Is this the beginning or the end of another
Ninigret Park fight?
See memo from Town Administrator recommending approval of request
See memo from Town Administrator recommending approval of request
The Town Council will
hold a special meeting on April 22, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall, 4540
South County Trail. As listed on the town’s website, the sole purpose of
the meeting is:
“Discussion and potential
action regarding a request from the promoter of the Rhythm and Roots Festival
at Ninigret Park for two-hundred new camping spots to be added to the formerly
permitted fifteen-hundred camping spaces resulting in a total of
seventeen-hundred spaces this year, with the site formerly cleared for the “MET
Tower” to serve as the site proposed to be utilized for “Staff Camping”, along
with adjacent space that has been cleared. Park reservation dates are 8/24/13 –
9/5/13
At the April 8 Town Council meeting, this topic went from being a non-controversial
“Consent Agenda” slated to be approved among other non-controversial items
without debate to being a another classic CCA Party “Sturm
und Drang” Wagnerian conflict.
Here is a memo from Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz to the Council with his advice that the Council approve Wentworth's request.
Here is a memo from Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz to the Council with his advice that the Council approve Wentworth's request.
On April 8, when Slattery described seeing bad things happenings at the Rhythm and Roots Festival, was he having a flash-back about Altamont? Or was this (click here) was he's afraid of? |
Perhaps fearing that these tired staff would somehow catch their
second wind and begin some unspecified debauchery, or perhaps fearing that the
dog-tired volunteers would snore too loudly, Slattery launched a snarling
attack against the Festival and the Parks and Recreation Department for trying
to accommodate the Festival’s request.
Dan Slattery, circa 1969 |
For our younger readers, the Altamont Speedway Free Festival was held in California, not Charlestown. It was supposed to feature the Rolling Stones, but ended up starring the Hell's Angels.
Slattery also raised the specter that the cost of allowing Rhythm and Roots the additional camping spaces would be prohibitive.
Neither town staff nor the concert promoter were prepared to
respond to Slattery’s sneak attack.
Apparently, the only ones tipped off in
advance to Slattery’s attempted political mugging on April 8 were Councilor Lisa DiBello, who will
routinely oppose anything that current Parks and Recreation Director Jay
Primiano proposes, and some Arnolda residents who testified to the fact that
this popular annual music festival involves, to their shock and dismay, amplified music.
Is this the beginning of another CCA Party campaign to purge human presence from the park after their failure to win last year’s “Battle for Ninigret Park?”
Is it the
beginning of another CCA Party purge of town staff, like their “Kill Bill
Campaign” from last year.
The matter of Chuck Wentworth’s request for the additional camping
spaces was supposed to be deferred until the May meeting to allow staff time to respond to Slattery's voluminous objections. However, to the surprise
of most, the CCA Party leadership decided to move up the
date to Monday, April 22.
Presumably, they will then make their intentions clear.