Johnston crews, equipment aid cleanup efforts in Cranston, Warwick

Pete Fontaine
Posted 8/13/15

Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian didn’t have to ask for help, and neither did Cranston’s Allan Fung, when it came to their communities’ cleanup efforts after last week’s intense storm.

“I …

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Johnston crews, equipment aid cleanup efforts in Cranston, Warwick

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Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian didn’t have to ask for help, and neither did Cranston’s Allan Fung, when it came to their communities’ cleanup efforts after last week’s intense storm.

“I reached out to Scott and Allan and offered to help as much as possible,” Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena said. “It’s like friends helping friends … neighbors helping neighbors in a time of need.”

Polisena, who emphasized “we were lucky, we only had one tree go down during the storm,” said the formation of the Rhode Island Coalition of Mayors – which meets periodically at his Johnston home and the residences of other local leaders – “really paid high dividends for Warwick and Cranston during their ongoing clean-up efforts.”

Polisena met with Arnie Vecchione, Johnston’s director of public works, and wound up sending a total of eight staffers to assist crews in Cranston and Warwick last Thursday, Friday and even early Saturday morning, clearing trees, branches and debris that fell during the early-morning storm.

In each location, Johnston crews – which at one time or another included Ted Whiteley, Lou Zanfagna, Nat Montalbano, Ron Audette, Desi Leone, Ben Zanni, Mike Pilkington and Dave DelFino – received rave reviews from men like Warwick public works foreman Scott Small.

“Your guys are great,” Small told Vecchione last Thursday evening in Warwick. “Now these men are what you call real hard workers.”

To which Vecchione later said: “That was a great moment of pride for Johnston; it made me proud. I know we have the best workers around. Now people in other communities know it, too.”

Vecchione also noted that Johnston sent a chipper, three dump trucks and a pickup truck to assist in the clean-up efforts.

“We did what we had to do. It’s what you do, its part of the job; you reach out and try to help each other,” he said. “After all, our communities are so close and it’s a small state … we should be helping each other.”

“Scott and Allan would do the same thing for us if the shoe was on the other foot,” Polisena said.

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