LETTERS

Objects appear larger when you're a kid

Posted 7/17/18

To the Editor: I took a walk through Rocky Point the other day for the first time in 50 some years. Sure, as a kid, I'd been there many, many times. The salt water swimming pool on your right hand side as you enter the amusement park. All the rides,

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LETTERS

Objects appear larger when you're a kid

Posted

To the Editor:

I took a walk through Rocky Point the other day for the first time in 50 some years. Sure, as a kid, I’d been there many, many times. The salt water swimming pool on your right hand side as you enter the amusement park. All the rides, food, cotton candy, running around with friends; Rocky Point was huge. Not so this day. Where did everything go? How did everything fit on that huge piece of land?

Walking through there this day, I was picturing where the main entrance was, and the stage where I first saw the band The Yardbirds. I can’t recall if it was Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck (not all three were in the band at the same time) who broke the bottom E string on his guitar. Without missing a beat, that bottom E string hanging, the band kept rolling on throughout the song. I know, my elbows were on that stage. How did the World’s Largest Dinner Hall fit on that patch of land? With the drive through below to pick up your order of clam cakes with red or white clam chowder, overlooking the Narragansett Bay? On a clear day, off in the distance, you’ll be able to see the Jamestown and Newport bridges. After an hour and a half roaming that small valley, I could hear the sounds of people talking, running from one ride to another, smelling the food, tasting the cotton candy when it came to me. My quote: “The best memories can’t be seen.”

It would be a very sad day to imagine or see anything else on such an exclusive, pristine piece of real estate. This is not broken; don’t fix it!

David F. Cook

Warwick

Comments

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  • richardcorrente

    Dear David Cook,

    Your memories of Rocky Point mirror mine, and I also have great memories of fishing off the dock behind the Shore Dinner Hall. Your last comment suggests that you wouldn't want ANYTHING on that beautiful land to disturb your (and My) memory of our past. "This is not broken. Don't fix it!" David, it IS broken. Right now it is, as you say, a pristine piece of real estate. And it is currently being used for just about nothing. OK we show movies to children after dark when most of them have fallen asleep on their parents laps, but other than that, Rocky Point is costing our taxpayers a fortune for its' maintenance and gaining "zero" in revenue. I would be in favor of preserving part of the area for the public, and developing the rest for VERY expensive homes with VERY high tax revenue for the City that would lower the tax needs on the rest of us, add students to our schools, and make the area even MORE prestigious than it is today, a win-win-win situation for us all, especially for the 80,000 taxpayers that are paying the tab.

    Don't worry David. The memories will always be there.

    Happy Summer everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Tuesday, July 17, 2018 Report this

  • TheSkipper

    Developing that land would be a disaster.

    As a kid I was all over that place. I know where they dumped the waste from the machinery, the shore dinner hall the midway and where they buried the old rides and barrels full of who knows what. The reason that land didn't sell is because somebody knew stirring up all that stuff will only turn that whole place into a superfund site and then NOBODY would get to use it. It's best to let it be a graveyard of nostalgic memories instead of Little Rhody's own version of Love Canal........

    Tuesday, July 17, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    David, don't fall for the make-believe mayor's attempt to ingratiate himself with you before supporting irresponsible development of Rocky Point.

    "Rocky Point is costing our taxpayers a fortune for its' [sic] maintenance."

    This is a lie. The make-believe mayor, first, does not provide any factual basis for this claim. Secondly, Rocky Point is public land that is maintained by city and state employees under existing budgets. The budgets for public space upkeep have not increased because of Rocky Point.

    Also, viewing Rocky Point as a revenue source by developing "expensive homes" that will require new sewers and utilities and limit the public's access to this public space, is further proof that the make-believe mayor has nothing but delusional ideas to offer.

    You and many honest, taxpaying voters are right -- and the make-believe mayor is wrong. Rocky Point should and will be preserved as open space, no matter how much he tries to repeat his delusional ideas on this website.

    Wednesday, July 18, 2018 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    eyes agree wit master mayer, pave over the hole area, kids don't need open space, dey is just gonna fall asleep in mommy's arms so we needs tons of burger joints there so they can be stuffed with empty calories and sit wit mom and dad and watch a movie on der fone. you wants to see a tree, dat is wat da interwebs is for.

    Wednesday, July 18, 2018 Report this

  • davebarry109

    The skipper is right. There are lots of hazardous waste buried on the site. The reason it is there is the same reason the park went out of business and we lost a treasure....corruption. The mob had a hand in it and the management was awful. They had their own 'dump' for years and the city turned a blind eye.

    Wednesday, July 18, 2018 Report this

  • JohnStark

    As a frequent critic of most things government, and former ride operator of the SkyLiner, allow me to say that the Rocky Point finished project is one of the best things the city has done in many years. Mr. Cook captures the memories of thousands. Well done, Warwick! Well done.

    A side question I've always wondered about: What is the World's SECOND Largest Shore Dinner Hall?

    Thursday, July 19, 2018 Report this