WPRO News & the Associated Press
Two Rhode Island mayors are calling on Gov. Gina Raimondo and state lawmakers to help prevent toy maker Hasbro from leaving the area.
Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien and Central Falls Mayor James Diossa said Wednesday that after the closure of Memorial Hospital and the loss of the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, their cities cannot endure another major economic hit.
“People are upset because we’ve lost the Pawsox, right, and the inaction that’s causing this,” said Grebien in a Wednesday news conference. “We can’t allow that.”
Pawtucket-based Hasbro Inc. employs about 1,000 area residents, but announced last month it anticipates laying off a percentage of its worldwide workforce after poor third quarter results.
“We know that they need to be here, this is where they started,” Grebien said. “This is where their history is and we want them here. We want them to know that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that they stay here.”
A Hasbro spokeswoman says the company is in the process of evaluating several options for updating corporate headquarters, including finding a new corporate campus in the Pawtucket area.
A Raimondo spokesman says the Democratic governor is committed to helping Hasbro “thrive” in Rhode Island.
