From: John McDaid
To: joeys31@juno.com, joe.robicheau@gmail.com, dDolce@portsmouthri.com, kessonp@gmail.com, Dfaucher@portsmouthri.com, jrobicheau@portsmouthri.com, jseveney@portsmouthri.com, keithhamilton@cox.net, contactlizpedro@aol.com, mbuddemeyer@portsmouthri.com, krizicl@portsmouthschoolsri.org, cynthia.perrotti@gmail.com, cstmartin@dot.ri.gov, dbestwick@dot.ri.gov, sen-ottiano@rilin.state.ri.us, rep-jay70@cox.net

Cc: sandy@patch.com, johnson@newportri.com, sakonnet@eastbaynewspapers.com, news@wadk.com, news@heraldnews.com, NewsRoom@NewportRI.com, pjnews@projo.com, 7to7blog@projo.com, idonnis@wrni.org, News@wjar.com, news@abc6.com, wpronews@630wpro.com, news@wrni.org, news@wsar.com

Subject: Island Park flooding causing safety issues for residents and school children

Date: Tues, 04 Oct 2011 09:06:16 -0400

To RIDOT and the Portsmouth Town Council:
This morning, for the third time this school year, heavy rains flooded Park Ave in Island Park forcing some residents to use the Escape Bridge and making school buses alter their stops.

Here's a photo from today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcdaid/6210955922/in/photostream/

And a wider view for perspective:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcdaid/6210983702/in/photostream/

Here's a set of photos with flooding incidents:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcdaid/sets/72157627815710844/

This situation was reported to the Council and DOT in September (http://www.torvex.com/jmcdaid/node/1708) and goes back at least two years (Channel 12 reported on it back in December of 2009: http://www.torvex.com/jmcdaid/node/1213). I know that DOT was in Island Park yesterday with the Town Administrator and Portsmouth DPW, but they did not see this situation.

Whatever the cause, I would appreciate it if the RIDOT could work to resolve this issue affecting the safety of Island Park residents and our children.

I'm cc'ing school Supt. Dr. Krizic and School Committee chair Cynthia Perrotti so that they're aware of the situation, and copying in local media and Rep. Jay Edwards and Sen. Chris Ottiano.

Best Regards.
-John

PS: To the press cc'd on this e-mail, all photos may be downloaded from Flickr and freely used; my contact information is below.

Update: 9:29 am Rep. Jay Edwards (D-70) e-mailed me saying he just called RIDOT and they said they are "on it" and will be providing an update by end of day. Thanks for the quick work, Jay!

Update: 9:50 am Town Councilor Keith Hamilton called to say that he had reached out to his contacts. He said he'd just talked with RIDOT yesterday when they were down on Park Ave assessing the situation and that they did see puddles left over from the rain on Saturday. Thanks for your help, Keith!

Full disclosure: I did something horrible to my car driving out through a puddle this morning, and I'm really annoyed.