EDITORIAL: Elorza’s ATV Strategy Is Injuring People and Killing Providence
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza is now championing a law to make illegal, unregulated ATVs and dirt bikes legal.
Over the past year, the bikers have died, injured others, and ruined the quality of life for Providence residents and visitors.
Providence is marketed as a wonderful city to visit — walk along the river, take in Waterfire, brunch at a cafe, have a stroll down Benefit Street.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTVisit the website GoProvidence — the site promoting Providence to conventions, NCAA tournaments, and cheerleader contests —you can’t find a single image of Elorza’s Providence. There are no images of Elorza’s ATVs racing through the city destroying the city’s quality of life.
On Monday, GoLocal reported about another ATV incident injuring a pedestrian that the Providence police's investigation found that the victim left a pool of blood and the spot was measured to be "62 feet from the start of the scrape marks."
The head of the Roger Williams Park Zoo Zoological Society Jeremy Goodman says these gangs are destroying the experience for families wanting to go to the park and visit the zoo. "We have seen the damage these vehicles have caused to Roger Williams Park on a regular basis. We have also seen these vehicles disrupt events such as weddings and our very popular Food Truck Friday event," said Goodman.
"I fear that with the destruction these vehicles cause and the fear they put into people due to their reckless use, Roger Williams Park will reverse its path of progress and people will once again feel it is not a safe place to take their families," he added.
Elorza and Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare have repeatedly instructed the Providence Police not to enforce basic rules of the road. They have created an atmosphere that matches the hordes from Mad Max.
Cities are fragile. There is a balance. Elorza has repeatedly misunderstood this - panhandling, graffiti, home break-ins, the drug trade in Kennedy Plaza, calling gunmen "knuckleheads."
Maybe it is time for Governor Dan McKee to send the State Police to Providence to enforce these most basic laws on state roads in Providence -- on Smith Street and North Main Street, for example.
It is time for leadership.
