********* Moderator Comment *********
Thank you Burt for sharing your concerns with the other 97 people on this
growing list.
*************************************

To the Editor:

A City Council majority - over the objections of Councilors Kate Leonard and
John Trifero - has again shown its disdain for the voters by bypassing
normal procedures to allow outdoor entertainment on a wharf in the city's
most densely populated area.

The Aug. 13 vote to remove restrictions that required closed windows when
entertainment was offered at Riptides, a Waites Wharf establishment that
now claims it has no windows to close, shortcircuits the usual procedure
that would require the barroom to seek a new permit for its changed
circumstances.

As worthy of note as the City Council's disregard of its constituents is
the timing of the action shortly after the wharf's owners, who are
associated with several bars on their wharf, won the right to lock gates to
their docks at night because they said their marina patrons needed
protection from their barroom customers.

So now, after pleading that locked gates were necessary for the peace and
security of their marina patrons, Waites Wharf owners want to boost both the
noise level and the potential for rowdiness.

Except for Leonard and Trifero, Newport's City Council is going along with
them. Because the change the council agreed to on Aug. 13 must have a second
hearing on Aug. 27, constituents still have a chance to get two council
members -- Jim Baccari, Jean-Marie Napolitano, Rick O'Neill, Richard
Sardella or Steve Waluck -- to recognize the public's interest and vote
with Leonard and Trifero against more noise pollution.

Those who continue to support Waites Wharf owners could find their support
by the voters evaporating in 2004.

Burt Hoffman
Newport