Tiverton
It’s difficult not to rub one’s eyes and look again: Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year. That was the sixth-largest…
Here’s some significant audio from last night’s school committee meeting in Tiverton, as I described on scene. A key take-away from the evening is that almost half of the $300,000+ that the school district must cut from the 2009-2010 budget to stay within the state spending cap is a direct result of this contract’s approval.…
The new teachers’ contract is up for approval again in Tiverton, and inasmuch as the agenda item is “approval of arbitrator’s interim award (NEA contract),” it looks likely to go the other way. Apparently the latest info is that the state is only reducing their funding by 5%, so they’re confident giving away over $300,000.…
So how is it that I can walk in, at 7:02 p.m., to a public meeting that’s advertised (PDF) for a 7:00 start, and the town council is already through the first page of its agenda? It’s typical — the meetings really start at 6:30 p.m. [see footnote] — but this evening, I walked into…
Apparently, I missed quite a show at the latest Budget Committee meeting in Tiverton, and it merits watching across the state. While East Providence is a battle occurring during free fall, Tiverton is an example of a municipality that can still choose to stop its train from speeding toward a collapsed bridge. The town administrator…
It’s kinda funny to contemplate what local establishment figures and their one-mind sympathizers imagine about reform groups. Former school committee member (and foiled town council candidate) Michael Burk likens Tiverton Citizens for Change to a false Mighty Mouse and whispers spooky insinuations that would surely spark laughter in anybody with a reasonable understanding of the…
A Sakonnet Times article (that doesn’t appear to be online) reports on a meeting of “all elected town and school officials and some top administrators” in Tiverton to discuss budget woes. (A van breakdown prevented me from getting there.) Speaking to the reduction in state aid, Town Administrator James Goncalo states, “The municipal side cut…
With taxpayers — especially business taxpayers — beginning to get uppity, one often hears the invocation of Rhode Island’s Political Knot. Nothing objectionable is anybody’s fault; it’s all a natural construct that can’t be changed… at least by the person to whom one would turn for relief. Take the “tangible tax.” I know of at…
With the new year and the new dynamic in the town council, I thought I’d best resume the habit of attending all meetings — exuding my apparently intimidating presence. At the moment, there’s one of those typical town-level debates about development issues. Somebody wants to develop and needs some sort of concession from the town…
Working in construction, I really didn’t expect the new Tiverton elementary schools to be ready for student occupancy this coming Monday, and indeed, the school committee has held off the transition until February 23: A unanimous school committee voted Tuesday night to delay until Feb. 23 the move of an estimated 350 elementary students into…
