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George Wiley Center joins Chorus of Criticism versus PROCAP

ABC6 reports that the progressive community based organization – the George Wiley Center – has first-hand experience of the kind of “staggering mismanagement” that has led Mayor Angel Taveras and Council President Michael Solomon to call for the resignation of director Frank Corbishley and the State of Rhode Island to announce that its cutting off all funding to ProCap:

One of the Programs effected by the Agency’s issues is the George Wiley Center in Pawtucket. The center is the middle man between people that need help paying their utilities and programs like ProCAP that provide those services. For the past year, workers at the George Wiley Center say they can’t do their job, because ProCAP hasn’t been doing theirs.

Drawers of files at George Wiley Center show just how many Rhode Islanders come seeking help for paying their utility bills. It’s part of Debbie Clark’s job to refer them to programs like ProCAP.

“They’re the focal point of where everything starts, they’re where people can move on to the next step,” Clark says.

Clark says working with ProCAP has become a battle over the last year, hindering her from helping others.

“People are calling they’re not getting treated properly, I just think the whole thing needs to be revamped.”

(…)Clark says her program has had communication problems with ProCAP for a while and is hoping for change.

“Our hands are tied, we can’t change what’s happening at ProCAP, we can’t affect what’s happening at ProCAP, and all we can do is help these people on what to do moving forward.”

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Progressive Education in Providence?

Good news via the mayor’s Web site:

The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), founded 25 years ago by renowned educator Theodore R. Sizer, is moving into its new offices on 325 Public Street, co-located with Big Picture Learning at the Met School’s Public Street campus in South Providence.

“The Coalition of Essential Schools is a great resource for educators who are committed to thoughtful teaching and learning practices—not just for Providence but throughout the country. We are thrilled to have the CES establish new headquarters in the Capital City, and we look forward to their partnership in improving the education of all of our students,” said Mayor Angel Taveras.

That’s a positive sign, but I’m left wondering how much of the progressive education model is actually being embraced.

Last weekend the Coalition hosted its annual Fall Forum. Speakers discussed the problems with current education policy, such as that being promoted by Education Commissioner Gist. What concerns Providence parents is that a focus on high-stakes test taking turns schools into what Fall Forum speaker, Alfie Kohn called “glorified test taking centers.” The question for parents is not so much reform as it is which reform and by which method. Here’s Kohn (“Speakers decry test-taking factories,” Projo 11/13/2011 – not available online):

“Education has become like the old Listerine commercial,” Kohn said. “If it tastes bad, you know it’s working. Traditional education is as unproductive as it [is] unappealing”…

“These types of schools,” Kohn said, “squeeze the intellectual life out of the classroom and victimize the very kids who most need an education that is engaging.”Kohn may be what Projo calls an “education contrarian,” but he’s in good company in the continuous improvement world. Process improvement guru, W. Edwards Deming was once interviewed by a group of educators who asked him, what to measure to improve student performance?. So what was his response?Dr. Deiming: Don’t measure. For heaven’s sake, I’ve been trying to say, “DON’T MEASURE.” Whatever you can measure is inconsequential.What’s important according to Deming is to “restore and nurture the yearning for learning that the child is born with” (for more I encourage you to read this section of “The New Economics For Industry, Government & Education”). That’s exactly the type of reform Kohn is talking about. Let’s just hope the mayor is listening.

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Thank You, Commissioner Pare and Mayor Taveras

While other cities – from Oakland to New York City to St. Louis to Boston to Portland to even, yes, Burlington – have evicted or disbanded Occupy Wall St. encampments, Providence has seen another approach led by Public Safety Commissioner Col. Steven Pare and Mayor Angel Taveras.  Instead of using police action, they have used a “communications-first” strategy that has permitted the Occupy Providence encampment to happen peacefully for the last month since it started on October 15th.

Jim Baron at the Pawtucket Times takes note of the successful city/protest relationship in Providence:

Who says Rhode Island can’t do anything right?

As the various “Occupy” movements across the country have degenerated into violent disarray, the politicians, cops and protesters involved with Occupy Providence have shown the way.

Providence Mayor Angel Tavares has wisely avoided the kind of chest-thumping, get-tough ultimatums that have limited the options of macho mayors in other communities. Likewise, Public Safety Director Steven Pare has taken an accommodating, tolerant and cooperative tone with the demonstrators that — Surprise! Surprise! — has been 100 percent effective in protecting public safety. Tavares and Pare have shown real leadership instead of the knee-jerk, panicked response we have seen in other cities.

And the Occupiers, well they just have to be the most polite darned bunch of antiestablishment radicals I have ever encountered. They have shown absolutely no inclination to engage in angry confrontation and are not spoiling for a fight, so they are not getting either.

As a result, tear gas is not swirling in the air over the streets of Providence, the glass is still in all the store windows downtown, no vehicles have been overturned and no cops or protesters have been injured.  That seems to be a pretty good definition of an all-around success.

Indeed.  Thank you Commissioner Pare and Mayor Taveras for leading the way on this issue.

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An Update From The Internet — Before Crony Capitalism Shuts It Down

Demand Progress delivered 500k signatures in opposition to the Internet Blacklist Bill today — at a press conference alongside Congresmembers Zoe Lofgren and Darrell Issa.  (That’s our David Moon to the left of the podium.)The legislation gets heard tomorrow, and there’s an unprecedented avalanche of opposition snowballing among online advocacy groups tech companies, and rank-and-file Internet users.Opponents object to provisions that would allow the government to block users’ access to websites accused of copyright infringement, jail users for uploading streamed content, and require social media sites and blogs to go to new lengths to police users’ contributions — threatening the very existence of sites like YouTube and Twitter.

You can still email your lawmakers and ask them to oppose the legislation by clicking here.

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Nov. 17: YouthBuild Providence – Picture A School

Join YouthBuild Providence at their first annual Meet and Greet – “Picture A School @ Gallery Z” – on Thursday, November 17th, from 5-8pm at Gallery Z, 259 Atwells Avenue, Providence, RI.  This event is to benefit YouthBuild Providence, a fantastic organization that helps out-of-school youth gain the academic, job readiness, and work skills necessary to make the jump into high growth, high demand occupations and careers.   Please consider coming to celebrate the amazing work YouthBuild has done in the past by supporting its future!  RSVP on Facebook.

As an added bonus, Broadway Bistro is catering (yum), and the Max Cudworth Trio is performing.

For more information, contact Hillary Sorin @ 401.499.4352.

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Leading Environmentalist Sheila Dormody picked as Providence’s first Sustainability Director

EcoRI reports that Providence Mayor Angel Taveras has hired the longtime director of Clean Water Action, Sheila Dormody, to be the city’s first Sustainability Director.  This hire is another impressive progressive hire by Taveras since taking office in January including: former blog godfather and SEIU/JwJ organizer Matt Jerzyk, trial attorney and Obama finance co-chair Jeff Padwa and AS220ist David Ortiz.

“I am thrilled that Sheila is joining our team and bringing with her a wealth of experience. I look forward to working with Sheila to make Providence one of the greenest cities in the nation,” said Mayor Taveras.

“Providence is well-positioned to be a great, green city,” said Dormody. “Providence has an abundance of committed leaders willing to help make the city the best it can be. I am looking forward to bringing people together to lower energy costs, reduce the city’s carbon footprint and identify environmentally conscious, cost-saving opportunities. I can’t wait to get started.”

Dormody has been involved in advocacy, grassroots organizing, and training activists for the environmental community since 1989. She is the outgoing New England co-director of Clean Water Action, an organization in which she has worked for since 2000.

She has served as the chair of the Providence Environmental Sustainability Task Force and co-chaired Mayor Taveras’ Environmental Transition Committee. Dormody won a U.S. EPA Merit Award in 2008 for her work to prevent mercury pollution.

Dormody has also led key collaborations to promote policies to that strengthen the economy, protect the environment and promote public health including the Coalition for Transportation Choices and the Coalition for Water Security.

She lives in Providence with her husband.

The Sustainability Director position is funded by a federal Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EEGBC).
As the city’s Sustainability Director, Dormody will oversee efforts to the reduce the city’s energy expenditures, manage Providence’s “Greenprint” initiative to align the city’s workforce with the green economy, develop a comprehensive sustainability action plan, implement a citywide composting program and increase recycling in the city.

The position was championed by City Council Majority Leader Seth Yurdin and established by the City Council in 2008, but has never been filled.

“I am pleased to see the Sustainability position finally being filled – especially by someone with a resume and background like Sheila Dormody,” said Councilman Yurdin. “This position will save the city money by implementing common sense, cost-saving measures that other cities have done. In addition, this position will move the city’s economy forward by creating green jobs and identifying renewable energy initiatives.”

Dormody’s colleagues at Clean Water Action are enthusiastic for the city’s leadership on environmental issues.

“We look forward to collaborating with the City of Providence on this exciting next chapter of revitalization, innovation and sustainability,” said Cindy Luppi, New England co-director of Clean Water Action. “We have every confidence that Providence will lead the nation in tapping into 21st century green potential.”

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An Interview With Joey “Quits” DeFrancesco

That’s right, RIFuture knew Joey before he was famous.  (You can check out the viral YouTube video here.) Everybody should go see him and the What Cheer Brigade next Saturday, November 19, 2011 at Firehouse 13 (fh13.com) 8:00pm.  More details at bottom.

DS: From what I’ve seen of the press you’ve gotten, people are really psyched about your quitting the way you did, because it was indeed awesome.  But they’re treating it like you guys made a cameo in a Dilbert cartoon:  “Work sucks, so it’s sweet that you told your boss to shove it.  Period.” But there’s a much more interesting political underpinning to what you did.

JD: There’s a big history to the video. You can sense in the manager’s face that we’ve had a rough relationship for a long time. I started work at the Renaissance in 2008 and quickly learned how bad it was there. Many people ask, “Why did you stay there if it was so bad?”  Well, I had to. I was paying for school and this was at the bottom point of the recession–there were no other jobs in Providence.

Since I had to stay, I decided to fight to make the place better. My co-workers and I fought managers informally, confronting them with groups if they were doing something terrible or simply sticking up for ourselves in meetings. We also fought more formally, though, by organizing a union.

We went public with the union in January 2010, presenting the hotel with about 85% of workers signed up on union cards. The union had a card-check agreement with the hotel so we expected to quickly enter into negotiations. We did immediately win many concessions from the hotel–they were so scared of us having a formal union that they tried to appease us. Suddenly hey had all this money to go around they always denied they had! We got raises across the board, new uniforms, many of the worst managers were fired, and so on.

But they also began a vicious anti-union campaign. They quickly began giving me fewer shifts and less lucrative shifts. They held large captive-audience meetings where they spread lies about the union. Managers held private conversations with employees where they made statements like, “If the union comes in, we’ll have to fire half of the workers here.” The hotel even targeted and fired pro-union workers for fabricated reasons. My good friend, a strongly pro-union bartender who had worked at the place since it opened, was fired for supposedly giving away a shot for free. There were no witnesses, the security cameras were conveniently turned off that night, and they provided zero evidence other than the word of a single manager.

This is still going on. The hotel refuses to negotiate and they continue their anti-union campaign.

I was one of the leaders of the union campaign, and so these managers really didn’t like me. I knew that if I was going to give them the pleasure of me quitting that I would have to go out in a big way, and I did.

DS: Do you have a sense of what effects “Joey Quits” is having on your former colleagues?  Is morale up?  Are the bosses on edge — and does that make them meaner or nicer?

JD: I’ve spoken with a lot of workers who are still at the hotel and a lot of workers who were fired or left the hotel. All my friends who were fired for made up reasons–often directly by the manager in the video–are obviously thrilled about the whole thing. We all agree we’ve gotten back at them 3 million times over.

From everything I hear, the video is a big hit with workers still at the hotel. It became so popular that the hotel had to ban youtube from the hotel’s computers and they’ve had to instruct the phone operators to reject any media inquiries. I think it’s helped to instill a general attitude of rejecting the authority of the managers. I’ve heard the manager in the video has been extremely nice as of late, expect for one or two epic outbursts.

Several people have told me that the hotel has started telling workers that they should hate me for taking business away from the hotel. I don’t think I need to explain why that’s ridiculous–and it doesn’t seem anyone there is buying it. I’m sure in the long run that all this public attention has shame the hotel–and hopefully Marriott as a whole just a little bit–into treating their workers better.

DS: Did you guys have any allies in management?

JD: Some. It is important to note that low-level managers in the service industry often get exploited more than anyone. They are made to work 60 hours a week and kiss-ass all day for maybe a $30000 salary. I know that’s better than what a lot of people are pulling, but it still isn’t glamorous. We actually have an amazing post of our website from a former housekeeping manager at the Renaissance. He always respected the workers and stood up for people, and he was fired for it. His story is great though because he got to see all the disgusting stuff managers said about workers behind closed-doors.

 

DS: Do you think the conditions at the Renaissance are endemic to hotel work, or does it vary shop by shop?  Is having a union vs not having a union the big difference?

JD: The conditions at the Renaissance are typical of hotels in the US. I’d actually say many hotels are worse because they haven’t scared the company with a union. There are cities where working conditions are decent because there is such a high density of unionized hotels. New York, for example, has something like 85% union density, and the workers at those hotels generally get treated very well. And there are unionized hotels all over where things are much better than at the Renaissance. Right down the street at the Biltmore and the Westin workers have all sorts of protections that they don’t have at the Renaissance. It’s not perfect there, but it’s much better.

DS: My sense is that the foreign press gets the labor organizing angle more.  Is that your sense too?  Why do you think it’s that way?

JD: Some domestic press gets the labor angle. The Huffington Post, for example, wrote a really amazing article. Our local Channel 10 did a good story, too. In general, though, the foreign press is much more interested into the labor angle. I did an interview for a big German paper and all we talked about was the US labor movement. The US is unique in the first world in it’s harsh anti-labor attitude. You could see that come over most viciously in the fights in Wisconsin and elsewhere over the past year. You can see it in our pathetic labor laws. And you can see it in the fact that we have the starkest inequality in the first world. The domestic press’ indifference to labor issues is just a reflection of the larger problem in the US. And I think the international press is so interested because they’re excited to see that there are people fighting for workers rights here.

DS: What do you want to do with all the attention and acclaim that’s followed from this?

JD: I’m trying to channel it all into the fight for hotel workers’ rights. We’ve just launched a website, www.joeyquits.com, where hotel workers from all over the country can post their stories of being mistreated in the hotel industry. I know my video has deterred my managers and maybe even Marriott as a whole from exploiting workers. As we collect stories from workers in hotels everywhere, we can hold the entire industry accountable. We already have a bunch of amazing posts and there will be more put up everyday. Visitors will be able to search by hotel name or city, so they can look up working conditions in the city they’re in or a city they’re visiting. There’s also a resources page that directs workers to organizations fighting for workers’ rights and tells non-workers how they can assist in the fight.

DS: Highlights and lowlights from the tour so far?  There are rumors you got offered a pilot — are they true?

JD: I’ve really just been very busy–trying to get word out about the issues and setting up this website. It has been great getting to see all these shows, but there hasn’t been any of the celebrity fun you imagine would just appear. No pilot yet. Maybe the pilots’ union will get behind me though.

DS: Why have you already sold out?  I mean, you wore a “f*** Nazi skinheads” shirt the last time What Cheer played one of my fundraisers, but you’re so prim and proper when you appear on GMA and Access Hollywood. What gives?

JD: Do you think that hurt your campaign? I’d like to sell out more–no real money from any of this! The band actually got in a lot of trouble on Good Morning America. We got yelled at multiple times for being too loud backstage and they even threatened to cut our segment to get us to shut up and stay in our room. I also got to say “union” of Access Hollywood. So don’t worry, we’re still keeping it real.

 

And, the details on next Saturday’s show:Saturday, November 19, 2011
Firehouse 13 (fh13.com)
8:00pm
$7
All Ages

 

Presenting:
What Cheer? Brigade – Providence’s own 19-piece brass mayhem party.
whatcheerbrigade.com

Brunt Of It – Evil sounding punk and ska from RI and Boston.
facebook.com/bruntofit

DJ Schleifdog spinning hip-hop, 80’s, booty bass and the most
tastefully selected out-of-leftfield pop hits.

PLUS a special guest, to be announced the day before the show!

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Polluting Waterfront Limits Future Knowledge District Expansion

By now many will have noticed the growing pile of scrap metal (and who knows what else) in the hospital adjacent waterfront on Allens Avenue. The sale of Promet to the burgeoning junkyard leaves the city and the city’s taxpayers with even fewer options for development.“I think the energy [for rezoning] has left the room – people are much more concerned about what may or not happen” with land freed up by the rerouting of Interstate 195 through the city, said Providence City Councilor Luis Aponte, who represents Ward 10 and has supported waterfront rezoning. “I still think it should be part of the plan, although I don’t know how attractive it will be with scrap there.”And the potential for growth is there. Excitement over the land freed by the relocation of 195 is growing, but the available space is limited.That environment attracted Anne De Groot and her medical-research company, EpiVax, to the neighborhood eight years ago. Now with a growing company, EpiVax needs more space.

“I’m all totally about being in the Jewelry District,” De Groot said. “Somebody build me a building, I’ll move in.”

Economic-development officials want more of her kind.

When was the last time you heard that from a Rhode Island business owner? But EDC director Stokes notes that when that space is gone, Providence is out of the picture, saying “the state will encourage businesses to set up in nearby places such as Pawtucket.” Lovely.

With Mayor Taveras claiming the need for cuts to workers’ pensions to deal with the city’s “category 5” fiscal crisis, one has to wonder why these industrial concerns should be allowed to continue to limit higher density uses and their potential for much needed property tax revenue. Let’s not forget the spurned proposal for a  $400 million dollar investment in the city and the 2,000 desperately needed, permanent jobs that development promised. The proposal included plans for a hotel “[serving] families of patients at the 250-bed acute-care facility as well as passengers preparing to board cruise ships” at a new terminal, along with“a small amount of retail, a floating restaurant and public walkways.”

Just this week, PBN noted the “near-record numbers” for the cruise ship industry in Southern New England, a development seized on by other cities in the region and still a possibility for the deepwater slips on Allens (something New Bedford lacks).

In New Bedford, which has been trying to add the cruise industry to its traditional maritime portfolio of seafood and freight, the number of cruise visits jumped from 17 last year to 27 this year, said Kristin Decas, executive director of the New Bedford Harbor Development Commission.

“We had a stellar year,” said Decas, who attributed some of the new popularity of the port to the Whaling City Expeditions harbor tours many cruise visitors enjoy. “They jump on our small excursion vessel and do a harbor tour. We entertain them with a narrative of the fishing industry and how it is No. 1 in the country in terms of value of catch”…
In the last two years, American Cruise Lines has used Providence Piers on Allens Avenue as either a starting or ending point for 26 of its New England cruises.

The line has a deal with Providence Piers running through 2017 that pier owner Patrick Conley said this year was evidence that Providence, with its deep water and cultural attractions, could attract thousands more cruise-ship visitors each year if it were positioned right.

“To use an inappropriate metaphor, this cruise line could be just the tip of the iceberg for the Port of Providence as a tourist destination,” Conley said.

Instead we get the glistening “Mt. Taveras” (pictured) as our welcoming waterfront gateway to the Capital City.

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“Centrist” Economic Pap

Friend of the blog, Tom Sgouros expresses the following concern about protestors and supporters of Occupy Providence:I’ve enjoyed walking through Burnside Park on my way to and from work lately, and I find the activity and energy invigorating. One point that worries me, though, is represented in some conversations I’ve joined or overheard as I passed through, and it has to do with our political parties and the differences between them… Not being represented by either party isn’t the same thing as saying there is no difference between them. It takes a fool to deny the differences between our two parties.Notably Sgouros doesn’t offer the details of those conversations or list those differences he finds so significant, so we’re left to wonder what exactly he means. But it appears to be a common strawman argument, usually intended to marginalize those critics as unreasonable, to be set up and knocked down as if it actually represents the views of these “foolish” unnamed Occupiers.

The actual position is much harder to dismiss. With neither party addressing the great moral issues of our time, who cares if one supports minor policy changes of some sort or another while the other doesn’t? That’s an example of the illusion of choice, not proof of it. Here’s Gore Vidal some forty years ago:

There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party…and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt—until recently… and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties.
Which part of that is foolish, Tom? I’d say that’s even truer now, than when Vidal wrote it. In fairness Sgouros goes on to conclude:…it also takes a fool to claim that what the bulk of the current Democratic party offers is economic populism or anything other than centrist economic pap. Which is a problem because centrist economic pap — bromides about growth, fealty to the “job creators” who walk among us, and lack of respect for the great mass of workers who made our country great — has not served us well.Yeah, sure, I normally vote Democratic, but count me with Vidal among the “foolish” on this one.
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Mayor Taveras Signs Order ending Tax Breaks for Big Banks

This is refreshing policy-making for the 99%:

Join
Mayor Angel Taveras,
Local Elected Officials,
&
Affordable Housing Activists
for a Press Conference

=================

Mayor Taveras to Sign Executive OrderClosing Corporate Tax Loopholefor Foreclosing Banks

=================

WHO: Mayor Angel Taveras, local elected officials and leading housing advocates.

WHAT: Mayor Taveras will sign an executive order (1) closing the corporate tax loophole which allows foreclosing banks to keep the owner occupied homestead exemption and (2) incentivizing new homeowners of foreclosed properties by allowing them to immediately receive their owner occupied homestead exemption.

WHEN: Thursday, November 3rd at 2:00PM.

WHERE: 48 Ardoene Street in Providence – house foreclosed in 2011 by Deutsche Bank.


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Building Youth, One Class at a Time

Since 1997, YouthBuild Providence has been re-engaging and inspiring returning students who are pursuing secondary education and provided low-income youth with the skills necessary to build a more financially secure future and more stable communities. YouthBuild serves 16-24 years olds who are often parents, homeless, returning to their communities from prison, and suffering from physical or emotional trauma.

Despite its enormous success in the community, now is a critical time for YouthBuild Providence. Many YouthBuild programs across the country closed this past year, and while YouthBuild Providence has a 2-year grant from the Department of Labor, it is likely the grant will not be renewed.  Federal funding cuts loom and threaten to disrupt YouthBuild’s critical services, so they are counting on the support of friends and allies. This is why I am reaching out to the RI Future community.

For the first time, YouthBuild Providence is working to establish a local individual donor base to help them stay afloat.  I am asking that you donate what you can to support YouthBuild Providence and enable them to continue providing mental health and case management services to their students, compensate for exceptional and passionate educators, invest in construction sites, and purchase academic materials and supplies.  All of this helps YouthBuild in its mission to re-engage out of school youth, bring them back to the classroom, and prepare for independent, meaningful and productive lives.  I am committed to help raise $25,000 for this purpose.  Click here to donate.

Please make a donation in the amount of $50.00, or an amount that you are comfortable with, to help us sustain the foundation of excellence that distinguishes and defines YouthBuild: rigorous academics; exceptional and caring faculty; longstanding commitment to equity and opportunity; and a service conscious education. Your support will allow YouthBuild Providence to continue to focus resources on educating and serving disadvantaged youth and their families. As YouthBuild students say every morning, “The collective will of the community is the greatest force conceivable.”

To make a gift to YouthBuild Providence, send a check made payable to “Providence Plan for YouthBuild Providence” to 66 Chaffee Street, Providence, RI 02909.

Finally, you should come to YouthBuild Providence’s first annual Meet and Greet – “Picture a School @ Gallery Z” on Thursday, November 17th from 5 to 8pm.  Come celebrate YouthBuild and share poetry, art, food, and drink, learn what’s ahead for the program, share your vision, and help build a new school for inspiring students.

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A Statement from Mayor Angel Taveras on Occupy Providence

All citizens have a right to have their voices heard, and I, like the Occupy movement, am concerned about the causes and impacts of the most serious economic downturn in decades. This movement is important because our city, our state, our nation need to do much more to address the jobs and foreclosure crises which are crushing hope and opportunity for the 99% of us.

Here in Providence, the protesters who have camped in Burnside Park since October 15 have conducted themselves peacefully, and the city has had ongoing and respectful dialogue with the group. I commend Occupy Providence for its commitment to nonviolence, and I thank Occupy Providence for publicly recognizing the city’s efforts to ensure their right to assemble and demonstrate.

Unlike many other American cities, Providence is taking a nonviolent approach to the occupation of Burnside Park that has resulted in no arrests and the continued freedom to protest with the full support and cooperation of public safety. Continue reading “A Statement from Mayor Angel Taveras on Occupy Providence”

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RI ACLU Supports Occupy Providence’s Right to Peaceably Assemble

RI ACLU executive director Steven Brown yesterday on the Occupy Providence protest:The ACLU fully supports the right of ‘Occupy Providence’ to engage in forms of peaceful protest at the park and elsewhere in the city in order to express their political views and promote their cause. We believe that some of the particular rules and ordinances that have been cited by the City in an October 27th letter to protesters – including an apparent ban on any protest activity in the park after 9 PM – may be constitutionally problematic if they were to be enforced against members of ‘Occupy Providence.’ Peaceful First Amendment activity should not be subject to a curfew.The Projo oddly(?) buried the lede with their headline, “ACLU: Federal ruling limits Occupy Providence’s right to remain”. Contrast that with GoLocal’s take, “ACLU Supports Occupy Providence.” The ACLU did note the federal ruling and also their opposition to it:Issues surrounding the group’s indefinite encampment are more complicated. Unfortunately, there is a U.S. Supreme Court decision, called Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, which upheld, in the similar context of a political protest, the constitutionality of a federal rule against overnight camping in certain public parks. We disagree with that ruling, but under the circumstances, we believe it significantly limits the First Amendment arguments that are available in support of the group’s right to indefinitely encamp at Burnside Park without a permit.The ACLU statement also hints at the possibility of legal action “for challenging Providence’s camping ban,” as yet unexamined.

For their part, the Taveras administration issued a statement with plans to pursue eviction via the courts. The mayor selectively quotes the ACLU statement in support of this action. Hopefully the rest of the words of the ACLU will weigh heavily as well:

This historic protest has been extraordinarily peaceful, and the participants appear to have been cooperative with city officials and respectful of needs relating to public safety. We appreciate the comments that have been made by the Providence Commissioner of Public Safety that any eviction proceedings will be done through an orderly civil, not criminal, process, and that there will be no effort to use force to remove people from the park. It is essential that all appropriate due process is provided before any such proceedings take place.

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Ward 9 Residents Face Saturday Deadline

Secretary of State Mollis is reminding residents of Providence’s Ward 9 that this Saturday is the deadline to register to vote in the special election to fill the late Miguel Luna’s City Council seat.

Residents are scheduled to go to the polls Nov. 29. State law requires voters to be registered at least 30 days before an election in order to be eligible to cast a ballot.

In order to register and vote in the special election, you must be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and a resident of Ward 9. In addition, state law requires registered voters who have recently changed their names or moved into Ward 9 to re-register.

“If you are not sure whether you are registered to vote or whether your voter-registration information is up to date, check for yourself using our Voter Information Center.”

Even though the deadline falls on a Saturday, Providence officials will open City Hall from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for residents to register or update their voter registration at the last minute.

Carmen Castillo, who won last Tuesday’s Democratic primary, will face off again Republican Christian Chirino.  Castillo’s name will appear first on the ballot thanks to winning the public lottery we held.

There are two more upcoming milestones in the Nov. 29 election calendar.

Nov. 8 is the deadline to request a mail ballot. The Providence Board of Canvassers must receive applications by 4 p.m. on the 8th.

After the deadline for requesting a mail ballot passes, voters who unexpectedly find that they will be unable to vote at their polling place can go to city hall during normal business hours through Nov. 28 and request an Emergency Ballot.

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Youth Offer Transportation Solutions

Transportation is under siege in Rhode Island.  Funding for RIPTA is limited and many are outraged at proposed route and service cuts. Providence youth have experienced barriers to affordable transportation since 2009 when state legislation decreased funding for the state’s health insurance plans; a source of most school bus passes.  Equipped with extensive research and passion for change, a group of youth is taking a unique approach to the problem.  The leaders of Youth 4 Change Alliance (Y4C) are creating solutions and inviting others to be a part.

Y4C, an alliance comprised of four non-profit youth organizations—Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Young Voices, and Youth In Action (YIA)—has been pushing for more youth voice and influence in institutional bodies of power.  After a year of research the youth-driven alliance is launching their Transportation 4 Education Campaignon Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 5:30 to 7:00pm at The Salon, 57 Eddy Street, Providence.

The campaign launch, although youth-led, hopes to engage the whole community with opportunities to be a part of the solution.  At the event stakeholders, community leaders and youth will learn what it’s[Invalid video specified] like to walk in the shoes of a Providence youth.  Providence schooling and transportation data will also be released.  The event will include interactive twitter Q&A sessions, an action auction where stakeholders are asked to commit to joining the campaign and prizes for youth participants.  The event is free and open to the public.

Transportation 4 Education campaign aims to decrease student barriers to attending school.  Through a process of research, community building and developing concrete solutions, the youth-driven alliance will make lasting change for Providence youth.  Y4C is dedicated to obtaining affordable monthly bus passes for all Providence public high school students who live more than one walking mile from their school.  Y4C seeks to partner with the City of Providence, Providence Public School Department, RIPTA, business and community leaders to leverage creative funding for this education investment.
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For the very first time since 2009, Social Security benefits to increase

Social Security benefits will go up by 3.6 percent in 2012 to adjust for the living costs. Social Security benefits have not increased since 2009. The increase is welcome news for retirees in this difficult economic climate. Many retirees, however, will see much of that boost devoured by increased Medicare premiums. Source of article: Social Security benefits to increase for the first time since 2009 Continue reading “For the very first time since 2009, Social Security benefits to increase”

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The State’s New Economy Wrong Way Run

 Disturbing hints this week from EDC director, Keith W. Stokes, that the state plans to continue it’s new economy wrong way run, even possibly eliminating financing of the Slater Technology Fund, this on the heels of the positive news of a $9 million federal grant.

“The hope would be that we can continue to maintain state support consistent with past practice or, better still, increased levels of investment,” [Slater managing director Richard] Horan said. “Given the cost-effectiveness of the program … there is certainly a case to be made.”

But Keith W. Stokes, executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, says the $9 million from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative should be a major step toward Slater becoming self-sustaining. “That money [now provided annually by the state to Slater] has to go to more economic development.”

Slater currently receives $2 million dollars from the state, money well spent and an amount itself reflective of the steep funding cuts doled out by the state in 2009.

Yes, there certainly is a case to me made for the cost-effectiveness of the program. In recent years Rhode Island moved from a middling 29th to as high as 11th in 2008 in national rankings, a needed bright spot in the state’s business outlook. When we look back in a few years at where we are, will we wonder why we let Tea Party type, anti-tax gone haywire conservatism trump sound business sense?

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Whose City? Our City!

We learn this week that the ostensibly progressive Mayor Taveras is seeking legal action to forcibly evict Occupy Providence protestors from Burnside Park “in next few days.” One has to wonder which constituency he’s serving in taking action (hmm, are their initials BOA?). For their part, the protestors have expressed their intent to continue to peaceably assemble and petition for a governmental redress of grievances.  There is also a petition urging Taveras and Paré to let the protestors remain in the park. Continue reading “Whose City? Our City!”

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AT&T/T-Mobile Merger is about jobs. What’s wrong with that?

Last week, the pretend defenders of private sector unions on Fountain Street bought the line that the AT&T/T-Mobile merger was a bad idea. Typical double speak.  Here is a good counter argument from the Communication Workers of America:

If you repeat a made-up falsehood over and over again, will reasonable people start to believe it?

That’s what the critics of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger are hoping. They’ve manufactured a fact, claiming that the AT&T/T-Mobile merger will lead to 20,000 layoffs of T-Mobile workers. The problem is: they are just plain wrong. The proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger is good for workers and good for job creation.

Certainly, with unemployment hovering at a stubborn 9 percent, the impact of the proposed merger on jobs today and in the future should be a top concern of policymakers.

Let’s look at the so-called evidence the critics put forward.

Continue reading “AT&T/T-Mobile Merger is about jobs. What’s wrong with that?”


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