why not put tolls on mount hope bridge too. i'll tell you why....some kind of deal was struck with RWC in a back room somewhere. as soon as the toll booths came down they bought the conference center and made a dorm. students also rent alot of houses over here here. they or more importantly mom and dad 't going to pay the tolls for kids that have to go back and forth many times a day. is it our fault that ri didn't keep the promise to maintain the SRB the way they were supposed to? my house has been devalued 20% but my taxes didn't go down 20%. put the tolls on the borders like mass turnpike, nj turnpike. open the weight stations, raise fines for traffic violations, turn off more street lights and cut our bill, raise fees on vanity plates, open a real casino. maybe we could stop with the schilling sweetheart deals and start making some smart decisions for a change. honestly can we stop embarrassing ourselves at some point. we are a blue collar state, we make blue collar wages if we are lucky to have a job. how about giving us a break instead of holding us hostage on an island that brings alot of bucks into the state! well if nothing else i feel better!

The Sakonnet River Bridge needs to be under RIDOT management, just like the other hundreds of bridges accross the state of Rhode Island. No toll tax for us and future generations.

The RITBA should be eliminated that alone would save Rhode Island about $7,000,000.00 yearly in operating expenses. Rather than creating more economic barriers in this state like TOLL TAXES...

Wonder how much the shortfall would be if the RITBA had raised the rates like they were scheduled to do a year and a 1/2 ago, instead hey seemed to have cut a deal to just bleed all of Newport County dry The DOT doesn't maintain their bridges and the RITBA becomes a cash cow on the taxpayers back.

The state could save some of the $17M by consolidating two road departments in to one properly managed one. Imagine, the smallest state in the union, with reputedly, the worst roads and bridges in the nation needs both RIDOT and RIBTA to accomplish it.

The new Jamestown was built with $185 million stolen from the East Bay. It has ALREADY needed major repairs. Why is there never been a toll on the Jamestown?

The Mt Hope is 80+ years old if they want to put a toll on it how about they build a new one with a third lane so people aren't held hostage by construction on it year round.

What makes anyone think the toll money will go to maintain the Sakonnet bridge. RI has a long tradition of taking money raised for one thing and using it for another. How do you think RIDOT was defunded in the first place. Once the GA sees the money being raised they won't be able to keep their hand off it. A perfict example is the College Bound Fund Parents are investing their money in the fund so that their kids can go to college and the state is using that money to fund RIPTA next time you see one of the RIPTA rider ads look at the end where it says it was paid for by the College Bound Fund. That fund will be just like the pentions when the time comes there will be no money there. Maybe they can use the toll money to replace the money they are spending out of the College Bound Fund.

I have tried to be positive about this, carried my no toll sign in the pouring rain, wrote my letters to elected officals, done all I could like most of us. Signed petetions, the works. I heard from a few pwople, I did not see it but they said it was on the news last week that there will definatly be a toll on the bridge.. Prices for everything are going to go through the roof.. . But I do feel now that we will see a toll. Just a gut feeling..Not for the better. Let's face it we all had a lot of ideas of "how" not to do tolls and it falls on deaf ears. But I have lost faith in the system and anxious to get out of Portsmouth. How could all of this happen and no one knew ahead of time? Our past represenatives were stunned when they first heard? Dont think so. Done deal, I am for no tolls, but dont trust goverment. Please pray I am wrong. Thank you to Edwards and Reid and if I forgot any one in politics trying to help us, I thank you, but sit back folks,it is not going to get better and Providence state house doesn't give 2 cents about our thoughts. It's our wallets they are concerned about after THEY did all the wild spending and will continue and in five years we will hear the cry "R.I. is broke again. No tolls and stop this goverment over spending.

C'mon Elizabeth, relax darlin.

There are still 3 ways out of the woods. 2 of them are not very likely and the last one requires a combination of intense work and luck, but they still exist.

As to all the work you did - as long as it made your voice feel heard, be satisfied with it. Frankly, a lot of people got played here and/or went down the wrong path. None of that is on you.

If you want this government to spend less, you need to choose fiscally conservative candidates who are also socially liberal. That combination will get things fixed.

Mr Oliveira, Who are you to call Mrs Geary "Darlin" I and others have known her for years and I don't apprecate your casual use of that trem in an insulting manner

Jim, as a Tea Party member, I don't expect you to understand basic reassuring communication.

Your need to call it insulting tells us what you think of women in general. Then again, you were already established as a Tea Party member.

The way Mrs. Mello was treated is what you should be concerned about.

Mr oliverira , you love to slap titles on people don't you. I'm not a tea party member, nor a dem or republicain, I vote the person You remark was not said to woman as a hole but to one woman and now to try to step away from your actions. As for Mrs Mello I consider her a friend and she has helped tremedously with the no tolls petition, I But the straight up point is that those buttons shouldn't have been there AT ALL, Mr Katz seemed to feel that proccedor was followed and he has the right to do as he wishes within the law and the charter. It's called America and the rights of it's citizens, If anyone is REALLy upset with Mr Katz then why don't they file a lawsuit them selves. Basic reassuring communication, are your eyes brown sir?

Jim, you were involved with the TCC. They are a Tea Party group. You are also involved in STOP. They are a Tea Party group. I didn't surround you with Tea Party filth - you did.

I would never expect you to stand up and take responsibility for anything since we also know you have a history of being ungrateful.

If you walked the way you talked, you would have told Justin to go screw. You can't have it both ways.

We are getting a little off topic here?

Mike, the fact that STOP is dominated by the Tea Party is a key element. It does not bode well and one of the main reasons the two legislative efforts, both budget and non-budget, are failing.

Oh, I forgot about the one party legislature that has brought this state to financial ruin. I am by no means a Tea Party member, but it is hard for me to ignore how a House and Senate in the grip of unions and cronys for has mismanaged the state, certainly the DOT and RIBTA and got us into the fiscal mess we are now in.

Don't "ignore" it if that's your feeling. Just manage the reality.