Whalerock whoopee
cushions, Dems want your stuff, big win on signs, fraud alert, why Lisa DeBello
abstains
By Will Collette
Whalerock Hearing #4 on Wednesday
The fourth Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBR) hearing on
developer Larry LeBlanc’s application for a Special Use Permit for his proposed
wind farm will start at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, June 26 at the Charlestown
Elementary School and will go until 10:30 PM.
I’m not going. I’ve had it. Maybe one of my colleagues will
cover it. Three sessions at three hours each was bad enough - four hours? Faggedaboudit!
Besides, I know how this chapter will end – the ZBR is going
to vote down the application and Larry LeBlanc is going back to Superior Court
where – due to the ineptitude of the ZBR and the Town – LeBlanc stands a good
chance of winning, perhaps this time for good. Unless, of course, we decide to do the right thing.
I can also tell you in advance what will happen at Hearing
#4. Here goes: “blah, blah, blah, blah, I object, blah, blah, no, I object,
boo, hiss, blah, blah, turbines make your brain explode, blah, blah, here’s
something I read on the internet, blah, blah, fake science, blah, blah, blah.” Caution: the chairs at the school are very
hard and this next meeting will be one hour longer than usual. Bring a seat cushion.
Dems want your stuff!
The annual Charlestown Democratic Town Committee yard sale
is coming up on July 6. CDTC’s top fund-raiser Frank Glista is still looking
for salable goods that will bring in some cash, so please contact Frank by e-mail or at (401)
364-3723.
Show us a Sign!
At Progressive Charlestown, we’re celebrating a small
victory in one of our small campaigns to make Charlestown a friendlier town.
For years, the residents of Charlestown’s third precinct, the stronghold of the
CCA Party, have managed to prevent sign posting that shows the way to Blue
Shutters Beach.
These residents of Charlestown’s richest quarter have long
resisted any measure that might attract more people to Blue Shutters, which
they consider to be their own private domain, even including decent toilet
facilities.
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| Local reaction to the new Blue Shutters signage |
My colleague Tom Ferrio raised the peculiar lack of any
signage directing people to Blue Shutters Beach two years ago in
this post.
But to our wonder and awe, there are now RIDOT signs on
Route One directing people to Blue Shutters Beach. I’m waiting for the CCA
folks to organize a blockade of East Beach Road to make sure that only the
“right” kind of people are allowed to pass and use their beach.
Fraud Alert
No, I’m not talking about the CCA Town Council majority’s decision to spend $50,000 on a Special Counsel to fight Whalerock where he is
apparently using taxpayer money to also represent private individuals. Instead,
you should beware of a sharp uptick in e-mail and internet fraud.
We’ve had several friends and colleagues who have been
infected by a virus that sends out fake e-mails in their names to their contact
list usually containing an internet link with no accompanying explanation. If
you click on that link, you can find yourself in a world of trouble.
Don’t open
up attachments or internet links that come to you by e-mail unless you are
certain it’s legit. I’ve been e-mailing people back to confirm that they
actually sent the e-mail before opening the link.
Also, Washington Trust just sent out an alert about
robo-calls to customers claiming that there’s a problem with the account or ATM
card use that directs you to a bogus call center that will try to get
information from you that will give cyber-thieves access to your account, and
your money.
The cyber-world can be mean and cruel so be careful out
there.
This is where she learned it
 |
| DiBello - strong proponent of abstinence |
It constantly amazes me to watch the way Town Councilor Lisa
DiBello performs her job.
Her main contributions to each Town Council meeting
seem to consist of (a) pulling items off the Consent Agenda so they can be
discussed in depth even when they don’t need to be; (b) repeatedly asking Town Solicitor
Peter Ruggiero for an opinion or ruling and then (c) abstaining
when it comes to a vote.
One of these days, I think I’ll look back at Council minutes
to see if there has ever been a Charlestown Town Council member who has
abstained more often than DiBello. However, if she was in a different place, let’s
say Ypsilanti, Michigan,
it’s possible her abstention rate would be considered normal.
Ypsilanti
made national news last month when its City
Council decided to take on the perceived problem that too many municipal
matters could not being addressed because too often Council members were
abstaining instead of voting yes or no. We’ve had that happen here in
Charlestown due to DiBello’s abstentions.
So
the Ypsilanti City Council took up a new resolution that would have required
members of the Council to only vote YES or NO unless they had a financial or
professional conflict of interest.
Under Rhode Island law, such a conflict of
interest actually requires a recusal plus a written statement explaining the
reason for the recusal. An abstention does not require such a statement.
Anyway,
when the Ypsilanti City Council vote was taken on the Abstention Resolution, it
failed because three of the six Council members abstained.
