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Nostalgia is killing Rhode Island.

When Rocky Point announced that it was closing the community went nuts complaining about how a Rhode Island institution couldn't possible be allowed to close - but they were unwilling to actually go to Rocky Point enough prior to the announcement to actually keep it open. The nostalgia kicked in and prevent the city from turning the land into something that would have actually produced tax revenue for the city to, I don't know pay for the rehabs on the schools that are to quote the Governor not places that can keep our kids "safe, warm and dry". Nope we need to remember a failed amusement park that our grand parents went to once a summer 50 years ago.

What we have seen in Warwick with the school closing is another example. "You can't close that school, my father and mother met there in 3rd grade!" or "My favorite teacher (who died 10 years ago) taught there!" Never mind the fact that our children are not getting quality educations but hey 50 years ago they may have been good schools so let keep'em open that is the Rhode Island way right?

Then there is Alex and Ani wow they really tapped into the nostalgia of Rhode Island because nothing says Rhode Island like over priced cheep jewelry. Nostalgia stuffed a ton of money in to their pockets, so much so that they have put their name on everything and created a laughable few actual jobs in Rhode Island. Yet, we drive away any industry that is modern. But hey they remind Rhode Island of the good ol' days so lets fork over some tax benefits, slap their name on a few more buildings for no good reason.

Now we have everyone losing their minds over Benny's closing. Let's be honest. Benny's was the junk drawer retailer (80% of what you buy there ends up in a junk drawer) . That doesn't make them a bad store, I bought my share of car batteries, hoses and flashlights there. What is true is that as a company they made no effort to keep up with the times. Almost every Benny's in Warwick became dingy, dully lit stores where the majority of the people working their didn't know anything about the products being sold. On top of that Benny's on the whole did not advance their business model and did things the way they always did them - what worked 50 years ago doesn't always work today. Small business don't need to be small minded and that is what Benny's became and when they realized how far behind the game they were they decided to stop playing.

If Rhode Island wants to have a future it needs to stop relying on the past for all of it's ideas. If Rhode Island wants a future Rhode Islanders need to stop trying to do things the same old way because it isn't working.

OR

Insanity = doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.