Are Rhode Islanders Burying Their Heads in The Sand? Or Have We Just Given Up?
That was the thought that ran around in my head today after reading a GoLocal story about yet another potential restaurant shutdown attributed to the Washington Bridge Closure. And after an appearance yesterday afternoon at Gregg's Downstairs Pub (one of my favorite, longtime haunts) it looks like that place may be next. I was the only one there.
After interviewing the bartender for awhile regarding the welfare of of some of my old friends that once frequented there, she indicated that the pace of business changed somewhat since the Covid epidemic but the bridge closure tamped things down significantly.
So I started thinking about this issue along with other issues that have cropped up lately and began to realize just how badly we're getting hosed. Now this is not an average every day, run of the mill. year after year, general hosing we are issued by the political industrial class in our state, but a hosing an steroids! Sort of like a Super Soaker attached to a firehose hosing.
Ponder this. Since the western side of the bridge was closed in December of 2023, it's still there. Day after day we ride through the skinny lanes and the Eastern half of the bridge and the broken bridge is still there. Noting going on.
Meanwhile in Baltimore, The Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed by a disabled cargo ship on March 26, 2024, halting all shipping in and out of the harbor, and as of yesterday, the shipping lanes have re-opened.
Place this issue against the backdrop of Rhode Island's latest proposed budget. A budget which slashes money for kids in need (DCYF), doesn't address the issues surrounding a spate of nursing home closures and doesnt motivte doctors and dentists to stay in our state due to low insurance reimbrsement rates.
Meanwhile, Citizens Bank (The Royal Bank of Scotland which left thousands of Rhode slanders in the lurch during the Great Recession) asks for (threatens) a $15 million tax rebate and the Governor and the General Assembly fall over themselves to make it happen.
Speaker Shekarchi, who I realize has a difficult job running the state was quoted as saying that, “I don’t want to be the speaker who loses Citizens Bank". But where's the same urgency for us regular folks? You know, the ones that won't go to restaurants or shopping because of the "soul crushing" traffic related to the bridge? Or the young kids in need? Or the old people running out of nursing home choices? Or people losing their doctors and dentists because of the paltry reimbursement rates? What about independent businesses trying to survive?
I feel like we're all in some nightmare akin to the old Benny's Commercial where the shopper walks down an isle looking for help calling out "Hello?" But in this case, no one answers
Unless of course you're a wealthy bank. The rest of us just get, well.......hosed.