Elected Officials, Ferry Co. to Blame for Block Island Fights, Says Lima - Wants State to Step In
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Deputy Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Charlene Lima says she plans to introduce legislation to allow the state to have "full control of the amount of police and Emergency personnel on Block Island and on the Block Island Ferry."
Calling the recent “brawl” on Block Island unacceptable, Lima said the state "can no longer tolerate the owners of the Point Judith Block Island Ferry, Interstate Navigation, to block ferry service from other parts of the State."
"While the 'brawl' on the Island was bad, the fight on the Block Island Ferry was horrific," said Lima. "The State simply cannot tolerate any dangerous incident on a Ferry in the middle of the ocean where it is impossible for police authority or Medical Emergency to reach quickly."
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Legislative Goal
Lima on Wednesday released the following statement.
"The blame for the incident escalating on the Island is on elected officials on Block Island refusing to pay for increased State Police protection during peak summer days. That decision, I feel, set in motion a dangerous chain of events leading to the Ballard’s brawl. If the Island’s officials had agreed to put the safety of the visitors and residents over fiscal concerns and appropriated the necessary funds to pay for increased State Police protection, the Ballard’s brawl would not have occurred. That decision also put the Island’s professional and efficient local police force in harms’ way. They needed increased State Police to oversee the huge summer crowds.
The blame for what occurred on the Ferry should be on the Block Island Ferry ownership. They have prevented any attempt to allow Block Island Ferry Service from other parts of the State. They put personal profits over the public safety of the passengers. This must stop. The overcrowding and frantic rush to board the last Ferry service leaving the Island was a primary cause of the Ferry fight.
If we had allowed other Ferry services from other parts of the State this would not have occurred. There is no justifiable reason the profits of Navigation Interstate should come before the public’s safety. This decision has multiple bad effects. It contributes substantially to the traffic going to beaches in South County whereas if we had other points of departure and arrival this would lessen the beach traffic impact. It also has an adverse effect on the environment by having hundreds if not thousands of more automobiles on our roads to get to the Block Island Ferry. If we had other departure points, we would lessen automobile use on our beach highways.
Lastly, we cannot leave the amount of Police Protection on our Ferries to the owners who obviously put profits over safety. The State must take over the responsibility for Police protection required both on Block Island and the Ferry during the huge summer crowd season. Lastly, we must immediately begin to authorize additional departure point to get to Block Island and allow competition that would also benefit the passenger both in the level of their safety and in their wallets.
I plan to make this happen next session."
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