Why 'yes' on 6 is an investment in RI's health

By George Shuster and Topher Hamblett
Posted 11/3/16

How would you like to be part of an investment that benefits you - and the economy - by protecting key Rhode Island landscapes, maximizing outdoor recreation opportunities, preventing stormwater pollution of water

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Why 'yes' on 6 is an investment in RI's health

Posted

and TOPHER HAMBLETT

How would you like to be part of an investment that benefits you – and the economy – by protecting key Rhode Island landscapes, maximizing outdoor recreation opportunities, preventing stormwater pollution of water resources, and helping clean up blighted properties for future safe and prosperous development?

You can be part of this reinvestment in Rhode Island’s environment by voting YES to approve the Green Economy Bond (Question 6) on this November’s ballot. It will provide $35 million to increase and continue many successful ongoing initiatives, an amount that will be augmented by matching funds to increase the positive payoffs.

The Green Economy Bond helps the environmental causes that Rhode Islanders have always rallied around to support in the past. This is a further opportunity to protect Narragansett Bay and open spaces, upgrade parks, provide enhanced recreational opportunities, and make polluted former industrial sites called brownfields into sites ripe for future business growth.

Sure, these are noble goals, but why does this investment make economic sense? The Green Economy Bond will assure that these enhancements play into the state’s economic goal of creating conditions that attract innovative and tech-savvy businesses, support thriving local food and arts communities, and stress public transportation through the creation of pedestrian and bike-friendly transit routes. It will also bolster the economic engine of tourism that already supports nearly 40,000 jobs and generates more than $3.2 million a year from people who come to visit and enjoy the resources of our historic and beautiful coastal state. How? State funds will be directly invested in targeted projects and matched with funds from other sources to deliver the most bang for the Rhode Island taxpayer’s buck. Past efforts like Question 6 demonstrate a proven track record of boosting the state’s economic interests while maximizing the value of Rhode Island’s natural resources.

Statewide, past investments have helped out across the board, and the Green Economy Bond will support those critical areas of interest into the years to come. It provides funding for historic state park development, as well as statewide land acquisition. It reaches out to communities to provide matching funds for local recreation development and open space conservation. The bond will promote bikeway networks that connect businesses and greenspaces. And through the ongoing backing of stormwater pollution prevention initiatives and brownfield clean-ups, local municipalities will continue to enjoy dramatic benefits from increased economic, environmental and societal health, and revitalized development in communities on lands once mourned as unusable.

In Warwick, we depend on our natural and recreational resources for our quality of life and for the sustained value of our houses and businesses. From Pawtuxet Cove to Greenwich Bay, across Goddard Park, City Park, and Rocky Point, from Bend Street to Winslow to Belmont, the state and city have made substantial efforts to make Warwick a great place to live, work, and play. But we can’t rely on past expenditures to keep our waters safe for swimming and clamming, to keep our roadways safe for biking and walking, or to keep our many former factory sites vibrant for continued use in our economy. We need to continue our forward-looking trajectory to maintain the place we call home.

Rhode Island has a tradition of environmental stewardship unmatched in the United States. Since the first environmental bond was resoundingly passed in 1985, the state’s citizens have passed every subsequent bond with over a two-thirds majority, from inner city to rural countryside voters, unshakeable support that would make an individual politician cry with joy. Now that the power of environmental protection and green projects have been recognized as invaluable economic driving forces, the need for initiatives that enhance those areas of interest and concern have been folded into any and all short and long-term planning from every community right up to the state level. But our state needs the financial backing to carry out those strategies.

Investment in the state’s future through the Green Economy Bond is a move that is a wise and rock-solid commitment to Rhode Island’s economic health. It is a commitment to environmental health. It is a commitment to the overall health of all the state’s residents. This November please vote “YES” on Question #6, the Green Economy Bond. Generations of Rhode Islanders will reap its benefits.

George Shuster is resident of Warwick and serves on the Board of Directors of Save The Bay. Topher Hamblett is Director of Advocacy for Save The Bay.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here