on actual people and social connections — tends to be more of a focus. "One would hope," she says, "that we could preserve that type of dynamic mix that keeps it special here."

One of those distinctive Providence qualities is how, "with a certain amount of effort, you can get access to do stuff. The right to be able to do that, to be able to participate," Mullen says, "is very important to me."

By Ian Donnis

TOM SLATER: ALLEVIATING SUFFERING

State Representative Thomas C. Slater (D-Providence) did something this year that put to shame all those elected officials in Washington who loudly proclaim their commitment to religious and moral values. He saw suffering and tried to alleviate it. Slater spearheaded the drive to legalize medical marijuana for people who have cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, and any number of the other medical conditions for which smoking cannabis offers what many consider the best relief from pain and suffering.

Slater’s a true neighborhood guy. He grew up as part of a large family in an apartment on Autumn Street in South Providence. When the family had an opportunity to move into a nicer place ("It had hot water — we thought we were in heaven"), it was next door and Slater recalls "throwing the furniture over the fence" on moving day. He currently resides on Sawyer Street in the same general neighborhood. Except for a brief 18-month sojourn in Scituate, in the mid-’70s, Slater, 64, is a life-long Providence resident. "I’m a city kid," he says. "My wife [the former Jody McKiernan] and I really missed the city." He has spent 40 years with Genalco Inc., selling hydraulics, snow plows, and similar machinery to large buyers.

Slater was first elected to represent his district in 1994 after serving on Democratic ward and city committees for more than 25 years. In the House, he has served on the Health Education and Welfare Committee, Corporations, and is now a subcommittee chairman on Finance. It was House Finance chairman Steven Costantino who originally introduced the medical marijuana legislation in the House, but with a variety of other major issues facing the committee, Slater says, it became his duty to be the bill’s primary mover.

He remembers in vivid detail the testimony in support of the legislation. Slater is quick to relate a story about a friend and colleague, Representative John Shanley (D-South Kingstown), who smelled marijuana smoke while visiting his mother, a woman in her 80s (Slater explains that Shanley, a retired probation counselor, easily recognized the odor). As Slater says, "My own doctor told me that, if people are on their last legs, what harm will it do for them to smoke marijuana to relieve their pain, even if it’s just psychological?"

Slater bolsters his argument by citing polls done in recent years, conducted by pollsters at Brown University and Rhode Island College, and another by an unabashedly pro-medical marijuana organization — all showing public support between the level of 68 and 70 percent.

To say that Slater has thought deeply about the medical marijuana issue would be an understatement. His brother died at 45 from cancer. The disease also claimed his father and an uncle. The Providence Democrat himself was diagnosed with male breast cancer on May 22, 2003, "two days before my daughter’s wedding." After surgery, he was subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer, and received 39 treatments for that over the summer. Slater takes chemo pills and receives CAT scans every two to four months. So far, his battles with the disease have not placed him in a situation where he has had to consider smoking marijuana to battle pain.

When Governor Donald L. Carcieri vetoed the medical marijuana legislation overwhelmingly passed by the House and Senate, the Senate overrode the veto the same day. Although the House — which does not plan to reconvene until 2006 — has yet to act, Speaker William J. Murphy has pledged to override the governor’s veto before the official start of the new legislative session.

Slater understands why some people have reservations about the use of medical marijuana. He knows that setting up a system for access and distribution is a major challenge. But he also sees the bigger picture: that people are suffering and he would like to see that end. As Slater says, "If we don’t pursue this, the negatives far outweigh the positives."

By Rudy Cheeks