A Senate bill introduced last month (the cosponsors include Senate Finance chairman Daniel DaPonte) resurrects the possiiblity of gambling on the Providence waterfront, among other places:

There will be some interesting political dynamics at work when the Senate Task Force on LNG holds its inaugural meeting at the rise of the Senate today. The issue is provocative since Attorney General Patrick Lynch (who is cultivating labor support in his Democratic primary battle with Frank Caprio) has been an outspoken critic of LNG, while local trade unions see LNG as a lucrative jobs issue.

Update: It's official. From the governor's office:

"I am pleased that Keith has agreed to lead the EDC for this next year.  These next few months are critical to the future success of the agency and our economic recovery.  Keith is the right person to continue to build upon the momentum to improve the EDC, strengthen its mission, and to be more responsive to our existing businesses, support the growth of new industries and to improve the economic climate in Rhode Island," said Governor Donald L. Carcieri. 

After pronouncing herself a Rhode Islander during her introductory news conference, Ioanna Morfessis is out before she began as the new director of the state Economic Development Corporation:

With Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio already airing campaign commercials, a main emphasis is his professed desire to help the small businesses that provide most jobs in Rhode Island. The state treasurer has talked up this concept during appearances, including his November 25 visit with Drinking Liberally.

UPDATE: Not much of an answer?

The City's plan seems unlikely to mollify critics, as I should have noted in my initial post. That's because its Waterfront Protection Zone is well south of the Allens Avenue businesses that critics say are being endangered by the Cicilline administration's plans thereabout for mixed-use development.

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During WRNI's Newport town meeting last night, Newport Chamber director Keith Stokes offered a strong call for maintaining and strengthening Rhode Island's working waterfronts, particularly those in Newport and Providence.

The topic came up when Stokes offered his view of the two worst mistakes in recent Newport history. The first, he said, was the development of America's Cup Avenue, which acted like a highway in segregating residential neighborhoods from the city's downtown.

While the casino-question stances of the candidates for 2010 have started to attract attention, it's been pretty quiet concerning a more central issue -- Rhode Island's perennial need for more and better jobs.

Rhode Island, as we know, has its own unique challenges when it comes to economic development. The Ocean State nonetheless has some distinguished company when it comes to the latest joblessness figures.

From CNN:

California, Nevada and Rhode Island each hit record-high rates, the Labor Department said.

Longtime residents are familiar with the cyclical nature of Rhode Island's problems -- the sense that a state with many wonderful things and with such great promise too often seems incapable of moving forward. It's a topic I take up today in a Boston Globe op-ed: