An open letter from the people of Johnston to our elected officials

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To the Editor:

Mayor Polisena, the Johnston Planning Board, Zoning Board, and Town Council:

We, your Johnston residents, homeowners, voters, and taxpayers, object to your proposed zoning change for the property located on Greenville Avenue and surrounding areas from residential to business!

We purchased our properties as residential! That’s what it was! That’s what it is! That is how we want it to stay!

Here is the trade you want us to accept:

Corporate Citizens Bank with its 4,000 employees and cars (with no cap on how many more) working three shifts so they are open 24 hours (noise night and day).

Our road will be busy night and day with tired drivers causing accidents.

Our road will have to become a four-lane highway.

Two ramps with two sets of traffic lights.

We will require extra police, additional ambulances, and extra fire protection, which means we pay more taxes.

The exit ramps will be a cut-through for the cars on Route 44 (now congested) cutting through Greenville Avenue as a shortcut.

You will have taken away our safety, for ourselves, our children, pets, walkers, bicyclists, and joggers – our quiet will become a thing of the past. The increased pollution from all this added traffic will ruin our country air! You will have created the new Atwood Avenue/Hartford Avenue (more commonly known as Suicide 6).

Mr. Mayor: Somewhere along the road (we assume it was when you ran unopposed, big mistake for us), you and our elected officials confused your priorities! We voted for you to represent us and our interests, not “fat cat” corporations such as Citizens Bank. Their 4,000 employees are not voters for you. So, listen to your voters and act on our behalf!

Claire Montecalvo

Johnston Homeowners & Neighbors Association

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