Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - July 10, 2015
Russell J. Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - July 10, 2015
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not - July 10, 2015
HOT
Jorge Elorza
The Mayor has expanded city youth recreation programs, with the Midnight Basketball League, which takes place on Tuesday nights from 8-12 pm, being the biggest addition. The city's recreation programs are either free, or cost a nominal fee (and nobody is turned aside for inability to pay said fee). Kudos to the Mayor for working to keep kids involved in sports programs, where they learn discipline and the virtue of teamwork, instead of the streets where the lure to get into trouble exists.
HOT
Peter Kilmartin
Perhaps you took a ride to the beach last weekend to enjoy some sun and sand, and had to fork over $14 to park at state beaches like Scarborough ($28 if you're from outside Rhode Island). If that irks you, you're not alone. Kilmartin recently proposed making parking at RI beaches free in order to increase tourism, and engaging the arts community to help pay for the beach maintenance costs. Visiting the shoreline in The Ocean State should be free!
HOT
Newport Music Festival
Today marks the beginning of the Newport Music Festival, which will run through July 26. The festival, now in its 47th season, boasts a wide variety of concerts that will please classical music aficionados and casual listeners alike. For more information, take a look at the festival brochure at here
HOT
Gina Raimondo
The Governor has signed an executive order to create the Justice Reinvestment Working Group, which will look for ways to make the state's criminal justice system more affordable and effective. The goals of the working group are "ensuring limited resources are focused on the most serious crimes, reducing recidivism and analyzing racial disparities; and improving treatment of mental illness and substance abuse." Those are good goals, and that means we're off to a good start, so here's hoping the group is productive.
HOT
Charles Lombardi
The North Providence Mayor, who has often found himself often at odds with the firefighters union in his city, has come forward saying he doesn't think the state legislature should reduce the management rights of local cities and towns but instead should study the issue of the cost of fire protection in total. The Mayor has a point because if the cost of fire protection in RI isn't affordable for the taxpayers, it doesn't benefit anyone.
HOT
USA Women's World Cup
The USA Women's Soccer team is right back where they belong--on top. The USA easily bested the Japanese team last Sunday and avenged their 2011 loss in the process. Even more encouraging for both soccer and women's sports is the fact that viewership ratings for the game were enormous. More people watched that game than Game 6 of the NBA Finals (the deciding game).
NOT
Lincoln Chafee
The former Rhode Island US Senator and Governor hasn't had a very good few weeks in the news with various newspapers and websites deeming his presidential campaign as quirky and unusual. Further, Bernie Sanders is the man with the momentum coming from the left--not Chafee. If Chafee wants to get some traction for his campaign, he'll need to make himself seem more credible before both voters and the media, and talking about the metric system isn't the way to do that.
NOT
Barack Obama
The President's Affordable Care Act was marketed as a measure to keep down the cost of health care. But Blue Cross & Blue Shield of RI is asking for rate increases anywhere from 13-18 percent depending on the plan, which contradicts the stated goal of Obamacare. The President's legacy hinges on whether or not the Affordable Care Act will truly be affordable for the average person paying their own way. So far, things don't look well on that front.
NOT
Central Coventry Fire District
The beleaguered fire district received the worst possible rating from the Insurance Service Organization, which rates fire departments around the country, after a recent survey was completed. The rationale behind the rating was a lack of proper training, which the fire district says it will work to correct.
NOT
3rd Worst
GoLocalProv reported this week that RI has the third worst urban roads in the nation--something that should come as no surprise to drivers across The Ocean State. We can argue about the best method to go about fixing out crumbling roads, but no one can deny that they need to be fixed.
NOT
Pension Fund Management Fees
Stephen Beale reports that the state pension fund paid roughly $5 million in commissions in 2014 to money managers for managing funds that they didn't even yet posses. It's an industry-wide practice that pays the money to the fund managers based on the notion that they're doing "research" into where to invest the money. But it's also a practice that the RI pension fund should abandon as money managers should know how to invest money before they seek to do business with Rhode Island.
NOT
Pawtucket Red Sox
Yes, developing talent, not winning games, is main real purpose of a minor league baseball team. But the Pawtucket Red Sox lost 10 in a row going into last night's game, after giving up a 7 run lead on Wednesday. Highly competitive athletes like those on the Pawtucket Red Sox should never lose that many games in a row. This team is terrible.
