To the Editor:

I turned 45 last week. As best I know, I’ve spent all of my birthdays in Rhode Island. This one was no different – as usual, I spent part of my day on the same stretch of the Providence River and Upper Bay where I’ve swam, sailed, fished, motored, and paddled all my life. I also spent part of the day trying to get residents in the Tidewater neighborhoods to sign a petition to get the Warwick Sewer Authority cranking on the construction of the Bayside I, II, and III sewer project. 

As I was doing that, I was reflecting on my birthday in 1996, almost 25 years ago, when I was finishing up the first of my two summers working at the Warwick Sewer Authority. Back then, there was a lot of excitement about sewer construction, because a bond had passed to fund sewers in most of the Warwick neighborhoods that had not yet been sewered. Of course, the Tidewater neighborhoods were on that list, with sewers slated to be installed within the next few years. That was a priority, because these neighborhoods sit along the Bay and have a lot of homes on small lots that are ill-suited for individual septic systems and that make public sewer installation efficient. After that summer at the WSA, I went back to New York to finish up college. After the next summer at the WSA, I was off to law school in Virginia. Time passed, I got married, had two daughters, and, by my birthday in 2008 – 12 years later and now 12 years ago – I had signed an agreement to buy my current home in Riverview. Then, too, there was a lot of excitement about the Bayside sewer project. I attended the public meetings and heard that we were just a few years away from sewers coming online. After moving in to my house, the neighborhood roads were dug up to investigate Native American artifacts that might impact the sewer project. Then the roads were patched, then dug up again for the same reason. Patched again. Dug up again. Still no sewer construction.

These days, my daughter is getting close to the age I was when I was in college worked at the WSA and the Bayside project was first greenlighted. Literally speaking, a generation has passed without the City being able to implement a relatively small pubic works project that has been on the drawing board for decades. As to the most recent delays, Mayor Solomon has cited coordination with National Grid, cooperation with the Narragansett Tribe, the effects of the COVID pandemic, and overall cost. But guess what? Since the Bayside project was first in development, we’ve already addressed those issues multiple times. We have also seen the Iraq War, 9/11, the Afghanistan War, and the Great Recession. We’ve seen three mayors in our City, and our current Mayor has been a public City official most of that time. We have seen the economy shrink and grow. We have seen the New England Patriots go from never having won a Super Bowl to winning six, and we have seen the Boston Red Sox go from an 86-year World Series dry spell to winning four World Series. We have seen huge statewide public infrastructure projects to improve Bay water quality go through design, construction, and implementation, like the Combined Sewer Overflow tunnels.

But here in Riverview, the streets look as pockmarked as ever, and construction costs are not going down. The sewers we have been promised for my entire adult life are still not being constructed, as the City is sitting on the bids that have been submitted to start the work. I am so thankful to live my life in this beautiful City and to spend as much time as I do on the water along its 39 miles of coast. But for the life of me I cannot explain why this City cannot get its act together and deliver on a promise that has been outstanding for so long. Mayor Solomon, in this election year, it’s terrific to see you focusing on the neglected Mickey Stevens complex and other high-profile issues. Yet if you really want to show voters that you can deliver on promises, please start with this one that’s a quarter-century old—tell the WSA that you fully support moving ahead with construction of the Bayside sewer project immediately. And fellow residents, please indicate your support by signing our on-line petition at: https://www.change.org/p/riverview-residents-start-construction-of-the-bayside-sewer-project-now

George Shuster

Warwick