Letter: We need to solve the Metacomet situation as friends, neighbors

Posted 4/28/21

To the editor:

While I wasn’t born here in East Providence, or Rhode Island for that matter , I have been here over 40 years and think I have earned the Townie title by now.

I have …

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Letter: We need to solve the Metacomet situation as friends, neighbors

Posted

To the editor:

While I wasn’t born here in East Providence, or Rhode Island for that matter , I have been here over 40 years and think I have earned the Townie title by now.

I have loved every minute of living here, raising kids here and working here. I have owned houses here and my husband and his family ran a company here for decades.

While technically East Providence is a city it does have that small town feel.

I have seen a few issues that seemed to split the city, opinion wise. There was the carousel, the closing of schools, and many school committee versus city council feuds. All to be expected I suppose.

Most happened pre social media and it seemed more civil. Neighbors could be on the other side of the argument and still get together for a cookout. There were no threats or nasty accusations. No one felt comfortable bashing people that they would likely run into at Forbes Field or Almacs or Benny’s.

It seems to be that social media has allowed people to become mean and vicious with the veil of the keyboard in front of them.

So I often think in terms like the following; what if this Keep Metacomet Green issue happened 20 years ago? Would this kind of unneighborly behavior be happening? I think the cause would still remain and the signs and rallies would still have happened as would delivering leaflets and talking to people, but it would end there.  People would or wouldn’t attend council meetings as they do or don't do now. People would discuss it while watching the kids play TBall or while waiting in line at the market.

There would be more empathy for the folks whose houses and neighborhoods would be directly affected by such a development.

Obviously I am on the side of Keeping Metacomet as green and open as possible but I try not to (and admittedly have failed a few times) be mean and hateful. I have learned through my own tragedies as of late to try to play nice. We don’t know how fragile people are and perhaps the passion of KMG members is born from fear. Fear that the life they have built in their city and neighborhood will change so dramatically that their entire lifestyle will be in danger of becoming so changed it’s scary to them. Maybe they worry about traffic and safety or our Veterans Memorial Parkway no longer displaying our respect to our military. They may worry they can’t afford to move to a different place that would offer what they had- and lost. Empathy for them.

I must say I think this wonderful city has been doing just fine. Yes our taxes are high but people are still figuring it out. Like all cities schools open and close all the time but the fact that we are building, and were building a brand new high school way before Metacomet happened, shows our city credit rating is pretty good.

In other words, if the Faxon Five hadn’t fooled the owners of Metacomet, and if the members paid the taxes all along that were owed as well, what has changed to make us seem desperate for this revenue?

Nothing. Nothing happened.

If anything the Waterfront District is more than just a sketch on paper now. It’s happening! We are going to be a destination for tourists and an asset for our state.

We don’t need Metacomet to save us. We are and were fine and figuring it out. As neighbors and as friends.

Jane Crevier

East Providence

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