Mark Binder
Keep Providence’s water supply
I love Providence Water. Every morning I run the tap to clear out the lead from the old pipes until it runs cool and clear and delicious. In Providence, you’ll drink some of the best tasting—and least expensive—water in the country. Even with a bunch of teenagers showering—they never do laundry—our water bill stays well under […]
Whitehouse, Reed must oppose Trump
Dear Senators Whitehouse and Reed, This is what dictatorship looks like. A leader in office—whether elected or by junta—wields every aspect of power according to his agenda or whim. Compromise is not an option. Because we are a democratic republic, parliamentary defeat is not an option. The only option is staunch opposition and sweeping implementation […]
Memo to POTUS: Pardon ALL non-violent drug offenders
What if President Obama used his last days in office to pardon all the non-violent drug offenders in the federal justice system? According to PrisonPolicy.Org there are just over 100,000 drug offenders in federal prisons. Let’s say that half of them are non-violent offenders. That’s 50,000 men and women and children* who could be released before the inauguration. […]
State sponsored stupidity
Every year the General Assembly rolls out some boneheaded decisions that we get to live with. This year “The Most Powerful Politician in the State” lost control of the wheel, declaring that the General Assembly had reached a “point of no return” and had to stay up all night blindly passing bills.
Purge 3: Slaughter at state capitol
Warning, this article contains graphic and satirical content Halloween, Providence It was supposed to be an ordinary film shoot. Ordinary, that is, if you’re filming the third installment of a horror movie franchise. The corridors were already prepped with squibs and blood bags. The climactic chase through the Rhode Island State House’s rotunda was choreographed. The cast and […]
Speaker Mattiello swings early at Pawsox second pitch
Perhaps there is something in the water on Smith Hill that infects speakers of the Rhode Island House with hubris. Perhaps it’s a side effect of suddenly being called, “The most powerful politician in Rhode Island.” Keeping in mind that the speaker is not elected to his office by the citizens, but anointed by his […]
Tax breaks for unicorns!
$40 million is the figure in government tax breaks and subsidies that’s being mentioned for the proposed Unicorn Center in Downtown Providence. “This will be a world-class capture and processing facility,” said House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello. “First came the Jewelry District, then the Knowledge District, then the BioMed district, then the ProvSox Stadium, and now we’re getting ready to break […]
Rhode Island: you want to be here
The future of Rhode Island could be very simple… Our goal could be to intentionally make our small state an expensive place to do business in, but make it worth every penny. For every dollar in taxes paid, our citizens would reap benefits. The purpose of commerce is to support the people, not the reverse. How could […]
Pick-Our-PocketSox: The joke’s on us
Repeat after me: It is not the job of government to make it safe for businessmen to get rich… I really wanted to write a satire, but I just can’t get any more absurd than entire tax-payer-subsidy of a baseball stadium downtown. A bunch of rich white guys bought some baseball cards… er baseball slaves… er […]
Alex and Ani buys naming rights to state formerly known as Rhode Island
Providence’s secretive PARCC opt-out process
In an effort to stymie parents interested in opting their children out of PARCC, Providence Public Schools created a secret permission form. Not all schools even know about the form. There was confusion at the front offices of several schools. At one, I was told, the guidance department hadn’t heard anything about an opt-out program. Another […]
Don’t be fooled again…
Gordon Fox is guilty, and I’m not surprised. I’m the guy who ran against the former Rhode Island speaker of the House in 2012. From the first days of our campaign, I pointed to the corruption that seems endemic in Rhode Island’s political structure. At the time, nobody seemed to believe me. They denied it […]
The Providence WetSox
The first thing that popped into my head when I heard that there were plans to move the Pawsox to downtown Providence near the river was, “Didn’t anybody check out that CRMC/URI flood map?” And apparently nobody did. I’ve seen articles in the paper. I’ve even tweeted reporters. Nobody’s asking the question, “Is this stadium going to […]
Best wishes Tom Sgouros, new adviser to Seth Magaziner
It’s always gratifying when one of the best and most deserving folk actually get a position in government where they can make a powerful difference. We recently learned that RI Future contributor Tom Sgouros has been appointed as senior policy adviser to Seth Magaziner, the new treasurer of Rhode Island. Tom was himself a candidate for […]
Votes for the good
I’m an idealist. I think that government can be by the people and for the people. It’s why I ran a hard campaign against Gordon Fox and it’s why I am supporting a diverse group of people for public office. There needs to be both a positive change and a counterbalance to the ‘way things are […]
Ashes at the Phoenix
My first paying job as a journalist was at the Providence Phoenix. It was the NewPaper at the time, and I happened to walk into their offices a few days after they’d been bought out by the Boston Phoenix. My first newspaper lesson: timing is crucial. I’d been living in Providence for about a year and one of my first […]
Make Mattiello ex-speaker of the House
I didn’t vote for him. Chances are you didn’t either. He ran unopposed in his district (won with 1,145 votes). He wasn’t elected to be Speaker of the House by the people. He was elected by a frightened RI House of Representatives. You know who I’m talking about. Nicholas Mattiello is the Speaker of the Rhode […]
Nick Mattiello cowers to corporate interests
The article, House speaker outlines state’s economic priorities, in the Providence Journal started badly. Paul Grimaldi wrote, “The newly elected speaker of the house told a roomful of business people Thursday that fixing the state’s fiscal problems is his priority.” I didn’t vote for Mattiello for speaker, nor did you. He was “elected” by a […]
Government FOR the People
Last week I wrote an op-ed in response to Mike Stenhouse’s op-ed Left won’t defend failed RI Policies lambasting Tom Sgouros and Sam Bell . My first draft went to the Providence Journal, but the conversation with the editor didn’t go well for a variety of reasons. Next I sent it to GoLocalProv with the […]
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