New year, new goals for new mayor

June Casagrande

The last time Tod Ridgeway took over as mayor, he burst out of the

gate with a central message, one he was determined to hammer home:

Some growth is good.

That won’t be his message this year -- not because his feelings

have changed on growth in the city. Instead, the change of tenor

Newporters are about to experience is due to the different political

and economic climate in which Ridgeway returns to the city’s helm.

“What I was concerned about then seems to have mellowed because of

the fiscal crisis,” Ridgeway said. “There has been a better

acceptance of allowing us to do our rehabilitation, to better provide

for basic services in this city.”

Ridgeway’s message in 2002 was in response to the Greenlight

movement, whose slow-growth agenda was seen by some as too slow.

Beginning with his speech at the Mayor’s Dinner of Speak Up Newport!

and continuing throughout the year, Ridgeway’s strategy was to shift

off the defensive and take a bold and proud position arguing that the

city needs some development in order to increase its tax base.

“I still have that basic philosophy, but the need to go on the

offense is not as great as it was,” Ridgeway said. “There’s a whole

range of other priorities now.”

One of the first things Ridgeway said he hopes to do as mayor is

to hold a meeting between council members, staff and members of the

public -- hopefully at some location other than City Hall -- to find

out what everyone’s goals and priorities are.

“I’d like to get council, staff and citizens all together to talk

about where we’re going,” he said.

A number of important issues will dominate city concerns in the

coming year, Ridgeway said: the general plan update, the question of

whether the city will play a role in airport management, the vote

over a luxury resort at the Marinapark site and a number of new

developments that have not yet made the headlines.

For example, he said, the city has been working to woo a Lexus

dealership to move into the city near the airport. Work in Lido

Marina Village will also be a concern, as will the city’s ongoing

issues like water-quality and Peninsula improvements.

“I think the City Council has done a good job of building

consensus lately, and I’d like to see that taken even further,

starting with a meeting to find out what everyone hopes to

accomplish.”

Steve Rosansky, the newest member of the council, said he supports

the idea of an information-gathering meeting.

“I’m in favor of anything that opens up the lines of communication

between the staff the council and the public,” Rosansky said.