Newport Daily News - Senator Says Town and Nation Must Upgrade Infrastructure
News Article
By Matt Sheley
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., was in Middletown on Monday morning to hear about two issues that seemingly couldn't be further apart - stormwater runoff and tourism.
However, by the end of his visit - which included stops at the Esplanade 1 outfall pipe overlooking Easton's Bay and the Hampton Inn & Suites hotel - Whitehouse said the connection was clear: heavy rains force swimming bans at area beaches and a good portion of the local economy suffers.
"I hope that in the long run we're able to find ways to invest much more strongly and systematically in America's infrastructure, particularly its water infrastructure," he said during a meeting with community and business leaders. "We're $600 billion short in terms of what we've identified now as decrepit water and wastewater infrastructure that needs to be fixed. It has to be fixed sooner or later. and we might as well do it now and it's good for the economy."
Starting the day at the Esplanade 1 outfall pipe in the Easton's Point neighborhood, Whitehouse was briefed by town officials and a representative with consultant Woodard & Curran, which is overseeing a $1.9 million project to clean up the area.
Studies have targeted the aged outfall pipe as one of the main reasons for periodic swimming bans in Easton's Bay. The town has been working on a plan to combine stormwater from the Esplanade 1 pipe with that from one farther away from local beaches, routing the stormwater through an underwater line and through a diffuser into a mixing zone, where wave action and other natural features would deal with the bacteria.
The town is expected to apply in September to the state for the permitting required to do the work, with construction starting in the spring of 2011.
Whitehouse said he will try to secure earmark supplemental money to help support the project, and will try to free up low-interest loans.
"It needs to be done," he said. "We can't have these beach closures, and I'm here to try to help get whatever you need to get it done."
The tour shifted from the outfall pipe to the Hampton Inn on West Main Road, where co-owners James Karam and Robert "Rocky" Kempenaar thanked Whitehouse for showing interest in their concerns. Representatives from the Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport Vineyards, the Rhode Island Turnpike & Bridge Authority and more than a dozen hospitality-related groups gathered in a conference room and watched a slideshow presented by Tim Walsh, vice president of sales for the Newport & Bristol County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
He indicated that one out of every 10 people in Rhode Island has a job related to the tourism economy, which generated $6.8 billion in 2009.
The bad weather last June and July, the down economy and extensive roadwork in downtown Newport hurt tourism last year, Walsh said, but things are projected to improve this summer. Comparing the 2009 numbers to other tourist destinations around the country, Walsh said the summer wasn't as bad for many businesses as initially believed.
"In the national picture, we really weren't unhappy with our numbers," he said. "There were a lot of places that were quite a bit worse off than we were, so we actually weathered the storm fairly well."
Part of that, Walsh said, was because of the proximity to major population centers, with 10.9 million people living within a 2 ½ -hour ride and 60.1 million within a 6 ½ -hour trip. The growing cruise ship industry, with 70 visits scheduled to Newport this year compared to 35 in 2009, is another plus.
"Another reason for our success is because we are so diverse," Walsh said. "We have something to offer everybody, every age group, every demographic. The beaches, we have culinary events, cultural events, the history with the Colonial and Gilded Age, the maritime industry, which comes with the sailing regattas, harbor tours, you can come and learn how to sail, charter a boat or use your own boat and dock at one of our marinas."
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