East Bay Businesses Feel Isolated By Tolls

Seasonal business owners in the East Bay are worried that a toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge could alienate their already inconstant business.

In a business that is largely motivated by weather, business owners at Tiverton and Portsmouth's popular summer-time eateries agreed that a toll would be a deterrent to customers.

"The sales tax dollars from small businesses over here help the whole state and I can't imagine we're going to end up making more by adding this toll," said Domenic Bitto, who owns the Tiverton seafood shack Evelyn's Drive-In with his wife.

Bitto, like other business owners in the region attended hearings with the state Department of Transportation in protest to a Sakonnet River Bridge toll.

"We get a lot of people who would come over for lunch or something different and we are not a big meal, we're reasonably priced and now if you add a couple of more dollars for a toll, people might not come," said Steven McDonald, co-owner of The Black Goose Cafe in Tiverton. 

Both the Black Goose and Evelyn's signed the petition against the Sakonnet River Bridge toll and displayed the sheets in their restaurants. The petition reportedly has more than 30,000 signatures.

"Not only do we pay 7 percent sales tax and meals tax also, this is just a different tax that is going to be used somewhere else instead of being put back into this area," said McDonald. "Now that money is not being used to help out, it's being used to isolate."

Flo's Drive-In of Portsmouth has also been vocal on the scene in the fight against the bridge tolls, touting signs at hearings locally and at the State House.

Tell Us: What impact do you think a Sakonnet River Bridge toll will have on East Bay small businesses?