Pitching RI to Fidelity's Boston employees
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SMITHFIELD -- Fidelity Investments has been inviting Rhode Island tourism officials to Boston to sing the praises of the Ocean State to Boston-based workers being transferred here. The program, designed to generate excitement among employees about their migration, provides information about the Rhode Island nightlife, restaurant scene and real estate market. "It's helping them understand what the state of Rhode Island is about," Perry Chlan, a Fidelity spokesman, said. "It's all geared toward helping associates understand where they're moving to." By the end of the year, Fidelity plans to move 1,400 employees into a new building it is constructing in Smithfield. In addition to the Boston-based employees, that group will include staff at the former American Express building next to the Providence train station and at other buildings at the Smithfield complex. David C. DePetrillo, director of the Rhode Island Division of Tourism, said his staff is helping convince Fidelity employees that an exile from Boston is no reason to leave the company. "They want to retain as many workers as possible," DePetrillo said. "They want to make sure that people realize that [Rhode Island] is a great place to live and work." Tourism officials, including Jayne Panarello, have participated in at least three sessions in Boston since Feb. 28. In the past, Fidelity has held similar events in Providence for its Boston-based employees, organizing information sessions at the Westin Providence hotel and downtown tours. "Whenever they call, we're happy to do it," DePetrillo said. "They're an important company." Fidelity, a Boston-based mutual fund company, constructed its first building in Smithfield about a decade ago. It now houses several divisions in Rhode Island, where it has been given generous financial incentives to expand. In 1996, the state bought 350 acres of property in Smithfield and leased it to Fidelity for 25 years. At the end of that period, the company will own the property. As part of the agreement, Fidelity's lease payments decrease as the company increases its Rhode Island workforce. In 2002, the state took an additional 40 acres of property along Route 7 in Smithfield by eminent domain. The state issued $10 million in bonds to acquire the property, and then leased it to Fidelity for 25 years. In 2005, at Fidelity's urging, the General Assembly approved a tax break for high-income workers. A year later, the company broke ground on a third building in Smithfield, a 577,000 square-feet structure that will be the largest office building in the state when it opens later this year. Fidelity had 2,200 employees in Rhode Island at the end of last year, making it the state's 13th-largest employer, according to state Economic Development Corporation data. It is the largest source of revenue for the state-owned convention center in Providence. 
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Dear Sir or MS.:
In your zeal to move
your Boston associates to Rhode
Island have you even
thought of the hard ship you are putting
them through? Your
article sounds so
simple, you even say
that R.I. has this or that to entice
them to move.
Moving means some will have to find work elsewhere due to having children in school, homes and
family.What about
the awful choice you
have given them, move to R.I. or quit.
Now when the economy
is at its lowest in
years and families
have to struggle to get by, they have to deal with this move.
Happy employees are
able to do more work minus the pressures
from the Employers.
Please consider what you plan to do for
the sake of making more money. Lives are being affected.
Thank you and I hope you will think about what I have written.
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