Justin Katz
A short while ago, I objected to Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Gio Cicione’s red-meat throwing, and I think the Democrat status of Tiverton Town Councilman Hannibal Costa gives an example of the danger inherent in a party chairman’s drifting away from tempered party building. If the RIGOP could get its act together and come…
For some reason, it didn’t register when last I filled out a Tiverton ballot (for the first time) that most of the town’s key offices are “non-partisan.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that the representatives aren’t affiliated with a party — either officially or ideologically. It just means that voters and taxpayers have to take a…
Apparently — as the janitor informed me when I hopped out of the minivan with bloggerbag (aka a canvas briefcase) in hand — the union and the Tiverton school committee have decided to take eleven days off. So, no school committee meeting tonight. The way things operate ’round here, it’s as if the interested citizen…
Tiverton Town Councilor Brian Medeiros just proposed — and the council approved unanimously — a statement of support for the school committee’s “efforts to contain costs” within the boundaries set by the property tax cap with respect to the teachers’ union contract. Although the movement is largely symbolic, it’s very encouraging to see the council…
This meeting is definitely stretching out, but I’m glad that I’ve remained because I’ve witnessed a notable moment. To paraphrase Councilor Hannibal Costa (who has previously railed against unfunded mandates from the state), on a discussion about advertising to fill administrative jobs: If you look around the town, you’ll see that we have a lot…
If I had the authority — as an audience member — I’d move to end executive sessions at these town council meetings. The council is running through a list of appointments and pretty much rubber stamping applicants (who are far outnumbered by openings, it seems), and the discussion over a town planning–related position became somewhat…
It’s so much easier to be active in the summer. How am I supposed to keep up with Prison Break and Heroes if I intend to attend Tiverton Town Council meetings? Maybe it would be different if I could afford a TiVo machine, but such tools are out of my range of affordability. But there’s…
A July 30th L.A. Times piece that held the dominant spot in this Sunday’s Providence Journal Lifebeat section is a fine specimen of science’s reductive power in the hand of a secularist: The forces of attraction are in many ways mysterious, but scientists know certain things. Studies have shown that women prefer men with symmetrical…
In a comment to the previous post, WillP asks why we haven’t mentioned this: Tiverton police officers are looking forward to their paychecks that will contain 14 months of retroactive salary increases. Fourteen months’ worth of retroactive health-care co-share increases, however, will reduce that amount. The 26 members of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers,…
WillP left a curious comment to my “Just a Quick Shake of the Head” post: On what basis do you assume that this is an “unaffordable contract?” Do you have access to details of the current contract negotiations or budget data that the rest of us residents and parents don’t have? Again, you are assuming…