Land transfer to the Narragansett Indian Tribe still
pending….Charlestown’s next move a closely held secret
By Will Collette
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| Screen shot from the Westerly Sun real estate section |
As you
learned in Progressive Charlestown first, the state Department of
Transportation is in the process of carrying out a “land swap” with the Narragansett
Indian Tribe.
This transaction is compensation for the state’s disturbance of an
important Narragansett archaeological site – an ancient village near the head of
Narragansett Bay – due to the I-195 relocation and building of the Providence
Viaduct.
RIDOT plans to transfer the 105 acre campground formerly
owned by the Providence Boys and Girls Club to the Tribe once terms for the
future uses of the land are negotiated and approved.
RIDOT completed the purchase of the land from the Boys and Girls Club for
$1,650,000.
Charlestown appraised the land at $1,692,800, so RIDOT saved $42,800. Charlestown will lose no tax revenue since the non-profit Boys and Girls Club paid no tax; neither will RIDOT nor the Narragansett Indian Tribe.
Charlestown appraised the land at $1,692,800, so RIDOT saved $42,800. Charlestown will lose no tax revenue since the non-profit Boys and Girls Club paid no tax; neither will RIDOT nor the Narragansett Indian Tribe.
However, Charlestown does seem poised to spend some tax
money on lawyers, because nothing makes the Charlestown Citizens Alliance Party which controls Charlestown government, more crazy than something good happening to the Tribe.
When the town met with RIDOT about Camp Davis, they brought
Charlestown’s lead Indian fighter, lawyer Joe Larisa, who fights just about any
action the Narragansetts try to undertake on behalf of the town.
Further, the
Town Council met in closed door executive session on June 10 to discuss
“potential litigation” on Camp Davis, which they did not identify by name but
by lot numbers. They plan to hold another closed door meeting that will include "potential litigation" over "Transfer of AP 19 Lot 75 and AP 20 Lot 77-9." That's code for the Camp Davis land swap deal.
HUD grants $499,000 to the Tribe for housing
But, wait, there's more!
On Thursday, June 13, WJAR-TV Channel 10 reported another development that is likely to further drive the CCA Party-controlled Town Council even closer to renewal of all-out war with the Tribe. WJAR reported that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded a grant of $499,000 to the Tribe for affordable housing and showed the tribe’s partially completely senior citizens housing development on the screen.
On Thursday, June 13, WJAR-TV Channel 10 reported another development that is likely to further drive the CCA Party-controlled Town Council even closer to renewal of all-out war with the Tribe. WJAR reported that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded a grant of $499,000 to the Tribe for affordable housing and showed the tribe’s partially completely senior citizens housing development on the screen.
That housing development was the reason why Charlestown got
the state of Rhode Island to take the Tribe all the way to the US Supreme Court
where the Court, in
Carcieri v. Salazar, ruled against not only the Narragansetts but over 500
similarly situated tribes across the country by denying them sovereignty over
their own lands.
Coincidentally, the half-finished Narragansett housing
development is adjacent to developer Larry LeBlanc’s 81 acre site for the
proposed Whalerock industrial wind farm.
The CCA Party-controlled town government is keeping a tight
lid on information. Meeting in secret and using code to refer Camp Davis are
just part of it. I asked Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz if the town was
ready to go on record with a position on the Camp Davis land transfer.
Stankiewicz refused to comment, saying only that if I wanted a policy position,
that would have to come directly from the Town Council.
And they ain’t talking.
The Narragansett Indian Tribe and European immigrants have
been going at it since the King Philip’s War and
the horrific Great Swamp
Massacre that nearly wiped out the Tribe. Over the generations, the
Tribe has managed to hang on to its culture and identity, and in recent decades,
they’ve tried to recover some of the lands that were taken from them by
colonial conquerors.
They have also tried to build a tribal infrastructure and some self-sufficiency.
There are still many Charlestown residents, especially within the core leadership of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance Party, who harbor bad feelings toward the Tribe.
There are still many Charlestown residents, especially within the core leadership of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance Party, who harbor bad feelings toward the Tribe.
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| CCA Party's secret clubhouse |
Some even question whether the Tribe exists, or even has the right to exist.
They distrust and oppose any effort by the Tribe to advance itself. They seem to believe that any tribal economic development initiative is just a disguised attempt to build an Indian casino in Charlestown.
They distrust and oppose any effort by the Tribe to advance itself. They seem to believe that any tribal economic development initiative is just a disguised attempt to build an Indian casino in Charlestown.
Now with HUD weighing in with new funding for the senior citizens' housing - which was also seen as a casino initiative in disguise and the close proximity to the much reviled developer Larry LeBlanc, the CCA Party has got to be thinking conspiracy. Grab the muskets and pass out the tin foil hats!
Camp Davis is the orange wedge. The small orange rectangle to its lower right is also part of the land swap deal. The purple segments are current Narragansett lands. The yellow parcels are town owned properties. View Narragansett Tribal Lands and Camp Davis in a larger map