"Chair Alviti clearly had his marching orders, and he followed through...It was appalling."
All this public testimony fell on deaf ears. Rhode Island
Governor Daniel McKee refused to fund RIPTA adequately, and
RIPTA Board Chair Alviti rammed the cuts through, shutting down opposing voices
on the board.
At the meeting’s conclusion, State Representative Teresa
Tanzi (Democrat, District 34, Narragansett, South Kingstown) spoke
with reporters and lambasted RIPTA Board Chair Peter Alviti, who
has served as the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT)
Director since 2015.
Representative Teresa Tanzi: We just wrapped up the board meeting at RIPTA, and I have never seen such bullying on a board. The chair of this board needs to resign. He would not let the members speak. He tried to prevent someone from putting forward a valid proposal, and I’ve never seen anything like it. He needs to resign, and I’m putting in legislation, very soon, to have him replaced as chair of the board. There is no reason whatsoever for the chair of the Department of Transportation to be the person in charge of RIPTA. It’s clearly a conflict of interest. Although not written as a statute in our state, it is clearly a conflict of interest for him to be there, and his bullying nature was on full display today, and absolutely appalling.
Reporter: How frustrating is it to see so many members of the public come out to speak but ultimately be denied?
Representative Tanzi: It is incredibly
frustrating. In my testimony1, I talked about the rollercoaster ride. We are
putting these people on an endless rollercoaster ride. I’m talking about the
people who sign leases to live somewhere they know is on a bus route that will
take them to school, work, and the places they need to go, which was destroyed
today. We talk about being consistent for our business owners in this state. We
talk about a stable tax rate and on and on. How are business owners going to
know that their employees are going to be there? What businesses will open up
on a bus route, thinking that they’ll be able to get customers to come in? What
businesses will stay here, like Hasbro2, which has already clearly stated that they are
not staying in Rhode Island without adequate public transportation for its
employees? That all fell on deaf ears.
I’m appalled at this board’s decision today, and I applaud
Board Member Normand Benoit for his courage and for standing
up to the bully who is the chair of this committee. Chair Alviti clearly had
his marching orders, and he followed through. He was not going to let anyone
sway anybody’s vote. It was appalling.
Reporter: Do you have any messages for Governor
McKee today? Can this decision still be amended?
Representative Tanzi: Apparently, the Director
of DOT, the chair of the RIPTA board, thinks so. We need to act quickly so
these cuts do not go through. It’s $5 million. That’s the difference between
changes in frequency and people not being able to get to church and their jobs
on the weekend. I mean, there’s more than a nine-to-five workday for people,
and we have to recognize that and prove that we listen when people speak. There
have been hundreds of hours of testimony - heartbreaking, heart-wrenching- over
these last few weeks, and the fact that all of that was just thrown away on a
vote like this is deeply disappointing.
Reporter: What’s next?
Representative Tanzi: I plan on speaking to the
Speaker of the House immediately. I was texting him. Unfortunately, he’s at a
wake for Judge Frank Caprio right now. This is way too
important for us to give up on. This issue has not stopped, and we need to find
$5 million out of a $14 billion budget. Disappointing doesn’t even begin to
cover how this makes me feel.
Steve Ahlquist: I’m sure DOT has an extra $5
million.
Representative Tanzi: I’m certain that DOT has
an extra $5 million. In fact, from what I understand, DOT did have some flex
funding, and when they got wind of the fact that the General Assembly might ask
them to transfer it to RIPTA, magically, some sidewalks were put in on West
Main Road in North Kingstown. We need to investigate whether they were
following the proper appropriation recommendations. According to the STIP (State Transportation Improvement Program),
we have a very clear plan on how this money is supposed to be spent, and if
they’re all of a sudden spending it in advance of other things, or to prevent
them from spending it on RIPTA, that needs to be looked at. We need an
efficiency study for DOT.
Steve Ahlquist: I was going to say that!
Representative Tanzi: We need an efficiency
study on how they’re addressing this bridge. This week’s article [behind
a paywall] in the Providence Journal is appalling. DOT got all of
these written proposals put in, and then they got anonymous verbal consent that
they did it the right way.
Reporter: We’ve got a gubernatorial election
looming. Significant campaign announcements are probably going to be made next
week. Is this going to be a significant campaign issue?
Representative Tanzi: Looking at the number of
people who spoke out and submitted written and public comments, it will be.
Some businesses are deeply impacted by this. By the way, the board says that
they did not cut any roots. They eliminated a portion of the number 14 bus,
which serves a grocery store in my district. The truth is that they are cutting
routes.
Raising fares is a known public transit deterrent. I used to
ride public transit exclusively when I lived in another state with no Sunday
service, and I had to hitchhike to get to work. Is that plan B for transit
riders in our state? Will they have to hitchhike to get to church on Sunday or
the supermarket? It is not a plan B. This decision ignores the needs of people
in Rhode Island.
Steve Ahlquist: Whoever runs for governor should
want to get ahead of this issue.
Representative Tanzi: Anyone who is looking to
be the next governor of our state needs to be forward-looking enough to
understand that transit is the backbone of a state and a state the size of the
City of Philadelphia, as someone testified earlier, needs to wake up and
realize that if they want to be competitive and attractive to businesses and
get people to move here, this is going to be the main issue. The gubernatorial
candidate who fully supports RIPTA and implementing the Transit Master Plan is
the one I will vote for. That’s the kind of leadership I’m looking for.
Reporter: It’s clear from the countless hours of
testimony that there will be a significant impact on human services costs here
in Rhode Island due to these cuts. Do you think the board understands that?
Representative Tanzi: I’m the chair of the Human
Services Subcommittee in House Finance. This is going to have detrimental
impacts on the lives of individuals. In the past, we’ve opened a human service
agency that’s not on a bus route. That shows me how clueless the government can
be when serving the public. It couldn’t be more clear that the need is there.
Expansion of RIPTA is what we need, not cuts.
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