Eleven
quick takes for busy readers
By
Will Collette
Jobs – where
they are, where they’re not
I’m
going to lead this edition of Charlestown Tapas with jobs because it affords
the opportunity to link several recurring topics.
First, Charlestown’s overall
unemployment rate is beginning to creep upward again. After a very encouraging
drop to only 5.7% in June (a pre-Recession level), we’ve now had two straight
months of increases in the rate which went up by 0.1% in August to 7.2%.
The
actual increase in the number of Charlestown residents collecting unemployment
benefits only grew by one person from July to August, but the number of people
seeking employment (but not finding it) increased by 16. Our chronic
unemployment figure has been running between 300 and 400 people for most of the
year.
There
continue to be non-profit jobs opening up. The best source for finding out
about non-profit openings is RI Community Jobs, a free service of Brown
University’s Swearer Center – click
here to sign up for
their daily e-mail).
The
Literacy volunteers of Washington County in Westerly are looking for a
part-time development and marketing officer. Click here for details.
While I don’t normally list jobs in Providence, I happened to notice that Rhode
Island Housing, an agency much hated by Planning Commissar Ruth Platner and her
Charlestown Citizens Alliance colleagues, is posting two job openings. What a
great opportunity for the CCA Party to gather intelligence on Rhode Island’s
lead agency on affordable housing that also happens to be its blood enemy.
One
opening is for a KeepSpace Coordinator (click here for details)
and the other is for an administrative assistant (click here).
But
the job opportunity that really grabbed my interest is for an “equipment
operator”
at the Millstone Nuclear Power plant, just over 20 miles to the west of
Charlestown in Waterford, CT. I swear I am not making this up.
If
you are a high school graduation or hold a GED, you can get hired to run
equipment around the two operating nuclear reactors, start up and shut-down
their radioactive waste storage system, read all those little tiny gauges,
dials and switches, and respond to plant emergencies.
You
will have to pass a test, but don’t worry, they even provide you with a sample
test so you can practice (click here). Again, I am
not making any of this up.
Here is the actual list of working conditions you
might be subjected to if you get the gig: confined spaces, cold. dust/grease/oil,
energized wires, fumes, heat, loud noise, operating machinery, outdoors, office
work environment, pressurized lines & valves, and last on their list but
hardly the least, radiation.
That radiation
part is a real thing
Earlier
this month, the community review panel assigned to oversee safety issues at
Millstone grilled management over the series of accidents and unexpected
shut-downs that have plagued the nuclear power plant over the past several
months. Even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which tends to turn a blind eye
toward most problems, has been alarmed.
According
to the New London Day, Nuclear Energy
Advisory Council chair Bill Sheehan peppered Millstone managers with questions:
“Are you
looking to see if alertness is slipping, or if the care is slipping, or if the
attitude is changing? Have you looked for a pattern in what seems to be
occurring in these dissimilar events, related to materials, or personnel, or
training?”
Plant
management said it was improving training (e.g. for the first time ever,
despite 9/11, the plant ran a simulated exercise to cover what to do in the
event of a terrorist attack). Lori Armstrong, director of nuclear safety and
licensing, added, "We have recently hired some additional talent, including a
corrosion engineer."
And, see above, they plan to hire more high-powered talent.
Militarizing the
police
Perhaps
inspired by what turned out to be a very popular Progressive
Charlestown article on the “Militarization of the Charlestown Police” – which showed
that Charlestown is in no danger of a Ferguson, MO style of horror show - GoLocalProv did
its own survey of police forces around Rhode Island and the extent
to which they are turning to military hardware.
Johnston Police Deputy Chief Parillo wants to be ready for anything - insurrection, alien invasion, whatever |
Of
course, Charlestown was not mentioned, since this is a non-issue here, but
fifteen other police forces were. As Charlestown Chief Jeff Allen noted, the
most militarized force in Rhode Island is Johnston, which seems to be just
daring ISIS to run their convoys down Route Six.
Johnston
took Charlestown’s “Tank/Duck” armored personnel carrier and gave Charlestown
one of their Humvees in trade, leaving Johnston with seven. All told, they’ve
acquired more than 2,300 pieces of military hardware, almost all of it for the
SWAT (“Special Response Team”).
Johnston
Deputy Chief Daniel Parillo told GoLocal, “You always prepare for the worst
and you train for the worst. You never know what’s going to happen.”
More free flu shot dates announced for Charlestown
Don’t
take a chance. Get your flu shot before flu season begins. In Charlestown:
- Senior Center, 3 Oct, 9 am – noon
- Town Hall, 17 Oct, 9:30 am – noon
My colleague Tom Ferrio calls these two events
“Saved and a Shot” because you can get your flu shot just before services. Not
known: whether you have to stay for services.
- St. James Chapel, 18 Oct, 4 – 5 pm
- St. James Chapel, 19 Oct, 9:15 – 10:15 am
Red Light Camera watch continues
Still waiting for the promised
installation of cameras at the intersections of Route One and East Beach and
West Beach roads to catch red-light runners. Still no sign of any activity.
I’ve been covering this issue ever
since it came up after the tragic death of Colin Foote in May 2010. He was killed by a red-light running multiple offender
Laura Reale at the West Beach and Route One intersection where one of the
red-light cameras is supposed to be installed.
The Charlestown Citizens Alliance
“voices of greed” anonymous chorus opposed the cameras, mainly on the grounds
that they have the Constitutional right to drive to kill without being recorded
on video (click here
for a sampling of CCA Party opinion).
A recent story showed that it could be worse. In Saudi Arabia, they are not only sharply vigilant at
traffic light intersections, but they are actually putting offenders in jail.
In Jeddah, if you are caught on the city’s CCTV system, you pay a mandatory
fine and spend 24 hours in jail.
In case you missed it
There was a fine turn-out at the Breachway Grill on September 22 to
support Rep. Donna Walsh’s
campaign for re-election. Donna has been called one of Rhode Island’s most
effective legislators and is a champion for jobs, the environment, ethics and
good government.
She faces a millionaire wingnut who
is running as an independent. He has campaigned for radical causes such as states’
rights and militias; if you take his creed to its logical conclusion, he would
have us re-fight the Civil War (with him on the side of the Confederacy).
Donna needs your support. Click here
to find out how you can help.
Still little sign of mosquito-borne disease
Knock on wood, we’re still doing so
much better this year than last for the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases
like West Nile or Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Last year, it seemed like DEM
was finding infected bugs all over southern RI and hospitals were seeing lots of
very ill people. This year, not so much and once again, DEM
and the Health Department announce
another week with no positive test results.
Reader’s tip on “Bad Actor” laws
After my article on mining in Charlestown, a Progressive Charlestown reader sent me a news link
showing that on September 24, the Province of Quebec just tightened up “bad
actor” restrictions on major public contracts.
Firms seeking contracts worth
more than $100,000 or subcontracts over $25,000 will have to undergo a
background check with Quebec’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF),
and the province’s permanent anti-corruption squad, UPAC.
Quebec Treasury Board President Martin Coiteux told the
Montreal Gazette that the government intends to move toward having bidders on all
public contracts submit to background checks.
The background check will look into the finances and legal record
of applicants and bidders.
Inspired by the nightmare caused by the Copar-Armetta Quarry in
Bradford, I have been promoting the idea of Charlestown enacting a “bad actor”
ordinance or regulation that would apply to any business seeking either a
business license or town contract. After all, why should Charlestown do
business with criminals? Or give licenses to criminals? Or permit businesses to
operate that lack the ability to pay their bills or taxes?
Hooray,
we’re #1 again
In the never-ending stream of state rankings, Rhode Island once
again wins the dubious #1 position, this time on the national list of
bad bridges. According to the Reason Foundation, Rhode Island’s bridges
overall are the worst in the country.
But the good news in that same survey is
the Rhode Island is the best in terms of “rural interstate pavement condition.”
So I guess that means that we can enjoy the drive on I-95 between the
Connecticut state line, but that we should take the exit for Route 4 south lest
we stray into urban Rhode Island where we will surely be killed in a bridge
collapse.
What
do Donald Trump and Ron Areglado have in common?
No, I’m not talking about hairpieces, but their shared hatred of
wind energy. The Donald has been crusading against wind energy ever since the
British government proposed an off-shore wind farm in Scottish coastal waters
somewhat within sight of Trump’s luxury golf resort in Aberdeen.
Using his usual impeccable logic, Trump Tweeted
that the reason for Scottish voters’ rejection of independence was due to “ugly
wind turbines.” Even though green energy in general and wind power in
particular are national priorities in all of Britain, Trump fixated on the
enthusiastic support for wind energy by Scottish National Party leader Alex
Salmond for the surprisingly large “No” vote on independence.
Trump’s remarks drew scorn from both “Yes” and “No” vote
supporters. Lots were funny. Many were pretty naughty. Here’s one of my
favorites:
Westerly
Hospital connected to new Connecticut non-profit hospital “alliance”
It remains to be seen how this will affect, for good or not,
patient services at Westerly Hospital, but its owner, Lawrence & Memorial
Hospital of New London announced the organization of
a new seven-hospital “Value Care Alliance.”
Since Westerly is a wholly-owned L&M subsidiary, that ties
Westerly in, de facto. This Value Care Alliance is supposed to lower the cost
of services and boost insurance and Medicare reimbursements while improving
quality for patients.
I have no doubt that L&M management, ever focused on the
bottom line, may very well use this alliance to lower costs and boost
reimbursements, but I’m less confident about the improving patient care part,
given L&M’s persistently low patient satisfaction rankings.
The other non-profit hospitals in this Alliance are Griffin
Hospital in Derby, Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, St. Vincent’s Medical
Center in Bridgeport and the three hospitals in the Western Connecticut Health
Network — New Milford Hospital, Danbury Hospital and Norwalk Hospital.