Here is another email I sent out to the RIDEM Director, Terry Gray and Assistant Director / Legal Counsel Mary Kay in response to his email to me regarding my Access to Public Records Request to see who approved the 6-month extension to Procaccianti (PRIX) and who awarded a 19-year parking lot lease to Procaccianti Developers. The 19-year parking lot lease has not been formally approved by the State Properties Committee. If the State Properties Committee rejects it, then the lease will not be approved. Even if it is approved the Town of Narragansett can refuse to grant a special use permit, and that will prevent Procaccianti from using that area as a parking lot. While he told me he approved the 6-month extension with a bogus explanation as the Town of Narragansett NEVER consulted with him on approving the 6-month extension, and he failed to tell me who decided a 19-year parking lot lease should be submitted to the State Properties Committee.
Here is Director's Gray response back to me:
Good evening Dr. Alba:
Compliance with the RI Access to Public Records Act is a legal process and requests need to be specific and accurate. The response you received is directly related to your request. In terms of lease approvals, I approved the six month extension last summer after consulting with the town and the state properties commission. Any further lease proposals will be presented to the State Properties Commission when ready for their consideration.
The minutes from all state properties commission meetings are filed with the RI Secretary of State and are available online at:
You are welcome to submit an open records request at any time and we will respond to the best of our abilities in accordance with state law.
Thank you.
Terry Gray
Terrence Gray, P.E.
Acting Director
RI Department of Environmental Management
Below is my response to Director Gray's above response:
Dear Director Gray and Assistant Director / Legal Counsel Mary Kay,
The Town of Narragansett did not want a 6-month extension for PRI X. You wrote in your reply to me, in terms of lease approvals, I approved the six-month extension last summer after consulting with the town and the state properties commission. The truth is, the Town of Narragansett did not even know when you approved the six-month extension. Thomas Mann, Dr. Ewa Dzwierzynski's husband, even recently noted the Town Council was blind-sided by the 6 month extension. In fact, the Town was not even notified when the State Properties Committee meeting was held to approve the 6 month extension. It appears every time I ask questions to the RIDEM, I am provided with smoke and mirrors by you or your representatives. Many people, including myself, are having a distrust of the RIDEM. In addition, since the RIDEM gave PRI X an extension, it was noted Procaccianti Developers was going to demolish the building. The Lighthouse Inn is still standing, and now the RIDEM is stating the taxpayers of RI will be responsible to demolish the building.
Director Gray, would you extend a 6 month lease to a lessee if they trashed your property and violated the terms of the lease? Would you have the leasee, then be able to draw up a new lease or in this case an RFP for prospective tenants when you see the harm they created to the Town, City, and property they have caused by their neglect in the property they leased out by you? I owned property. I have had to complain to local officials for the harm the lessee caused based on their neglect. I had to take people to court. It will be suspect if the RIDEM does not revoke the pending PRI X 19-year parking lot lease. Director Gray, if you had the ability to manage a parking lot, (DEM is well equipped to do so) and you owned the lot, would you give a multimillionaire the authority to operate it so you can have little to no financial gain outside of the nominal rent? When people rent out a piece of land or a property, it would be foolhardy to rent to a person or an organization that will fail to give you the maximum rate of return. If the State Properties Committee approves the RIDEM - PRI X deal, the Committee will be corrupt in my eyes and in the eyes of 98 percent of Rhode Islanders. And the RIDEM will be forever known as one of the most corrupt agencies in the United States. I am sending this email to 60 minutes news and other news agencies. I hope they run a story on this to expose the corruption we are experiencing if the RIDEM fails to revoke its association with Procaccianti in Galilee.
Your legacy and Mary Kay's legacy will be forever tarnished if you continue to play ball with Procaccianti at their gain and the State of Rhode Island and the Town of Narragansett's loss. Please read the attached editorial in today's Narragansett Times, Town Must File Lawsuits against state, PRI-X group. It was written by Catherine Celeberto. I concur with her editorial completely. If the RIDEM fails to remove Procaccianti from Galilee, I will reach out to as many people as possible to create a lawsuit against the RIDEM. Please view the below YouTube video that clearly shows the Town of Narragansett's frustration with the RIDEM with respect to Procaccianti - PRIX and the Procaccianti pending 19-year parking lot lease. Many have commented to me, what's new, we always have corruption in Rhode Island. The smallest but one of the most corrupt states in the Nation. Let us hope Director, you and Assistant Director Mary Kay, do not want to go down as the one of the most corrupt Directors and Assistant Directors and Legal Counsel in the State of Rhode Island's history for a RI State Agency.
Our frustration with the pending PRIX - Procaccianti 19-year parking lot lease deal with the RIDEM. https://youtu.be/xulZoTMUpLU
Please view the Town's Plea to listen to our governmental elected and appointed officials that advocated for the Town and its residents for the RIDEM to select the Town of Narragansett's Proposal for Galilee. In addition, please listen to others who provided testimony in support of the Town of Narragansett's Proposal. When I reviewed your rubric or criteria for selecting the best proposal for Galilee, it stunk with more political insider dealing. I am an educator, if I created such a biased rubric to grade my students I would be fired immediately. Does the RIDEM really feel the public is ignorant of your ploy to not select the Town of Narragansett's Proposal for Galilee? The first criteria in your rubric should have been on a scale of 1 to 10, what business or entity has not violated the terms of a lease with the RIDEM? 10 for Narragansett Zero for Procaccianti The second item on the rubric should have been, What business or entity has not caused hardship to the area of leased land by failing to maintain the property on the leased land? 10 for Narragansett Zero for Procaccianti The third item on the rubric should have been, what business or entity has never abandoned a building and left it in disrepair, so now it has the potential to cause great harm to the environment and be a tax burden to the State of Rhode Island. 10 for Narragansett Zero for PRI X. The next rubric item that is worth 50 points is as follows: What proposal is supported by the town's elected and appointed officials, the Galilee Master Development Plan, close to 3000 signatures on the Change.org web site, the Friends of Galilee consisting of learned men and women who dedicated many years to improve Galilee, members of the Narragansett Pier Residents' Association, and members of the Galilee Advisory Committee, Narragansett's Proposal 50 Procaccianti's Proposal (Zero) https://youtu.be/OtPSlVytw-8
Here is a reminder video of the gross neglect at the hands of Procaccianti. I am attaching a couple of pictures of thrash in the area too. I am sure if one was to go into the hotel now, one would have to wear a hazmat suit. How can the RIDEM negotiate any kind of deal with a multi billionaire who creates toxicity not only in the exterior of a building, but its interior? The Slumlord Billionaire: https://youtu.be/2PoQRnFfzLE
If Procaccianti maintained the property, it would not have had to be demolished. If an existing property is maintained, it would have been grandfathered in as non compliance as are other businesses in that area. Procaccianti purposely neglected the property. Please do not think Rhode Islanders are ignorant of what is going on in Galilee. It is election year, and if our elected officials fail to act, they will not be getting my vote. I will also be feeding all the information I have to those running for office, so they can use it for their election campaign if the RIDEM fails to do the right thing by divorcing itself from Procaccanti - Paolino for the lease land area in Galilee. A recent contractor who requested to be anonymous told me he knows Procaccianti and Paolino personally, and they brag how they own the state house and our governmental agencies with respect to the insider deals they can work in Rhode Island.
Respectfully Submitted, Dr. Albert Alba