Still no cleanup under Pawtucket bridges amid standoff

The City Council last week sent a letter to State Rep. Karen Alzate thanking her for her advocacy on the issue, and also a letter to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation asking whether Director Peter Alviti has the authority to create internal policies of allowing situations such as these to continue.

Alzate, in a Jan. 12 email to Cynthia McCarthy, director of government and legislative affairs for RIDOT, said officials have been dealing with this situation for more than a year, but RIDOT continues to put it back on the city.

“It’s a ping-pong game and nothing continues to happen,” she wrote. “The city has been trying to work with the governor’s office to get people the help they need, but due to the lack of communication with his office, we are still back at zero dealing with the trash at the underpass.”

She promised to continue working with the city to help people obtain stable housing, and said she prays that no accidents will happen on the highway due to the trash that falls from the bridge.

McCarthy had written to Alzate that the department’s policy is to have the city of Pawtucket confirm, in writing, that all people occupying the site have been relocated, that there is no one left occupying the site, and that there are no remaining personal possessions of any of the previous occupants left at the site.

Grace Voll, spokesperson for Mayor Donald Grebien, said the most recent update she received was last Thursday, Feb. 9, and it was that there are still anywhere from 10 to 12 people occupying the space under the bridges at any given time. Due to Alviti’s policy that he will not clean until the space is empty, she said, nothing has been cleaned.

“The city cannot move those individuals because it is state land and we do not have that jurisdiction,” she said. “We are now working with the new housing secretary on relocating those individuals.”

Councilors Yesenia Rubio and Marlena Martins Stachowiak asked for updates on the situation during the Feb. 8 council meeting. Martins Stachowiak asked for a progress update and a date for it to be cleaned after hearing that some people had been moved to a warming shelter.

Mercer said Alviti’s stance has been an odd one, saying he’s “out of his lane” in trying to force this back on communities when this isn’t particularly a homeless issue but a matter of safety. He noted seeing a blanket fall down right next to a car. He said there could be a very serious incident if the blankets being used to block the wind end up falling on a windshield.

Mercer is asking for clarification from the Federal Highway Administration that Alviti has the authority to make such a policy. He said he had driven by the site that afternoon and saw litter crews working on both sides of the bridges, but nothing was being cleaned up under it. There were still five or six bicycles with no rims or tires, said Mercer.

“It looks better, but the problem’s not resolved,” he said.

Charles St. Martin, spokesperson for RIDOT, said discussions are ongoing and RIDOT, the Department of Housing and city are working collaboratively to address the issue.

State Rep. Cherie Cruz has said that the people under the bridges are going to homeless shelters at night, and have to carry their belongings when doing so. She and others previously did some of their own cleanup in the area around the bridge.

Mercer said it’s not a good look for Alviti and Grebien to be having a war of words on the radio, including the director saying that it’s “time the mayor got off his butt” on the issue.

“That is his responsibility, that is the state’s responsibility,” he said.

Councilor Clovis Gregor initiated a request asking the administration for information on how a facility at 1139 Main St. was obtained and rehabbed for a warming center/homeless shelter. He said the administration continues to hold back key information that council members should be hearing about.