By Will Collette
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| "The Circus is in Town" By Arthur Burdett Frost |
Congratulations, Charlestown! Charlestown is now America's clear NIMBY champ after enacting America's first total ban on wind energy. Despite vigorous opposing testimony, you just can't change the minds of the CCA-dominated Council majority - that is, until it is expedient. By a vote of 3-2, the Council enacted Ordinance 341, a total ban all wind-to-electricity devices of any size, type or location. CCA Council members Tom Gentz and Dan Slattery and their ally, Lisa DiBello voted YES for the ban. Council members Marge Frank and Gregg Avedisian made a courageous stand against ignorance and voted NO.
CDTC spokesperson got to speak. Tim Quillen presented the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee's three-part plan for resolving Charlestown's wind energy policy debate (more detail to follow in a separate article). CCA Council members Gentz and Slattery were largely silent as Town Solicitor explained the Constitutional problems with the Council's Sept 7 3-1 vote to ban the CDTC representative from speaking and the statements that CDTC Vice-Chair (and former Council President) Deb Carney and I made, blasting the Council majority for its hypocrisy. Councilor Marge Frank, who voted with Gentz and Slattery last week, apologized for her vote - and once again showed what a classy lady she is. Thank you, Marge.
Gentz couldn't resist a final attempt at a dig as this part of the agenda closed. He tried a little revisionist spin, claiming that the 3-1 vote was really about where Tim's testimony should be placed, not whether he could speak as the CDTC's representative. Of course, that's not what the official town video shows and members of the audience shouted back at Gentz that what he said was not true.
And then there were some surprises....
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Except perhaps for the Spam and the Dead Parrot skits, my favorite Monty Python bit has to be the Spanish Inquisition. The punch line is that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. I don't think the owner of the Breachway Grill was expecting it either. This new business, one of the few to open in Charlestown, went through what felt like an hour-long grilling, mostly at the hands of Council President Tom Gentz. I am not going to try to capture all the issues and give-and-take tonight, but suffice to say it's not surprising the restaurant's location has become a graveyard of sorts for businesses. After watching the torture Gentz put him through, I now understand why small business people say Charlestown is a terrible place to try to make a living. Even though a parade of the Grill's neighbors stepped to the podium to support the Grill as a good neighbor and a good business, Gentz made it personal. Watch the Clerkbase video for yourself. I predict this business won't be back next summer, and you can look at Gentz for the reason.
After you watch the Clerkbase video of Gentz Grilling the Grill, watch the complete Monty Python Spanish Inquisition skit, below.
Call the Police! Council President Tom Gentz seemed like he was a whisker away from directing Police Chief Jack Shippee to pull out the Mace and handcuffs. Former Council President Jim Mageau and failed Town Council candidate Joe Dolock both pushed Gentz's buttons on a variety of subjects, but largely they were there to defend Councilor Lisa DiBello. It seems that Town Administrator William DiLibero filed a complaint against DiBello for wisecracks she made at the tail-end of the town's response to the Hurricane Irene emergency. Both Dolock and Mageau took the podium - or spoke from their seats - on several occasions and issues but usually managed to convey their point that Lisa DiBello can do no wrong and Bill DiLibero can do nothing right. When Gentz warned Mageau that if he acted up again, Mageau would be ejected from the meeting, Mageau defied him to try it. Gentz backed down. DiLibero's charges against DiBello will be taken up at a future executive session of the Council.
Trash Talk. Town Administrator DiLibero introduced the topic of the town's lagging recycling profits and summer residents dumping their trash at the town beaches (and elsewhere around town, including my frontage). Both of these are frustrating problems that have no quick or easy fixes, so DiLibero pretty much wanted to get town officials and residents to think about them.
Some Very Good Things. The Town's first responders, staff and volunteers were honored for pitching in to help in the aftermath of Irene. Just about all of the people who played major roles were acknowledged by name. That was very cool!....The Council also instituted a new Hometown Hero Award and cited Arrowhead Dental as the first honored hero for their recent free dental care day. A process for picking future Hometown Heroes will be announced later....Councilor Avedisian announced that he had brokered a way for everyone who has a stake in the future use for the YMCA camp on Watchaug Pond to get involved, thus solving a vexing problem that most of the non-governmental stakeholders....Chief Shippee was given the go-ahead to line up red-light cameras - at no cost to the town - to curb violations at our string of stop lights on Route One. Cathy and I have lived in jurisdictions with these cameras and know they are very effective.....The Council approved an increase in the tax credit for low-income senior citizens,,,,And the liquor license was approved (hooray!) for Friday's fund-raising reception for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse at the Charlestown Gallery AND there are still seats available.
Your trusty Progressive Charlestown team will continue to parse this Town Council meeting through the rest of this week. Among the topics you can count on reading about are all the half-truths and flat-out lies we heard from Council members Gentz and Slattery and Planning Commissar Ruth Platner. Some of them were real whoppers. But it was a long night, so that's about it for now. And sorry in advance about the typos.
And now, here's Monty Python: