Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - Feb. 26
Russell J. Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - Feb. 26
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - Feb 26
HOT
Christopher Maher
It remains to be seen whether or not the interim superintendent of the Providence School department will be given the job permanently, but he received a ringing endorsement from Providence City Council President Luis Aponte earlier this week. Aponte even compared him to Michael Jordan in describing the city's dragging it's feet in making a final decision on the issue. That's high praise!
HOT
John Marion
The Executive Director of Common Cause Rhode Island continues to be a champion of good government in Rhode Island. This week, Marion advocated for the enactment of a bill that would empower the Rhode Island Ethics Commission to police the state legislature. Almost without fail, when there's a good government bill being heard in the legislature, Marion is there fighting the good fight. Rhode Islanders, should follow his lead.
HOT
Steven Brown
The Executive Director of the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the City of Providence over the enactment of an ordinance to prohibit 3 or more college students from living together in a residential house. Brown is correct to point out that the ordinance will do little, if anything to make neighborhoods more quiet, but will certainly infringe on the freedoms of property owners and renters.
HOT
Brandon Bell
The Chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party came out with a sharply worded press release critical of House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello this week. Bell criticized Mattiello for demoting representatives from committees for voting against toll a few week ago, and called on Mattiello to allow the passage of a bill to empower the Rhode Island Ethics Commission to police the state legislature.
HOT
Ken Block
The former Moderate Party Founder who later turned Republican Party Gubernatorial hopeful in 2014 raises an interesting point this week when he pointed out that Neighborhood Health Plan's board is comprised of many members from community health centers throughout Rhode Island. Those same community health centers are reimbursed by Neighborhood to service a portion of the state's Medicaid population. That's a concern that should be addressed. Kudos to Block for uncovering it.
HOT
Allie's Donuts
The legendary North Kingston donut shop has been named one of the 33 best donut shops in America by Thrillist.com. The website's judges ate donuts and then argued over which were best, and they decided that Allie's is one of the 33 best in the nation. And with Allie's landing on the list, who can really question their methodology?
NOT
Jorge Elorza
The city is strapped for cash, with a cumulative deficit of more roughly 13.4 million staring it down. Yet that being the case, the administration has spent tens of thousands of dollars to hire an outside firm to search for a new school superintendent as well as a new fire chief. The time has come for the city to being pinching pennies--then the dollars will follow.
NOT
Paul Doughty
The President of the firefighters union in Providence made some outlandish statements about the city's efforts to hire a new chief for the fire department in a GoLocal story on Wednesday, stating: "...anyone that comes here right now has to be an idiot, as this dysfunction is legendary." There may be problems in the Fire Department, but that's all the more reason to hire a strong leader to bridge the gap between labor and management. There are plenty of non-idiots who would like to work here as fire department chief.
NOT
Establishment Republicans
There's been so much talk on the national level about which candidate the GOP establishment support would coalesce around and put a stop to Donald Trump's candidacy. But all that sound and fury is really insignificant as it just doesn't seem to matter. Even with establishment champion Jeb Bush gone, and all those endorsements and campaign cash sent to Rubio, Trump still scored a devastating victory in Nevada. Let this be a lesson in political science: the establishment is nothing if it loses the trust of its base.
NOT
Racism
Unfortunately, Rhode Island was given another reminder of how far we still need to go to eliminate the scourge of racism from our state when GoLocal reported that a church pastor in Johnston was sent a disgraceful, racist letter. The racist letter was sent to the lawyers of Reverend Chris Abhulime of Kings Tabernacle Church, who is involved in a lawsuit with Johnston over zoning issues and claims of discrimination. Unsurprisingly, the letter was sent anonymously, since racists tend to be as cowardly as they are ignorant.
NOT
Sex Trafficking
Former State Representative Joanne Giannini makes some astute points about the subject of sex trafficking in her MINDSETTER Column earlier this week. As Giannini points out, much progress has been made over the last decade, including banning indoor prostitution and forbidding minors from working in strip clubs. But as long as websites that facilitate trafficking, such as backpage.com, are allowed to operate with impunity, the battle cannot be declared won.
NOT
Providence College Men's Basketball
For the first time in months, the Friars have fallen out of the AP top 25 poll following their loss to highly ranked Xavier last week. All is not lost, and if the Friars can get heat up, they could still make a deep NCAA Tournament next month. But the time has come for the team to start stringing some wins together.
