To The Editor:

Last week's Phoenix featured a front page article reporting the Rhode Island DEM approval for a proposed hotel being built on wetlands on Gooding Ave. along with an editorial criticizing the DEM decision, and first and foremost I would like to thank the Phoenix editorial board for speaking out in opposition to this ill conceived project.

I have lived in the vicinity of the Silver Creek watershed immediately downstream from this proposed hotel for over 42 years, and during that time, my neighbors and I have suffered from unbridled development in and around the watershed, which has resulted in flooded backyards and basements in my neighborhood being the norm rather than the exception. Fast forward to today, and I was completely baffled as to why the Rhode Island DEM would make such a reckless decision and open the door for more development and more misery for myself and my neighbors.

Now that the proposed hotel has received DEM approval, the final hurdle the developers need to clear in order to begin their construction and destroy more environmentally sensitive wetlands would be local town officials, and judging by their past decisions regarding the over-building in the vicinity of the Silver Creek watershed, I hold out very little hope that they will do the right thing and deny a building permit for the developers of the proposed hotel, and the suffering that myself and my neighbors have endured over the years will simply become worse.

Mike Proto
245 Chestnut St.