Robbie Guimond has lived and worked on the Saugatuck River for nearly 40 years. Since 1996 he’s owned and operated Bridgebrook Marina, one of the last old New England boatyards. He writes:
For a town built on the banks of a river, it’s remarkable how far we’ve drifted from understanding the very resource that shaped us.
I’ve spent my life on the water — working, boating, raising my girls while watching the tides and summers come and go — and I’m still struck by how few people here truly engage with the river that defines our history and our identity.
That disconnect is showing up now, at a moment when clarity matters most.
Robbie Guimond, at work on the river.
Over the years I’ve sat through meeting after meeting, reread the blogs, listened to the videos and talked with neighbors across town.
What I’ve learned is simple and uncomfortable: misinformation is everywhere, and it’s affecting all of us — including me.
The recent RTM meeting, and the commentary swirling around it, are just the latest examples of how quickly passion can outrun facts.
The Cribari Bridge at the center of this debate is more than iron and bolts. It’s part of our daily lives, our memories, our sense of place.
Saugatuck River (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
Even after the state Department of Transportation’s missteps and the mess that we were left with, I still see the bridge, its scars and its lights as part of Saugatuck’s character.
It deserves a conversation grounded in understanding, not noise.
I’ve tried — sometimes to the point of going hoarse — to explain the issues as best as an everyday guy can. I often get caught up in emotion, which drives me off course.
But at this stage, the most important thing any of us can do is: get informed. Read the Environmental Assessment. Look closely at the options that came out of more than a dozen meetings with the state. Understand what’s actually on the table.
Inspecting supports for the Cribari Bridge. Much of the recent debate has focused on the part of the bridge that everyone sees and travels on — not what’s underneath, where river traffic passes.
Because the petitions circulating right now are one‑sided. The blog comments, while heartfelt, are often tilted. And yes, my own posts and comments have their biases too. That’s exactly why we need to step back from the echo chambers and look at the full picture.
At the end of the day, we’re on the same team. We all want a bridge that is safe, suitable, and responsible to the environment around it, and the river that runs under it.
We want solutions that protect quality of life, improve traffic and commerce, and honor the history that makes this place special. Those goals aren’t in conflict —they’re connected.
But we can’t reach them if we’re arguing from different sets of facts.
The river has always been our town’s anchor. It’s time for our decision‑making to reflect that same steadiness.
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The Saugatuck River. View is from the Riverwalk, behind office buildings on Riverside Avenue. (Photo/Louisa Ismert)