The Public’s Radio — Westerly beach parking bans are being called forms of ‘bigotry’
Fisherman Jason Jarvis, chair of the Westerly Harbor Management Commission, stands by his boat at his home in Westerly. Jarvis says restrictive parking policies in shoreline areas perpetuate racial discrimination. Alex Nunes / The Public’s Radio
Mar 12, 2024
By Alex Nunes — Westerly’s Harbor Management Commission is recommending the town council begin addressing “exclusionary” parking policies in shoreline areas. An attorney for Watch Hill property interests calls suggestions of discrimination “absurd.”
You could almost call this a tale of two towns, within the confines of one municipality.
In downtown Westerly and nearby areas, drivers riding in two-way traffic pass between rows of vehicles parked on both sides of the street. Pedestrians stroll along sidewalks, and trucks make delivery stops in the middle of the road.
But in upscale shoreline vacation areas, like Watch Hill, parking is widely prohibited and drivers are banned from pulling over at a beach right-of-way to let passengers out.
Out-of-town beach-goers have long complained that parking restrictions limit their ability to access the water. The commission that advises the Westerly Town Council on coastal policy is going a step further. The Harbor Management Commission is urging that restrictive shoreline parking rules be changed, because the prohibitions are “exclusionary” and may have an “unequal impact on people of color, the economically disadvantaged, disabled people, partially disabled people, [and] elderly people.”
The Harbor Management Commission made that conclusion in a 13-page letter it approved at its meeting on Monday. The Westerly Town Council will likely discuss the letter at its meeting next week.
In a candid interview with The Public’s Radio, the Harbor Management Commission’s chair, Jason Jarvis, who is Black, went beyond the conclusions in the letter, saying parking restrictions are consistent with an attitude of people in shoreline areas who don’t want people of color in their communities.
“It’s just another form of discrimination and bigotry, and it’s really disheartening,” Jarvis said. “From my own personal experience, as a person of color, I have definitely been involved in conversations related to race, in my access to go fishing … It’s disparaging, racist remarks that I’ve heard from others while fishing.”
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