You could almost call this a tale of two towns, within the confines of one municipality.
In downtown Westerly and nearby areas, drivers riding in two-way traffic pass between rows of vehicles parked on both sides of the street. Pedestrians stroll along sidewalks, and trucks make delivery stops in the middle of the road.
But in upscale shoreline vacation areas, like Watch Hill, parking is widely prohibited and drivers are banned from pulling over at a beach right-of-way to let passengers out.
Out-of-town beach-goers have long complained that parking restrictions limit their ability to access the water. The commission that advises the Westerly Town Council on coastal policy is going a step further. The Harbor Management Commission is urging that restrictive shoreline parking rules be changed, because the prohibitions are “exclusionary” and may have an “unequal impact on people of color, the economically disadvantaged, disabled people, partially disabled people, [and] elderly people.”
The Harbor Management Commission made that conclusion in a 13-page letter it approved at its meeting on Monday. The Westerly Town Council will likely discuss the letter at its meeting next week.
In a candid interview with The Public’s Radio, the Harbor Management Commission’s chair, Jason Jarvis, who is Black, went beyond the conclusions in the letter, saying parking restrictions are consistent with an attitude of people in shoreline areas who don’t want people of color in their communities.
“It’s just another form of discrimination and bigotry, and it’s really disheartening,” Jarvis said. “From my own personal experience, as a person of color, I have definitely been involved in conversations related to race, in my access to go fishing … It’s disparaging, racist remarks that I’ve heard from others while fishing.”
Jarvis said, “You could do a social experiment, if you want, and just grab a busload of kids from the city and pull into the parking lot in Watch Hill and get out … I don’t imagine that’s gonna go over too well.”
The advisory letter from the Harbor Management Commission points out that the town’s comprehensive plan identifies concerns about parking availability in the shoreline fire districts of Watch Hill, Misquamicut, Shelter Harbor, and Weekapaug. It calls on the town councilors to “promote and enhance non-discriminatory coastal access for the public writ large by amending its ordinances to permit parking on or near ROWs [rights-of-way].”
The commission recommends the town begin this process by creating four parking spaces on the south end of Waters Edge Road, a town-owned road within the Watch Hill Fire District that terminates at Watch Hill Cove.
Water access at the cove is generally difficult for people who aren’t members of the Watch Hill Yacht Club or do not hold mooring permits, which are limited. Much of the land adjacent to the cove is owned by the quasi-municipal Watch Hill Fire District, which operates parking lots along the cove and has filed a lawsuit to invalidate a town-designated right-of-way at the southern side of Watch Hill Cove.
The commission’s recommendation for Waters Edge Road is already prompting strong pushback from Watch Hill. An attorney representing property interests on Waters Edge Road and the adjacent Pawcatuck Avenue has attended recent Harbor Management Commission meetings where commission members discussed the proposal. The chair of the Watch Hill Conservancy, Deborah Lamm, and the head of the Watch Hill Fire District, Joan Beth Brown, have also been present.
At a Feb. 7 meeting, the attorney, Thomas McAndrew, accused one commission member of having a conflict of interest in seeking parking spots “to advance his personal interest” and hinted at the possibility of legal action over adding parking.
“We don’t want litigation,” McAndrew told commission members at the meeting.
In an interview Monday, McAndrew said the addition of parking would break an agreement he says he and his clients had with the town, as evidenced by the state Coastal Resources Management Council approving a kayak rack at the right-of-way without parking and the previous town manager acknowledging the terms of the approval in an email.
McAndrew, who said he also met recently with the current town manager to talk about the issue, said the process for discussing the parking proposal has not been sufficiently collaborative. And he dismissed suggestions that parking restrictions amount to exclusionary or discriminatory policies.
“Class-based and race-based?” McAndrew said with a suppressed laugh. “It doesn’t hold water. … I mean, that’s absurd.”
“It’s been this way for 100 years. There’s a reason for that,” McAndrew said, arguing that the restrictions on Waters Edge Road are in place for safety reasons and pointing out that parking is also prohibited along Elm Street, a residential street of large homes near downtown Westerly.
“You mean to tell me people are being discriminated against because they can’t park on Elm Street in Westerly?” McAndrew said. “What’s that all about? So I don’t see that this is exclusionary at all.”
Jarvis, the Harbor Management Commission chair, responded negatively to the suggestion that parking restrictions are acceptable because they’re longstanding.
“That’s disturbing,” Jarvis said. “Racism has been around – we were brought here in slave ships. And the only reason the U.S. even exists is because of slave labor. And we continue slave labor right through the 13th Amendment, just by jailing more minorities than caucasians. But, hey, that’s the way it’s always been, so that’s okay. Let’s exclude access to the shoreline from poor people and people of color, because that’s the way it’s always been.”
In arguing for the additional spots, the Harbor Management Commission cited recent efforts by the CRMC to address “exclusionary barriers and disparities” with regard to shoreline access in Rhode Island. The CRMC is currently conducting a shoreline public access needs assessment funded with a $206,300 federal grant that includes outreach to the public.
In its letter, the Westerly Harbor Management Commission, or WHMC, also cites a statement made last year by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, indicating his office may get involved in cases “where entities are making vertical access [to the shore] effectively impossible through parking restrictions.”
The commission’s letter states that “common characteristics of discriminatory exclusionary parking ordinances may have emerged,” citing alleged double standards for parking rules inland versus at the shore, and the presence of landscaping trucks or cars parked for private parties near the beach where the public is not allowed to park.
In the past, drivers have parked without being ticketed where it’s prohibited on Bluff Avenue to visit the Watch Hill Chapel and Ocean House hotel. The area is a short walking distance from a public right-of-way to the Atlantic Ocean.
The commission’s letter references “the modern understanding that exclusionary parking bans are inherently classist and racist.”
“To be clear,” the letter reads, “the WHMC is not stating that an equal protection violation has occurred or is occurring, but the HMC is encouraging the Town to seek legal advice on that and related questions.”
Westerly Town Council member Kevin Lowther said he thinks the addition of four parking spaces to Waters Edge Road is “incredibly reasonable.” Lowther, who is Black, said shoreline access is an equity issue but was reluctant to characterize it as a racial justice issue.
“I just don’t see that there is a particular racial component to this. It seems to me to be an issue that really affects people who do not live near or on the shoreline,” Lowther said. “I think lots of people get their hair up when anybody brings up any issue of race. It’s because we don’t always know people’s intentions. And so I’m trying to keep my focus on: What do we think is good for the community?”
When asked if systemic racism exists if parking restrictions result in an area being predominantly white, Lowther said, “I think it is inequitable in a number of different ways that intersect with each other.”
“I understand the temptation to try to make it about a certain type of inequality,” Lowther said. “My point is that I think it’s less helpful to dwell on a certain type of inequality.”
Lowther said he thinks beach access could be made more equitable by providing public transportation to stops at Westerly beach areas, whether it be buses coming from the northern part of the state or trolleys running from downtown Westerly.
“Definitely one in Watch Hill, definitely one at the [Misquamicut] state beach, maybe one for Weekapaug,” he said of possible drop-off spots. “I think a bus option could potentially address equity issues, and it could also help with our traffic patterns.”