with the project being completed within eighteen to twenty-four months of awarding a contract , he says .
Some of the initial traffic woes have since eased , thanks to weight restrictions on Providence roads and adding more lanes to the bridge . But countless business owners have been riding a revenue roller coaster ever since that December afternoon . Some have seen sales drop as much as 60 percent . Restaurant dining rooms have turned into ghost towns on certain nights . And the timing of the closure — right in the midst of the holiday shopping and party season — was particularly brutal .
“ The impact is severe ,” said Bob Burke , owner of Providence ’ s Pot au Feu , during a House Small Business Committee hearing in April . “ This is not solely an East Bay problem . It is a small business crisis on both sides of the river .”
‘ A TOWNIE , THROUGH AND THROUGH ’
AFTER FIRST OPENING ATMOSPHERE CBD CAFE in Cranston , Rob Baptista wanted to relocate to his hometown of East Providence . The city has seen a renaissance of sorts during the past few years , attracting new businesses and housing developments to a revitalized Riverside Square , center city and waterfront areas , and Baptista wanted to be a part of it .
“ I ’ m from East Providence . I ’ m a homeowner in East Providence . I ’ m a business owner in East Providence ,” he says . “ I went to the high school . My girls are in the school system . My parents live in East Providence . I ’ m a Townie , through and through .”
He moved Atmosphere to Taunton Avenue in 2020 , serving CBD-infused acai bowls , breakfast sandwiches and coffee drinks and hosting events like crochet and movie nights in a cozy cobalt building and adjoining patio . Last year he found a building on Valley Street , just steps from the bridge on an industrial route that runs parallel to the Seekonk River , and closed the Taunton Avenue location in July in preparation for the move . That ’ s the last time Atmosphere was open for business . A number of hurdles — a squirrel infestation in the building , bureaucratic obstacles and the increased costs of doing business in a larger space — made Baptista reconsider the move . But the bridge situation , and the murkiness of the rebuilding timetable , made him pull the plug on the brick-and-mortar location .
“ I was willing to wait it out ,” he says . “ But I made the decision once they decided to tear it down and use a two- or three-year timeline . As things have gone so far , I have no faith that they ’ ll finish that in two to three years .”
He credits Mayor Roberto DaSilva with trying to find a way to keep Atmosphere in East Providence . But in the end , the mounting costs and traffic were just too much to handle .
“ It really took a financial toll on me ,” Baptista says . “ Things were just progressively getting worse , and I did not want to find myself in a position of sinking more into a money pit .”
‘ THE STATE HAS FAILED US ’
THE WASHINGTON BRIDGE CLOSED the same week that Ana Duque and Karen Mejias held the grand opening celebration for their zero-waste wellness shop , the Heal Room , in its new East Providence location . The decision to move from Pawtucket was a no-brainer , they thought , since most of their clients were from the Providence area .
“ This was supposed to be a really good move for our Providence customers because they were going to be a lot closer to us ,” says Duque . “ But it actually made it worse because it ’ s harder for people from Providence to get to East Providence than anything else .”
They ’ ve added more events , like clothing swaps and yoga classes , thanks to the larger space . But when people ask where they ’ re located , their faces fall .
“ We tell people we ’ re in East Providence and their reactions are like , ‘ Oh . I ’ m not going there ,’” she says .
Many city and state officials came to the store ’ s grand opening , she notes , but she has seen none since , even though the Taunton Avenue store is directly across from City Hall .
“ It ’ s tough to be the only one who ’ s rooting for you ,” she says . “ We ’ re the ones that do all the marketing — and I understand this is a business and that ’ s part of it — but there ’ s a catastrophe happening that ’ s out of our control . What is the city doing to build us up during this really tough time where people don ’ t feel that good about their businesses and about themselves ? It ’ s just really hard . We need support .”
The city is doing several things to help business owners , says DaSilva — like holding a small business resource fair in March , hiring a small business liaison , hosting a Washington Bridge Business Recovery Center in City Hall , applying for grants and sending out frequent updates on social media and newsletters . He ’ s often out in the city , visiting local businesses and encouraging his social media followers to do the same . But the city can ’ t reach out to everyone , he says .
“ We ’ re here to help ,” he says . “ We try to put as much stuff as possible out there , but sometimes , despite all the efforts , we have people who don ’ t hear about the resources ,” he says . “ Sending somebody out to every single business and knocking on every single door — I think we have 1,600 businesses in the city of East Providence — would take an immense amount of time away from being able to help businesses day-to-day .”
WITH LOCATIONS ON HOPE STREET and the West End of Providence , Frog & Toad has become an Ocean State icon , selling whimsical and Rhody-centric merchandise since 2001 , and creating T-shirts , bags and other merchandise to raise funds for local organizations and nonprofits .
The store ’ s bestselling item in December 2023 was a black bumper sticker that says “ I did not survive the I-195 Washington Bridge Debacle 2023 .”
Almost four months to the day of the bridge shutdown , on April 3 , Asher Schofield — who owns the store with his wife , Erin — spoke at the State House before a House Small Business Committee hearing for affected business owners .
Small businesses , he said , feel like they have an “ unwritten , unspoken ” contract with their government , paying more than their fair share of taxes in exchange for a quality of life and services that bring customers their way and allow them to operate .
“ This situation is a breach of that contract ,” he
74 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JUNE 2024