SPARE CHANGE: Middletown Center project seems like a money grab and should be questioned

Oddznendz gathered while waiting for a real spring:

• I'm going to need some serious convincing before I back the Middletown Center project.

I'm opposed to taking a recreational field and hiding a library within a commercial development. And, like many, I have no interest in a 140-room hotel. Aquidneck Island has been hit with hotels the past few years, and I'm not convinced we needed them (Evan Smith, who heads Discover Newport, disagrees).

A hotel would create jobs. But these days there are a lot more jobs than workers. And how many people who fill these jobs will be able to live here?

It heralds market-rate housing as part of the project. Not sure what that means. The market in these parts is hardly designed for working people.

Then there's the promise of retail stores. It looks as if the majority of shopping spaces are full these days. And the Garden City center, the state's best, in Cranston is the reported prototype.

But increasingly, retail is an Amazon truck parked on your street, as a delivery person heads to the porch with an armful of packages.

Rocky Kempenaar, one of the developers, has a good track record in these parts. But why does this proposal, at West Main Road near Coddington Highway, feel like a land-grab/money grab?

Middletown officials need to ask some pointed questions and see if there's a less intrusive way to develop that stretch of land.

• If I'm an NBA coach, I bench the next player who bypasses an easy layup in order to throw a wobbly pass to a teammate who tosses up a 3-point airball.

And, yes, the game was better before the 3 ... more running, more passing, more play in the paint.

• Glad to see Bishop's Fourth Street Diner will be open into September.

• Same goes for Richard Sardella's Marina Cafe and Pub on Goat Island, which will be open for summer.

• If Allan Fung wants Jim Langevin's congressional seat, he had better answer reporters' questions on Roe v. Wade and pro-life/pro-choice.

Answers like, "I'm not into labels" are weak sauce. Reporters should lean on him for as long as it takes to get a reasonable answer. The state GOP might prod Fung into switching to a straight answer as well.

This hide and seek game is childish.

• I'm watching the final seasons of "Better Call Saul" and "Ozark." Both have been quality shows, a rung below "Breaking Bad" and the "Sopranos," but high quality nonetheless.

• The New York Times this week published a classic piece of reporting on the rise of white nationalist Tucker Carlson, the Fox news (and St. George's School grad) talkmeister.

It charts how Carlson's denigration of Black women and immigrants ("They're poor and dirty") has helped him become the most popular talk show host on TV. Racism has always existed, but these days it's publicly cool in some quarters.

I recall years ago a reader calling our newsroom years ago to say them Confederate flag is not a racist symbol. After he hung up, long-ago intern Dave Kibbe asked, "When's the last time you saw a Black person waving one?"

• By the way, Carlson's cheerleading for Vladimir Putin has done nothing to hurt his ratings.

• If you want to see COVID numbers rise, eliminate masking and vaccine mandates.

• Has there ever been a more gullible U.S. senator than Susan Collins, the Republican from Maine?

• Had anyone ever heard of Amber Heard before the Johnny Depp case? Does anyone care?

Jim Gillis is a Daily News columnist. Send him email at jimgillis13@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: SPARE CHANGE: Middletown Center project seems like a money grab