Central Falls

Receivership as a Way for Mayors to Grab Total Control of City Government?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | February 10, 2012 |

Yesterday was the second consecutive day on which Buddy Cianci, during his WPRO (630AM) radio show, referenced an earlier interview with Central Falls Receiver Robert Flanders, where Receiver Flanders had apparently suggested that Rhode Island Mayors could deal with their fiscal problems by approaching the state and having themselves appointed receivers of their own communities.…

Does the Mayor of Central Falls Live in Lincoln?

By Patrick Laverty | February 4, 2012 |

I guess he’s just following the leader. Remember before the election two years ago, GoLocalProv.com broke the story about then-candidate Lincoln Chafee being accused of having car registrations in East Greenwich, taking a homestead exemption in Providence and being a registered voter in Warwick? For those unaware, property owners can only get a homestead exemption…

Who’s Running Central Falls?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | January 12, 2012 |

I ask, because it’s really hard to tell from the way the issue of the overnight parking ban played out. In December, Central Falls Receiver Robert Flanders “approved” an ordinance imposing a fine for overnight parking in Central Falls scheduled to take effect this month (though Senator Agostinho Silva’s press releases on the matter have…

The Dogs That Didn’t Bite in Pension Reform

By Justin Katz | January 4, 2012 |

Two aspects of this Monday editorial in the Providence Journal, lauding Central Falls Superintendent Fran Gallo for progress in her school district are interesting. For one, multiple Projo columnists have compared Democrat General Treasurer Gina Raimondo favorable with Republican reformers in other states, like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Ohio Governor John Kasick, on the…

Local Bailouts

By Patrick Laverty | December 15, 2011 |

I think I need to ask Justin to add a new category of “Wait, what?!” as it seems every day there’s a new headline that just makes me shake me head and double check to see if I’m actually reading The Onion. Today’s is the Breaking News headline on the Providence Journal: Chafee to ask…

Usurpation Cannot Be Challenged in Central Falls

By Justin Katz | October 7, 2011 |

This ruling is worth highlighting before it slips in the vast mire of news about Rhode Island’s fatally ill civic structure: The state-appointed receiver running Central Falls can go after Mayor Charles D. Moreau and the City Council to recoup legal fees spent defending the receivership law from Moreau’s unsuccessful state Supreme Court challenge, a…

When the Municipal Dictator Has a Political Boss

By Justin Katz | August 27, 2011 |

Apparently, when a municipal dictator (i.e., a “receiver”) deals with those who previously held power locally, it’s one thing when that power derived from the voting public, but it’s another when it derives from an organization that’s politically connected at the state level: Frank Flynn, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, which represents…

S&P’s Lesser Noticed Statement “Starring” a Certain Rhode Island Town

By Monique Chartier | August 8, 2011 |

In the perfectly justified consternation and alarm Friday following upon Standard and Poor’s downgrading of the United States’ credit rating, let’s not miss the other statement issued on the same day by S&P which hits a little closer to home. [Although the ramification of the first statement may not be remote at all.] From Reuters.…

Municipal Bankruptcy is a Tenth Amendment Issue

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 1, 2011 |

The initial Projo report on today’s announcement that the receiver for Central Falls will file for bankruptcy highlights one of the many high-level policy, political and legal issues that municipal bankruptcy is going to involve…In a commercial bankruptcy, the judge has the authority to order the sale of assets, even the closing of the business,…

An Interesting Whisper from the Governor to the Receiver

By Justin Katz | July 24, 2011 |

This one nearly slipped through the cracks, inasmuch as I haven’t noticed its being developed into a larger story: The overseer of deficit-plagued Central Falls could be replaced just five months after he was appointed to steer the city through its dire fiscal straits. Governor Chafee told public radio station WRNI that he is considering…