Not every Charlestown dispute has to become a drama

A rare piece of effective conflict resolution

By Will Collette

At least the school wasn't selling advertising on the sign
At least not yet - click here 
And if the Chariho budget doesn't pass, who knows?

Charlestown strife is measured in many more ways than those that end up covered by the Westerly Sun, Progressive Charlestown or bloviated upon by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance party. 

Lots of neighborly disputes end up being filed as complaints with Charlestown Police or state agencies. Our town Housing Officer gets a steady stream of zoning complaints that often result from personal feuds. 

Then there’s the recent anonymous complaint to DEM that briefly killed Charlestown’s New Year’s Eve bonfire.

Such a battle could have – but didn’t happen – over the flashing LED lights that were installed at the Charlestown Elementary School some months ago with money raised by the local Parent-Teachers Organization.

These lights flashed messages 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes it was a message for students and parents about something they needed to know or do. Sometimes it was a message for the general public about some event at the school. Sometimes the message was of no consequence at all and was simply up there so that the LED sign would say something, anything.

Flashing LED lights are designed to be attention-grabbers. They are designed to be bright. And when they are on 24/7, they are not only consuming energy but they are also annoying the community. Plus, they are an in-your-face violation of Charlestown’s dark-sky friendly lighting ordinance.

That they were placed and operated at all showcases the point I had made throughout the dark sky ordinance drama – Charlestown’s ordinance was, and still is, ineffective and unenforceable.

This episode also reinforces another point I had argued – that it’s possible to arrive at amiable compromises that protect our sky views without causing rancor.

It took $320. As it turns out, it was fairly easy for the electrician who installed the LED lights to go back into the system and install a timer switch. Now the lights go off automatically at 10 PM and back on at 6 AM. The $320 was drawn from Charlestown’s building maintenance fund.

Wouldn’t it be great if Charlestown residents would consider simpler, more direct approaches to resolving their conflicts, rather than trying to get their neighbors busted for small signs, or getting pliable members of the Town Council to enact new ordinances to punish a neighbor over a parking dispute?

Let’s stop the harassment complaints to the Housing Official, Animal Control, Wastewater or the Police. In any community, people are going to get on each other’s nerves – certainly I am a case in point – but there’s a right way and a wrong way to settle grievances.

And usually you can get off even cheaper than $320, although in this case, $320 was an incredible bargain to avoid a multi-party donnybrook pitting Carolina residents versus the PTO and Charlestown versus Chariho.