March 12, 2012 – RI Future

March 12, 2012March 13, 2012

Reza Rites and RI Future at SXSW in Austin, TX

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Heard of South by Southwest, but can’t be in Austin yourself? Pop in daily to “Take 5 with Reza Rites” on RIFuture.org for photos and live updates about her adventures at the annual festival – or follow her on Twitter and Facebook @rezaclif. Besides blogging for RI Future, Reza will be recording interviews and footage for an election-year multimedia project being released in June, “Rhode 2 Africa: Elect the Arts 2012.”

PROVIDENCE, RI & AUSTIN, TX – For those who don’t follow me or RI Future on Twitter (and I recommend that you do), you may have missed some pretty cool news: RI Future is going down to South by Southwest in Austin, TX – represented by me, Reza Rites!

Now, for those not quite sure about what SXSW is…

It’s only one of the biggest annual cultural festivals for techies, filmmakers, and musicians! And Reza Rites / RI Future won’t be the only New England folks there. So far I’ve received tips and tweets from peeps and tweeps about artists from Worcester, Providence, and Narragansett (Shane Hall, Soldiers of Life, Joe Fletcher and the Wrong Reasons, Boo City, and 5th Elament to name my current list) – and those are only local / regional folks!

I leave later this afternoon, but to get mentally prepared, I spent the last two weeks talking to representatives from Boo City and ERB about what to expect. To summarize their answers – it’ll be a big party.

So yes, I’ll be taking some of my music and dancing shoes out there because the DJ and music consumer in me can’t be silenced. But if you know me or have been following my posts here on RIFuture.org, then you know that I view music as more than just gateway to fun. And my participation in SXSW could be no better demonstration than this.

Not only will I be in Austin blogging for RI Future and capturing the “cool,” I’ll also be down there talking about politics and election year 2012. That is because this trip represents the final phase of filming for a a multimedia project I began in October called “Rhode 2 Africa: Elect the Arts 2012” (R2A 2012).

Below is an excerpt about the film/series; for additional information, visit www.Rhode2Africa.wordpress.com or click here to access the information page. To make a donation toward the project to help me with producer and artist travel costs, equipment purchases, or staff supports, click here.

***

Riders Against the Storm (RAS) is a husband-wife hip hop duo who relocated from Providence to Austin, bringing their political and social justice message right with them. They are participating in SXSW and they will be featured in Rhode 2 Africa: Elect The Arts 2012. Prior to moving, RAS participated in R2A Year One.

ABOUT RHODE 2 AFRICA: ELECT THE ARTS 2012

There is room at every election to hear and examine new voices and ideas. This year is no different. As a matter of fact, as protesters part of Occupy Wall Street, and break-off movements like Women Occupy and Occupy The Hood have demonstrated, citizens across this country have grown tired of never hearing from the variety of voices making up the “99%.” Still, if you pay attention to major news outlets, you would think that the only people who care about the November elections are the all-white Republican candidates and their party followers.

One place in which you can hear alternative voices and views on politics is within the music community. Besides being heads of households, tax-payers, insurance-holders, and voters, there are many performers who play at political events, directly and indirectly endorsing candidates; hip hop artists who “rap” about reform and rebellion; and emerging and established artists who’ve performed at The Whitehouse.

Rhode 2 Africa: Elect the Arts 2012 is about sharing the voices of Black musicians engaged in this type of work. Standing in contrast to the limited news coverage we see daily, R2A will provide election 2012 coverage and awareness through conversations on race, politics and music. Our goal is to make sure that diverse constituencies are motivated to vote in November and engaged in political conversations at the local, national, and global level.

***

CONTACT INFO

Reza Corinne Clifton:
“Reza Rites / Venus Sings / DJ Reza Wreckage”
rezaclif@gmail.com / 401-217-9680 / singsvenus@gmail.com

www.Rhode2Africa.wordpress.com / www.VenusSings.com /
www.RIFuture.org / www.IsisStorm.com /

Facebook & Twitter @rezaclif

NEXT STEPS

Learn more about R2A 2012 by clicking here and getting more information about the project, which is in-production and scheduled to be broadcast-ready and screening-ready in June, 2012.

Learn more about R2A Year One by clicking here to watch and listen to R2A Year One episodes.

Help fund the project by clicking here to make a donation toward the project to help with producer and artist travel costs, equipment purchases, and staff supports.

Tell a friend or potential sponsor/donor.

March 12, 2012

Rep. Ferri: Corvese Amendment Must Be Repealed

No further commentary is needed.

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

Popular Proposal on Smith Hill: Tax Equity Bills

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Add Rep. Scott Guthrie, D – Coventry, to the list of legislators hoping to find additional revenue for the state through an increase in income taxes on Rhode Island’s richest residents.

“By instituting a fourth tax bracket we could solve many of our immediate budget problems, the ones that include deciding if we should cut more services for the needy or force classroom teachers, first responders and other public servants to take pay cuts and layoffs in order to balance budgets,” he said in a pres release issued today.

He’s got four proposals submitted, and while none of them would raise as much revenue as the so-called Cimini-Miller bill, one of them may be more politically practical given that leadership has vowed to fight against any increased taxes on the rich.

From his release:

2012-H 7305 would impose an additional one percent tax increase for all personal income over $500,000. Doing that would bring in an additional $18.4 million in Fiscal Year 2013 and an extra $19.5 million in 2014, according to a State Fiscal Note provided by the Budget Office of the Department of Administration.

2012-H 7379 would impose an additional one percent tax increase for all personal income over $250,000. That would result in an additional $32.4 million in tax revenue in FY 2013 and an extra $34.3 million the following year.

2112-H 7382 provides for an additional two percent tax increase on personal income over $500,000. The added revenue would be $37.3 million for FY 2013 and $39.4 million for FY 2014.

Finally, 2012-H 7381 provides for an additional two percent tax increase on personal income over $250,000. Added revenue is projected by the Budget Office at $65.3 for fiscal year 2013 and $69.2 million for the following fiscal year.

Guthrie added, “We need a shift back to a more fair tax policy. Trickle down doesn’t work. We’ve tried it for years and all the benefits continue to trickle up. As the state budget deficit continues to loom large, for yet another year, one phrase continues to remain popular from elected officials – shared sacrifice. Well, I see municipalities sacrificing, as well as many of the residents of those communities. I see sacrifices from the poorest and neediest in Rhode Island, the results of continued trimming in the social services funding. What I don’t see is sacrifice from the wealthiest members of our society who could most easily afford to give a little more to help their many neighbors and fellow citizens who are suffering.”

Last week, Speaker Gordon Fox told me he doesn’t see any of the tax equity bills going anywhere during this session, noting that this will be the first year in which the new tax rates, which were pushed by former Gov. Don Carcieri, will be factored into the budget.

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

Progress Report: Whitehouse fights Super PACs, Gemma on Jobs, Chafee Muni Bill, Medical Marijuana and more

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Rhode Island progressives, indeed progressives across the country, should be happy Sheldon Whitehouse is a Senator. Not only has he sponsored the Buffett Rule tax code improvement that would prevent millionaires from evading paying taxes on their earnings, he’s also leading the fight against Super PACs and the Citizen United SCOTUS decision, the Projo reports this morning.

“Whitehouse leads a group of liberal Senate Democrats who hope to fashion a strategy for their party to enact legislation to blunt — or at least cast more light on — the effects of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that has changed the campaign-finance landscape,” reports the john Mulligan, the Projo’s Washington correspondent. “The decision, known as Citizens United, has given rise to a new brand of political action committee — super PACs in campaign parlance — that are not bound by earlier limits on campaign contributions.”

…Speaking of congressional politics, Anthony Gemma, who is still considering challenging David Cicilline in the Democratic primary for the CD1 seat in Congress, pens an op-ed in the Projo today about his plan to create jobs in Rhode Island.

His plan includes making Rhode Island “the center of America’s $125 billion wellness industry; encouraging additional job growth in the rapidly expanding health-care industry,” tax credits for green construction and making a higher education more attainable for the local workforce. It all sounds good, but making it happen is another story.

Here at Rhode Island’s Future, we’re still waiting with baited breath to see if David Segal will also throw his hat into the ring.

…On the state level, Ian Donnis of RINPR, reports that Gov. Chafee “is expected later this week to unveil his long-anticipated bill for aiding municipalities.” Here’s hoping that bill does more than just give mayors a tool to cut pensions, as that really isn’t the core problem for struggling cities and towns – despite the MSM constantly beating that drum.

…Providence Business News has a great comprehensive look at the fits and starts of Rhode Island’s proposed medical marijuana compassion centers. TurnTo10.com, on the other hand, has a story about a patient in the program who was robbed of two ounces of medicine. It’s worth noting that if patients could get their prescriptions filled at a dispensary, it would make it much harder for them to being targeted by the criminal elements associated with cannabis.

…Congrats go out this morning to two RI Future contributors. The first is Paula Hodges, who heads up the Rhode Island offices for Planned Parenthood. GoLocalProv gives her their power player treatment this morning. The other goes to Samuel Howard, one of our most prolific writers, who got a nice compliment from Ted Nesi, WPRI’s blogger-in-chief, in a recent post.

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

Budgeting for Disaster Part V: Granting a Problem

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Our tour of the state budget documents continues. We leave the Executive Summary for the time being (we’ll be back for the all-important schedules and for the invaluable predictions of the future), and move into Volume I.

Volume I covers “General Government”, which includes the offices of all the elected officials, and the departments of Revenue, Business Regulation, and Labor and Training. Plus the Department of Administration which holds all the central functions. It’s also got all the quasi-public agencies like the Economic Development Corporation, RIPTA, the Airport Corporation, and Resource Recovery, who runs the state Central Landfill. For each department and agency, there is a summary page, and then a page for each of the major divisions. This is the part of the tour where the guide is supposed to tell funny jokes to fill up the travel time as you cruise from one interesting locale to the next.

The legislature’s budget is in this volume, so let’s look there first. The overall budget for the Assembly is about $41 million this year, and the Governor is proposing to cut it by a little more than $1 million, about half from supplies and expenses and the rest from the grants budget. There’s no change in the number of personnel, and it looks like they’re anticipating a 3% raise for most everyone, and — what’s this? — it’s the rising cost of health care, just like everywhere else. Remember, no matter what you’ve been told, it’s rising health care costs that are pushing up the cost of your government more than anything else.

Legislative grants

Oh, wait, did you want to hear about the infamous grants budget? This is the source of the legislative grants, random bits of money awarded by the leadership to reward this or that legislator for helping out around the place. It mostly goes to non-profits in the legislator’s home district, like say, Dan Doyle’s Institute for International Sport that we’re hearing so much about these days. They apparently got $575,000 in 2007 for a fabulous building on the URI campus that remains unfinished today.

There are also plenty of excellent, well-run non-profits who get support this way. The problem is that the way these grants are awarded has a lot to do with ring-kissing and begging and maybe not so much to do with merit. Lots of ring-kissers have other merits, but when merit isn’t the main criteria, you’ll undoubtedly get some who are better at the kissing than the service. (This makes the occasional screw-up like the Institute into the fault of some specific person, though no one seems to be saying who just yet.)

How much does it cost? On paper, you’ll see a grant budget line item of $2.8 million in the current year, and the Governor is proposing to cut it back to $2.3 million. The way the system works, though, there is much more than that available. The way it works is that lots of the dollars will wind up as line items on the budget of some agency whose mission is vaguely related to the non-profit’s. So a theatre might get a grant and it would come directly from the RISCA budget, not from this line item. This is a problem both because it provides less money for the agency mission, something that you can’t see from the budget documents, and because counting all those grants isn’t possible from the outside.

What else? One can’t help but notice that despite the modest cut Governor Chafee has proposed, the legislature’s budget is up a healthy 42% in ten years, 2003-2012, about 3.5% per year. This is somewhat less than overall state expenses, which are up 48%, but it’s embarrassingly close to the 42% rise over that time in the statewide property tax levy. One thing you’ll hear if you wander around the halls of the State House and talk to legislators is complaints about out-of-control municipal budgets. What those legislators don’t seem to understand is that the town councils and mayors are doing pretty much as good a job as the legislators.

It’s easy to understand legislators not noticing this. What’s less forgivable is the way they keep voting to cut taxes without cutting their own budget. Over that decade 2003-2012, we saw a capital gains tax cut, an income tax cut for rich people, and several high-profile tax credits pass the Assembly. At none of those times did anyone propose a proportional cut in the Assembly’s own budget. Cuts for thee and not for me. If you care about controlling costs in government, this is the kind of behavior that has to be rendered embarrassing (or at least politically dangerous) for elected officials.

Time to move on. Next stop: DMV!
Read the previous posts in this series.

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

Darth Flanders Sets Sights on CF Mayoral Office

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It turns out there’s at least one more job Central Falls receiver Bob “Lord of the Pink Slip” Flanders would like to eliminate from the financially struggling city: mayor. As if temporarily eliminating democracy from Central Falls wasn’t enough, now he wants to permanently eliminate democratically elected mayors and replace the position with an appointed city manager.

Flanders told the ProJo he would like to create a local charter review commission to look into the merits of switching from a mayoral form of government, in which the highest position in government is elected, to a city manager form, in which the highest position is appointed.

The article says “state and local officials are exploring the possibility,” but the only local official cited is Albert Romanowicz, who was appointed by Flanders to run the local jail. All the other local officials in the article – such as the mayor, not surprisingly – are against it.

Forget, for a moment, that mayors are less expensive than managers – in Rhode Island, the average municipal manager makes $101,480 a year and the average mayor makes $84,800 (meanwhile, average receiver makes in excess of $360,000 a year).

The really troubling issue here is that Darth Flanders is again going too far in his role as receiver.

Flanders has already over-stepped his bounds when he tried to institute an overnight parking ban in Central Falls. Sure, this would have made money, but that’s because he would have made it a violation to park where residents park in Central Falls, on the road. Few, if any, in Central Falls have three car garages, like Flanders does at his house in East Greenwich. While he pushed the idea through over the objection of the residents, Gov. Chafee had him rescind the idea the next day.

Similarly, the governor should tell Flanders to back off on his vision of permanently restructuring of the government by eliminating elected officials.

Central Falls does not suffer from too many elected officials, it suffers from poverty. There isn’t a high enough tax base to pay for the services that are needed. To that end, the receiver is well within the parameters of his responsibilities to shrink the size of government – though a better solution would be to work on expanding the tax base.

Either way, someone charged with financial oversight shouldn’t take action toward eliminating elected positions. It’s just unseemly, and it smacks of punishing the people of Central Falls for being too poor to pay for their services.

According to the Projo, “Flanders and his staff insist that the mayoral form of government invites patronage and cronyism.” But I’m not sure the same can’t be said of an appointed manager. At least mayors can be voted out of office. In fact, the very underlying principle of a democracy is that elected officials are held accountable by the people.

Evidently, Flanders doesn’t think this is working so well in Central Falls. “Let’s put it this way,” he told the Projo. The mayoral form of government “hasn’t served the populace very well to date.’’

If this is the case, Flanders could use the power of his position to create a community dialogue about these issues, or start a training academy for young local leaders. Both of these ideas would better eliminate cronyism from government than simply trading a mayor for a manager, as well as have many other positive effects on the city.

But it seems as if Flanders is so hyper-focused on being the Lord of the Pink Slip that he forgot he actually has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something much bigger and more meaningful than just eliminate positions and divvy out haircuts.

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

Join David Cicilline Tonight for a Discussion on Online Safety

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Rhode Islanders deserve to know that their children are attending schools where they feel they are in a safe environment. Unfortunately, as recent reports have made clear, more and more children are subjected to bullying and harassment not only at school, but also when they log on to Facebook or other social networking platforms from home.

That’s why, tonight, March 12^th, at 6:30 PM, I will be hosting a discussion on Online Safety at Nathan Bishop Middle School in Providence. At this event, you will hear directly from Facebook employees about the tools and resources available to stop cyberbullying. Full details for this event are as follows:

Discussion on Online Safety
Nathan Bishop Middle School, Auditorium
101 Sessions Street
Providence, RI
Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:30 PM

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact my office at 729-5600. I look forward to seeing you tonight.

–David