How do these greater environmental issues affect the Narragansett Bay?
The bay is going to rise. It’s going to get higher, which will impact how we live our lives. There are a lot of people that live along Narragansett Bay. The bay itself is a serious concern because of marshes. Marshes are extraordinarily valuable to the Bay. It’s the place where animals reproduce and where waters come into the Bay. Sea level rise will upset those marshes. Marshes do have the capacity to grow higher and taller, until they can no longer keep up with the water. That’s a big issue. It brings about a whole host of planning issues and I think that planning director Thom Deller and certainly the Mayor understand these issues well and are very concerned about them. Obviously, Mayor Cicilline understands how this all has to come together. For our urban areas, there is the threat of more flooding. A larger storm surge comes with a higher bay, and is a risk to property. So what we’ve got to work on now, and why the waterfront planning effort is so important, is to think about how
