A Rhode Island Business Tale

It doesn't appear to be online, but a story in the current Sakonnet Times tells the sad tale of entrepreneurialism in Rhode Island:

During their years spent trying to establish a beachhead in Tiverton's hospitality and business community, the couple hired architects, lawyers, and engineers, and jumped through permitting hurdles with the Coastal Resources Management Council, the Department of Environmental Management, the Department of Transportation, the local planning board, the zoning board of review, the town council, and the town zoning and building official. ...

"There are several reasons [we're giving up], one of the main is best described as investor fatigue. Due to the extraordinary amount of time and expense required at the state and local levels, as well as expensive restrictive conditions put in place by town officials, the funding for the project has been pulled," said Mr. Rivera.

"Another consideration," he said, "is the condition of the local economy, local political makeup, and the larger economy as a whole. We have been advised this is not the right opportunity at the right tie in the right place."

Look, I don't know this project well enough to know whether it was a good plan for investors or a good deal for the town, but this is the image of Rhode Island and is, I'd suggest, the state's biggest problem — a self-inflicted, fatal wound for which the patient refuses to seek treatment. Indeed, killing the capital gains tax cut was like shoving dirt in the wound to stop the flow of blood.

ADDENDUM:

Rushing to get up this post during lunchtime, I forgot that I had no link to which readers could refer for specifics. To answer a question in the comments, the business was meant to be "a 15-room inn and spa on a three-quarter acre patch of waterfront property at the intersection of Nannaquaket and Main Roads in Tiverton."