Virginia Lee’s Comments At The Shannock Falls Affordable Housing Dedication

On August 28, 2019, 11 new rental units of affordable housing were dedicated on the Charlestown side of Shannock Village. These were Virginia Lee’s comments at the ribbon cutting. Virginia Lee is President of the Charlestown Town Council.

It is a wonderful day to gather together to celebrate Shannock Falls. How rewarding to be able to provide shelter, a basic human need, that is well designed, well constructed, thoughtfully sited and also affordable, especially in this time of rising costs of real estate and burgeoning need. A mix of income and interests is essential for a community.

It is heart warming for this affordable housing to finally be a reality – given the many years of inspiration and dedicated effort from so many people that it took to get us here. On behalf of the citizens of Charlestown, I thank you one and all. I would like to particularly thank our Congressional Delegation for your superb support and for securing federal funding, RI Housing for recommending the individual town proposals be combined into one project, Washington County Community Development Corporation for your many efforts to bring us over the finish line, town staff of both Richmond and Charlestown as well as the Charlestown Affordable Housing Commission for assuring the housing met town planning goals, as well as building and zoning requirements.

There are two heroes of the day. One is Tom Gentz, who dedicated six long years championing this and other affordable housing in town, while he was on and then president of the Charleston Town Council. Thank you Tom! The other is Geoff Marchant, who dedicated his career to providing quality affordable housing, to the lasting benefit of many residents of Charlestown. In this case, thank you not only for the housing, but also for the water supply, for transforming a polluted mess into a new community well that supplies these new housing units and more with safe drinking water. We can’t thank you enough for all you have created for people in need over many decades. Thank you Geoff!

Where this historic village, shared by Charlestown and Richmond, was once powered by water, we are now adding people power. May the legacy of “can do” together with the luck and beauty of the Horseshoe Falls grace the lives of the people who live here into the future.