To the editor:

While perusing this publication make sure to check out the announcement concerning the East Providence Waterfront Commission’s Design Review Committee meeting on March 13, which will discuss Marshall Properties’ proposed advertising signage on the Veterans Memorial Parkway.

At the January meeting Marshall Properties proposed a skyscraper of a sign, reaching 21 feet, smack dab on both the Veterans Memorial Parkway and Lyons Avenue as you pass through the proposed rotary heading to Riverside. This wall would be used to advertise the 100,000-square-foot proposed grocery store with cafe and liquor store attached as well as drive through food options, banks, etc.

Keep in mind if you are headed to the NEW main entrance to the proposed development on Veterans Memorial Parkway, you will not be able to cross the oncoming traffic to enter with a left turn due to the estimated 11,500 extra cars/delivery trucks on a daily basis. The same problem happens when exiting the development. A right turn only situation leads cars to the proposed rotary northbound no matter where you are headed. Maybe that is why the sign was proposed as big as it was. A trapped-in-traffic audience going around and around a rotary that is unnecessary and unwanted and could be construed as unlawful, according to the Comprehensive Plan.

To the Waterfront Commission’s credit, specifically Bill Fazioli, when Marshall Properties stated their research had shown that 21 feet was about the norm for East Providence, Bill replied that while 21 feet might be average in other parts of East Providence, the Veterans Memorial Parkway was not just any normal area. It was special. And indeed it is.

Hence, the stipulations that abound in the Comprehensive Plan and the guidance of the Veterans Memorial Parkway Stewardship and in the East Providence Waterfront Commission bylaws stating that development on the Parkway shall not exceed the traffic capacity of the parkway, that signage on the Parkway is uncalled for, that traffic signals are a blight to the roadway and that the current views and boundaries of the Parkway were part of the making of the Parkway and should remain and be recognized as not just part of Rhode Island history, but America’s history.

East Providence “leaders” seem to have the best interest of developers in mind, and if I am going to be honest, the lack of bodies and voices at the Waterfront Commission, city council, zoning and planning meetings have practically paved the way for the “leaders” who favor development and money over residents’ rights. Keep Metacomet Green will be attending and speaking at the March 13 meeting and we truly hope we are not sitting alone again.

See you there.

Heather Andrade
Director
Keep Metacomet Green & Save Our Historic Lands