June 17, 2016

Amos House has a new home

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

“Amos has a new house,” said Ned Handy, right before the ceremonial ribbon was cut on Amos House’s new community center on Pine Street in Providence.

The grand opening of the new 29,000 square foot operations center for Amos House – Rhode Island’s largest social service agency and soup kitchen – was a gala affair for South Providence. Pine Street was temporarily closed to accommodate the large crowd. Senator Jack Reed, a slew of state legislators, Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements and many other local dignitaries were on hand. There were several congratulatory speeches and then tours of the new facility, complete with refreshments and lunch. State Senator Harold Metts donned a dashiki, a traditional West African shirt, for the occasion.

Senator Jack Reed, who was a pro bono lawyer for Amos House as a young man, said “Amos House provides an extraordinary service to the community. It represents, really, the best of Rhode Island. And now they have the facilities to help them do it much better.”

The new $6 million facility was paid for, in part, by a $1 million gift from Rhode Island Housing and a federal money secured by Senator Reed. Employees of Amos House, half of whom are former clients, contributed $45,000 of their own money.

“When we embarked on this project seven, eight years ago, many people said we would not do it,” said Eileen Hayes, the popular CEO of Amos House. “We could not possibly raise $5 million for a community center on the south side of Providence. But guess what, we did it!”

The facility has a large dining hall and a kitchen on the first floor. On the second floor there are classrooms, group meeting spaces and a state-of-the-art computer lab. Staff offices are on the third floor.

June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Archambault, Conley lose Sierra Club endorsement over Burrillville bill

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

State senators Stephen Archambault and Bill Conley lost their endorsements from the Rhode Island chapter of the Seirra Club because they voted against the Burrillville power plant bill as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Sierra Club condemns every member of the committee that voted ‘no’ to this bill, but we are especially disappointed in Sen. Archambault and Sen. Conley. Both senators were endorsed by the RI Sierra Club in 2014,” wrote Sierra Club political chair Aaron Jaehnig.

“With a record like this, they will not be endorsed again in 2016. Sierra Club demands that our logo be removed from all websites and campaign materials for both,” Jaehnig continued. “The people of Burrillville and the people of Rhode Island deserved better. Make no mistake – that vote was a betrayal of everyone who cares about our planet, and of future generations of Rhode Islanders. It represents an insane double-down on the dangerous fossil fuel economy that has taken our climate to the brink and that threatens all of our futures.”

Neither senator could be immediately reached for comment. This post will be updated if and when they respond to comment.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted down a bill that would have given Burrillville residents a vote on a tax agreement between Invenergy, the corporation that seeks to build the power plant, and the Republican town council. Residents convinced legislators Cale Keable and Paul Fogarty to introduce the legislation because they say they can’t trust the town council to negotiate in good faith.

At the first committee hearing, Archambault was dismissive of this concern, saying, “The town council, at large, has been elected and is in a position to best negotiate tax treaties.”

June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

General Assembly restores Ethics Commission oversite… finally!

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

The General Assembly unanimously approved legislation to restore the Ethics Commission’s jurisdiction over lawmakers. The joint resolution puts a constitutional amendment before voters at the November general election that, if approved, would close the legislative immunity loophole. Since it is a joint resolution, it does not require a signature by the governor to become effective.

In 2009, the Rhode Island Supreme Court held that the state constitution’s “speech in debate clause” conferred legislative immunity upon General Assembly members. As a result, legislators stood outside the purview of the Ethics Commission. A constitutional amendment is necessary to restore the Ethics Commission’s oversight of the legislature.

“Since the Irons decision, Common Cause has dedicated itself to closing the ‘legislative immunity’ loophole,” said Common Cause Executive Director John Marion. “This is a historic moment for those who care about ethical government in Rhode Island. We have no doubt that this measure will increase transparency and accountability in our legislature. The work is not done, however, because voters still need to pass this constitutional amendment on the ballot in November.”

“Today’s vote is a dramatic, historic step forward,” said Phil West, who is the former executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. “The Speaker and Senate President’s ballot question will allow voters to establish the same ethics accountability for all public officials in Rhode Island. It will again allow legislators to think through potential conflicts of interest and to seek advisory opinions from the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. No other state has anything better than this.”

The resolution adopted by the House and Senate did not include a campaign blackout period for filing complaints.

“We met with several groups and decided that the Constitution was an inappropriate place for a moratorium on filing complaints,” said Speaker Nicholas Mattiello. “I have confidence that the Ethics Commission will consider and determine the proper approach for dealing with frivolous, politically charged complaints.”

Personal note: It was an honor to sit in the House and Senate galleys with John Marion and Phil West as the resolutions passed.

June 17, 2016June 18, 2016

Josh Fox’s HOW TO LET GO OF THE WORLD a tribute to places like Burrillville

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Midway through Gasland director Josh Fox’s new film How To Let Go Of The World (And Love All The Things Climate Can’t Change), the filmmaker comes to the stark conclusion that most people in the mainstream press are not saying out loud: climate change is here, it is already impacting our world, and we are well past the time when mythical natural gas “bridge fuels,” like those proposed for use in Burrillville would have been of any use to our civilization.

CLICK HERE TO GET TICKETS TO THIS FILM, OPENING AT THE CABLE CAR!

Picking up where his previous documentary about opposition to fracking left off, he goes on a globe-trotting journey to the Amazon rain forest, the Pacific islands, China, and everywhere in between to visit communities that are opposing fossil fuel infrastructure expansion while confronting the onset of the crisis. Yet unless one thinks this is all doom and gloom, think again, it is in reality a celebration of solidarity and includes within its coordinates the potential salvation of our civilization.

We witness the beauty of South American indigenous people rowing miles into the jungle to clean up oil spilled by reckless fossil fuel companies and the courage of Pacific islanders who form a blockade out of canoes trying to hinder the passage of an Australian tanker. There’s the majesty of the Chinese solar panel entrepreneur whose industrial-level output of renewable energy implements would put cranes in the air across the Ocean State. And here in America we see the aftermath of super storm Sandy as a preview of what is in store for all the coastal cities in America, including Providence, with 384 miles of coastline in the Ocean State that are in dire need of renovations and reinforcement to accommodate rising sea levels.

Fox’s operational budget and cinematography are notably hands-on, DIY. He has amazing panoramic views of the landscape because of a trusty self-flown drone he pilots with relative ease around the sky looking down on the decimation of climate change. One needs only recall the majesty of works by Dziga Vertov to see his film occupying a continuity that will rank it alongside other great works of documentary.

It is intended as a call to action. I hope that Sen. Whitehouse and George Nee will see this film and consider its points carefully. The climate crisis provides us with great opportunities but they begin with understanding that the Democratic Party is not going to be a force for change in the face of this emergency and that instead it is going to come from the masses of people who band together in the face of calamity.

See this movie.