Posts by Elizabeth Carr

Looking for more ways to procrastinate? BlogDH is here with a roundup of the best things to do in Providence during December that don’t involve orgo, the SciLi or copious amounts of caffeine.

Head down to Federal Hill Dec. 11 for a festive afternoon of carols and cocoa, plus a visit from Santa himself.

Embark on Hope Street’s Annual Winter Stroll Dec. 15. Take in the results of the Merchant’s Window Dressing Contest while taking advantage of the special sales and promotions. Enjoy the live entertainment and look out for Santa!

He’s back! That’s right, Tony Lapore has returned to grace the intersection of Dorrance and Westminister with his studly dance moves. Walk down around mid-day for a free show.  [Read more →]

Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 lit the state’s holiday tree in a ceremony last night, with hundreds of protesters in the audience condemning Chafee for refusing to refer to the evergreen as a Christmas tree. Bishop Thomas Tobin, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, hosted an alternative, pointedly religious tree-lighting ceremony just blocks away at St. Francis Parish.

The Narragansett City Council passed an ordinance last night to address increasing complaints of rowdy University of Rhode Island students. If the city responds to complaints about a party multiple times, it can begin to collect fees to cover the costs of law enforcement and emergency response. Proponents of the measure argued that it is not a “double tax,” but instead a way of more equitably distributing city costs.

Westerly Hospital, a small hospital located in Westerly, has filed for state receivership, a process that would allow the institution to continue to function as it resolves its financial troubles. The struggles of the hospital — which is the second to file for state receivership in the past 4 years — highlights the myriad of economic challenges facing hospitals in the state.

Yesterday, Rhode Island became the first state to receive a Level-II multiyear grant to develop a health-benefits exchange under the new federal healthcare law. The exchange will be operational in 2014 and will allow individuals and small business owners to search for health insurance plans and apply for federal subsidies through an online marketplace. The $58 million grant follows an initial $1 million planning grant in 2010 and $5.2 million granted in May to begin creating the exchange.

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority has noticed a recent surge of 300,000 to 400,000 rides per year attributed to using free-ride passes provided to elderly and disabled citizens. RIPTA officials said that they suspect fraud, although the lack of evidence makes such claims difficult to prove.

With many Rhode Island cities facing budget crisis, Cranston has developed a unique solution for raising cash. City officials have requested an amendment to current city law to allow corporate advertising on the sides of public school buses., which could generate $300,000 in revenue.

And with November coming to a close, the war on Christmas is firing up again. Governor Lincoln Chafee ’71 P’14 described the 17-foot Colorado spruce standing in the rotunda of the State House as a “Holiday tree” when he announced next week’s tree-lighting ceremony. Republicans in the House of Representatives have accused him of disregarding a resolution passed in January specifying that the specific term “Christmas tree” must be used. In response to criticism from Republicans and Catholics, Chafee encouraged Rhode Islanders to enjoy the spirit of the season, regardless of the words used to describe it.

Mayor Angel Taveras requested that Providence Community Action Program Executive Director Frank Corbishley resign yesterday. In a letter, Taveras wrote that the program’s capabilities to help the impoverished and at-need have been damaged by “mismanagement,” including misuse of State funds. In his letter, Taveras also appointed five new members to the Board of Directors of ProCap, expressing his hopes that they would be able to work with a new executive director to lead ProCap in a direction to better help the city. Corbishley refused to resign, denying the charges levied against him and accusing Taveras of trying to take over the agency.

The state actuary released an analysis of the new pension bill, to come to a vote to a vote Thursday, that shows that the overhaul would save municipalities across the state a combined $101.9 million next year. The bill, which limits cost-of-living adjustments and raises the retirement age, among other cuts to benefits for state employees, has faced opposition from unions upset abput the violations of established contracts and garnered support from lawmakers who see the cuts as necessary for the protection of state taxpayers.

Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14, who worked with Secretary of Treasury Gina Raimondo to structure the bill, expressed frustration yesterday at Raimondo and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed for amendments added in deliberations last week that dropped support for municipal retirement system. This represents a resurfacing of tensions that plagued the initial discussions when forming the pension overhaul.

Panicked Undecided about life after Brown? Perhaps you should consider a career in politics. Yesterday Alex Morse ’11 defeated incumbent Elaine Pluta in the mayoral race in his hometown of Holyoke, MA, becoming the city’s first openly gay mayor. His campaign featured support from Rep. David Cicilline ’83, D-R.I., for whom he had interned as a student at Brown.

Over 3,500 Union-members from throughout Rhode Island rallied outside of the State House yesterday in opposition to the pension overhaul legislation currently under debate in the General Assembly. The legislation — proposed by Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo Oct. 18 — would slash benefits to state employees and retirees. The state is cutting pensions in response to a gigantic pension shortfall, which the state has calculated to be $9.4 billion, though researchers at George Mason recently estimated a total nearly double the state’s number. The bill is still under debate due to lawmakers’ concerns about the suspension of cost-of-living increases for retirees and the requirement that many state employees wait until they qualify for Social Security before they retire. It also faces opposition from mayors throughout the state who last week testified before the General Assembly, asking for state support for local pension plans. The General Assembly plans to put a newly-revised version of the state’s multibillion-dollar pension overhaul to vote in the House and Senate Finance Committees on Thursday.

The mayors of Providence, Pawtucket and Cranston testified before the Joint House and Senate Finance Committees yesterday to explain that the current pension-reform legislation could lead the cities into bankruptcy. The mayors specifically requested that the legislation allow the cities to cut cost-of-living adjustments to pensions which currently raise pensions at a level significantly higher than inflation. According to House spokeseman Larry Berman, the General Assembly is most likely weeks away from taking action on the bill.

Despite the nor’easter that swept through Providence on Saturday night and eviction notices from Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare, some Occupiers remain in Burnside Park. Yesterday the group teamed up with the “We are All Arizona” coalition for an anti-deportation march to the State House. Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 met protesters on the steps of the capitol building and encouraged their advocacy for immigration reform.  [Read more →]

In 2009 Providence officials used a series of ordinance violations – including trespassing and remaining in the park past curfew – to remove “Camp Runamuck,” a tent city in a city park. Now they are considering using a similar civil injunction to persuade Occupy Providence to vacate Burnside City Park. Aware that the city is contemplating their removal, 200 protesters marched on City Hall Monday to request permission to occupy the park indefinitely on the basis of their first-amendment right to free speech. The constitutional issues at stake could potentially make the injunction against the Occupiers more complicated, said Peter DeSimone, counsel for the defendants in the Camp Runamuck case.

St. Francis Chapel on Westiminister Street is slated to close its doors after 55 years due to financial struggles and depleted numbers of Franciscan friars available to staff the church. The number of Franciscan friars in the Holy Name province of the East Coast has been declining steadily – 30 years ago there were about 1,000 friars and today there are only 342, 120 of whom are over the age of 75 and likely to retire soon.

Former Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman will be sworn in as New Haven’s new police chief Nov. 16, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano announced last night. Esserman served as chief in Providence from 2003 until an underage drinking controversy surrounding a party held for his daughter led him to resign June 30, 2011. During this time, murders dropped by 50 percent and overall crime declined by 30 percent, DeStefano noted. He added that as assistant chief in New Haven from 1991 to 1993, Esserman helped construct the effective community-policing model that is in place today, and that he hopes Esserman will repair relations with the community. [Read more →]

A “Circle of Hope” composed of over 2,000 protesters opposed to state cuts that could adversely affect people with developmental disabilities surrounded the State House last night. In efforts to close a $300,000,000 budget deficit, state lawmakers have cut reimbursements for transportation-related costs and to service providers, including significant entry-level wage decreases for direct-service providers and nurses.

A Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union has called for the state to revise its formula for calculating the value of motor vehicles. A recent state law has increased the car tax as well as subjecting vehicles to the tax that were formerly exempt, and was met with opposition in cities across the state. The Rhode Island Vehicle Valuation Commission currently sets “presumptive values” for most cars, taxing the vehicles under the assumption that they are like new.

State Receiver Robert Flanders ’71 continues to cut costs in an attempt to rescue the ailing city of Central Falls from bankruptcy. His latest measure revokes a 2010 deal with Mayor Charles Moreau that provided retired Police Commander Rudolph Legenza with full medical coverage for the rest of his life.  Last week, Flanders and his team discovered that that unlike all other active and retired firefighters and cops, Legenza was not required to pay 20 percent of his healthcare costs.

The state is petitioning the Rhode Island Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that state employees have a contractual right to pension benefits. Judge Sarah Taft Carter ruled in favor of unions opposed to 2009 and 2010 state pension reforms Sept. 13.  Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, and the state Employees Retirement System have argued for the public importance of the pension cuts, but it is unclear whether the Supreme Court will hear the case.