CCA Party continues to push
its agenda
By
Will Collette
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| This Council meeting is almost like a victory lap for the CCA Party |
Now
that the Charlestown
Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) knows it will maintain its stranglehold on
Charlestown town government due to lack of opposition to its 2016 slate of
candidates, we see the results in the Town Council agenda for Monday, July 11.
Just
a reminder that these Town Council meetings are really just a formality because
all the decisions have already been made in the secret CCA Party Steering
Committee meetings.
Some
of the things we should expect to see this Monday:
Pave
the Park.
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| CCA sez "can't have too much asphalt" except if it's a local business |
CCA
Party co-founder Faith Labossiere loves bicycles so much so that she seems to
want just about everything from Route One to roads to the town beaches and now
Ninigret Park converted into paved bike trails.
On Monday, the Council will
decide whether to award a $266,927 contract to the Cardi Corp. to add yet more
paving to Ninigret Park (like the existing paved routes and runways aren’t
enough) for a bike path.
It
doesn’t seem to matter that there are already lots of places to bike – The CCA
Party seems to need this path which will undoubtedly someday be named for Faith
Labossiere.
Tax
Breaks.
The
Council plans to follow up on two extraordinarily rare successes by Rep. Blake
“Flip” Filippi, who managed to get two Charlestown-only bills passed by the
General Assembly. One provides some unspecified tax relief on “tangible
property” intended to help small business.
The
problem in Charlestown is that, thanks to the Planning Commission and Council,
small businesses fail in Charlestown at alarming rates and are not replaced by
new ones, except for gun shops.
I
had suggested some ways that
Charlestown could boost the local economy in several cost-effective ways,
including giving small businesses tax abatements for the cost of mandated changes
to their property (e.g shrubbery, parking bumpers, lighting,
etc.), but I suppose this whatever it is tangible property break is better than
nothing.
The
other Filippi bill allows Charlestown to expand one of its several property tax
breaks for veterans to ALL veterans. This will give all honorably discharged
veterans, regardless of dates of service, and their widows a $150 tax credit.
This
new proposal is unlikely to help many more veterans since the dates of service
listed in the current law covers just about everyone, a byproduct of our nearly
continuous state of war.
Veterans
are also eligible for a variety of other property tax breaks that I described HERE as part of my
series on Charlestown taxes.
I
don’t have any issues about these two particular tax items. However, I would
like to see Charlestown use tax policy more creatively to boost the economy and
to do more to give working class families some overdue tax relief.
It’s
not a coincidence that these tax issues are being discussed just when
Charlestown taxpayers are receiving their new tax bills with the 8th
consecutive CCA-driven tax hike.
Curb
Democracy.
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| Man the ramparts! We must stop the Citizens' Initiative! |
Yes, the
initiative lost, but George Tremblay and the Council want to make it harder for
any future initiative of its type.
Thus,
out of the clear-blue sky and without the benefit of a Charter Commission, the
CCA Party Council proposes a Charter revision to make it
harder for such initiatives to pass. If an initiative is going to cost money,
it will have to go on the November ballot, not the Financial Referendum (though
arguably, that’s where it belongs).
The CCA Party assumes that they can
exercise more control over the outcome in November than at Financial Referendum
where usually only those really interested in the budget turn out.
Craven
Fired?
Slipped
into the “consent agenda” is an item that drops long time Zoning Board counsel
Bob Craven and replacing him with Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero (or his
associates).
Craven
is also a state Representative, representing North Kingstown where he lives,
and a rising leader among House Democrats. He also upstaged CCA Party darling
Flip Filippi by actually getting bills passed that Flip could only talk about. Click
HERE for a prime example.
Replacing Craven with Ruggiero poses an interesting problem, based on past history. On several occasions, Whalerock being the most well-known, the Town of Charlestown has gotten into litigation with the Charlestown Zoning Board of Review. There are numerous Charlestown v. Charlestown cases.
They occur when the Zoning Board, acting in its capacity as a quasi-judicial body, makes a decision that is disliked by the Town Council, where politics, not the letter of the law, count. In such cases, it's been Peter Ruggiero representing the Town and Bob Craven representing the ZBR.
As much as he might like to, Ruggeiro can't represent both the Town and the ZBR when these matters arise. I'm not saying that they will, so long as the CCA Party controls both the Council and the ZBR.
Indeed, since the CCA completed its takeover the ZBR, we've seen a large uptick in lawsuits against the town by property owners who are arguing that the ZBR is not following the law.
Indeed, since the CCA completed its takeover the ZBR, we've seen a large uptick in lawsuits against the town by property owners who are arguing that the ZBR is not following the law.
Buy
the Copar quarry
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| Lots of places to die or get hurt |
When
I started working with the victims of the Copar quarry in 2012, one of the
several suggestions I made to them for an “end game” in the battle was to push
for the public purchase of the property.
I pushed that idea harder after it became clear that this was going to be the way that Charlestown would end the long and divisive battle over the Whalerock wind turbine project.
I pushed that idea harder after it became clear that this was going to be the way that Charlestown would end the long and divisive battle over the Whalerock wind turbine project.
The
Whalerock deal
died as a result of the town purchase and we now have a new nature preserve
that just held its official opening.
The
Copar victims focused instead on lawsuit after lawsuit and then put their hopes
in the hands of Rep. Flip Filippi, who proceeded to get them into another
lawsuit. Meanwhile, the shady characters running Copar turned on each other and
the business
collapsed on the weight of its own bad business practices.
What’s
left are dust piles and a huge hole in the ground that has already claimed
one life.
Neighbors are still unhappy and the land owners are still making noises about
wanting to find another company to start quarrying again.
So
the Westerly Town Council has taken the initiative and is now thinking “hey,
let’s buy the quarry.” And they think they might be able to get the state
Department of Environment Management (DEM) to kick in some funding.
Because,
technically, a small piece of the property overlaps into Charlestown, they need
the town to cooperate so there is a motion to do so in the consent agenda.
You
may recall the original Copar controversy included some political
rock throwing between the Westerly Town Council and Charlestown Town Council
President Gentz. But this dusted-off reincarnation of Copar, featuring the
mandatory sprinkling of holy open space, surely should garner the imprimatur of
Planning Commission Commissar Platner.
I like the idea of public ownership of the Copar property almost as much as I liked the idea of the town ending the Whalerock fight through public ownership. In general, I think it’s a good idea.
I like the idea of public ownership of the Copar property almost as much as I liked the idea of the town ending the Whalerock fight through public ownership. In general, I think it’s a good idea.
But
there is a catch: old mines and quarries kill. When I worked with citizens’
groups dealing with mining problems, I wrote a white
paper
detailing the hazards of abandoned mine sites, especially quarries.
Public
ownership also means public responsibility so the issue of the safety of that
land needs to be part of any such purchase. Quarries are not required by state,
federal or local law to reclaim the land at the end of mining operations.
I
think those laws must be changed to at least meet the same standards for
reclamation that federal law requires of coal mining operations. Note that for
the second year in a row, Flip Filippi failed to get the General Assembly to
enact a bill authorizing Charlestown to regulate quarries, even though the
town already has that authority.
Here’s
the official agenda:
Charlestown Town Council
Regular Meeting 7/11/2016 7:00 PM Council Chambers
Town Hall 4540 South County
Trail Charlestown, RI 02813
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