I wasn’t present at Tiverton’s June 25 Town Council meeting, but I find it interesting that Randy Lebeau, John Edwards and Joan Chabot voted against granting interim outdoor seating licenses to six local restaurants that previously had them, and yet these same three gave Twin River full steam ahead for 24/7 licensing, when the prudent thing would have been to have the same hours as Newport Slots and work out any kinks before going full blast.

[The Town of Lincoln did not grant Twin River a 24/7 license from the get go, and it already had a dog track facility before it had the casino. Tiverton is promised $3 million from the casino regardless of the number of hours it is open.]

I am not sure if the councilors’ reason for waiting was to read the outdoor seating ordinance the town solicitor is drafting — but it’s almost JULY, the outdoor seating season is now, so why should these LOCAL, established restaurants, that have PROVEN track records, have to wait?

And yet Twin River with NO track record in our town gets to operate full steam ahead, NO waiting necessary. I heard the meeting was contentious. This is not how I expect my Town Council to behave. Tiverton residents: please remember when it is time to vote.

Liz Colbert

Tiverton