Adventures in Town Government
As East Bay scribe can attest who’s spent a late-night hour or two trimming words and sentences from a letter to make it of acceptable length, the Sakonnet Times has a 500-word limit on missives. Yet, by the time Richard Joslin got around, last week, to challenging Tiverton Citizens for Change (TCC) to “prove they…
At this point in our decline, every public official should have a policy of zero increase. This is simply irresponsible: Mayor David N. Cicilline is facing criticism this week for a one-time payment of retroactive raises to five current and former high-ranking police officers — over the objections of the City Council — and for…
In the midst of a very edifying conversation in the comments section of my “Powers and Victims” post, Tiverton teacher Ed Davis offers the following significant perspective: You’re right, no one is forcing us to work here. Unfortunately, I saw this philosophy take hold in the school system my son attended. Many of the good…
On last night’s Matt Allen show, Monique presented her proposal that the state of Rhode Island deduct the unreasonable excess of Providence’s pension system from its state aid. Stream by clicking here, or download it.
Apparently, Tiverton’s deer population is conspiring to cost taxpayers even more money: Deer have run into three of the town’s police cruisers in the last 10 days, smacking the front of one and causing minor damage to the sides of two others. The repair bill will exceed $5,000, according to Police Chief Thomas Blakey. Of…
Enabling employees and citizens to bring attention to immoral or illegal behavior is a necessary goal, but North Kingstown may be creating a new tool for exactly the sorts of people that it wishes to disarm: Town employees, vendors and even students can now complain online about government abuse — without fear of retaliation. The…
I note something telling and pervasive in the latest anti-TCC assault by Tiverton Democrat stone-thrower Richard Joslin (currently online only; we’ll see tonight whether it gets into the Sakonnet Times): I know TCC supporters who are elderly, on fixed income and live mostly in North Tiverton. I am not upset about these people. I know…
The title of this post refers to the words of Paul Saccoccia, a national rep for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, who believes that disabled policemen and firefighters in the state pension system should receive pension contributions from their towns when the state doesn’t give them the full amount that they want: Lawyers for…
By far the most interesting audio from last night’s Tiverton School Committee meeting, in my opinion, was Vice Chairwoman Sally Black’s reasoning for voting to approve the teachers’ contract (stream, download) because the thought processes are indicative of the flawed way in which Rhode Islanders have conducted their public business. Mrs. Black cycled through a…
Well, here we are, at what’s sure to be a tense school committee meeting — as the teachers demand their retroactive pay and a handful of us concerned citizens try to explain that it would be insane to dig our financial hole deeper, with the state facing such a daunting task. You know it’s got…