Providence Journal / Mary Murphy
An aerial photo of the Rocky Point Shore Dinner Hall, center, and other buildings at the former Warwick amusement park just before it was purchased last year by the city and state.

My colleague Barbara Polichetti reports (DEM eyes purchase of Rocky Point)

WARWICK -- The state Department of Environmental Management wants to acquire a portion of the former Rocky Point amusement park that had been set aside for private development and preserve it as open space.

DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan yesterday successfully asked the State Properties Committee for permission to begin surveying and appraising the roughly 82 acres that developers have been eyeing for luxury housing. Sullivan said he hopes to create an expansive coastal state park by coupling the land with the 41-acre shoreline portion of the old amusement park that was acquired by the city and state last year.

While a public park would be lovely, a 21st-century amusement park with retro touches could be a hoot. It needn't be tacky or grubby, as Rocky Point was in its final years. And it needn't be glitzy, overblown and overpriced like Disney or Six Flags -- most Rhode Islanders are frugal, down-to-earth people. But we do love to have fun, and the waterfront amusement park with its clam cakes and chowder, Tilt-A-Whirl and bumper cars ("Dodgems"), foosball and pinball machines struck just the right note of family fun in a Rhode Island summer.

Check out Joe Nisil's great Rocky Point photos site, from which this pic of my favorite comes, as well as Art In Ruins' Rocky Point collection.

I read somewhere recently, "When there's less bread the people need more circuses."

This could be a grand public art project, involving the imaginations of Rhode Island's creative community, planners, engineers and construction workers.

What would you like to see there?