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Raimondo quietly reverses 6/10 decision, then backslides.


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Governor Raimondo seemed to quietly reverse herself on the 6/10 Connector, stating that her office was open to working with the City of Providence on any solution that was safe, did not worsen traffic, and was cost-effective. Through a staffer, Raimondo later denied that her statement constituted a reversal of policy. Rhode Islanders can continue to reach out participate in the outreach Providence Planning Dept. is doing. The department opposes rebuilding 6/10 as-is.

The (non?) reversal was more of a whimper than a bang, because it contained significant caveats. But those who see a sustainable future for the corridor should press the governor to stick to her commitments going forward.

Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition activist Alex Krogh-Grabbe asked the governor what she would do on 6/10 around 5:00.

Gov. Raimondo said that if the City of Providence completes its public forums within the 60 day time frame she has outlined, she will honor their plan, so long as it is affordable and does not create safety issues for the bridges by delaying work.

The governor also gave herself breathing room for the future in laying out a caveat around traffic management.

While RIDOT officials have described the 6/10 boulevard as a traffic impediment, it’s clear that it would not be. The famed Champs Elysées in Paris carries as many cars as 6/10, while also accommodating 500,000 pedestrians a day.

Even more impressively, the city of Seoul, South Korea removed a raised highway above the Cheongyecheon River. At 160,000 cars a day, the Cheongyecheon Freeway carried 60% more cars than the 6/10 Connector, but Seoul didn’t even replace it with a boulevard. They just created a river park.

The irony might be pressing as is, if it weren’t for the fact that Seoul officials sent observers to Providence before redesigning their highway, in order to see Waterplace Park– essentially the eastern edge of Route 6.

The reality is that traffic engineers have understood since the 1970s that urban highways create their own traffic mire, and that removing them does not worsen traffic congestion. The trick is getting RIDOT to admit this known fact. It’s hard to convince a person of something when their salary depends on them not understanding it.

Mayor Elorza will continue to take public feedback in order to aid his Planning Department in pushing for a boulevard. If you have something to share, please send your thoughts to 610connector@providenceri.gov.

Update:

Through spokesman Mike Raia, Raimondo’s office backed away from its statement to Krogh-Grabbe, saying it did not reverse its position on the need to repair overpasses on the 6/10 connector immediately, thus ending the debate on replacing it with a boulevard instead.

“She hasn’t backed away from her announcement, as RI Future is reporting,” said Raia. “This is a public safety decision. We are not considering a boulevard.”

Raia added:

“[The governor] announced three things:

“Move forward immediately with an in-kind replacement of the Huntington Ave bridge.

“Immediately start quarterly inspections of all the bridges.

“Reached an agreement with Mayor Elorza for his public input process to conclude quickly to allow RIDOT to issue RFPs by the end of the year.

“She said during the presser and again on Channel 10 that she is willing to consider modifications to a simple replace in kind for the remaining bridges as long as they do not cause any additional delay (these modifications might include a bike lane, BRT, a future project to connect 10N with 6W).”

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Amid emergency repairs, Raimondo, Elorza disagree on feasability of 6/10 boulevard


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elorza raimondoGovernor Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza disagree on whether emergency repairs needed for bridges across the 6/10 connector means the grassroots idea of turning the highway connector into a boulevard is now off the table.

At a news conference today, Raimondo said the boulevard idea is dead because emergency repairs to seven of nine bridges over the 6/10 connector need to be fast-tracked.  But Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza disagrees, according to his new communications director Emily Crowell.

“Not at all,” Crowell said when asked if the mayor agrees with the governor that the boulevard idea is unfeasible because of the emergency repairs the announced today. “We’re not abandoning the idea to make the 6/10 connector multi-modal.”

Raimondo and Department of Transportation Executive Director Peter Alviti announced that the 6/10 connector needs emergency repairs. Those emergency repairs, they both said, effectively take off the table the grassroots idea to turn the 6/10 connector into a boulevard instead of repairing it. The repairs to the Huntington Avenue bridge need to be finalized in 60 days.

Elorza spoke at the State House event today.

“We can invest these dollars in a way that ensures the public safety of this roadway and also enhances the livability of this entire corridor,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to advocate for the smartest investment of these dollars to move the city and the state forward and that is what we will be doing at the table alongside RIDOT and the governor’s office to advance this project.”

Raimondo and Alviti were unequivocal that the emergency repairs means the boulevard idea is off the table.

“We have to move immediately, so some options are closed” said Raimondo, when asked about the boulevard idea. “The time is out for debate. It’s time for action. I would love to be able to take a longer process but I don’t have that option.”

Alviti said, “Hypothetical plans or other scenarios could be explored in the world of theory but in the world of reality we are facing we now need to address this structurally deficient problem.”

Raimondo added that just because the boulevard idea can’t be done doesn’t mean some smart growth measures are off the table for the highway that cuts through the west side of Providence. “We’re going to take the next couple months to listen and if there are opportunities to put in a bike lane, we will listen.”

Raimondo and Alviti said that seven of the nine bridges over the 6/10 connector are “structurally deficient.” Because the problem is more severe than initially thought, these repairs are being fast-tracked.

“Not only is the bridge defunct,” said Alviti, “but the plan to fix the bridge is defunct.” He said the 6/10 connector bridge repair have been in the works for 30 years, but they have also been without funding for 30 years.

Simultaneously, a grassroots effort to replace the 6/10 highway connector with a boulevard was gaining momentum. James Kennedy, a regular RI Future contributor who has been covering the 6/10 boulevard idea, took to Twitter to criticize the announcement.

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Raimondo’s office must take 6/10 position


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https://twitter.com/TransportPVD/status/770773009380638720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The assembled crowd of 200 people at Tuesday night’s 6/10 Connector community meeting were unequivocal: no highway should be rebuilt along the corridor. It found a receptive if demur audience in Providence Planning Department and Mayor Jorge Elorza. RIDOT and Governor Gina Raimondo’s Office appear to be the only agencies backing the highway rebuild after the loss of a federal grant for the billion dollar project.

https://twitter.com/TransportPVD/status/770769768815132672

RI Future has been among several area publications that have called on Mayor Elorza to take a more direct stance on the project. While the mayor’s office has clearly favored a boulevard approach to 6/10, it hasn’t yet sought direct conflict with RIDOT or Governor Raimondo’s office. Following the rejection of a federal grant RIDOT intended to use towards part of the 6/10 corridor, statements from the agency have focused on the dire need to complete the highway rebuild with a minimum of public input. Read past coverage Tear It Down: Pictures of Our Potential 6/10 Future The Drivers’ Argument for the Boulevard On Tuesday night, Mayor Elorza did not seek direct conflict with the agency, but did refer to the 6/10 Connector as “really a Disconnector”, a sign of his preferences. In a Projo report leading up to the Providence meeting, RIDOT spokesperson Charles St. Martin bristled in his emailed response to questions on the project:

As we stated before, we cannot continue to postpone this work,” wrote DOT spokesman Charles St. Martin in an email. “Thanks to the passage of Rhodeworks, Rhode Island has $400 million in committed state and federal funding to draw from to address the Route 6-10 interchange. RIDOT is evaluating its options to tackle this problem and will soon present a recommendation for next steps. No decisions have been made at this time.”

This brings us to an important question: When is Gov. Raimondo’s office going to see the writing on the wall and redirect the agencies under her charge to better priorities? The assembled crowd was almost unanimous in its priorities. The process sat small groups at tables to outline ideas and present them. Each group, to the one, came up with some form or other of the following priorities:

  • New housing
  • Non-displacement of current residents while bringing in new residents
  • Better outreach & a more welcoming process for Latino residents
  • A full and complete bike and pedestrian network
  • More green space
  • Rapid transit to connect Providence within and without its city borders
  • No highway

The groups varied in how they phrased these goals, but each group essentially outlined the same things. Notable about the meeting was the presence of individuals from communities like Cranston, Pawtucket, and Central Falls, whose citizens might have been more inclined to favor a highway than those having one built next to them. But those from outside Providence also favored the boulevard option. Among the attendees was Cranston at-large city council candidate Kate Aubin, who has made removing the 6/10 Connector a central tenet of her candidacy.

https://twitter.com/TransportPVD/status/770764144735838208

While Aubin is running on a progressive ticket, conservative Rhode Islanders also attended, questioning the priority of rebuilding 6/10 as-is. Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s Lawrence Gilheeney tweeted:

More pointedly, Brian Bishop, of the taxpayers’ rights group OSTPA spoke to the unnecessary waste of rebuilding the highway, drawing the night’s first laughter and applause:

https://twitter.com/TransportPVD/status/770775028090613760

Bishop, who owns properties on the East Side as well as a farm in Coventry, said that he was a “car person” and that others “can handle the bikes,” a friendly jab at non-OSTPA member Hugo Bruggeman, who held the table’s priority list and spoke to bike infrastructure like his home in the Netherlands. Bishop described the highway “hybrid” that RIDOT has been pushing over the Providence Planning-preferred boulevard as “brought to you by the same people who want to rebuild it again.” The audience roared with laughter at RIDOT’s expense.

With federal grants figured into the mix, RIDOT’s hybrid-highway proposal would have cost upwards of 80% of toll funds. Without that funding, it’s quite possible that rebuilding the highway as-is could put all other state projects on the back burner. Conservatives like Bishop and liberals like Aubin equally question the validity of this priority, despite living outside the city.

Which brings us back to a pointed question: Who exactly does favor the 6/10 Connector as a highway, other than RIDOT and Gov. Raimondo’s office? As a more politically diverse coalition coalesces around opposition to the plan, Gov. Raimondo is going to have to make some decisions soon.

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Correction: A previous version of this article erroneously named Lawrence Gilheeney’s group the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Progress. It is the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity. No doubt a liberal Freudian slip on my part. . . :-) Corrected.

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Sometimes economic development looks a lot like war and stealing


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raimondoGovernor Gina Raimondo spent Tuesday traveling around southern Rhode Island celebrating economic victories. But as her visits to Newport and Westerly indicate, not everything that benefits the Ocean State economy is necessary good for the rest of the world.

In Newport, Raimondo spoke at the annual conference of the Southern New England Defense Industry Alliance, a sort of chamber of commerce for the military industrial complex in southern New England. “We need to focus on what we are good at and we are good at defense,” Raimondo told the group at the Newport Hyatt Regency Hotel on Goat Island.

The defense sector is an important economic engine for Rhode Island, to be sure. According to a 2014 report from SENEDIA, there are more than 32,000 defense-related jobs in Rhode Island – about 6 percent of all jobs in the state. But there are obvious downsides to profiting from warfare. Providence-based Textron is the last North American company to still make cluster bombs and these controversial weapons of war are sold to Saudi Arabia and have been used on civilians in Yemen, for example.

“Of course we wish we lived in a world where this isn’t necessary,” Raimondo told me after her speech. “I wish there was no need for any of this. It’s an issue that I think we all grapple with. But the reality is we live in a very unsafe world, so it’s our job to protect our people.”

Later in the day, Raimondo went to Westerly to welcome Ivory Ella, a clothing company, to Rhode Island. The online retailer that employs about 40 people was convinced to relocate from Groton, Connecticut to Westerly with the help of $362,000 in tax credits from Raimondo’s Commerce Corporation.

“My good day today is not a good day for the governor of Connecticut,” Raimondo said to me.

“But,” she added a little later on in our conversation, “I hear your point.”

The point is that when one state pays a company to relocate there, it is also paying that business to damage another state’s economy. There’s been much written and said about states poaching jobs from one another – the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Providence Journal have each documented the downside of the practice.

Raimondo said it isn’t her job as governor of Rhode Island to worry about other state’s economic hardships.

“I’m elected by the people of Rhode Island to take care of Rhode Islanders,” she told me. “I’ve got a mission and my mission is to expand opportunity here.”

In some ways it’s great that Rhode Island has a thriving military industrial complex. And in some ways it’s great that we can poach jobs from Connecticut. But in the grand scheme of things these both seem like bad long term investments for our society, if not our economy. Unless, of course, you assume the United States and Rhode Island will always be at war with other parts of the world, including Connecticut.

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RI state police force gets even whiter


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policing ForumThere are 27 new state police troopers this year and 93% of them are white men. There is only one Hispanic man and only one women among the new officers and not one African American. Given that 85 percent of state troopers are white (187 of 220 officers), Charles P. Wilson, chairman of the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, has a problem with the diversity of the current class.

“We find it woefully disappointing that there was not even one African American included among the recent graduates,” he wrote in a letter to Governor Gina Raimondo about the racial disparity of new state police troopers. “Even more so when considering that, of the original 1,500 people who applied, there must surely have been more than two who were qualified.”

He added, “While it is fully recognized that there is currently a strong disconnect between the law enforcement community and communities of color in all areas of the country, it must also be accepted that this disconnect becomes more stringent when those who are sworn to protect the community do not reflect the makeup of the community.”

Wilson and the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers have been imploring Rhode Island police departments to hire more people of color since February of 2015. The Providence Police Department is one of the least racially diverse police departments in the nation, RI Future first reported in December, 2014.

“Research has shown that there appears to be a serious disconnect in the manner by which the recruitment for minority law enforcement candidates is conducted within the State of Rhode Island,” Wilson wrote to Raimondo. “This disconnect includes a seeming lack of consideration for various cultural competencies that may be pertinent and unique to African American society, that are considered anathema to members of the majority culture of law enforcement, as well as the overall lack of sufficient numbers of racially diverse personnel.”

Raimondo agreed with the criticism.

In a statement she said, “I share their disappointment and agree, we need more diversity in law enforcement. It is clear to me that we have more work to do to ensure that our State Police force reflects the diversity of the Rhode Island community. This is a top priority for me. I’ve directed Col. O’Donnell to continually enhance the State Police’s recruitment and training efforts to ensure that future academy graduations reflect a greater level of diversity. It’s our hope that some of our new initiatives, including our State Police Diversity Academy, a free 6 week training program, will help to address this issue. I will hold my team and the State Police accountable for this concerted effort.”

In his letter, Wilson indicated that actions will speak louder than words.

“While my previous conversations on this issue with Colonel Steven O’Donnell have consistently indicated his desire and understanding of the need to embrace a more diverse pool of candidates, it must be recognized that when an agency’s personnel do not adequately reflect the tone and nature of the community it serves, it provides strong indications and perceptions of an unwillingness to address community needs and concerns, racially biased hiring procedures, and a complete lack of connectedness with the community being served,” he wrote, “thus often leading to formal complaints regarding agency practices. It may further indicate that any expressed initiatives towards community policing may be nothing more than “public speak” and have little or no true substance.”

You can read Wilson’s full letter to Governor Raimondo here.

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Democratic Party platform frowns on Raimondo-style pension cuts


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RIRTA-600x600

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea described it as “the most progressive platform ever put forward by an American political party.” Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratically controlled Senate [and] a Democratically controlled House.” Yet one small detail might have Gov. Gina Raimondo nervous.

In between verbiage about public college and healthcare in the proposed Democratic Party platform is a small passage that deals directly with pensions.

Democrats believe it should be easier for Americans to save for retirement and prepare for unforeseen risks and expenses. We will defend the right of workers to collect their defined benefit pensions and make sure workers get priority and protection when pension plans are in distress. Democrats will also fight to protect the earned pension benefits of Americans in multi-employer pension plans. And we will fight against any attempt by Republicans in Congress or on Wall Street to roll back the Conflict of Interest Rule, which requires that retirement advisors put the best interests of their clients above their own financial gain.

In layman’s terms, the Democratic Party publicly rebuked the exact kind of pension reform Raimondo pushed in Rhode Island.

Defined benefit pensions were the norm for Rhode Island public sector retirees until Raimondo introduced the concept of the “defined contribution” plan in her signature overhaul of the state pension system in 2011.

This is a strong rebuttal to the Raimondo-flavor of Democrats, fiscal conservatives that used to define John Chafee’s version of Republican Party politics.

If you or someone you know is a pensioner, consider becoming an Associate member of Rhode Island Retired Teachers Association to support their efforts.

Click Here To Download The Membership Enrollment Form For RIRTA and Support Pension Sustainability!

Donate Today to RIRTA!

And even if you are not involved with the fund, you still can donate to this group and help fund their efforts. Donations (checks preferred, made out to RIRTA- memo line LDF) can be mailed to PO Box 7631, Warwick, RI 02887 or sent via PayPal (see below).



The cancellation of pensioner COLAs was supposed to help the fund return the fund to solvency. But even with retirees having no retirement income, the fund has yet to reach 80 percent funding due to outrageous fees and continued mismanagement.

When Raimondo began her efforts, she held a series of public forums that hindered the ability of pensioners to vocalize their objections. This led to a great deal of heartache for those who had done honest work all their life and were given a muzzle and austerity policy in return for public sector service. But now it is plain that, in the long run, it is Raimondo who has just gotten silenced.

Does this open room for better fiscal management of the fund by Treasurer Seth Magaziner now? Will the pension fund have its solvency and security insured through divestment from high-risk, high-fee hedge funds and a dismally under-performing real estate portfolio? Following Raimondo’s failure to deliver the Ocean State for Clinton in last spring’s primary, could this be another nail in the coffin of a political career built on misrepresentation and misappropriation? Could this small item be the location of post-electoral grassroots mobilizing?

Only time will tell.

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Raimondo will tell PayPal RI is ‘progressive place’ for business


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paypal_logoAfter I tweeted about it, Republican state Rep. Bobby Nardolillo wrote the governor about it, and the Providence Journal asked her about it, Gina Raimondo said she will invite to Rhode Island PayPal and other companies uncomfortable doing business in North Carolina because of a new law that legalizes discrimination against LGBTQ people.

“I am calling all of them” Raimondo said, according to a Providence Journal story. “I am saying to them we are a place of openness and tolerance in Rhode Island and it is a progressive place to start a business.”

PayPal is on the list, Raimondo spokeswoman Marie Aberger told RI Future. “The Governor is constantly reaching out to pitch businesses looking to move or expand, and is reaching out to PayPal to urge them to take a look at Rhode Island now that they have cancelled plans in NC,” she said in an email.

PayPal planned to move 400 jobs to Charlotte, North Carolina but rescinded after North Carolina passed a highly controversial law that strips discrimination protections for LGBTQ people and requires people to use public bathrooms that correspond to their birth gender. Other states, such as Montana, have already contacted PayPal.

While Raimondo touted Rhode Island’s progressive values, she has yet to issue a public sector travel ban to North Carolina, according to the Providence Journal. “I don’t oppose [a travel ban] per se, it’s just that there are many ways to show your support for [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] issues and we are taking other steps,” Raimondo said according to the Providence Journal. “Other states are doing it as a gesture, a symbol to take a stand against that intolerance. We in Rhode Island are going to take a stand against it by showing that this is a place that embraces all people and is a place of freedom and tolerance.”

Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Washington and Minnesota have all banned state sponsored travel to North Carolina, citing their inability to ensure the civil liberties of its employees and citizens in the Tar Heel state.

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Nardolillo to Raimondo: Bring LGBTQ-respecting PayPal to RI


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nardolilloRepublican Rep. Bobby Nardolillo wants Rhode Island to pick up the PayPal jobs that are fleeing North Carolina because that state passed a law discriminating against LGBTQ people, an idea also floated by some on the progressive left yesterday.

“I learned today of an excellent opportunity to draw a high profile, internationally recognized company to our state,” Nardolillo wrote in a letter to Governor Gina Raimondo that he tweeted to reporters last night. “PayPal withdrew its plans to create a global operations center in Charlotte, N.C. citing the state’s enactment of legislation that ‘invalidates the protections of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens and denies these members of our community equal rights under the law.'”

North Carolina passed a highly controversial law last week that broadly strips any legal protections for LGBTQ people and prevents transgender people from using a public bathroom that doesn’t correspond with their birth gender. Corporate America responded by rebuking the right leaning state for being behind the times.

PayPal took action, deciding to scrap its plans to bring 400 jobs to a proposed global operations center in Charlotte. “The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture. As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion in Charlotte,” according to a statement from PayPal President Dan Schulman Monday.

Nardolillo noted in his letter to Raimondo that the discriminatory attitude of North Carolina stands in stark contrast to Rhode Island’s inclusiveness. “As you know, Rhode Island has demonstrated time and again its support for all citizens,” he said in the letter.

In an interview, Nardolillo said he supports LGBTQ equality and marriage equality for same sex couples. He said the North Carolina law is discriminatory. “I don’t support anything like that,” he said. “I feel that law is totally insensitive. I believe in equality.”

Nardolillo is best known among the progressive left for his vociferous opposition to accepting foreign refugees and denying rights for undocumented workers, but he’s condemned GOP colleagues he thought showed bigotry on immigration issues. He also previously drew ire from the LGBTQ community and others for backing a bill that would criminalize the transmission of AIDS. Last night, he stood behind his support saying it is “about accountability and disclosure.” Read the bill for yourself here.

Rhode Island Republicans have a habit of being progressive on gay rights, a similar percentage of legislative Republicans as  marriage equality. Meanwhile, Pawtucket Democrat Rep. David Coughlin recently threatened to leave the Rhode Island Democratic Party if it doesn’t take a stronger stance against LGBTQ rights.

This post will be updated if the Raimondo administration responds to a request for comment. Here’s Nardolillo’s letter:

nardolillo_letter

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Next generation Veterans’ Affairs: Economic engine, not resource hub


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©Daniel Bendjy 2010

Veterans are fierce, persistent against all odds, and amazing leaders. Sure, not all veterans are the same, but a majority of vets are exceptional with whatever they pour their energy into, whether it’s fixing diesel engines or running a Fortune 100 company. A vision for the future of the Division of Veterans Affairs has to be equally bold. When I think “bold,” I think of Bobby Kennedy’s powerful declaration:

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

‘Why not?’ is like a mental palate cleanser, one that will suit us well. I’d invite you, for a moment, to forget everything you think you know about how things work in state government and even what you may believe about veterans – and let’s start with a clean slate.

First, let’s think about the people of the RI Division of Veterans Affairs, or the VetAffairs team as I’ll call them. The division has to be a lean team with some of the most dynamic, engaging, and creative Rhode Islanders around. They’d be beyond committed to veterans and their families and have a deep appreciation for everyone in the National Guard, Reserves, and Active Duty force who live in our state. You’d hear their enthusiasm and commitment in the tone of their voice, a warmth and sincerity as they talk about why they joined the VetAffairs team.

The organization would become agile, responsive, and super connected to every town and city in the state. If you’re a veteran, you’d know someone on the team or at least follow them on Twitter (yes, I said Twitter, @RIVeterans does exist). Above all else, the team would be facilitators, connectors, and community builders.

Second, services provided by the division need to match the pressing issues of our time. The Division can no longer be a resource hub; it must become a platform for human capital development. Its core competency will be taking the unique assets each veteran brings back to the state and leveraging this talent in the local economy to foster small businesses, cutting edge research, and new jobs. The veterans will do the heavy lifting, while the VetAffairs team will empower them by accelerating their transition to civilian life (see Part Three in the series, next week!).

The RI Department of Labor & Training and local non-profits in the state must realize a real-time, fluid collaboration with the VetAffairs team to synchronize veteran’s aspirations with mentors, leaders in business, technology, education, and healthcare. Veterans who graduate from Rhode Island universities will stay here, infusing local industry with a powerful combination of millennial entrepreneurship and veteran tenacity.

Embracing Rhode Island’s size, each one of the 72,000+ veterans of our state have to be brought to the table, to become solution designers and collaborators. Our focus is sometimes so strained on those who need assistance, the homeless or unemployed veteran, that we forget there are tens of thousands of veterans who are doing well in our state. For every veteran who is homeless in Rhode Island, there are 266 veterans with a place to call home. And for every veteran who’s unemployed, there are 16 that have a job. We need a charismatic team of expert communicators who can inspire a powerful veteran network of connectors and mentors. But why stop there? The success of a veteran’s transition can be multiplied by the success of the community around them. Remember the other 93.4% of Rhode Islanders who aren’t veterans. That’s a lot of personal and professional capital to jumpstart educational dreams, seed funding for startups, and long-term career planning for every vet who comes home to the Ocean State.

ProJoWorkforce
©Providence Journal 2015

Why should we be so focused on accelerating a veterans’ transition from active duty? Over the next decade, millennials (post 9/11 veterans) will become 75 percent of the total workforce. Our success in harnessing their talent and leadership will directly impact the growth and health of our state’s economy as well as the long-term welfare of our veterans and their families. It’s also the quintessential preventive measure, nipping in the bud the negative consequences of a poor transition– negating many of the problems that typically consume media attention around veterans: strained mental health, unemployment, homelessness, etc. The Division of Veterans Affairs has the most crucial role to play in this preventative strategy, one that sets our veterans up for success and saves us all the costs of inaction or poor execution.

While there ought to be vigorous engagement with new veterans, older veterans are making a different, but hugely important transition too: retirement. Having worked as a psychologist with many veterans crossing this bridge, the significance and challenges of retirement cannot be underestimated. Most of these veterans can expect a complete reconfiguration of their lives, their identities, and changing health needs. Our primary responsibility to these veterans is assuring that those who are eligible and wish to receive their healthcare from the Providence VA Medical Center, get it reasonably quickly. The Providence VA has some of the most dedicated clinicians providing the highest quality care. The VetAffairs team must support a seamless enrollment process so vets can get that fantastic care. It starts by maintaining a strong, active collaboration with those who deliver healthcare to our veterans (Dr. MacKenzie, the Medical Center Director, and her entire staff).

veterans-homeLastly, by 2017, the division will have an amazing home to offer nearly 200 older veterans. The new and improved Rhode Island Veterans Home promises to be one of the best assisted-living facilities for veterans in the nation. Yet, we need to go beyond offering veterans a state of the art residence. We need to offer the Rhode Island community a new cultural center.

I grew up on Roosevelt Drive in Bristol, a street that runs beside the Veterans Home. And even so, when I think of ‘veterans’ I don’t picture the Veterans Home. Instead, I think of the vets marching in formation or sitting on the back of slick, classic corvettes during the Bristol 4th of July Parade. After investing $94 million into the home’s revitalization, part of it should be a gathering place where our state’s rich military history is not only told with engraved stones and markers, but by the people who actually lived it. Let’s create a convening space where our World War II, Korea, and Vietnam veterans are invited to share their stories and maintain a vibrant connection to the life of the Bristol community and broader state. Let’s showcase our deep naval roots and sea faring heritage. Let’s not, as a WWII resident at the Veterans Home recently cautioned, lose all of that history.

Some will read this article and think it unrealistic. There’s plenty of cynicism to go around these days, especially about what government can do – and the Division of Veterans Affairs is part of state government. But I’ve never bought into the cynicism. If there is any part of government that has the potential to deserve your trust and confidence, it is the VetAffairs team – comprised of veterans empowering veterans, a rock solid recipe for efficiency, accountability, and tremendous social impact. Rhode Island is positioned to lead the nation in fast tracking its veterans’ success. Let’s get it done.

This is part two of a three part series.

Next week we will explore some little known challenges that the state will face implementing this plan, and how to overcome them.

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Raimondo convenes discussion on state aid to local schools


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Prudence Island Schoolhouse, the smallest public school in Rhode Island. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
Prudence Island Schoolhouse, the smallest public school in Rhode Island. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Governor Gina Raimondo announced today she is organizing a working group to review the state’s education funding formula.

“After five years, it is time to for a fresh look to review our education funding structure,” she said in a press release sent out today. “A significant part of jumpstarting our economy and creating opportunity for everyone is making sure our kids have access to the best education. Rhode Island has a strong formula and it is model for other states. However all key public policies benefit from regular review.”

State Education Commissioner Ken Wagner concurred, saying, “Now is the right time for another public conversation around the ways we fund children’s futures and about putting our dollars where our values are for the sake of our kids. The bottom line is: Everything we do has to be about supporting teaching and learning. If we’re doing something good, continue. If we’re getting in the way of teaching and learning, we have to be thoughtful and make tweaks. Investing in our classrooms and schools is an investment in the future of our economy and our state.”

Rhode Island didn’t have a formula for allocating state aid to school districts until just five years ago, when a fairly progressive plan that factors in “student enrollment, student poverty levels, and community wealth,” according to the press release. The current funding formula has been criticized as being overly generous to charter schools and not generous enough to poor urban schools.

According to the press release, Raimondo asked the working group to explore these themes:

  • Fairness across school types: Our funding formula must be fair and supported by data.
  • Flexibility and sufficiency: Our funding formula must enable prudent and sustainable flexibility at the district, school, and student levels.
  • Responsiveness to unique needs: Our families, communities, and schools have unique needs, and the funding formula needs to account for and accommodate these unique needs.
  • Fiscal responsibility: Our funding formula needs to direct resources to the areas in which they are needed most and the funding formula must encourage savings and efficiency whenever possible
  • Improved Outcomes: Our funding formula needs to invest these resources wisely to ensure improved outcomes.

She appointed these members to the working group:

  • Elizabeth Burke Bryant (Co-Chair), executive director, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT
  • Donald R. Sweitzer (Co-Chair), Chairman, IGT Corporation and Senior Public Affairs Advisor
  • Rep. Gregg Amore, House Education Committee, East Providence
  • Donato Bianco, LIUNA
  • Dr. Nancy Carriuolo, President, Rhode Island College
  • J. Michael D’Antuono, School Business Official, Providence
  • Sen. Daniel Da Ponte, Senate Finance Committee, East Providence
  • Karen Davis, Senior Vice-President, Hasbro
  • Kas R. DeCarvalho, Esq., Attorney, Pannone Lopes, and Board Member, The Met School
  • Patti DiCenso, Superintendent, Pawtucket
  • Sean Doyle, Technical Education Teacher, West Warwick High School
  • Dr. Gara B. Field, Principal, Pleasant View Elementary School, Providence
  • Georgia Fortunato, Superintendent, Lincoln
  • Victoria A. Gailliard-Garrick, Principal, William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School
  • Jo Eva Gaines, Chair, Newport School Committee, and member, Council on Elementary and Secondary Education
  • Sen. Hanna Gallo, Senate Education Committee, Cranston
  • Stephanie Gonzalez, Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy and member, Central Falls City Council
  • Joseph J. MarcAurele, Chairman, Washington Trust Bank
  • Amy Mullen, Special Education Teacher, Tiverton
  • Dr. Julie Nora, Head of School, International Charter School
  • Stephanie Ogidan Preston, Vice-President, Citizens Bank
  • Adam M. Ramos, Esq., Attorney, Hinckley Allen, and member of the Bristol Warren Education Foundation
  • Dr. Isadore S. Ramos, former Mayor of East Providence
  • Rep. Deborah L. Ruggiero, House Finance Committee, Jamestown
  • Toby Shepherd, Grants Program Officer, the Rhode Island Foundation
  • Alan J. Tenreiro, Principal, Cumberland High School and National Principal of the Year
  • Lisa Tomasso, the Providence Center and member of RIDE Strategic Planning Group
  • James Vincent, President, NAACP-Providence
  • Dr. Kenneth K. Wong (Advisor), Chair, Department of Education, Brown University
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As the fast continues: Educating Raimondo on climate change


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PeacePeoplePlanet
Peter Nightingale at the State House (Photo by Pia Ward)

“You can’t negotiate with a beetle. You are now dealing with natural law. And if you don’t understand natural law, you will soon.”

Oren Lyons, a member of the Onandaga Council of Chiefs, quoted by Mary Christina Wood in her book Nature’s Trust, sums up what’s wrong with our self-absorbed political system and its failure to deal with our planetary climate emergency in referring to four million acres of Canadian forest wiped out by beetles now thriving in warmer winter temperatures as a result of global warming.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, our dear governor Gina Raimondo was too busy for an unscheduled intro to the laws of nature.  Too busy to interrupt paying back time for her campaign debts, I guess.  Thanks, ProJo, for your perfectly timed editorial Familiar Odor.   But please remember: Gina is an honorable person; so are they all, all honorable people.

Maybe Gina was doing the hard work of making sure that Providence will not be left behind, as—in city after city—we build what Frank Deford calls “Athletic Taj Mahals,” monuments for the “filthy rich.”  Thanks, Frank; you nailed it: Spending Public Money On Sports Stadiums Is Bad Business.   But do not forget that Gina is an honorable person; so are they all, all honorable people.

We The People who do not revolt against systemic corruption are the problem.

Since August 31, I’ve been trying to make an appointment with Gina to deliver a basic physics message.  It took until September 13 before I got a reply: “Once again, thank you again for being in touch,”  pretty pathetic writing that I should have received within three seconds rather than after two weeks, but no appointment.

The web site of the Office of the Governor is totally dysfunctional, but, dear reader, I’ll spare you details.  I just wonder, why should we trust people to run a state if they cannot manage a web site?  Of course, the problem in Rhode Island is not small-scale incompetence; broken democracy is what we are dealing with, but it’s not Gina, for Gina is an honorable person; so are they all, all honorable people.

Pia Ward, my dear friend, is the engaged artist who made the black-and-white photographs in this post.  Pia and I went to Gina’s office on Wednesday to deliver a pizza, a lunch skipped in support of Beyond Extreme Energy’s No-New-Permits fast in DC.

Peter Nightingale at the State House (Photo by Pia Ward)
Peter Nightingale at the State House (Photo by Pia Ward)

Of course we were told that web site was not the way to make appointments with the governor.  We have to follow procedures, no matter how many people have their lives destroyed or put their lives on the line in DC and elsewhere in the nation.  We are but a nuisance and who cares about Terry Greenwood?

One of Gina’s aids, who dutifully took notes of our story, instructed us that I had to go home and to make an appointment I had to send an email to the gubernatorial scheduler, Kelly Harris (Kelly-Harris@governor.ri.gov).  Never mind that we were already at the State House; the important work for corporate America and the filthy rich should never be interrupted, for they are all, all honorable people.

Report from the No-New-Permits fast in DC

Fasters occupying the side walk for an overnight at the FERC Gates of Hell in DC.
Fasters occupying the side walk for an overnight at the FERC Gates of Hell in DC.

Ted Glick of ChessapeakeClimate.org and one of the Beyond Extreme Energy water-only fasters in DC had the following exchange with Norman Bay, the chairman of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  Ted asked if the chairman would come down to receive the five copies of the Pope’s encyclical, Laudato Si’, on September 25th at noon. Bay said he would consider it.  We all know what that means, but let Ted speak:

Then he stopped and we looked each other in the eye. He told me that he respected what we were doing with the fast and the commitment it showed as far as our beliefs. He said he felt this type of action was a good type of action.

However, he went on to say that he really had problems with us disrupting their monthly meetings and asked if we would stop doing that.

I responded: “How can we do that when there’s no change at FERC as far as permitting gas pipelines and fracking infrastructure, one after the other, with virtually no exceptions.”

His response: “These are just pipelines. We’re a regulatory agency. Blaming us is like blaming the steel companies that make pipes. It’s the production of the gas that you need to deal with.”

Keep up the disruption, my friends; irritation makes pearls. Dear reader, if you ever have to explain Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil,” this exchange would be a perfect starting point.

Events for the rest of our fast

Following up on the pledge to do three Ramadan-style fasts centered on each event in RI, Wednesday’s visit to the State House got Beatrijs, my wife, and me restarted fasting on Tuesday, after a one-day interruption. The following will get us to Friday, the 25th, when Beyond Extreme Energy will end its fast:

Of course, it’s not too late to call Gina’s friends at Invenergy to tell them that fracked gas is not clean and that they should cancel the fracked-gas power plant proposed for Burrillville.  Just keep in mind that Gina signed a contract with Invenergy, but Gina is an honorable person; so are they all, all honorable people.  We The People are the problem, we who think that the next fully-scripted ElecToon will bring system change.

Oh, yes, how about that pizza we took to the Gina’s office? As anticipated, it ended up feeding hungry people on Kennedy Plaza.

Peter Nightingale at the State House (Photo by Pia Ward)
Peter Nightingale at the State House (Photo by Pia Ward)
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FANG activists lock themselves to Spectra construction equipment


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fang1
Photos courtesy of FANG.

Activists opposed to methane gas expansion locked themselves to construction equipment being used to prepare an area in Burrillville for a gas pipeline project early Monday morning.

“I expect them to be arrested at some point today,” said Sherrie Andre, who sent out a press release and photos of the action on behalf of FANG, or Fighting Against Natural Gas. “If not, they are pretty determined to stay there as long as their bodies can hold out.”

Three fire trucks and local police are on the scene, said Andre, but she did not know if the three activists had been arrested or were still attached to the earth-moving equipment.

“Matt Smith of New Jersey, Nick Katkevich of Rhode Island, and Keith Clougherty of Massachusetts locked down with fortified PVC pipes to disrupt construction for the day at the compressor station which Spectra is hoping to double in capacity as part of the AIM project,” according to the press release.

“Spectra Energy, Invenergy and those that support them are on the wrong side of history, we will keep coming back with more people until their projects are cancelled.”  said Katkevich, according to the press release.

fang2FANG has waged a high profile campaign against both the Algonquin pipeline project and a methane gas compressor station that Governor Gina Raimondo has hailed as good business expansion for Rhode Island. Both projects would be built on land owned by Spectra Energy in Burrillville.

Andre was arrested for a tree sit at the site this summer and, two weeks ago, Peter Nightingale and Curt Nordgaard were arrested for chaining themselves to a chain link gate on Spectra property. Nightingale was also arrested at Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s office for protesting fracked gas and methane gas expansion. While Whitehouse has been supportive of the pipeline project, he has reserved judgment on a methane compressor facility in Burrillville.

“What happens in Burrillville doesn’t stay in Burrillville. This project hurts communities across the Northeast and climate change is already killing people around the world,” said Keith Clougherty, one of the activists locked to Spectra construction equipment this morning, according to the press release.

fang3

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Raimondo ends school construction moratorium


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GilbertStuart
What some Rhode Island schools look like. Gilbert Stuart Middle School in Providence.

No ground has been broken yet, but it can now be said that the much-maligned moratorium on school construction is officially over.

Governor Gina Raimondo today launched the new School Building Authority Capital Fund, a $20 million line item in the 2016 budget that will go to fixing Rhode Island’s aging and too often decrepit school buildings.

“We know our kids can’t learn in crumbling school buildings and that they must have access to a learning environment that inspires them to do their best,” said Raimondo according to a press release. “Today, we are hitting our school building challenges head on. With this plan, kids and teachers will get better schools and our construction crews will get back to work.”

Following a news conference, superintendents and other public school officials attended a workshop on how to apply for the new funds. Applications are due September 10, said education department spokesman Elliot Krieger. Then RIDE will begin the process of awarding the money for local school construction projects.

“For so many Rhode Islanders, success starts in the classroom, and it is my priority to make those classrooms the safe, creative, and challenging learning environments our kids deserve,” said state Education Commissioner Ken Wagner. “We are fortunate to have leaders who understand that investments in education are an investment in our future.”

Since 2011 there has been a moratorium on school construction in Rhode Island. Social justice and education activists blamed the lack of investment as a contributing factor to the education gap, and construction workers said the moratorium stood in the way of good jobs building positive additions to the community.

This year, RI Future and NBC 10, among others, have published pictures and accounts of the sub-par sometimes even dangerous conditions of urban schools. Aaron Apps called it a “kind of slow, horrible violence being done against the students and teachers expected to occupy these buildings.” The Providence Student Union held a high profile rally in March to lobby state officials to lift the moratorium. Raimondo proposed lifting the moratorium and establishing the $20 million account in her budget, ad the idea was left in by the state legislature.

Dan Lawlor has said Raimondo’s proposal is inferior to the model used in Massachusetts.

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Will Ken Wagner’s past in New York shape his future in Rhode Island


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WagnerThis spring Governor Raimondo held meetings with various stakeholder groups to find out what characteristics they would want in an education commissioner. According to the Providence Journal article of July 7, “Common themes emerged, with each group calling for a leader who listens and is collaborative, thoughtful, and student-centered.”

In my view, the choice of Ken Wagner, currently senior deputy commissioner for education policy in New York state, does not meet these criteria.

According to the information that the Governor’s office put out about him, Dr. Wagner “led the development of EngageNY, a free curriculum aligned with new [Common Core] learning standards.” The rest of the story is that EngageNY has become an expensive fiasco in NY State. The NY State Education Department had originally contracted with three groups to create scripted module lessons for schools across New York at a cost of $12.9 million dollars of Race to the Top money. As educators began using the modules they found numerous errors, gaps, editing mistakes, and other problems. Is this the work of a thoughtful leader?

Dr. Wagner believes in the value of high stakes testing, and considers the Opt Out movement to be misguided. The failure rate across NY State on their Pearson developed Common Core Tests continues to be about 70%, with much higher failure rates for students with disabilities and English Language Learners. Since these tests were not independently validated, and many authorities who examined the practice tests and released items believe the questions to be developmentally inappropriate and unnecessarily confusing, how can a “failing” label be trusted? How concerned was he about the well-being of the students who were labeled failures?

New York state is one of the major areas of the country to see significant opposition to Common Core-related testing. Several hundred thousand students were opted out of the testing in April. Did Ken Wagner listen thoughtfully to the articulate and passionate parents in NY state who determined that these tests were not in their children’s best interest? Apparently not, since Wagner told New York Magazine, “we really believe that these tests are not only important but irreplaceable.” (By the way, NY state recently jettisoned Pearson for a different test developer.)

Of significance to parents concerned about the privacy of their children’s personally identifiable information, is the fact that Wagner was a stalwart defender of NYSED’s connection with inBloom, despite tremendous backlash from parents. inBloom was a company created and funded by the Gates and Carnegie Foundations with $100 million, and was designed to collect confidential, potentially personally identifiable student and teacher data from school districts and states throughout the country. There was the real risk that even de-identified student data could be re-identified when shared with software companies and other for-profit vendors, a practice allowed by a weakened federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

After much turmoil and several legislative hearings, the state legislature decided it had no option but to make inBloom illegal in order to stop it. Is this the way to collaborate with those who hold a deeply held and reasonable position different from your own?

Governor Raimondo’s introduction of Ken Wagner to RI stated that “Education is a ladder to the middle class, and investing in education will grow our economy because businesses want to locate near a pipeline of well-educated, well-trained workers.” Presumably Ken Wagner agrees. Is this really what RI parents and communities want from their public education system—workforce development? What about education for self-empowerment and for participation in a diverse and vibrant society?

I am distressed but not surprised at the governor’s choice. It is impossible not to consider potential influence from her husband Andy Moffit, who has worked in education reform for the global consulting firm McKinsey and Company. He also collaborated with Sir Michael Barber (formerly at McKinsey, now at Pearson) in the writing of Deliverology 101. This is troubling in that this book is a manual for consultants and managers to perpetrate a testing, data, and accountability mind-set, which is adopted from a soulless economics/finance/micro-managing paradigm misapplied to the most human of tasks–nurturing the next generation of self-actualized members of our society. The ultimate result, whether intentional or not, is the dismantling of public education as we know it and delivering it up to privateers.

Rhode Islanders need to do some serious homework and then express displeasure with this choice for commissioner and what it will inevitably mean for Rhode Island public school students, teachers, families, and communities.

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Q&A on the 6/10 Connector


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The 6/10 Connector rips Olneyville and Valley apart from Federal Hill and the West End. Replacing it with a boulevard would be less expensive and reconnect these neighboring parts of the city.

With Governor Raimondo’s recent push for transportation funding, people are talking about patching up the 6/10 Connector vs. replacing it with a boulevard. Best practice in urban design recommends replacing urban highways with boulevards. But that would be something we haven’t done before in Rhode Island, so it’s understandable that some people have concerns. Here are a few questions I thought you might have about updating the 6/10 Connector for the 21st century.

  1. That’s a big change. Wouldn’t it be expensive to remove the highway?Governor Raimondo is proposing a tractor-trailer toll that would allow the state to bond for $700 million. $400 million of that (plus another $400 million RIDOT wants to get from the Feds) is earmarked for the 6/10 Connector repairs. That is expensive.

    Prices vary a lot for building highways, but urban highways with as many overpasses as the 6/10 Connector tend to be on the high end of the scale (and $800 million is quite high). Boulevards (think Memorial Boulevard in Providence, but more multimodal) tend to have a cost roughly ten times lower than an urban highway. Imagine how many structurally-deficient bridges we could make safe with an extra $360-720 million? That’s a very rough cost comparison, but what we can be sure of is that replacing the 6/10 Connector with a boulevard (even tripped out with the best complete streets features you can think of) would cost dramatically less than rebuilding it as a highway.

  2. So many cars use the connector! Wouldn’t removing it create massive traffic jams?Actually many cities have removed excessive urban highways and seen no marked increase in traffic. There are a couple reasons for this. Traffic is created through a process called “induced demand” where if you build more highways, drivers will use them. Conversely, if you eliminate an urban highway, fewer people will use it as a short-cut.

    “But wait!” you say. “I use 6/10 as a shortcut! You want to reduce my transportation options!” Actually, in other cities that remove urban highways, they see the traffic that previously used the highway spread out over the city’s other streets. And there’s less potential for traffic jams when drivers have lots of options. It’s like how bugs congregate around lights on hot summer nights, but out in the dark it’s less buggy. 6/10 is the bug-clogged light, city streets are the cool night air.

    And one more thing: our current transportation network overwhelmingly favors driving; it has big highways that cut swaths through neighborhoods that are uninviting to other ways of getting around. Leveling the playing field by making our street system more comfortable for more ways of getting around (RIPTA, walking, and biking as well as driving) gives you more choices and more freedom. Plus, it means more other people are choosing to walk or bike and they’re not clogging up the road in front of you.

  3. It’ll never happen. We can’t do innovative things in Rhode Island.I mean, this isn’t that innovative. And hey, we started the Industrial Revolution and moved rivers to revitalize downtown Providence. I think we have it in us to make a prudent economic decision to give Rhode Islanders more transportation options and safer bridges.

    Plus, you cynics, politicians like ribbon-cuttings and ground-breakings. It’s not as sexy to photo-shoot the replacement of an archaic 1950s-era project as it is to pose for the first complete multi-modal corridor in the State.

We can assume that because the 6/10 Connector is in Raimondo’s investment plan, now is the time that something will happen with it. The state should choose the approach that is best for the neighborhoods adjacent to the corridor, which coincidentally is the option with the best return on investment. Replace the 6/10 Connector with an urban boulevard.

Want to help make this happen? Transport Providence is organizing a walk around the area in question today at 5:15 with Providence City Councilman Bryan Principe. The best thing you can do is to talk to people about this. Which people? Especially your representatives (state, federal, and city if you live in Providence), the Governor’s office, and RIDOT.

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NBC10 Wingmen: On Gina Raimondo


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wingmen514Governor Gina Raimondo would like to expand the Commerce Corporation and shrink Medicaid. Perhaps only in Rhode Island is such a political actor also a Democrat.

To her credit, she also seems committed to raising the minimum wage and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit. But she’s not really using any of her enormous political capital – gained through hurting unions, mind you – on anything aligned with the national Democratic agenda of tackling income inequality and ending poverty. This is traditionally how left-leaning thinkers would focus on jobs and the economy.

This is why conservatives like Jon Brien tend to support her and progressives like me tend not to.

News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England

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State spends $5 million on private school transportation, textbooks


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School BusRhode Island spent more than $5.4 million in 2014 on transportation and textbooks for students who attend private and parochial schools, according to the Department of Education.

“The textbook law has been in the books since the 19th century,” said RIDE spokesman Elliot Krieger. “The transport law on books since the 1970s.”

Governor Gina Raimondo’s proposed budget calls for cuts to this public subsidy to private schools. The state paid $4,873,473 in transportation costs and $554,974 for textbooks in 2014 and Raimondo proposed cutting each expenditure in half.

“Some tough choices needed to be made,” said spokeswoman Marie Aberger, and Raimondo instead proposed a “record investments in K-12 education; the full implementation of all-day kindergarten across the state; and funding for dual enrollment, last dollar scholarships, loan forgiveness and workforce development.”

But it seems like legislative leaders will seek to have the private school funding put back into the budget.

Said House Speaker Mattiello, in a statement, “The tax-paying parents who make the choice to send their children to private schools are lessening the burden on municipalities because the cities and towns do not have to pay to educate these students. The least we can do for these parents is to provide textbooks and bus transportation when necessary. Without transportation, some parents would be unable to make the choice to send their children to private schools, and a greater burden would then be placed on municipalities to educate them.”

Senate President Paiva Weed, who more often finds common ground with Raimondo than Mattiello, agrees with the speaker on this one.

“The Senate supports restoration of the funding for textbooks and transportation services for private schools. Parents of children in private schools pay their taxes just like other parents in the community,” she said. “Collectively, their decision to send their children to private schools saves valuable public resources. For many years, the Senate has chosen to support the funding of transportation services and textbooks for private school students despite previous attempts to cut the funding.”

Aberger, Raimondo’s spokeswoman, seemed to understand that subsidizing private school education was sacrosanct to legislative leaders. “The Governor respects the legislative process and knows the General Assembly will make adjustments as her jobs budget moves forward,” she said.

The Senate Finance Committee will discuss the issue at a hearing on Thursday.

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Obama joins chorus calling for payday loan reform

obama payday loan
President Obama speaking out against payday loans in Birmingham, Alabama.

Look around any impoverished neighborhood in Rhode Island and you’ll easily find a neon sign above a storefront offering a payday loan. This is what legalized loan sharking looks like.

Such stores have sprung up all over the poorest parts of Rhode Island since the legislature passed an exemption to state usury laws in 2001. Payday loans are illegal in every other New England state. But where they are legalize, they are extremely popular – there are more payday loan stores in the United States than McDonalds, Home Depots and Walmarts combined.

Inside these stores, desperate poor people with few other options – and certainly none so neon and readily found – buy quick cash in exchange for usuriously high interest rates. In Rhode Island, the General Assembly allows payday lenders to charge up to 260 percent annual interest while every other type of lending is capped at 36 percent.

Only 2 percent of payday loans get paid back on time, and in Rhode Island the average borrower will need 8 additional payday loans to pay the first one off. Those who turn to payday lenders are twice as likely to eventually file for bankruptcy.

The Rhode Island Coalition for Payday Lending Reform, led by community activists Margaux Morrisseau and Rev. Don Anderson, has waged a high profile campaign to reform predatory payday loans in recent years and a 2012 Public Policy Polling survey found that three-fourths of Rhode Islanders want them reformed.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Treasurer Gina Raimondo at a recent panel on payday loan reform, an issue they both supported.
2012 press conference on payday lending reform.

Governor Gina Raimondo has been a strong advocate.

“She believes we need to protect Rhode Islanders from predatory lending practices, and supports developing alternatives to create access to fair, responsible, low cost alternatives for borrowing,” said Raimondo spokeswoman Marie Aberger yesterday in an email.

Raimondo was more blunt at a 2012 press conference. “It’s a predatory product,” she said then. “People need to know about the dangers of payday lending so they can take care of themselves. Everyone needs a loan once in a while and you ought to be able to do it in a way that is safe and reliable and doesn’t trap you.”

Despite bipartisan support from 80 legislators in both legislative chambers, House Speaker Nick Mattiello won’t allow the General Assembly to vote on the bill. His personal friend and poltiical ally, former Speaker Bill Murphy, is a paid lobbyist for the payday loan industry. It’s really that simple. Two powerful people, Mattiello and Murphy, are preventing the people of Rhode Island from ending this predatory practice.

But as of yesterday Mattiello and Murphy, nominally Democrats, have yet another adversary in their quest to defend payday lenders instead of impoverished Rhode Islanders. President Barack Obama joined the chorus against this predatory practice yesterday in announcing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will increase federal regulations of payday lending.

Speaking in Birmingham, Obama said, “You’ve got some very conservative folks here in Alabama who are reading their Bibles and saying, ‘well that ain’t right.’ The Bible’s not wild about someone charging $1,000 worth of interest on a $500 loan.”

Payday loan reform is also a bipartisan issue here in Rhode Island. House Minority Leader Brian Newberry is a lead sponsor of the reform bill and yesterday new GOP executive director Luis Vargas tweeted, “horrible, horrible businesses that prey on those in poverty. We definitely need to get rid of payday lenders.”

Obama said reforming payday loans is part of his middle class economy agenda. “One of the main ways we can make sure paychecks go farther is to make sure working families don’t get ripped off,” he said.

The CFPB proposes to limit the number of consecutive payday loans and require some credit verifications. But these protections aren’t air tight, according to a press release from the RI Coalition for Payday Lending Reform.

The proposal unveiled today by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes an important step toward reining in a wide range of abusive lending products but also includes a gaping loophole that in essence puts a government stamp of approval on unaffordable back-to-back loans with interest rates that average near 400 percent. The RI Coalition for Payday Lending Reform urged the CFPB and Director Cordray to reconsider and leave this loophole out of the rule.

The proposed affordability standard, which is smart, fair and flexible, would require small-dollar lenders to do business the same way we expect responsible banks and mortgage lenders to – by making good loans.

If adopted, this simple change would end the cycle of debt that is the business model of payday lending, where 75 percent of all fees are generated from borrowers who take out more than 10 loans a year.   It would strengthen access to good credit for consumers who need it and give responsible lenders a fighting chance to compete, thrive and profit in a fair environment.

But sanctioning even one abusive loan, let alone six, will keep responsible lenders out of the marketplace and open the door to the kinds of creative manipulation of the rules that payday lenders have a history of using to exploit loopholes and continue business as usual.

After all, these are the same people who managed to circumvent the Department of Defense’s efforts to cap loan rates to members of the military by, for example, making loans for three months and a day to get around rules governing three-month loans.

Along similar lines, in Ohio, when payday lenders became subject to a rate cap the lenders simply changed their names, calling themselves mortgage lenders to skirt new rules.

As the Bureau moves forward to protect consumers, The RI Coalition hopes that it removes the “look-the-other-way,” standard for the first six loans and applies a strong affordability standard to the first loan and to every loan.

Only with consistent, airtight standards that require loans to be affordable will protections work to stop debt trap lending, keep hard-working Americans from being lured into financial quicksand, and maintain and grow a strong, responsible, low-dollar loan market.

At the same time, states must continue their work to enact and enforce what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot –rate caps that end usury once and for all.

The CFPB can’t change the interest rates states set for payday loans. In Rhode Island, it seems only Mattiello and Murphy can do that.

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Raimondo meets with students to discuss next commissioner


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raimondo3Governor Gina Raimondo has been hosting “listening sessions” with different constituencies among the education community in hopes of gleaning a better sense of what is expected from the next commissioner of education. In February, she met with teachers and principals in Providence. In early March, she met with parents and administrators in Cranston. And last week she met with labor officials in Warwick.

“This process was established to engage with Rhode Islanders who have already committed their lives to this issue,” said Raimondo spokeswoman Ashley Gingerella O’Shea. “The Governor values public input and particularly, those community groups who are explicitly engaged in education.”

And so on Tuesday, she will meet with a group of Providence students.

The Providence Youth Caucus – made up of the Providence Student Union, Young Voices and others – will spend about an hour and a half with Raimondo tomorrow night, starting at 5pm at Highlander Charter School in Providence.

While the forum is an opportunity for the governor to glean the student’s thoughts on the next education commission, the students want to also discuss their platform for education reform in Rhode Island.

The Schools Providence Students Deserve
An education platform by and for the students of Providence, Rhode Island

Our Goals

We all agree that our school system needs some big changes. But we have noticed that, through every new wave of education reforms and solutions, one thing always remains the same: students’ voices and priorities are regularly left out of the process.

We are the people in the classroom, and we are the people with the most at stake in our education system. As such, we know as well as anyone what really needs to happen to make our schools powerful places of youth learning and growth. Involving our voices is not only the fair and just thing to do; it is also the smartest way to actually design reforms that will positively impact our schools.

We—students from the Providence Student Union and Young Voices, in partnership with other student groups and youth across the city—have drafted this platform to establish a path towards the school system Providence students deserve.

We call on each of the candidates for Mayor of Providence to sign this platform and thereby commit to:

Creating a More “Student-Centered” Education System, including:

  • Introducing a more engaging curriculum and promoting hands-on learning
  • Developing strategies to better personalize learning around students’ needs
  • Prioritizing interpersonal skills and technological proficiency that prepare us for the 21st century
  • Changing from a dependence on standardized testing to a system of performance-based assessments that can show the student as a whole
  • Allowing students to have more ownership over their own learning and understanding that learning can happen anytime, anywhere

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Increasing Equity and Access, including:

  • Improving climate and culture by moving away from punitive disciplinary measures and toward restorative practices that address the root causes of behavior issue
  • Designing a safer and fairer approach to school transportation, including the reduction of Providence’s walking distance to a maximum of two miles
  • Focusing not just on achievement gaps, but also on opportunity gaps. A student’s race and class should not affect their ability to receive an empowering education Ensuring Adequate and Up-to-Date Resources, including:
  • Significantly improving our physical learning environment, especially with major investments in school infrastructure
  • Guaranteeing sufficient staffing for schools, including full-time teachers for subjects like math, science and arts, and important full-time staff like a school nurse and trained counselors in every school building
  • Ensuring access to useful technology in school buildings to give students the tools to meet 21st century standards
  • Prioritizing and funding arts, music, and elective classes, and recognizing that these disciplines are just as essential as math and reading
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Mass. has a better way to fund school construction than Raimondo


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“I’ve been scared and battered,
My hopes the wind done scattered.”
– Langston Hughes, ‘I’m still here’

GilbertStuart
A picture of Gilbert Stuart Middle School in Providence.

Too many Rhode Island children and teachers, particularly in low-income communities, work in schools that are decrepit.

Governor Raimondo recognizes the need to invest in our schools. In fact, she’s proposed $20 million to do so. A very important step and yet insignificant compared to other state and city infrastructure investments – the $22 million East Bay bike path renovations, the $43 million proposed Garrahy Parking Garage, and the $40 million 2012 road bond in the City of Providence.

Nevertheless, Raimondo’s plan is based – too loosely, I would say – on the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

“The bottom line is that the MSBA [Massachusetts School Building Authority] funding activity not only leaves the Commonwealth with better schools for our children, but continues to play a not insignificant role in boosting the economy of the state, providing jobs for thousands and thousands of our workers,” says the 2o14 report: The Economic Impact of MSBA Investments on the Massachusetts Economy.

Prior to the creation of the MSBA in 2004, the Bay State likewise had a complicated history with adequate supports for school buildings.

Clayton-Matthews and Bluestone note, “By the early 2000’s, the ‘temporary’ (Massachusetts school building assistance) program had become unsustainable, accumulating more than $11 billion in unfunded promises to local districts. By 2003, there were 428 projects on a waiting list to begin construction, and communities that actually broke ground, routinely waited years – sometimes decades – to receive their first reimbursement payment from the state.”

Our current predicament sounds similar. Over at WPRI, Dan McGowan reveals Rhode Island has “$600 million in [school] facility maintenance deferred since 2011.”

According to Clayton-Matthew and Bluestone, here’s the low down on the Massachusetts School Building Authority:

“Since 2004, the MSBA has made over $10.5 billion in payments to cities, towns and regional school districts, including full or partial payments to all of the eligible Waiting List Projects. In addition, the MSBA has completed 784 of the 788 backlogged audits inherited from the former program, saving the taxpayers of Massachusetts more than $1 billion in project costs and $2.9 million in local interest costs.

The MSBA’s grant program places tremendous emphasis on planning, due diligence and prioritization of scarce MSBA resources. The MSBA approves new projects through a competitive process that stresses need and urgency, and reimbursement can range from 31 to 80 percent of eligible project costs.

There are currently more than 300 construction, renovation and repair projects in the MSBA’s Capital Pipeline. The MSBA, which has a designated revenue stream of one penny of the state sales tax, collaborates with municipalities to invest approximately $500 million per year in schools across the Commonwealth.”

By contrast, Governor Raimondo’s proposed $20 million cannot simultaneously restore Mt Pleasant High School, bring modern science labs and a renovated auditorium to Gilbert Stuart Middle School, fix the pipes at Roger Williams Middle School – let alone spruce up additional schools in Pawtucket and North Kingston.

Discussion is in the air. Cumberland Senator Ryan Pearson has a bill more like Massachusetts’ successful system than Raimondo’s proposal. Providence Representative Aaron Regunburg wrote to his constituents, “while this is just a start and is not enough to solve our school infrastructure needs – I will do everything in my power to ensure that the final budget includes at least this level of additional funds.”

More delayed maintenance in Rhode Island won’t make future rehabs any cheaper or allow Rhode Islanders to benefit from the Massachusetts model of economic investment through school rebuilding and construction.

Unless Governor Raimondo’s plan is to let several thousand more children over the next few years learn in decaying structures, it’s time to start talking to leaders in Massachusetts. Rhody can learn their game plan – and then do it better!


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