Tiverton
I don’t know Providence finances well enough to quibble with Mayor Angel Tavares’s budget proposal, but in emphasis and presentation it stands in stark contrast to Governor Lincoln Chafee. Tavares led with controversial and concrete initiatives for spending reduction, while Chafee led with a massive tax increase. Maybe they’ll get to the same place —…
Among the oddities of local politics is the stuff that you have to care about and pay attention to. A number of years ago, Tiverton opted to build three new elementary schools. I wasn’t around for the debate, but at least a significant portion of the electorate believed that the old schools would be sold…
For this week’s Patch column, I took on Tiverton’s new Pay as You Throw (PAYT) garbage-bag fee: Granted, of all of the factors contributing to this increase, the proximate end of the landfill’s usable life is among the most legitimate. Town leaders have spent decades inadequately preparing for the day that the dump was full…
My Patch column, this week, notes that school administrators in Tiverton appear to analyze differences between their approach and that of one of the most successful districts in Rhode Island (neighboring town, Portsmouth) only to the degree that they can formulate excuses why their own students and community in general are to blame for the…
On Monday night, the Tiverton Town Council finally let the ax swing on a new trash collection system that will at least double the cost of curb-side pickup for residents. (The metaphor is meant to indicate an executioner, not a lumberjack.) The Tiverton Town Council approved a contract on Monday night to begin a trash…
It doesn’t quite rise to the level of Whitehousian attack, but RI House Representative John Edwards (D, Portsmouth, Tiverton) does give a tax reformer reason to wonder how evenly his representation applies: “There is a loophole in that law that some groups have been employing to avoid reporting campaign activities around a Financial Town Meeting,”…
Not surprisingly, a majority of Little Compton parents would prefer to keep the town’s students flowing through one of the state’s best high schools, in Portsmouth, rather than move them over to Tiverton’s facility right next door. I’ve explained why I would feel the same, were I among them, but the number of reasons that…
As an applicant for an interim town treasurer job in Tiverton, I found the process to be peculiar: One can objectively question some of the more peculiar aspects of the process. For instance, in every blind selection process that I’ve encountered — whether for employment or, say, for college admissions — the identities of the…
My Patch column, this week, discusses the latest acronym with which active citizens must acquaint themselves: … OPEB stands for “other post-employment benefits” and, in Tiverton for example, includes health, dental and life insurance covering employees and their families after their retirement. According to a press release announcing the issuance of the final report from…
You may recall the legal battle between Tiverton Citizens for Change (TCC) President and current Town Council Member David Nelson and form Town Council Members Louise Durfee and Joanne Arruda. The latest development is thut Superior Court Judge Melanie Thunberg has denied Nelson’s request for a summary judgment. According to a Sakonnet Times article, not…
