Tuesday, May 15, 2012
State mandate that 10 percent of Barrington's housing stock must be affordable takes control away from local residents.
“No questions allowed.” If you were one of the nearly 100 people who sat patiently in attendance during the April Housing Board of Trustees meeting, you were probably just as shocked as I was to hear the voices of Barrington citizens silenced on the proposed affordable housing project at Sowams Nursery. Whether you are a proponent of affordable housing or not, the public examination and debate of its merits needs to occur before we take one more step towards its development. I believe that the Town of Barrington and its citizens should have full control of their own housing laws and zoning regulations - because of a 10 percent housing mandate passed by the Rhode Island State Legislature in 2004, we do not. Together as a community, we …
Sunday, May 13, 2012
New legislation to create the quasi-public East Bay Energy Consortium needs some clarification, including an explanation of proposed eminent domain power and issuing of bonds.
The East Bay Energy Consortium (EBEC), made up of the nine East Bay communities, has submitted a bill to the Legislature to enable the creation of a quasi-public agency. New legislation creates a need to clarify issues and to inform the public. Background: EBEC was formed in late 2009 to use renewable energy and energy efficiencies to save taxpayer money by reducing the amount of energy our municipalities pay for. (Schools, streetlights, water treatment, and municipal buildings require a lot of energy.) Each city and town joined through council resolution and a cash contribution or in-kind payment, and each city and town council appointed one representative and alternates to attend meetings and report back to the municipality. Entity: …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Operation Clean Government opposes the elimination of the independent RI Bureau of Audits.
Operation Clean Government strongly opposes Governor Chafee’s proposal to abolish Rhode Island’s Bureau of Audits. We join with other responsible individuals (such as the president of the Rhode Island Society of CPAs and former state auditor general Ernest Almonte) in decrying this latest attempt to eliminate a watchdog function at a time when RI taxpayers need it most. Coming on the heels of the General Assembly’s ongoing refusal to allow voters to decide whether or not state legislators should be subject to the state’s Code of Ethics, this proposal from the executive branch will further weaken our ability to detect fraud or misappropriation of funds by state agencies and employees. Early this year, Director of Administration Richard …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
East Bay Energy Consortium Act must be stopped before it creates another quasi-governmental agency with too much power, including eminent domain.
The East Bay Energy Consortium, given a grant by the Economic Development Corporation two years ago, was originally envisioning a $75 million project to develop alternative energy – wind turbines in East Bay communities and selling that energy to National Grid. What has emerged is a bill that creates a quasi-government entity granting unleashed powers to appointees or unelected officials that are a fatal blow to private property rights. Over the past two months, town councils in the East Bay have passed resolutions supporting the East Bay Energy Consortium Act, apparently with no regard for the fact that they are putting their constituents property in harms way due to the power of eminent domain that is included in the bill. Once this …
Monday, April 30, 2012
Legislation in General Assembly would create water authority-type consortium for wind power in East Bay.
There is a very dangerous bill currently coming up for review in the House on Wednesday, May 2. The House Bill, H7592 was introduced by Representatives Gallison, Malik, Morrison, Edwards, and Handy on February 16, 2012. The Senate Bill 2870 is sponsored by Senator Lou De Palma, with the support of Senators Paiva-Weed and Chris Ottiano. It has been deemed to be a "dangerous" bill by Rhode Island Statewide Coalition, is too far-reaching, and has too much power. It is another Deepwater Wind, but far worse due to the power of eminent domain! The group was formed in 2009 by nine communities, Bristol, Warren, Barrington, East Providence, Portsmouth, Little Compton, Tiverton, Middletown and Newport, and has pretty much stayed under the radar. At …
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
While two state senators embarrassed themselves in Barrington, legislators voted to keep themselves immune from much of RI Code of Ethics.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, April 18
What’s wrong with this picture? The same week that two senior state senators embarrassed themselves with the Barrington Police, their colleagues at the General Assembly voted once again to keep legislators immune from enforcement of much of the Code of Ethics set up in 1986. That code forbids all elected and appointed state and municipal officials from using the power of their office to achieve financial gain for themselves, their families and their business associates. Thanks to a legal loophole, however, it is no longer enforceable on legislators (at least not for what they say or how they vote in the General Assembly). For the past three years groups such as Operation Clean Government (OCG), Common Cause RI, RI Statewide Coalition (RISC…
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
You can view the board meetings of the Bristol County Water Authority on Cox and Full Channel and Vimeo.
In addition to being aired on Cox Cable on Sundays at 2 and 7 pm, Channel 16, and Full Channel on Tuesdays at 1 and 7 pm, Channel 17, the meetings of the Bristol County Water Authority will now be available for online viewing. The March 14, 2012 BCWA meeting is currently available on Vimeo. You can also view this on my Facebook page (marina peterson), and Twitter page (eastbaypatriots), and on the East Bay Patriots website. BCWA will also be posting these links on their website as well. We should have the April 4th and 12th meetings available by next week. This is vacation week so that is the reason for the delay. In the future they should be available within a few days of the actual meeting. Special thanks to Brian Latessa, Jesse …
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Marina Peterson of the East Bay Patriots writes a letter to the editor about the Popular Vote bill.
- GOVERNMENT
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Saturday, April 7
On Feb. 2, 2012, the National Popular Vote bill (H7388) was introduced into the Rhode Island House of Representatives by Representatives Gallison, Blazejewski, Valencia, Serpa, and Chippendale. The House bill has a total of 45 sponsors (in a 75-member chamber), including Representatives Christopher R. Blazejewski, Edith H. Ajello, Raymond A. Hull, Maria E. Cimini, Michael A. Tarro, Anastasia P. Williams, Scott A. Slater, Leo Medina, Charlene M. Lima, Peter G. Palumbo, Arthur Handy, David A. Bennett, Eileen S. Naughton, Frank G. Ferri, Robert E. Flaherty, Jared R. Nunes, Patricia A. Serpa, Scott J. Guthrie, Lisa P. Tomasso, Doreen Marie Costa, Donald J. Lally, Jr., Teresa Ann Tanzi, Spencer E. Dickinson, Donna M. Walsh, Samuel A. Azzinaro, …
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Proposed legislation on payday advances will drive Rhode Islanders to less-regulated, costlier credit options.
- OPINION
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Saturday, March 31
A recent letter to the editor (“Support Curbs on Payday Lending Interest Rates,” March 23, 2012) presents a misguided argument for regulations that would do more harm to consumers than good. When facing a financial shortfall, Rhode Islanders make borrowing decisions based on their personal and economic interests. For many, a payday advance, with its one-time fee of $10 per $100 borrowed, serves as an affordable tool for overcoming such challenges, especially when compared with more expensive options such as overdraft fees, unregulated Internet loans or missing a bill payment. While any form of credit can be abused or misused, our experience shows that most customers use payday advances responsibly. Over 95 percent of Advance America …
Friday, March 23, 2012
RI House Committee on Corporations is looking at legislation to reduce payday-loan interest from 260 to 36 percent.
The House Committee on Corporations is considering legislation to reduce the legal rate of interest on payday loans from the unconscionable APR of 260% to 36%. The bill (H.R. 7257) has been co-sponsored by 50 of 75 representatives. The senate bill (S.B. 2307) is co-sponsored by 26 of 38 senators. Because of the likelihood of passage, lobbyists for payday lenders are trying to make sure that the bills never get a vote in either chamber. Payday loans are marketed as short term solutions to a cash shortage. In reality, borrowers get trapped in a cycle of borrowing at unconscionable interest rates. The family that couldn’t afford to pay expenses before obtaining a payday loan now has to shoulder the burden of triple-digit interest on a low …
ddrfra
4:52 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
I agree with garymm....the State needs to reassess. more ›