Paiva Weed Calls For DMV for Aquidneck Island

Paiva Weed Calls For DMV for Aquidneck Island

Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed is calling on Governor Chafee’s administration to act immediately to restore DMV service to Aquidneck Island. The DMV registry in Middletown temporarily closed on Feb. 11 after its landlord chose to rent to new tenants, forcing residents of Newport County to have to cross two bridges or drive to Warren to visit the service.

An 11:00am deadline for proposal to lease a DMV facility on the island passed with no new bids. In a statement, Paiva Weed said she was disappointed and vowed to do whatever she could to bring back service to the island.

“I am concerned and dismayed to learn that there were no proposals submitted for a new Registry location on Aquidneck Island. This is a critical service for the residents, and a new location must be identified as swiftly as possible,” said President Paiva Weed. “I have expressed in the past the Senate delegations concern that the requirements identified in the request for proposals were too restrictive, a factor which we believe played a role in there being no proposals submitted. I will do everything in my power to ensure that a Registry branch is re-opened as soon as possible on Aquidneck Island.”

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A Great Hardship

Reached on Sunday evening, Paiva Weed told GoLocalProv not having a DMV registry is terribly inconvenient for many residents of the area.


“It’s a great hardship for Newport Country,” Paiva Weed said. “Our entire delegation down here is concerned that such a vital service isn’t here.”

Last week, Paiva Weed, Senator Louis DiPalma, Senator Walter S. Felag, Jr. and Senator Christopher Scott Ottiano, all members of the Aquidneck Island delegation, wrote a letter to Governor Chafee expressing their concern over the closing of the Middletown DMV and suggested that residents from other parts of the state will also suffer from longer lines and more frustration if a new service isn’t opened soon.

Warren DMV Open An Extra Day

Until the Middletown DMV finds new home, the Warren branch, which is normally only open on Tuesdays, has agreed to open its doors on Wednesdays beginning this week. Despite Felag’s concern over the closed DMV, he praised the decision to open Warren an extra day.

In a letter to the state DMV, Felag and Representative, Jan P. Malik said, “adding a day at the Warren branch would better serve, simply because of proximity, those individuals who would ordinarily use the Middletown branch, especially the residents of Little Compton, Tiverton and Portsmouth.”

The DMV originally considered opening South Kingstown for an extra day instead of Warren.