Charlestown Tapas

More than a dozen juicy bits just for you

By Will Collette

Register to Vote!

If you aren’t registered to vote, you really have little right to complain how things go in state or town government. Decisions are made by those who show up, and when it comes to elections, you must be registered. To vote in the September 9 Primary, either party, the deadline to register is Sunday, August 10. While there are no primaries for Charlestown town offices or General Assembly, there are red-hot primaries for Governor (both parties), as well as General Treasurer, Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor. To download voter registration forms, please visit here.

Rep. Donna Walsh – Hot again.

Even though our own local state Representative Donna Walsh is not exactly on Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello’s xmas card list, she continues to get good legislation passed, especially on the environment.

She has also won praise from GoLocalProv political columnist Dan Lawlor for her efforts to get important ethics legislation passed, such as her bill to require that judge magistrates are selected based on merit, not political connections. Lawlor will no longer be doing GoLocal’s popular weekly “Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in RI Politics” column any more, but he made a point of singling out Donna to top the “Hot” list in his final, valedictory column. Here’s what he wrote:

Hot - Representative Donna Walsh: Contrasting the intrigue and resignations of House Speaker Gordon Fox and Democratic Party Chair David Caprio, South County's Donna Walsh is a consistent and recurring voice for common sense and good government. From her magistrate reform bill ("once again held for further study") to environmental legislation, thank you!

Tonight

Millstone Powers up

After yet another “oops” on July 26 where a cooling pump failed, the Millstone Nuclear Power plant just 20 miles to the west of Charlestown started to power up Unit 2 on July 30^th. 

I started covering the real problems at Millstone while Charlestown’s anti-wind NIMBYs were obsessing about the now-dead Whalerock wind turbine project. While I was happy when Charlestown ended the Whalerock controversy by buying the property for open space, I still wonder why there isn’t more concern about Millstone. It's real. It's here. And there are almost monthly mishaps.

After all, we are well within the 50-mile radius where people would be in grave danger if a serious accident at Millstone caused a major radiation leak. After Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, we know serious accidents can and do happen and people do die. We also know that Dominion Energy. Millstone’s Virginia-based parent company has had lots of minor but nonetheless serious problems at Millstone. So where’s the Charlestown concern?

Jobs

RI Community Jobs, a service of the Swearer Center of Brown University, lists several new South County job openings. Community Jobs is both a website and a daily e-mail service that posts job openings in the non-profit sector – there’s no other source like it in Rhode Island. If you’re looking for a job, you should sign up for those daily e-mails. They have lots of jobs listed all over the area, not just the local ones I have cherry-picked from their listings.

URI is looking for a Director of Development for their College of Pharmacy. Click here for more details. Also a “Director of Donor Relations & Stewardship.” Click here for more details.

Jobs for no money

Yeah, internships often pay no money, but some look great on resumes. This is one of those. Rep. Jim Langevin (D) is taking applications for interns to work in both his Warwick and Washington, DC offices during the Fall term.

It could be a great experience. For more information, visit Langevin.House.Gov and click on the Internships prompt under “Serving You,” on the homepage.

Pell Town Hall event

Clay Pell is running for Governor as an underdog but is coming up fast in the polls largely because he's the only candidate for Governor who isn't slinging mud, doesn't carry baggage and has sensible new ideas. Cathy and I went to the one in South Kingstown and we were both impressed at how Clay took every question, answered each one directly and clearly. Great, old-fashioned retail politics. He and Michelle Kwan stayed afterwards to talk to individuals. As usual, there were lots of people who wanted their picture taken with Michelle.

Ritacco Ice Cream War in Westerly

Bob Ritacco, chair of the Westerly Democratic Town Committee, is once again in the mix in a local controversy. You may recall Ritacco was accused of conflicts of interests when, as Zoning Board chair, he delayed the appeals hearing on the Copar Quarry – delays allowed Copar to operate without restriction – while he was secretly negotiating for a job offered to him by a member of the Comolli family, owners of the land Copar is leasing.

Now, the Ritacco family is embroiled in another fight with ethical overtones. Or maybe tone deafness. 

Westerly’s Town Council recently passed an ordinance, at Ritacco’s urging, that banned ice cream street vendors. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, but the main beneficiary of the ice cream vendor ban was Ritacco’s father Umile Ritacco, who owns an ice cream shop on Main Street.

Two street vendors have defied the ban and have been busted by Westerly Police. They are now going through court proceedings in Westerly Municipal Court, which is presided over by Peter Lewiss who, also coincidentally I’m sure, serves on the Westerly Democratic Town Committee with Ritacco.

One of the ice cream outlaws, Nick Adams, told the Westerly Sun after his appearance before Lewiss to plead not guilty that “I just hope he gives us a fair hearing and doesn’t follow the political party line and find us guilty...it’s a political position, after all,”

DeRamel event in Wakefield

Guillaume deRamel is endorsed by the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee.

Raimondo and Kilmartin have some ‘splaining to do

Charlestown’s Mike Downey recently sent out an e-mail alerting people to a devastating piece of reporting by David Sirota in the International Business Times on a collaboration between RI General Treasurer Gina Raimondo and RI Attorney General Peter Kilmartin to protect the Wall Street the secrecy of money managers who handle Rhode Island’s billions of dollars in public worker pension funds.

General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, a leading contender to become RI’s next Governor, has been fighting to prevent details about fund managers, such as their compensation, from becoming public. She has been criticized for moving billions from traditional investments into hedge funds where the fees are a lot higher and returns on investment are lower.

In a letter, Raimondo wrote that "Fund managers keep this information confidential to help preserve the productivity of their staff and to minimize attention around their own compensation." 

The Providence Journal has been fighting to get those records from Raimondo nonetheless, and appealed to Attorney General Peter Kilmartin to overturn Raimondo’s refusal to turn over the records. But the AG’s office turned down the ProJo appeal. It remains to be seen whether the ProJo, about to go under new ownership, will appeal the denial to Superior Court.

Mike Downey, in his capacity as President of AFSCME Council 94 said:

"Treasurer Raimondo shows time and time again who she really cares about -- hedge fund managers and Wall Street operatives…We will continue to demand transparency in regards to all pension information. The time has come for the Treasurer to treat public employees and taxpayers in Rhode Island with the same respect she has for her Wall Street friends."

Edward Siedle of Forbes Magazine also wrote a lively and detailed article about Raimondo and Kilmartin acting to cover for Wall Street in this August 1 article.

Pollen count climbs, Bertha still veering away

Tropical Storm/Hurricane Bertha's storm track:



Charlestown's pollen forecast for the week:

Local Business news

Oyster Works was featured on Channel 10 for its innovative design work that is intended to anticipate the effects of sea level rise driven by climate change. Using Oyster Works’ re-construction of the Greater Providence YMCA’s Camp Fuller as the example, they’ve provided us with another example of how sustainable construction methods and materials can help us in the future.

Charlestown-based Indie Cycle will be collecting electronic waste at the Charlestown Farmers Market on Friday, August 8. Now that Charlestown no longer accepts electronic waste at the town transfer station, you either have to go to Narragansett, or make use of private efforts such as this. They are featured in this article, too.

Washington Trust just gave $5,000 to the Domestic Violence Resource Center of South County. 

They also delivered more than 150 used cell phones donated by customers and bank staff for DVRC clients to use in emergency situations.

Randall Realty has a hot new listing in Charlestown for the bargain price of only $5 million. Well, technically, $4,999,900. The property is, of course, on the water at Quonochontaug Pond. Thirty-two acres with an entrance at 5740 Post Road. Four bedrooms. Four and a half baths and lots of amenities. Zillow thinks it’s over-priced and pegs its value at $3,142,940 in case you were scared away by the $5 million price.

If you’re in the market for high-end property, there’s an even more interesting one on the market and only $3.5 million at 11 Bluff Avenue in Westerly. You only get 0.8 acres, not 32 as you would with the Charlestown property, but you get five bedrooms and a sweeping ocean view. But to top it off, your next door neighbor is Taylor Swift. Zillow thinks the property is over-valued by $1 million, so you might be able to negotiate a sweet deal.