OPINION/LETTERS: Rescinding Mount Hope Bridge cameras was right move

Rescinding Mount Hope Bridge cameras was right move

At the July 11 meeting, the Portsmouth Town Council voted 7-0 to rescind their approval of the pilot program to place Automated License Plate Readers at the approaches to the Mount Hope Bridge. The testimony of Portsmouth residents at the meeting — and the many messages the council received — citing privacy concerns and expressing doubt about claims these cameras would be effective at suicide prevention led the councilors to reconsider their position. One factor had to be the analysis the RI ACLU delivered prior to the meeting highlighting the civil liberties and governance issues. You can read it online at https://bit.ly/Ports_ALPR. Thanks to the many folks who turned out, wrote in, and spoke up. And thanks to the members of the Portsmouth Town Council, who were willing to reconsider this decision, listen to the concerns of residents, and do the right thing.

John McDaid, Portsmouth

Supporting mental health and marijuana legalization is contradictory

In his column, “Legislators pushed for mental health funding,” (July 2), author Jamie Lehane, president and CEO of Newport Mental Health in Middletown, gave thanks to a multitude of legislators for ensuring mental health funding.

While these legislators’ actions in ensuring this funding may seem like a positive gesture in addressing the mental health crisis on Aquidneck Island, ironically, a number of these same legislators also voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana — a drug that can cause mental illness, and whose use, most recently reported, may be responsible for 1 in 4 men being diagnosed with psychosis and schizophrenia — a serious mental illness associated with extreme violence.

Marijuana is a drug that has also been found, as part of a national study in 2021, to increase suicide ideation in young adults who used it.

Mental health funding: Newport County lawmakers relentless in pushing for better mental health funding in budget

While I find these legislators’ actions contradictory, what really perplexed me was Mr. Lehane’s inclusion of Sen. Josh Miller as a “true champion” of one of the most vulnerable populations on Aquidneck Island.

For the last 11 years, Sen. Miller has been a lead sponsor of the bill to legalize recreational marijuana. He was also the co-chair of the 2017 legislative study commission that was charged with compiling a comprehensive report on ALL the effects of marijuana legalization.

That same study commission was suspended, and then terminated, after testimony was given in favor of recreational marijuana legalization, and before my colleagues and I were able to present our side of the issue with regard to societal effects — essentially squelching the opportunity for our voices and our concerns to be heard.

Sen. Miller, as the co-chair who was leading the study commission, promised my colleagues and I that the panel of experts we assembled for testimony would have the opportunity to present their findings, “time permitting.”

Strangely, that time never materialized as we waited for a rescheduling of future meetings.

Instead, we were informed that the study commission was suspended, and then months later terminated, and the comprehensive report that it was charged to compile was never brought to fruition.

Reading about Sen. Miller’s legislative assistance in ensuring funding for the Newport Mental Health Center, while simultaneously sponsoring a bill to legalize a drug that has been shown to cause mental illness, is akin to a tobacco industry representative spearheading a fundraising effort for a medical department’s lung cancer treatment program, all while lobbying for the installation of cigarette vending machines throughout the medical building.

I’m not sure how other people may view these gestures, but in my estimation, they do not represent the actions of a “true champion;” they reflect the deception of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Carol Formica, Middletown

Suicide barriers a fruitless investment

Hefty investments in suicide barriers on Rhode Island bridges are a fruitless notion. Rather than allocate funds toward improvements in living conditions for constituents, state leadership appears to prioritize an expensive catch.

Suicide barriers: Group continues effort to prevent suicides from RI bridges

It seems worth noting that things like financial stress are a catalyst for suicide. Mental health is also widely known to influence the act. Why, then, does leadership seem more concerned with incoherently stitching a wound instead of aiming to prevent it in the first place? As citizens slide deeper into economic strife and mental anguish, the attention on suicide barriers as a legitimate solution is arguably an insult. It reduces us to corporate livestock – improperly nourished, fenced in, and ideally meant to survive as means to another’s end. In typical 21st century American fashion, we scramble to solve a problem only once it reaches its breaking point.

Anna Lofgren, South Kingstown

Do not rush Middletown Commons plan

Recent reporting of latest Middletown Town Council meeting noted with accuracy the comments the Planning Board chair made regarding changes to the plans the Planning Board wanted to see for the “Middletown Commons” property on West Main Road: namely that they questioned the need for a hotel, said the proposed hotel is too large and should not be the central focus of the project. When the development team came back with a new plan. Guess what? They did not change the footprint of the hotel nor did they move it from the corner.

There are already 22 hotels in Middletown and 13 located on West Main Road. This town-owned property is essentially being given away forever (99 years) because the town needs the cash.

Latest on Middletown Commons: Town Council puts backing behind Middletown Center project as it moves forward

The project does not include any low income housing, while Middletown has the fourth highest number of homeless students and families in the state. The proposal includes 150 units of “workforce housing” which a new teacher or police officer would not be able to afford.

The Planning Board had also requested seeing recreational space for a playground, pickleball courts or other community spaces which were also ignored.

The Council is pushing through a sweetheart deal for local “good guys.” Years of planning, public input and thought to develop this property as a true town center using smart growth and meeting needs of desires of local residents are being pushed aside to fast track a project that should require more public input and should at least respond to Planning Board requests.

Let’s not rush this project, do we need another hotel? Do we need two more drive-through businesses? Should a Boston developer be interviewing prospective tenants for a town-owned property? I know I would rather see a Dave’s Market or a Trader Joe’s with a world class library, playground, a revised Pottsy Field and a space all residents can enjoy and benefit from. There is land on Valley Road that could accommodate a hotel to generate revenue, let’s put our residents first, listen to the Planning Board and not rush into this

Linda Finn, Middletown

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: LETTERS: Rescinding Mount Hope Bridge cameras was right move