Trucking Association blames RhodeWorks on meeting venue change to Maine from Newport

CHRISTOPHER MAXWELL, president of the Rhode Island Trucking Association, said the association worked hard to bring the annual meeting to Newport, but he had to defer to his "peers in the industry who questioned the viability of this location given the egregious actions taken against the trucking industry by Gov. Raimondo and the Legislature through the passage of RhodeWorks.”   / PBN FILE PHOTO
CHRISTOPHER MAXWELL, president of the Rhode Island Trucking Association, said the association worked hard to bring the annual meeting to Newport, but he had to defer to his "peers in the industry who questioned the viability of this location given the egregious actions taken against the trucking industry by Gov. Raimondo and the Legislature through the passage of RhodeWorks.” / PBN FILE PHOTO

In reaction to the truck tolls associated with RhodeWorks, the Northeast Trucking Association Executives Council is working to relocate to Maine a 2018 annual meeting that had been set for Newport – a change the council chairman says could cost Rhode Island $250,000 or more in revenue.
The Trucking Association Executives Council has four regions that take turns hosting annual meetings, said Northeast Chairman Brian Parke, who is also president of the Maine Motor Transport Association. Region 4 is hosting on the West Coast this year; Region 2 hosted in the Southeast last year. Parke said the decision to bring the meeting to Newport had originally been made last November.
“In 2014, the last time we hosted this national event, [it] was at Mount Washington, N.H., and revenues to the state of New Hampshire exceeded $250,000,” Parke said.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s RhodeWorks plan will toll truckers and use the revenue to rebuild the state’s flagging highway and road infrastructure. Under the RhodeWorks proposal, trucks will pay a new toll at each of 14 proposed toll gantries around the state.
Parke said negotiations with the state of Maine are “99 percent” complete to host the 2018 meeting there instead of in Newport.
“Maine has tolls,” he acknowledged, “but it’s not truck-only, and tolls in Maine have been there for more than 30 years. Gov. Raimondo’s objective was to focus solely on the trucking industry as a way to fund RhodeWorks.”
Chris Maxwell, president and CEO of the Pawtucket-based Rhode Island Trucking Association, lamented the change but said it was a decision by his peers to which he would defer.
“We worked very hard to bring the leaders of our industry to Newport in 2018,” Maxwell said in a prepared statement. “The tourism professionals in that town were incredibly supportive and accommodating in putting this together. I would put Newport in July up against any venue in the world; however, I had to defer to my peers in the industry who questioned the viability of this location given the egregious actions taken against the trucking industry by Gov. Raimondo and the Legislature through the passage of RhodeWorks.”
Evan Smith, president and CEO of Discover Newport, said, although he doesn’t like losing business to another state, it happens.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this – taking the meeting out of here, which is a statement,” he noted. “I’ve seen people saying we’re not coming to your location because you’re nonunion – I’ve seen people not come for a wide range of social and economic conditions. Do we like losing a piece of business? No. Is it the first time? Certainly not. Is it the last time? Certainly not.”

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Goodbye! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. It doesn’t appear anyone in Newport gives a crap about their puny $250k event either. Bring a jacket. Maine gets chilly even in July.