east providence – RI Future

January 10, 2016January 10, 2016

EP City Council members receive mysterious health insurance benefits

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

In 2012, East Providence’s state appointed budget commission voted to end the City Council’s health benefits. At the time East Providence was one of only 9 cities in R.I. that offered health insurance to its City Council members. However, in October of 2015, it became clear that some members of the City Council had started to receive health benefits once again.

During the City Council meeting on October 5th, resident and taxpayer Izilda Teves questioned the council as to how the benefits were restored. Mayor Tommy Rose first claimed that it, “was done in a resolution… a while back,” and that Paul Lemont, Acting City Manager, had restored the benefits. Teves then asked if there was a public hearing, and Rose said there was not.

Three Council members opted for health benefits when the rules changed, Tommy Rose, Helder Cunha, and Timothy Conley, the same three that addressed Teves’ questions.

This month a version of the resolution Rose mentioned began circulating on social media. The resolution seems to grant the City Manager the ability to restore health benefits and reads, “Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of East Providence authorize the City Manager, at his discretion, to restore any departmental cost reductions or nonunion, non ordinance based benefit reductions, including City Council health care benefits that the Budget Commission resolved.”

However, the version of this resolution at City Hall does not include the language granting the City Manager the ability to restore health care benefits, nor does the version that appears in the meeting minutes, the Resolution Book seen here.

Resolution 9 was approved during a City Council meeting on June 16th, during which the City Council members opted to suspend the reading of the resolution. All City Council members voted in favor of the resolution.

For a sitting City Council and/or the City Manager to grant benefits to themselves is a dubious practice. According to the City Charter, Council compensation is supposed to be changed by ordinance and take effect for the following term. Spending almost $50,000 on benefits for Council members should be a matter of public debate.

Some East Providence residents on the East Providence – Townie Civic Discussion Facebook group say this incident once again raises red flags regarding the city’s management of personnel issues. Recent allegations of racially biased city hiring practices, the poor decisions that lead to the almost hiring of the Dancing Cop and the problematic hiring of a new Town Manager without the qualifications mandated by the City Charter all contribute to an air of incompetence if not illegality.

Before trust in the City Council erodes completely, a proper investigation into the source of these new health benefits must be conducted.

August 13, 2015

Raimondo tours East Providence screen-printing shop, talks jobs plan

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

Nelson Silva, the owner of Graphic Ink, a screen-printing and embroidery shop in East Providence, likes to joke that he normally works half days- 6 am to 6 pm. That’s what he told Governor Gina Raimondo Wednesday afternoon when she toured Graphic Ink in an effort to spread information about her different economic initiatives, and how they would help small businesses like Silva’s.

“This business, [with] 17, 18 employees, this is the lifeblood of Rhode Island’s economy. Most Rhode Islanders work for companies just like this, [with] 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 employees,” Raimondo said. “So, as governor, I am very focused on making it easier to do business, less expensive to do business.”

Some of the initiatives that Raimondo spoke about were big parts of the state budget, like the elimination of the sales tax on energy for businesses, as well as decreasing the corporate minimum tax from $500 to $450. Raimondo also took the time to highlight other parts of her jobs plan, such as the streetscape improvement fund, a small business assistance program run by the Commerce Corporation, and a program for “innovation vouchers.”

“Think of it as a coupon,” Raimondo said. “You can come to the Commerce Corporation, get a coupon, and then redeem your coupon at one of our local universities to get access to R&D. If you have a new technology you want to investigate, if you’re a healthcare company, if one of your clients is a healthcare company, a lot of the times they want access to a research team at URI or Brown or RISD or Johnson & Wales. Get the coupon from the Commerce Corporation, check it in with the university, and have special access. We’re trying to promote more innovation.”

Silva, who has owned and operated Graphic Ink since 1997, said that he was very excited for the governor to come visit his shop, and expressed support for her jobs plan.

“I think her plan that she’s launching is right on point with where small businesses need to be, and small businesses are the backbone of the state in my opinion,” Silva said. “It’s very exciting to hear that she is really encouraging to support small businesses.”

Silva said initiatives like the energy sales tax elimination and the roadside improvements continue to make it easier for his business, and businesses like his, to keep employing people, and therefore invest in the local community. He even said that he believes that, because the state is on an economic upturn, that Rhode Islanders are more likely to invest in small businesses.

“I believe she has recharged the state in a way that, there are many people, companies, organizations, colleges, that have a lot of activity going on. We are an event-based business. We produce things for events. There are lots of things going on, which in turn makes us a busy shop,” he said.

According to Silva, this increase in activity, and reinvestment in small businesses, has opened up a lot of jobs in the community, which is looking for skilled workers. In his opinion, now that the economy is beginning to heal, the next logical step is to work on getting vocational education programs out there for students to become trained laborers right out of high school, or in college. Silva said that he is always willing to train an employee on site, but some positions do require skilled labor, such as graphics or design.

With all of these changes, Silva envisions a bright future for small businesses in Rhode Island.

“I see small business, in my case, [becoming] stronger and stronger, as the owners and employees are willing to put some effort into it. As long as we put some effort into it and work hard, hard work pays off.”

December 31, 2014January 2, 2015

New year, old wish: Fix our schools

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

The decaying school buildings in Providence are a monument to the abject failure of Rhode Island’s political leadership to invest in all the people of the state.

The legislature is willing to spend more than $40 million on a parking garage for lawyers and court employees downtown but not for public school kids in the North or West ends of the city.

Mold and asbestos can be seen on the walls of Gilbert Stuart Middle School. At Roger Williams Middle School, as of a year ago, students couldn’t drink from the bubbler. Esek Hopkins Middle School in the North End is ranked as a “Level 3” building – meaning it is in “fair to poor condition,” needing “moderate to major renovations.” Two of the newer buildings- Del Sesto and Alvarez – are built on formerly toxic industrial sites subject to intense monitoring.

“I think it is immoral we are asking children to enter these buildings,” said Republican candidate Dan Harrop during his mayoral campaign.

“Ordinary people who harm children are punished by courts and despised by society, while politicians who harm children by ignoring the inequalities in public schools are not held accountable for their actions (or lack thereof),” wrote Aaron Carpenter recently on this blog.

And Aaron Apps wrote, “There is a kind of slow, horrible violence being done against the students and teachers expected to occupy these buildings.”

Other states don’t do this to their children.

For several years I taught in Fall River, MA. I worked in a modern school building barely five years old. In fact, many of the elementary and middle schools in the city, one of the poorest in the state of Massachusetts, are barely a decade old, thanks to a massive investment in school infrastructure and equipment by the state.

I live in California now, and what I’ve seen with public schools here just breaks my heart. Not for California, but for Rhode Island. (There are plenty of challenges and needs…plenty of people working for positive change.) I’ve seen “dilapidated” schools in Oakland, CA which look pretty great compared to some of what we have in Providence. There are district schools in East Oakland, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Bay Area, which have skylights and modern computers. There is a community college in Hayward, CA with solar panels above the parking lot.

A tangible way to increase jobs, make a long term investment, and brighten the day of children and families is to renovate and re-invest in our schools. The money is there, we just need the will to do so. Maybe this year we will.

Gina Raimondo, Nick Mattiello, Teresa Paiva-Weed and Jorge Elorza have a chance to be the governor, speaker, senate president and mayor who rebuilt Rhode Island’s schools. Sounds like good politics, and actually good for the people.

My wish for the New Year is that Rhode Island muster the political class and economic sense to treat every child like their own.

April 23, 2013

Big vote for marriage equality is today

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

Ray Sullivan, of Rhode Islanders United for Marriage, in East Providence last night.

For Rhode Island progressives, it’s the most widely-anticipated day of the 2013 legislative session. For anyone who values equal treatment under the law, it’s even bigger than that. Today is the day the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on marriage equality.

The House already passed it overwhelmingly, the governor is a big supporter too and the Senate is highly unlikely to reject it if and when it ever reaches the full chamber. On Smith Hill, issues are won or lost behind closed doors, and those outcomes become evident at the committee level. So today the Ocean State learns if, collectively, we are ready to recognize same sex marriage.

From a practical matter, there are three people who control its fate, and two whom will be casting votes today. Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed is famously opposed to marriage equality, but said she won’t weigh in.

Rookie committee members Lou Raptakis, of Coventry, and Bill Conley, of East Providence, have held their cards close and Rhode Islanders United for Marriage have zeroed in on both of them in this home stretch.

That there are two bills up for a vote today – one backed only by the most socially conservative state legislators, out-of-town hate groups and Catholic priests and another that pretty much everyone else likes – gives them some political cover: vote for them both and let the full Senate flush it out.

January 9, 2013January 9, 2013

William Conley Gets to Lead Marriage Equality Politics

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

Teresa Paiva Weed gave new state Senator William Conley the worst job in the legislature. He gets to be the fall guy for marriage equality this session as the x factor on the newly constituted Senate Judiciary Committee.

Five Senators will likely support marriage equality and four won’t. Conley is holding his cards tight for the time being. If he votes against it, it dies as a tie. If he bucks the Senate President, leadership can still intervene and kill the bill in a 6 to 6 tie. This scenario would be politically ugly for Paiva Weed.

But Conley is a former East Providence city councilor, so he’s not stranger to politics. Or voting on same sex marriage politics. In April 2011, the East Providence City Council debated a resolution to endorse marriage equality legislation at the State House, according to East Providence Patch.

Councilwoman Katie Kleyla introduced a resolution supporting the passage of marriage equality legislation by the General Assembly. “This is an issue of fundamental fairness,” she said. But several speakers, including the pastor of First Baptist Church in Rumford, opposed the resolution. “I don’t think you have the right to speak for me or for the people of East Providence on this issue,” one woman said. Kleyla then asked for the resolution to be tabled, which passed 3 to 2.

The post does not indicate which way Conley voted.

Kleyla told the Providence Journal that she thinks Conley will vote against marriage equality.

Conley is a former Townie city solicitor who was elected to the council in 2010. Patch has more on him.

October 17, 2012October 17, 2012

Progress Report: Talk Radio in RI; Chafee and Narragansett Indians; Tom Brady and Jamie Dimon; Debate Reaction

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

Most interesting thing happening today: Matt Allen, Ian Donnis, Ted Nesi and Josh Fenton debate the influence of talk radio in Rhode Island politics at RIC.

While radio may not seem like the medium of the future, as the most passive way to consume content I think it is likely to rise again. And even in its current state of decline, it is still amazingly influential in the local marketplace of ideas. Rhode Island Public Radio, for which Donnis works, would do well to offer a thoughtful alternative to the four angry conservative men featured on WPRO, one of which is Matt Allen.

Or better yet, RI Future should. If anyone is interested in podcasting a progressive call-in talk show, please contact me!

Speaking of Ian Donnis, RIPR’s political reporter got a nice scoop yesterday about Gov. Chafee being open to giving the Narragansett Indian Tribe a larger slice of the state’s gambling take.

It’s hard to root for Tom Brady when you read about the golden boy quarterback offering sympathy to Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase who if isn’t one of the architects of our financial collapse was at the very least one of the pilots steering the ship. (Dissing Tom Brady will make me extremely unpopular with one of my favorite group of readers: the kids I grew up with, who by and large worship at both the Church of Brady AND the Church of Wall Street.)

I love this balmy Indian summer weather as much as anyone, but make no mistake that these unseasonably warm October days mean treacherous things for our climate. In fact, according to today’s ProJo, it’s probably already destroyed the state’s lobster population. “We think there is a clear climate drive to this,” a DEM marine scientist told the ProJo as to why there are virtually no more lobsters in Narragansett Bay.

The East Providence municipal budget heads to the state-appointed Budget Commission, but not without some controversy. A city councilor says a budget commissioner of “purposely pitted special education against the general education population and the community at large,” according to East Providence Patch.

Political Wire collects some interesting reactions to last night’s debate. You can read mine here. GoLocal asks the local experts what they thought of the big presidential debate last night. (Thanks for including me on this list!)

My favorite moment of the debate: Romney’s “binders full of women” moment.

Don’t forget: the Dalai Lama is in Providence today, our de facto religion correspondent Steve Ahlquist reports.

June 21, 2012June 21, 2012

Former Chafee Staffer Seeks State House Seat

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

Sam Lovett, who worked for Gov. Chafee as a communications associate and before that on David Segal’s campaign, is running for a legislative seat in the State House to represent East Providence.

He’s 24 years old and says politically he sees things from “a millennial point of view.”

What does that mean? The Democrat says the state should focus on fending off the brain drain, helping Main Streets thrive and protecting the rights of all people.

“Without the growth of vibrant communities to empower Rhode Islanders, we will continue to see the decline of our state’s strength,” he said according to his website. “I will work with the talented parties at state and local levels who are able to assist in revitalizing our communities.”

An equally important part of his platform, he said, will concern social issues.

“Being an ethical voice for social justice in Rhode Island is a major reason why I have decided to run for this state seat,” he said on his website. “Advocating on behalf of the elderly and disabled, ensuring accessibility for the blind and deaf and hard of hearing, continuing the good work of the Rhode Island Senate in supporting the homeless, as well as protecting the rights of minority groups, and the reproductive rights of women — these will be focal issues I support with my candidacy.”

Lovett specialized is social media while with the governor’s office. In April, he left for a job with GovLoop, a social network that connects government employees and officials. He said he left on good terms. He did not yet seek Chafee’s endorsement, but says he expects his former boss will support him – and Lovett says he supports his former boss.

“I would never bet against him,” Lovett said. “With him in charge Rhode Island always has a shot.”

The governor’s office could not be immediately reached for comment (I’ll update this post when I hear from them).

Lovett was raised in East Providence and attended Boston College where he studied history.

Because of redistricting the seat won’t be contested by the incumbent. Already declared for the seat are Robert Britto, according to the East Providence Reporter, and Charlie Tsonos, of East Providence Patch.