UPDATED: Town Council out of synch over Rhythm and Roots

Tremblay challenges his CCA colleagues, says they are letting “Arnolda control Ninigret Park…and it makes me MAD!”

Councilor Slattery said Rhythm & Roots is rife with fights,
drunk and disorderly and offends Arnolda

By Will Collette

PLEASE SEE UPDATED MATERIAL ON THE SECOND PAGE OF THIS ARTICLE.

The license for this year’s Rhythm and Roots Festival went from being an automatically approved “consent agenda” item to being one that raised temperature levels on the Council podium to the boiling point. 

For years, this popular festival has been held in Charlestown’s Ninigret Park over Labor Day weekend. Including set-up time, the reservation of space would start on August 24 (not September 24 as the town had advertised) to September 5.

At the April 8 Town Council meeting, the fighting started when clearly agitated Councilor Dan Slattery (CCA) almost couldn’t wait until the end of the Pledge of Allegiance to insist that R&R’s license be taken off the consent agenda so it could be discussed in detail. As is customary as a courtesy among the Councilors, Slattery’s request was duly granted.

When it came time to take up this issue, Slattery came out snarling. His beef: R&R had asked that this year’s deal with the town include 200 additional camping spaces and that the space be cleared and mowed. According to Slattery, somebody (with daggers coming out of his eyes aimed toward Parks & Recreation Director Jay Primiano) OK’d this without running it past Slattery’s beloved Budget Commission. As noted in his memo to the Council, Primiano noted that the Parks & Recreation Commission had OK'd the request.

Slattery was in full attack mode

Further, said Slattery, Rhythm & Roots is a wonderful event that’s great for the town, except it’s loud and rowdy, with lots of police problems and lots of drunken yahoos who get into fights. I’m not making this up – Slattery did make these discordant statements as the Clerkbase video, when it comes on line, will show. UPDATE: the link is up. Click here to listen to the whole bizarre debate.

Jay tried to explain that this space, formerly occupied by the MET Tower, would be used as camping space for the 200 R&R staff and volunteers. He also said the space is already pretty much cleared and that keeping it clear wouldn’t take much town staff time to maintain it.

Councilor Lisa DiBello, who as a matter of principle never agrees with Jay (who holds the job she once had and wants back), said that she was told by Public Works Director Allan Arsenault that it would take at least six hours per week to keep the area clear.

Slattery jumped in again to note, with considerable ire, that the proposal gives Rhythm & Roots 200 added camping spaces to sell to Festival goers without the town getting a taste.

Town Council Boss Tom Gentz (CCA) and DiBello asked our new Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz if he had been part of working on these arrangements, and whether he had any comments on the costs and staff commitments. Stankiewicz said that he wasn’t aware of the arrangement.

R&R promoter Chuck Wentworth defends his track
record from Slattery attacks

Rhythm & Roots organizer Chuck Wentworth stepped up to the mic and then the discussion became even more heated. Wentworth challenged Slattery on his claims about drunken and rowdy behavior, noting there almost no incidents in the police log. 

Slattery insisted that he had seen it, but again, “it’s a wonderful event” but I guess Slattery would prefer there weren’t any people there.

Wentworth went into detail about how his staff polices the Festival to make sure there is no trouble. He said  the requested camping space would be used only by his staff and volunteers to allow them to all stay in one space and away from the general population. He insisted that there would not be any trouble associated with them using that space.

UPDATE: upon further review and reflection, there's the question - which Wentworth asked, but Slattery didn't answer - of why Slattery did not report the drunk, disorderly and violent conduct he claimed he witnessed. Slattery said he just moved away from it. But Slattery is an officer of the Town of Charlestown. He also claims to have been a federal law enforcement investigator before his retirement. If he indeed witnessed criminal acts, was it not Slattery's DUTY to report them, rather than bank them for some future political attack? Click here to read sworn statements bearing Slattery's claim that he was a federal investigator.

Wentworth also noted that in return for this space, he would provide a half-price deal for Charlestown residents for the Friday evening program.

He and Slattery got into a heated debate over exactly how far this space would be from Arnolda. Wentworth insisted that it was no closer than the sound stage. Others said it was closer. Without a map, the argument went around and around - but without recognizing that unless Wentworth's staff snore very loudly, this new camping area should have no effect on Arnolda.

Slattery continued to object to the proposal because, he said, it lacked proper internal planning within the town and because, in general, residents – especially from the Arnolda neighborhood – complain about the noise from the Festival.

Arnolda residents David Bailey and Lillian Arnold also objected on the general principle that the Rhythm & Roots Festival is loud. 

It IS loud. It's a music festival. It features blues, rock and roll and other musical forms that require sounds in order to be understood and appreciated by an audience. Rock & Roll is not Musak.

Donna Chambers rises to R&R's defense

Donna Chambers rose to comment on this debate saying that she and her husband Mike have volunteered at R&R each year and “it’s the highlight of our year.” 

She said the staff and volunteers work very hard to make the Festival fun as well as orderly, and that the end of each day, they are dog-tired and need to sleep. 

She strongly supported the camp site request as a sensible proposal that would cause absolutely no problem for the Arnolda residents. 

Let the record reflect that I think her remarks were probably the most cogent ones made on this subject. She publicly challenged Dan Slattery’s off-the-rails general attack on Rhythm and Roots point by point.

Boss Tom Gentz attempted to bring what turned into a very long and cantankerous debate to resolution. 

Implicitly noting that it was essential for the Council to approve the Festival – or potentially lose it – Boss Gentz asked the Council to split the issue before them in two – first, vote on the general license for the Festival and second, figure out what to do with the camping request.

The Council unanimously approved the general license. 

The second motion was to table the request for the added camping spaces until (a) town department heads and the town administrator figure out the cost in cash, staff and time to clear and maintain the space plus how to cover it and (b) the Council holds a public hearing to provide for interested parties to speak. Gentz and Slattery both wanted to make sure there was a special notice to the Arnolda residents.

The positions of Slattery, Gentz and DiBello
were so out of line that even
George Tremblay was outraged

Then came the moment that was, for me, the highlight of the meeting. 

CCA Councilor George Tremblay heatedly said that he took exception to all the deference being given to the Arnolda neighborhood. 

Tremblay said “this gives the impression that Arnolda runs Ninigret Park…and that makes me mad.” He noted Ninigret Park is a public park for the benefit of the entire town, not just Arnolda, even though, he said, “that might not be politically correct,” referring of course to the role Arnolda plays as a CCA Party stronghold.

Boss Gentz jumped in to try to cut Tremblay off before Tremblay could elaborate with more “politically incorrect” observations. He stopped Tremblay, but not before Councilor Paula Andersen (D) could jump in to endorse Tremblay’s observation that Arnolda’s opinions get too much weight.

Councilor DiBello then sided with Slattery and Gentz by claiming that Arnolda doesn’t run Ninigret, but we “have to strike a balance.” However, what that “balance” is, she didn’t say.

Somebody killed the 2008 Ninigret Park Master Plan
when we weren't looking

If the Council really wants to strike that balance with the Arnolda neighborhood, maybe they need to cancel some Festival dates, set an early hour curfew for the music or require any users of the Park to forego the use of a sound system. 

According to remarks at this meeting by Councilor DiBello, the Arnolda neighborhood has already killed off the future entertainment center that was approved by the town as part of the 2008 Ninigret Park Master Plan.

Sure, come and use Ninigret Park, but just keep it quiet. Or as one local wag put it to me together, maybe the only Arnolda-approved form of entertainment at Ninigret Park is a mime troupe.

The Council ultimately decided to adopt the resolution to push the issue of the added camping spaces to next month - or perhaps later. Or maybe never. 

Instead of Rhythm & Roots, how about the Air Guitar World
Championships? With no music, of course.

This agenda item dominated this Council meeting – I’ll cover the other Council actions in a separate article. 

It was supposed to be a pro forma, automatically-approved item that turned into a bitter battle that may cause long-term bad feelings between the town and the Rhythm and Roots organization.

It led to not one but two instances where I found myself in strong agreement with two people with whom I have never before agreed – with Donna Chambers for her comments supporting the camping proposal and George Tremblay for his “politically incorrect” remarks. Maybe miracles can happen...although that subject came up later in the meeting on an entirely different subject. More on that in my second article on the April 8 Council meeting.

This could be the beginning of another one of those CCA-driven Charlestown political soap operas. 

It was also the first time I have seen sharp disputes among the otherwise close-knit CCA-backed politicians. I’ll bet there’s going to be a little meeting about this later on in the secret CCA clubhouse.