Theory of relativity

It's remarkable how long it takes to get things done in Rhode Island, such as fixing a bridge or building a long-needed medical building on North Main Street near Miriam Hospital that would revitalize that part of Providence. Years and years. But when there are powerful interests involved, such as those who want to put up a baseball stadium in downtown Providence for the Boston Red Sox farm team now based in Pawtucket  then things move with lightning speed (and mostly in darkness).

Why the delay in the medical building?

For years, we've been waiting and waiting for a long-planned big medical building to be built on Providence's North Main Street near the Miriam Hospital. It would both improve healthcare in our area and lead to an economic renaissance of that strip of North Main. Indeed, the building could be the start of a "medical half-mile'' there, with all sorts of businesses, not just medical, being spawned by it.

Why oh why is it being held up? The public wants it. And it could keep many  Rhode Island patients and their friends and family from taking their business to nearby Massachusetts.