We have said in the past that a newspaper’s role in a community should not only to serve as a watchdog over government and call out injustices and inaccuracies as we see it – to the best of our objective ability – but to also give credit where it is due when government works out for the benefit of all within the community.

This is why we feel it prudent to commend Mayor Joseph Solomon and Ward 7 Councilman Stephen McAllister – among the other council members and city personnel who contributed – for the successful rehabilitation and soon-to-be reopening of the Buttonwoods Community Center.

Seen as a fiscal burden by former Mayor Scott Avedisian, the center was closed in 2017 after it was assessed it would cost around $500,000 to get the center back into a condition where it could pass occupancy standards. Solomon and McAllister immediately promised to make the reopening of the facility a priority last year. They have delivered on that promise, and did so in a way that, at least as far as we can tell, has been largely expense free for taxpayers.

One of the main reasons the job could be done is because of Furey Roofing Company, who offered to do the roofing project for the building free of charge – save for $5,000 for the purchase of materials. We will give the benefit of the doubt that there is no quid pro quo behind the scenes regarding this arrangement, but must point out that Furey Roofing Company’s founder, Thomas Furey, has a connection to City Council finance chairman Ed Ladouceur. The two served together on the RI Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board, on which Furey remains as the chairman. Ladouceur also owns a contracting company in Warwick. Warwick has benefited from the relationship and the desire of both men to help the city.

What the citizens of Warwick will receive from this donation is certainly a positive thing. Seniors in Buttonwoods and the surrounding area will get back a recreation center they had long used to play games and gather together, and city workers will finally be able to leave their dreary temporary posts at the long -closed John Greene Elementary School.

This is certainly a win for citizens as well, who have had to conduct personal business in crowded, makeshift offices that didn’t do much for employee morale either. Now, with ample office space, all departments except for the city personnel department will have a work space actually conducive to doing the people’s business.

Overall, the revival of Buttonwoods Community Center is a great example of the outside the box thinking that Mayor Solomon has emphasized as part of his governing strategy – taking something that was a foregone conclusion and attacking it from a different angle, achieving something beneficial for Warwick as a result.

We look forward to seeing more success stories of this kind moving forward.