Warwick

Mayor Avedesian w/WPRO’s Jim Hummel

By Marc Comtois | February 23, 2009 |

Warwick Mayor Scott Avedesian was on WPRO with Jim Hummel (filling in for Dan Yorke) to explain the recent tentative agreement between the City of Warwick and the municipal, fire and police unions. (What follows is a raw, running liveblog) Mayor Avedesian stated that the negotiations started before Christmas based on how it looked economically.…

Warwick Taxpayers on Alert

By Marc Comtois | February 23, 2009 |

Following up on Justin’s post “Avedesian Locks in…Savings?“, only a government official would consider “savings” to be a reduction in the “normal” INCREASE that the public sector has come to expect as essentially a birthright. Despite what Mayor Avedesian says, this isn’t a “savings” of $10 million, it is a reduction in what the “normal”…

Avedisian Locks in… Savings?

By Justin Katz | February 21, 2009 |

Out of Warwick comes a “tentative agreement” with the municipal unions in which Mayor Scott Avedisian purports to have secured $10 million in savings between March 2009 and June 2012. The dollar amount is measured against the current contracts, expiring at the end of June, and an assumption that a subsequent contract covering the next…

Local Governments Must Lead

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2009 |

With reference to his native Warwick, Bob Cushman makes a call applicable to all of Rhode Island’s cities and towns in varying degrees: Those who wail and gnash their teeth in response to the governor’s proposals are more interested in playing the blame game than recognizing the reality of the situation and making the tough…

Three Communities Work Towards Consolidation

By Marc Comtois | January 6, 2009 |

In anticipation of the Governor’s address tomorrow, in which it is likely he’ll announce some pretty deep cuts in aid to cities and towns, it seems like a good idea for communities to embark on the sort of potential cost-saving projects that Warwick, East Greenwich and North Kingstown appear ready to try (couldn’t find link…

RE: Warwick Schools Cancellation

By Marc Comtois | December 23, 2008 |

Following up, the ProJo has their report on the situation today: School officials said that few members of the union that represents custodial, maintenance and secretarial employees — the Warwick Independent School Employees (WISE) –– responded to calls to come to work late Sunday afternoon even though union workers had showed up for snow duty…

Looking for Answers on Warwick Schools Cancellation

By Marc Comtois | December 22, 2008 |

[BUMP] UPDATE: Mayor Avedisian called Dan Yorke and unequivocally stated that there was a concerted effort on the part of the school maintenance union (WISE) to not come to work. The union president is claiming that 11 of the 15 people involved didn’t get a phone call from the school administration. Avedisian stated that, phone…

Removing Unfunded Mandates

By Marc Comtois | December 18, 2008 |

As John Howell reports in the Warwick Beacon, cities and towns are going to be clamoring for a reduction in unfunded mandates (ie; rules or laws imposed by the state on municipalities without the concomitant funds). “There’s slim hope that the legislature would relieve schools of providing textbooks for non public schools or special education…