My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

clients in town, but I became concerned with the dangers of
bringing undesirable people to our peaceful community.
I immediately registered the organization in the State of Rhode
Island. There were many debates and confrontations between the
developers, Roger Williams College, the Town of Bristol and our
group who strongly opposed the zoning change. The project was
defeated, thankfully, but I lost my best business account in the
process. My wife was right. I don’t regret it, though, because I
had to do what my conscience dictated.
Twelve years later, on May 22, 1991, Kenneth J Marshall was the
Chairman of the Town Council. He and the rest of the Council -
Richard Ruggiero, Mary Parella, Mike Mello and today’s Town
Clerk Lou Cirillo - had the foresight to appoint a steering
committee to rehabilitate the legendary Old Kaiser Mill Complex.
After meeting with all the appointed members, I was once again
elected (unanimously) to be the chairman of the committee. I
accepted the responsibility whole-heartedly. It would be a
challenge to replace the ugliest eyesore in the middle of town. I
felt morally obligated due to the fact that I had been instrumental
in defeating the original project 12 years earlier.
The committee agreed and said it was imperative that there be a
comprehensive plan. The complex should be converted into
elderly housing, occupied only by low income people 62 years of
age and over. The rest of the complex would be used for offices
and stores, etc.
We had a number of meetings at the St. Elizabeth’s Church
auditorium where more than one hundred neighbors attended. The
temperature in the room would sometimes be 100 degrees. There
was no air conditioning. It was very difficult to convince the
neighbors that the new project would be different than the one
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