Sore thumb

Mayor appeals for additional funding to save Conimicut Light

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 8/31/22

Like others who took a speedy and sometimes wet ride to Conimicut Lighthouse in the city’s twin Yanmar diesel jet fireboat Friday morning, Ward 4 Councilman James McElroy had only viewed the …

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Sore thumb

Mayor appeals for additional funding to save Conimicut Light

Posted

Like others who took a speedy and sometimes wet ride to Conimicut Lighthouse in the city’s twin Yanmar diesel jet fireboat Friday morning, Ward 4 Councilman James McElroy had only viewed the light from a distance. Now that he stood on the second stage railing of the “sparkplug” lighthouse with Rep. Joseph Solomon Jr., both were amazed by the view and how far they were from land.

The lighthouse that serves as a navigational aide to the entrance to the Providence River and a warning of the Conimicut shoal looks to be closer to Nyatt Point in Barrington than Conimicut Point in Warwick. Yet the light is technically in Warwick and is Warwick’s responsibility since it was turned over to the city in October 2004 by the General Services Administration.

Mayor Frank Picozzi wasn’t hosting a joy ride for McElroy, Solomon, Speaker of the House Joseph Shekarchi, City Planner Tom Kravitz, WPRI weatherman and report TJ Del Santo and the Beacon editor. Picozzi had dual purposes – well, when you come down to it, a singular purpose – for the breezy excursion.

The mayor made the point that the lighthouse is a Rhode Island icon. It can be seen from multiple coastline communities and stands as a prominent feature for pleasure boaters and commercial mariners. As it is shared by so many, Picozzi reasons the state should have a stake in preserving and maintaining it.

Secondly, Picozzi wanted to give legislators, news reporters and the man who is charged with planning a future for the light, a close-up look at the physical condition of the structure erected in 1883. 

The light is a sore thumb.

Apart from the galvanized steel boarding pier and ladder, which is sound, knee-high weeds sprout from the roofs that encircle the first and third level observation walkways. Cormorants lined the eves like multiple cathedral gargoyles looking down on arrivals. In places walkway railings with decorative fennels are broken. Portions of the light’s metal skin are pitted where the paint has chipped. Remarkably, given how long it has gone without upkeep, the structure is sound. Steel flooring is intact; the light has good bones.

But this thumb needs a hand. Windows are boarded up and, as Picozzi points out, he should have brought along a weed whacker.

Picozzi reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys before inserting one in a giant padlock to a door that deters visitors but does little to keep out windblown rain and spray. As the door opened, light illuminated a circular chamber. The floor is flecked with paint chips, some as large a playing cards, from the ceiling above. It’s hard to imagine this base floor and the two above it served as the living quarters for the lighthouse keeper until 1963 when the light was automated. There’s nothing here now with the exception of a large metal case that presumably is a battery, charged by solar panels, to power the light.

Fortunately, Picozzi had a flashlight. Elected officials pulled out their cell phones to help guide the way up a steel staircase that wraps around the inner wall of the light. At the next level, Picozzi worked two steel levers to open a door to the second walkway. The view is spectacular. To the north giant white blades of the Narragansett Bay Commission wind turbines turned against a backdrop of Providence. To the west are more turbines.

“That must be Johnston; there’s the landfill,” says Solomon pointing. Shekarchi verifies the sighting pointing out the turbines are adjacent to Alpine Estates in Cranston, but since they’re in Johnston , Cranston residents had no say in where they would be situated. To the east the green links of the Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington as well as the stanchions of the Mt. Hope Bay Bridge to the south are clearly visible.

Kravitz’s voice comes from the platform above.

He advises the gathering below to be careful of the metal post above their heads. It holds an anemometer and it’s become loose. A bolt securing its base has worked free. Shekarchi spots the nut and washer and as Kravitz moves the device, Shekarchi hand tightens the nut. Picozzi laments they don’t have a wrench to tighten it. That afternoon Kravitz advises NOAA of the situation and gets a prompt reply of appreciation.

As they take in the view, a sailboat under power advances toward the point. With the tide retreating, the shoal, directly in its path, is clearly visible from the height of the lighthouse.

Picozzi points to the shoal, noting how once exposed it serves as enticement to beachgoers. The shoal can become treacherous on an incoming tide that has swept people into deeper waters. A 10-year-old girl and a 35-year-old man attempting to save her drowned in June 2021. Following the tragedy, Picozzi had two giant warning signs erected on the beach.

The sailboat changes course in the shallow waters then makes an attempt to cross the shoal. It runs aground. The fireboat that waits offshore from the light makes way for the sailboat. Before it arrives, the sailboat powers free from the shoal.

Picozzi has made his point to the dangers of the shoal.

Del Santo takes the opportunity to interview the elected officials. They uniformly speak of preserving the light, how it is part of Rhode Island history, its importance to navigation and a beacon to the Port of Providence and the role it plays in the state’s economy.  They see it as a tourist attraction and serving as an educational tool. The mayor fears if left to deteriorate, the light will revert to the government and would likely be replaced by an ungainly stanchion similar to that marking the channel at Bullock’s Point in East Providence.

Kravitz breaks the task at hand into two components. The first objective is to reverse the deterioration and restore the structure and the second being defining its future use. He can envision leasing it to a company that would run a bed and breakfast as former Mayor Scott Avedisian proposed, but never came before the City Council for a vote.

Mayor Picozzi is focused on a first step now that the city has won a $775,000 grant for the lighthouse. As the request was written prior to the spike in inflation, Picozzi believes the grant is $400,000 shy of what’s needed to do the job.  He is looking for the state to come up with the money.

And as he hoped the excursion would make clear, the light is not just Warwick’s but a state asset, one that the state should also invest in – such was the singular purpose of visiting Conimicut Light, although they also secured a stanchion holding weather equipment.

light, lighthouse

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