UPDATED: Westerly pol Bob Ritacco’s rape case is going to trial AND THE JURY ACQUITS

Ethically-challenged party boss faces biggest challenge to date

By Will Collette

UPDATED: Well, that was quick! Teflon Bob once again skates as yesterday's jury verdict acquitted him on both counts. 

For many years, Bob Ritacco was the old-school political boss of Westerly Democrats, largely deciding who got elected and who was told to “wait your turn.”

Despite numerous charges of corruption, Teflon Bob always seemed to escape accountability while continuing to hold on to power.

Charlestown residents may recall the key role Ritacco played as head of the Westerly Zoning Board in keeping the infamous, mob-tainted Copar Quarry operating on the Charlestown-Westerly town line.

That ended on April 25, 2022 when Ritacco was indicted by a Rhode Island grand jury and arraigned on two counts of first-degree sexual assault (rape). He was charges with two separate sexual assaults on May 29, 2021 against a woman while she was incapacitated.

Ryan Blessing of the Westerly Sun cited the court filing that described Ritacco’s alleged crime this way:

“According to the indictment, Ritacco allegedly penetrated the victim once with his mouth and once with his penis while the victim, a woman, was physically helpless.”

After the indictment, Ritacco said he would take a “leave of absence” as chair of the Westerly Democratic Town Committee. However, the WDTC expelled him and elected new leadership.

Ryan Blessing’s article details the long and convoluted legal road travelled between the 2022 indictment and the anticipated trial. CLICK HERE to read.

If convicted, Ritacco faces a prison sentence of 10 years to life for each offense. In the meantime, let’s remember that under law, a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Blake Filippi tweets up a storm

He's still strange

By Will Collette

Charlestown's former state representative Blake "Flip" Filippi has been relatively quiet since he decided to forego a reelection bid so he could pursue an obscure lawsuit on an arcane procedural matter. He did emerge briefing for a flurry of tweets calling for the killing of local seals because, he claimed, they were luring great white sharks to our coastal waters.

But since Donald Trump's election win, Flip has come out of his shell to begin posting again on Twitter/X with some pretty bonkers stuff such as calling for the Mexican drug cartels to be declared "terrorist organizations" presumably to allow Trump to carry out his threatened air strikes in Mexico.

He also dumped some smarm on Joe Biden for protecting his family from MAGA attacks through pre-emptive pardons.

But this one really caught my eye:

First, Flip, if you're going to attack a national hero like Dr. Anthony Fauci, at least spell his name right - that's "Fauci" not "Faucci."

Since Flip posted his tweet, Donald Trump has pulled federal protection for Fauci and his family after years of death threats. I am waiting for Flip to tweet his approval for Trump's act of putting a bulleye's on Dr. Fauci's back.

During Filippi's eight years in the state legislature supposedly protecting Charlestown's interests, Flip did virtually nothing to help our community. 

He represented the violent militia group, the Oathkeepers, who just received Trump pardons for their criminal acts during the January 6 attempted coup.

He introduced a series of half-baked Constitutional amendments to support his own bizarre libertarian beliefs. He filed frivolous lawsuits, such as the one he promised the Copar Quarry victims would solve their problems. He made promises he couldn't or wouldn't keep. 

You can do great things, Part 2

Take up important issues the CCA ignored

By Will Collette

Remember this guy? That's Phil Armeta who did
federal jail time for organized crime, owner of the
infamous Copar quarries in Westerly and Charlestown.
Even knowing Copar's background, ex-Town Administrator
Mark Stankiewicz issued Copar a business license.

Last night, I ran Part 1 of this series that focused on taxes and finances, issues of paramount concern to Charlestown voters and prime motivators for the town's rejection of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) and the election of a Town Council comprised totally of members endorsed by Charlestown Residents United (CRU).

CCA control was also diminished on the powerful Charlestown Planning Commission, the only planning body in Rhode Island that is still elected, not appointed.

In Part 2, there are some recommendations to the new Council for further changes that they can make to enrich the lives of Charlestown residents. 

The first addresses the rhetorical question of "Why do business with criminals?" The answer is that we shouldn't so let's look at our options.

Bad Actor Policy.

The town of Charlestown does business with a lot of businesses. We buy things, hire contractors, and issue permits and licenses. When it comes to contracts and purchases, Rhode Island courts have held that municipalities are not required to strictly take the lowest bid, but rather the lowest responsible bid.

The courts have left it to the municipalities to define what “responsible” means, granting wide discretion so long as the definition is fair and reasonable, not arbitrary and capricious.

I spent much of my working life doing background research on companies and gave this subject a lot of thought. In 2022, I wrote this article: Charlestown needs a “Bad Actor” ordinance. It details the various ways “bad actors” can be defined and stopped.

For starters, I suggest the Council initiates a policy committing Charlestown to only buying from responsible vendors and contractors while developing a more comprehensive approach that can also be applied to permits and licenses.

If we had a town Bad Actor prohibition, we could have quickly blocked the Dollar Store proposal over their health and safety as well as wage and hour violations and the Copar Quarry expansion into Charlestown over its environmental violations and ties to organized crime.

Residential Wind Power.

$225 on Amazon. That's not an endorsement but
a fact that there's a big market for small wind generators.

Despite an avowed conviction to fighting climate change through lessened use of fossil fuels, Charlestown effectively bans all wind energy of any size or type.

In 2011, Charlestown overreacted to developer Larry LeBlanc’s proposal to build two industrial sized wind turbines on what is now the Charlestown Moraine Preserve. In addition to spending $2.1 million to buy the land, Charlestown also enacted a draconian anti-wind power ordinance that creates so many town regulatory hurdles as to make it impossible for homeowners and small businesses to install small wind-to-energy devices.

Read HERE to see the details.

There is no rational scientific reason to treat small home or business wind installation any differently than the town treats residential solar panels or heat pumps where the town inspector checks to make sure the work done properly.

Arrowhead's wind turbine as art

Wind power tech has advanced to the point where many residential wind installations are not only silent and efficient but even beautiful. My favorite style are the vertical axis turbines that replace the spinning blades with what looks like a top spinning on a spindle.

Some models look a lot like the art installation Dr. Bruce Gouins installed on the grounds of Arrowhead Dental. When I first saw them, I loved the design but was disappointed that they didn’t generate electricity – a missed opportunity, in my opinion. However, if they were rigged for power, they’d be illegal under Charlestown’s existing law.

The part of the ordinance on small residential or small business wind power generators needs to be repealed posthaste.

RIPTA connection.  

Charlestown is the only RI municipality (except Block Island) that isn’t on a RIPTA bus route. Buses run regularly from Providence to Westerly, South Kingstown, Narragansett and URI and loop back. 

Why not change some of those bus routes to cross over through Charlestown? For example, the South Kingstown bus could go down Route One where we could have a bus stop anywhere along the state’s highway easement, continue to Westerly and then return to Providence.

The CRU majority already made a forward step by approving $30,000 in APRA funds, supplemented by $120,000 in state funds, for senior citizen transportation. 

The main reason Charlestown doesn’t have a bus stop is that the CCA didn’t want one. Ruth Platner explicitly said so in her Charlestown Comprehensive Plan and suggested that residents without cars can just call Uber. I’m not making this up.

How can we claim we care about the dangers posed to Charlestown by climate change and fail to make it easier for residents to use public transportation? It makes no more sense than Charlestown's ban on residential wind power.

The Town Council could simply pass a resolution calling on town staff to open up discussions with RIPTA or ask Senator Gu or Representative Spears to do so on our behalf.

Dark skies campaign.

Preserving Charlestown’s dark sky was the centerpiece of the CCA’s 2024 campaign. Obviously, the voters didn’t get it although, as a lifelong amateur star gazer, I appreciate our tiny patch of sky that is relatively free of the worst light pollution.

Even though our dark skies are popular, the Charlestown public has long resisted the CCA’s approach. In 2010, Planning Commissar Ruth Platner started out wanting to swing a heavy hammer by crafting a town ordinance that would micro-regulate all Charlestown outdoor lighting. Under her early versions, if you needed to change a lightbulb in an outside fixture, you would need to replace the fixture with a new, town-approved model.

Time and again, Ruth would come back with slightly modified versions, but still unacceptable versions. She finally ended up with an ordinance that was very narrowly focused yet still unenforceable.

Cheap and easy way to
retrofit outdoor flood lights

At the time, Charlestown’s well-respected zoning officer Joe Warner said the ordinance was strictly “complaint-driven” and that he refused to go out at night and into dark back yards to see if a light violated the town ordinance.

I offered some advice at the time – unheeded by the CCA – that Charlestown would get a better result by putting together some discount deals to abate the cost of retrofitting or set up a cooperative plan like Solarize Charlestown. One-time tax credits to offset the cost of major replacement or refitting would help.

Though our dark skies will never generate the lucrative “astro-tourism” failed CCA Council candidate Sarah Fletcher promises, nonetheless, I think it’s worth protecting just for our own enjoyment. But let’s try a different approach.

Fire Joe Larisa.

Once and for all, let’s end the town’s Indian Affairs lawyer Joe Larisa’s retainer. It’s an embarrassment and a major obstacle to healing the wounds between the town and the Narragansett Indian Tribe. Read HERE for more detail on why Charlestown should end his contract. 

Besides, Larisa has one foot out the door already. According to the Providence Journal, he is one of several Republicans well known in Charlestown vying for a job with the Trump Administration in DC. Maybe as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs?

Early voting, mail-in ballots start this week amid confusing ballots for Charlestown voters

Mixed up Council listings and 11 Charter revision questions make it hard to make informed choices

By Will Collette

If you are a Charlestown voter, you face a daunting challenge of figuring out how to make intelligent decisions in the face of a ballot that doesn’t really tell you what you need to know.

Two sections of the ballot are especially cumbersome: (1) the Town Council race and (2) the 11 proposed revisions to the Charlestown Town Charter. Today, we’ll deal with the Council.

The Town Council

Who’s who among the ten candidates for Town Council? The 10 are evenly split between five Charlestown Residents United (CRU) candidates and five Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) candidates.

Several factors make your choice harder. First, you won’t see the CRU or CCA labels on any of the candidates. The CRU and CCA are both PACs with radically different visions for Charlestown.

After losing power in 2022, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) broke its longstanding promise to run its candidates strictly as independents. All their newcomers are running either as Republicans or Democrats even though none of them have any actual connection to either party’s town committee.

Neither the Republican nor Democratic Town Committees made candidate endorsements in time to affect ballot placement, leaving the individual placement to a lottery.

In other words, a mishmash. Sometimes well-placed campaign signs can help with such confusion. This year, I’m afraid both the CRU and CCA wasted their money. Their signs are similar in appearance and crowded-with lists of names that are almost unreadable to passing motorists.

The mailers are somewhat more helpful because at least you can see the names of the officially endorsed candidates though the effect is diminished by the excruciating amount of detail crammed into each mailer.

In Charlestown, party labels (i.e. D versus R) matter less than CRU versus CCA. There are sharp differences on important issues between the two political committees that should guide your choice.

The Big Issues

Let’s review.

The tax rates from 2011 to 2023 show a steady rise
under the CCA. Source: Charlestown Tax Assessor.

Taxes. Everyone’s favorite. The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) claims to be the party of low taxes. Their record shows the contrary. Under ten years of CCA rule, Charlestown’s tax rate grew steadily and the actual tax paid by households increased as the CCA siphoned off town money to make shady land deals, allowed town municipal costs to climb to the highest in the state, and strangled small business growth.

In the two years since Charlestown Residents United (CRU) ousted the CCA from power, the tax rate is down. So is the actual tax residents have had to pay.

NOTE: To get much more detailed analysis of Charlestown taxes, financial management and the differences between the CRU and the CCA on these subjects, CLICK HERE. I include links backing up each detail as well as to the state Auditor General who supported my assertations that the CCA messed up the money and the CRU has been effectively fixing it. 

Town Financial Management. This was the major factor that led to the CCA’s defeat in 2022. They messed up the money. They misplaced $3 million for almost two years, ran up a huge deficit, and, instead of fixing the problems, they spent the past two years denying the problems existed, blaming the messenger and mourning the departure of the individual town officials most responsible for the problems.

According to the Rhode Island Auditor General, the CRU wiped out the CCA deficit, reduced town debt by 25%, reduced expenses by $1.5 million, increased town savings by 17% and improved pension funding. These are hard, documented facts showing a remarkable turnaround in town finances under the CRU’s leadership.

Charlestown Economy. The CCA covers its fanatical devotion to expanding open space by claiming this is good for tourism and, by extension, the town economy. They’re fine with Charlestown perking up on Memorial Day and then dying on Labor Day.

No matter how tasty, burgers are not
the key to Charlestown's prosperity

While tourism does boost seasonal businesses, it forces Charlestown to pay for a bloated infrastructure designed to handle a summer population that triples the town’s size. What jobs are created are low wage with no benefits and held by folks who can’t afford to live here. That’s really all the CCA’s got on the economy. If you don’t believe me, check the town Comprehensive Plan, hand-crafted by CCA leader Ruth Platner.

The CCA still uses Planning and Zoning to torture small businesses. Because of CCA restrictions, Route One still remains our Boulevard of Broken Dreams with its array of empty businesses.

For a preview of what a new CCA term of power would do to small business, check out their new “Design Standards.” If the CCA regains power, these micro-managed minutiae will become law and further destroy small business. The CRU by contrast, blocked Planning Commissar Ruth Platner (now a Town Council candidate) from making these “standards” an ordinance.

The Environment. The CCA claims supremacy on all matters environmental, but do their claims pan out? They claim they are responsible for Charlestown’s dark sky, yet they diddled for years on a draconian but unenforceable anti-light ordinance when they could have gotten much better lighting compliance by helping businesses and residences convert to low-impact lighting.

They added some more open space even though more than 60% of Charlestown land is a protected from development. Many of the CCA’s land deals were with insiders, mainly CCA supporters, and nearly all at way over assessed value and even land that was already classified as open space. Despite their open space zeal, the CCA bitterly opposed, and tried to block Frank Glista from selling 20 acres to the state Water Resources Board as a protected water resource.

The CCA concocted multiple fake issues about Ninigret Park conflating plans to provide temporary portable lights at the field behind Town Hall to allow Peewee Football to go a couple more hours in the fall into a major crisis. The CCA forecast such lights would shut down the Frosty Drew Observatory and trigger the federal government to take back Ninigret Park. Utter nonsense.

For more examples of the way the CCA fakes some issues and generally pumps up issues beyond recognition, read “Fear and Loathing in Charlestown Politics” by clicking HERE.

The CCA has shown little interest in any other environmental issue other than open space. They routinely ignored hazardous waste problems, especially at Ninigret Park dating back to the decommissioned Ninigret Naval Air Field. They effectively banned all wind power, even small residential units. They botched the fight against the Copar Quarry and even allowed the mob-connected owners to acquire a second quarry in Charlestown.

They claim they are leaders in the climate change fight, even though they have done nothing, other than to claim credit. Real credit goes to our state Senator, Victoria Gu, and state Representative, Tina Spears, both Democrats, for getting legislative passed and funding for climate resilience.

Charlestown Residents United (CRU) in its two years in office has not caused the environmental disaster predicted by the CCA and, in fact, kept a steady, even hand on environmental matters and clearly states it intends to protect our rural community.

Housing. The CCA has opposed all forms of new housing. Period. They have been tolerant toward some building by rich people in their voter strongholds along the shoreline, but remain adamantly opposed to affordable housing, workforce housing, family housing or senior citizens housing.

Former CCA leader George Tremblay even claimed that building elderly housing will only attract rich senior citizen speculators who will buy affordable senior housing and then flip it as market-rate housing. He based this on a debunked story out of New York City.

The CCA’s primary weapon to block housing has been exclusionary zoning accompanied by nitpicking and delay to drive up costs. Planning Commissar Ruth Platner, now running for Town Council, was the master of exclusionary zoning. She covered her practices by claiming that families with children were a plague because they would cost taxpayers beaucoup cash when the kids attend Chariho, even concocting a mathematical formula to “prove” her thesis.

Charlestown Residents United (CRU) has not been able to overcome Platner’s roadblocks, though a lot hinges on the November election. The CRU’s stated position is to support affordable housing for Charlestown’s “workforce, seniors and adult children.” Getting this done will require the CRU to hold the Council majority and change the majority on the Planning Commission.

Secrecy and cover-ups, panic and alarm. Under the CCA, we saw one shady land deal after another, often overshadowed by fake alarms and outside threats, whether from the Tribe, Amtrak or “others.” Often the truth behind these deals and bogus alarms was uncovered by diligent investigation through the town’s public records.

Stonewall Stankiewicz

The CCA figured out they might get less grief if they had their stooge, ex-Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz “weaponize” the Access to Public Records Act,” RI’s open records law. Starting with “SPAgate,” Stanwiewicz slowed responses to records request to the maximum allowed by the law, used every exemption to withhold records, blacked out vast amounts of text in whatever records were finally released, and charged the maximum fees they could get away with.

The CCA says it is pledged to “provide open, honest, responsible leadership. Their track record says otherwise.

The candidates

Both the CRU and the CCA are running full slates of five candidates for Town Council. Both are a mix of Democrats and Republicans. The only two “independents” are hardline CCA people, the aforementioned Ruth Platner and her puppet, former town Council member Bonnita Van Slyke.

Four of the CRU slate – Deb Carney, Rippy Serra, Steve Stokes and Peter Slom – are already on the Council and have a commendable record as previously discussed. The fifth CRU candidate is well known Breachway Grill restauranteur Craig Marr.

Based on their records, characters and the strength of the CRU’s performance in its first term, they’ve got my vote.

I’ve already given you ample reasons why Ruth Platner is not qualified to serve on the Town Council. Her pal Bonnie Van Slyke holds all the same beliefs, but with an added deficit of consistently making goofy arguments that are filled with lies and nonsense.

I wrote an entire series labeled “Slyke of Hand” devoted to fact-checking and rebutting Van Slyke’s nonsense. CLICK HERE for the final installment.

About the remaining three CCA candidates, to paraphrase Donold Trump, some might be “very fine people,” but all I really know about them is that they were willing to run as CCA candidates while appearing on the ballot under their registered parties, despite having no actual ties to the local Democratic or Republican committees.

I can say this about them: if you run under the CCA label, you are not a free-thinking individual. You must toe the CCA party line, meaning strict obedience to Ruth Platner, or you will be punished.

The CCA set their Politburo style right from the start by purging their first elected Town Council. They won a clear majority but turned on their own people. Why? The CCA Councilors supported wind power development in Charlestown largely because at that time, the CCA was pro-wind, especially their leader Tom Gentz.

But after the Sachem Passage Association made a political deal with Gentz’s partner in crime Dan Slattery to do a 180-degree turn to oppose wind power in the form of the Whalerock wind development, the CCA Council majority couldn’t keep up with the shift. The CCA excommunicated them.

In its second run for power, the CCA ran a brand new slate, led by former wind-supporter but now opponent Tom Gentz and Dan Slattery and ousted all but two of the former CCA apostates.

On those rare occasions when a CCA Council member has failed to obey Platner, they usually come to the next meeting to push for an opposite position. For example, CCA’s Susan Cooper initially voted her common sense to end anti-Indian Joe Larisa’s contract, but at the next meeting, after a trip to the woodshed, Cooper pushed a “Motion to Reconsider” to reverse her own vote and rehire Larisa.

The CCA truly seems to still believe in absolute obedience. When I named names in reporting on the CCA’s financial screw-ups, Van Slyke took to the letters to the editor column of the Westerly Sun to blast me for defaming the reputations of ex-Budget Commission chair Dick Sartor and ex-Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz. By telling the truth.

Van Slyke actually said “One would hope that the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee might put an end to the telling of whoppers such as this one spouted by someone who is a CDTC member.”

That may be the way the CCA operates, but that’s not how it works in a democracy. And that’s the last reason I offer for voting to keep the Charlestown Residents United (CRU) majority.

New CCA temper tantrum

Failed March 13 attempt to “flood the zone” sparks slander from CCA leadership

By Will Collette

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) was soundly rejected by voters in the 2022 election. But, not surprisingly, they still have some tricks up their sleeves to take back power.

One such attempt was made – and failed – at the March 13 Town Council meeting where the CCA attempted to “flood the zone” with a large number of their stalwarts trying to get onto key town commissions and committees.

Such long-time CCA hardcore players as Bonnita Van Slyke, Mikey Chambers, Ron Areglado, Pete Mahoney and Dick Sartor made bids for seats on the Charter Revision Committee, Ordinance Revision Ad Hoc Committee, Town Administrator Search Ad Hoc Committee and Parks & Recreation Commission.

None were approved although several applicants with CCA ties, such as veterinarian Dr. Lew Johnson did win appointment.

Fortunately, there was a large field of experienced and thoughtful non-CCA candidates to fill the ranks of these important town bodies. You can see the full list of people who applied, who was chosen and who was not by CLICKING HERE.

I also encourage you to read their applications and career highlights by CLICKING HERE.

You really should take a close look because the CCA has decided to use their failed blitz as “evidence” that the “Town Council Puts Developers In Charge,” according to the headline in their blog.

Only one appointee, Tim Stasiunas, is an active developer. Evelyn Smith, who was appointed to the Charter Revision Committee, was a developer decades ago. However, Evelyn has put in more than 20 years on the town’s Affordable Housing Commission. Evelyn does own an inactive sand pit.

According to the CCA, any person who owns a business is suspect, as are all attorneys (except the CCA’s last remaining Council member Susan Cooper of course). By the way, contrary to CCA's claim, Cooper voted to approve Evelyn Smith's appointment.

For some inscrutable reason, about half of the CCA’s screed rehashes their own tragic handling of the COPAR Quarry crisis, re-writing history by casting themselves as the heroes rather than chumps. 

Charlestown dreaming

What can we hope for from the new CRU Town Council majority?

By Will Collette

Congratulations to the new Charlestown Residents United Town Council majority, L-R Deb Carney, Rippy Serra, Grace Klinger and Steve Stokes. They are being sworn in on December 5.

For the first time since 2008, we will soon see the first Town Council sworn in that does not have a Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) endorsed majority. The new majority were endorsed by Charlestown Residents United (CRU) and consist of one Democrat and three Republicans. Only incumbent CCA councilor Susan Cooper managed to win a seat.

Like the majority of Charlestown voters, I am hopeful that this new coalition government will not only be able to get along but will also bring about significant changes in Charlestown’s policies and practices, starting with lifting the iron curtain the CCA imposed on citizens’ access to information.

For the past two year in particular, Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz seemed to go out of his way to find loopholes to make it harder to get information under the Access to Public Records act. This was especially true of information on Planning Commissar Ruth Platner’s land deals and town finances. Stankiewicz’s kind of public access meant be charged hundreds of dollars to get pages that were mostly blacked out like this example:

I hope it becomes town policy to make it easier, not harder, to get public information.

And for his gleeful participation in CCA's shady dealings and for covering them up, I think the new Council should look to replace Stankiewicz as soon as possible.

I hope this new majority will see the value in better relations with our neighbors, the Narragansett Indian Tribe. It’s time to cut loose the public face of Charlestown’s jihad against the Tribe, attorney Joe Larisa, whose retainer and expenses amount to $25,000 or more to do nothing but watch the Tribe and thwart any effort the Tribe makes to uplift itself.

The Council fired him once already, but he was rescued by CCA Councilor Susan Cooper, the only CCA controlled member of the current Council.

After Larisa goes, it’s long past time to sit with the Tribe and discuss mutual interests with respect and open-mindedness. I don’t know where such discussions might lead, but at least we must try. Our chances of a productive outcome are greatly increased without the incendiary presence of Joe Larisa.

We should take a good look at our financial management especially after last year’s $3 million “oopsie.” We need an honest, unbiased outside review to make sure we have the right safeguards in place to avoid future “oopsies” and to make sure we have the right management staff and oversight. What we don’t need is another rubber stamp of shoddy financial practices.

I think it would be smart for the new Council to commission a thorough review of Charlestown’s property tax policies. Even though our tax rate is low, our taxes rise every year regardless of the rate due to rising assessments. We also pay out of pocket for services that other municipalities provide as part of the package.

Traditionally, taxes reflect community values. Taxes don’t just fund the basic operations of government, like education and emergency services. Taxes are a way we support who and what we like and what we want to discourage.

In Charlestown, property tax breaks are given to veterans, the blind and disabled, low-income elderly, plus property under the Farm, Forest and Open Space program or with some form of conservation easement. NOTE: if you fit any of these categories, you must apply to get the tax break. You don’t get it automatically. You should contact Tax Assessor Ken Swain before March 1^st to see if you qualify.

We also give tax breaks on property owned by our two FAKE Fire Districts and to property owners whose land is improperly zoned. These are well-known problem areas that allow those owners to underpay their property taxes by thousands of dollars. We need to fix the mis-zoning problem and find a way to make the beach clubs/homeowner associations masquerading as fire districts pay up.

The Quonnie Central Beach Fire District's 28-acre rec center, assessed at $98,000. This is the photo the Charlestown Tax Assessor posted in 2014

On the other hand, we can use tax policy encourage practices we believe in. For example, the CCA-controlled Planning Commission regularly passes zoning regulations that micromanage local businesses. I’m not just talking about big changes like the recent upheaval in housing development rules, but the smaller and more nit-picky things like regulating everything from lighting systems to shrubbery, often mandating that businesses spend serious money to meet some CCA members’ styling whims.

If the town is going to dictate such things as the color of outdoor switch plates, businesses should be granted some tax relief to at least partially cover such unfunded mandates.

We should come up with a way to encourage more active participation in our volunteer fire companies. Incentives could run the gamut from a recruitment tax credit for joining to increased stipends for responding to call outs. If the Council talks to the fire fighters, I have no doubt they have some ideas as to how to improve recruitment, retention and participation.

Under the CCA, the town has invested heavily in adding more acreage to the stock of open space property to protect it from development. Town maps show 60% of Charlestown land is untaxed and off-limits to development.

But there’s a whole lot more to environmental protection than just acquiring more open space. 

Among Rhode Island towns, Charlestown is one of the most vulnerable to the ill effects of the climate crisis, especially sea level rise and increased severe storm activity. These threaten life and limb but also threaten to wipe out a substantial part of our tax base.

Climate change is a global problem, but we all need to do our share, especially since we have so much to lose, by switching to green energy. The new Town Council can help through regulation change and tax incentives.

Other than one summer’s burst of activity around the Solarize Charlestown project, CCA-controlled Charlestown did virtually nothing to promote green energy. In fact, while bathing in the PR glow of the 2017 Solarize project – actually, a state program – CCA-controlled Councils have made green energy development more difficult. And Solarize Charlestown barely scratched the surface even with town support. Only three dozen households participated. Cathy and I were one of those households.

Charlestown is littered with abandoned quarries and sand pits. The owners are under no obligation to reclaim the land. These sites could be used to site larger solar arrays.

It is in Charlestown’s self-interest to promote as much home and business level green energy as possible and tax credits certainly can play a role. But the new Council should also look at the barriers the CCA has imposed in the past, such as the virtual ban on small, residential or business wind energy.

While the town was pretty united against the proposed giant Whalerock wind turbines that would have towered over Route One, Charlestown’s ordinance on small turbines is a gross over-reaction, especially given advances in technology. For example, variations on vertical axis turbines – not big blades, but more curlicue-shaped – are becoming quite popular for home use.

There are hundreds of different vertical axis designs.
Generally, all are quiet and efficient. nordicgrizzly.com

If you want to see these types of turbines in action locally, visit the gardens surrounding Arrowhead Dental. Dr. Bruce Gouin has had a bunch of them placed as art installations. They’re not hooked up to an electrical generator so they don’t violate the anti-wind Charlestown Zoning Ordinance. If they were, though, they would generate a lot of energy.

The Charlestown Liquor Store has installed a geothermal generator that draws power from the earth. A number of homes – including ours – have installed heat pumps that draw heat from the air.

There are lots of other ideas the new Council should explore, many of them issues that have fallen by the wayside over the long reign of the CCA:

A homestead tax exemption. Charlestown is becoming an outlier on granting permanent residents a credit to offset the taxes we pay for year-round infrastructure to serve our summertime population surge. 

In recent years, Narragansett and North Kingstown joined the list with no apparent ill effects on their budgets. Even a dope like GOP Senate candidate Hershel Walker gets a homestead tax credit by claiming permanent residence in Texas even though he’s running to become Senator from Georgia.

In addition to reinstating a Charter Review Advisory Commission, as Deb Carney proposed, Charlestown should review its Code of Ordinances and begin weaning out those that are outdated, unenforced or unenforceable, or just downright silly, such as making it a crime in Charlestown to throw a snowball at a tree.

We need a bad actor ordinance or policy. At minimum, such a policy would protect the town from doing business with criminals. The town can set standards for who can get a contract, permit or purchase order. We can use whatever standards we want so long as they are reasonable and consistent. The usual criteria include corporate crime, environmental offenses, civil rights violations, failure to meet labor standards and, in construction, failure to consistently perform work on time and on budget.

We could have stopped the infamous Copar Quarry from acquiring the Morrone sand pit based on their owner’s serving federal prison time for organized crime. Or the Dollar Store’s violations of wage and hour laws, and discriminatory employment practices IF we had a bad actor policy that contained those criteria.

And of course, there’s Charlestown’s desperate need for affordable housing. Kids who grew up in Charlestown can’t afford to stay – a notable example is now ex-Town Council member Cody Clarkin.

The new Council not only faces a growing problem but one where the CCA brutally worked to block any progress for over a decade. The CCA did everything it could to keep affordable housing from being built, including Ruth Platner’s slander that families with children are parasites because they increase our school costs. That has to change.

This new Council has two years to work on the mess left behind by more than a decade of CCA rule. It’s a tough job and those of us who supported the CRU’s successful campaign will need to be patient. At the same time, we should not be bashful about urging them on to do what we elected them to do.

What a total crock!

Flip talks about why he quit

By Will Collette

I should just be happy that Charlestown state Rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi is leaving and not dwell on the reasons why. However, Flip just came out with his “reasons” and once again, I can’t helped but being sucked into his craziness vortex.

Here’s the lede from Bill Seymour’s article in the current issue of the Independent:

“State Representative Blake Filippi said he will not seek his State House seat again so that he can continue leading the fight against a special committee controlling nearly $50 million for special-interest projects.”

What? So Flip, with no warning to his party, decides just a few days before the election candidate filing deadline that he’s quitting so he can carry on a lawsuit that he is bound to lose like he loses most of his lawsuits about an issue no one but him seems to care about?

Flip claimed:

“My private polling showed that I could easily win” but that “I can’t do the case and run for representative.  I can’t do both…fixing JCLS is fighting a cancer at the highest level of government.”

Further, he says:

“I am left with having to do this myself. The case is coming up and so far I’ve put over $100,000 worth of work into the case.”

He filed his lawsuit two years ago when Nick Mattiello was Speaker of the House.

Sorry, Flip, but this is bullshit. Throughout the eight years we’ve known you, you’ve picked up lawsuits and then either lost or dropped them.

You’ve taken on causes that started out being ever so important but then you got distracted by something shiny and walked away. Like the way you botched the shoreline access bill. Like the way you botched Charlestown’s requested legislation on quarries year after year for the past eight years. Like you have with just about every piece of legislation you ever sponsored.

Steadfastness to ANY cause – other than your own glorification – has never been your strong suit.

If you had said you were leaving the House to marry one of your cows, or to turn Ballard’s into a casino, or to join a militia group in Idaho or to run away with the circus, that would be more credible.

I am convinced the real reason why Blake Filippi abruptly decided to end his legislative career is something a lot more interesting than his desire to follow through on some arcane bit of litigation. Frankly, Flip’s explanation is pretty lame and obviously a distraction.

But the truth will come out.

Shakeup coming for South County General Assembly representation

Decisions by Republican leaders Algiere and Filippi make up-coming election more intriguing

By Will Collette

Blake, in bovine bliss

Generally, legislative elections in South County don’t produce a lot of surprises. Legislators tend to get elected and stick around for a while.

The last major surprise came with the 2014 right-wing coup that saw Rep. Donna Walsh, Rep. Larry Valencia and Sen. Cathy Cool Rumsey lose to a trio of Trumplicans Blake “Flip” Filippi, Justin Price and Sen. Elaine Morgan.

Eight years later, Filippi is not running for re-election. Neither is Westerly Republican and
Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere, a 22-year State House veteran. Justin Price will hopefully receive his well-deserved visit from the FBI for his role in the January 6 storming of the Capitol. And I think three time’s the charm for Democrat Jennifer Douglas to take out right-wing nut Elaine Morgan.

Elaine Morgan, addressing gun nuts

The deadline for filing Declarations of Candidacy is 4 PM Wednesday. After that, we will know exactly who is officially seeking a place on the ballot and who is not.

Meanwhile, we can take a look at who produced for their constituents in the 2022 General Assembly session taken from the General Assembly’s legislative data base HERE.

This legislative session produced lots of media coverage for Blake “Flip” Filippi but no actual legislative achievements. That’s been the story of Flip’s eight years in the House.

Of a total of 15 bills he introduced, he managed to get three bills passed for the Block Island Town Council as well as H-8311 that will “exempt from taxation the real and tangible personal property of Manissean Tribal Council, a Rhode Island nonprofit corporation.” 

The tribe is indigenous to Block Island. It is not federally recognized and does not appear to have any major assets and reports revenue of less than $50,000. There is no property listed in their name on the tax assessor's database.

In addition to botching the shoreline access bill, Flip again failed to advance Charlestown’s bills to give it authority to regulate mining and blasting. Flip ends his legislative career as he began it: promising but failing to deliver on rogue quarries like the infamous Copar Quarry.

Sen. Dennis Algiere wrapped up his career by introducing only 7 bills, of which three (all on behalf of the Westerly Town Council) passed.

Sen. Elaine Morgan (R-nut) who represents northern Charlestown and a large swath of South County had a spectacular failure rate. She introduced 14 bills and lost them all.

Rep. Justin Price (R-armed militia) who’s district is adjacent to Charlestown introduced 6 bills. All of them lost except for a resolution of condolences over the death of gun nut and former Representative for the same district Frank Maher.

At this writing, it looks like both Filippi and Algiere will be replaced by Democratic women. Tina Spears of Charlestown is Flip’s likely successor and Dennis Algiere will probably be replaced either by Victoria Gu of Charlestown or Sharon Ahern of Westerly. I have heard a Republican has filed a Declaration of Candacy to replace Filippi.

If you want to see what productivity looks like, just look across to South Kingstown and check out the track record of its all-woman legislative team. I do acknowledge that both Flip Filippi and Dennis Algiere represent a small chunk of South Kingstown’s southwest corner but they have contributed nothing so I am not including them.

Senators Sue Sosnowski, Bridget Valverde and Alana DiMario and state Representatives Teresa Tanzi, Carol Hagan McEntee and Kathy Fogarty, in total introduced over 170 pieces of legislation, not counting resolutions. Of those, 71 bills passed. While some of these were municipal bills requested by town councils, most were substantive, such as Teresa Tanzi’s two gun control bills.

Delegation dean Sue Sosnowski was the prime sponsor of 42 bills, with 22 passing, many significant environmental laws.

On several bills, the SK delegation teamed up. For example, Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown, New Shoreham) and Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty (D-Dist. 35, South Kingstown).that would make it easier for senior citizens to apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee and Sen. Alana M. DiMario teamed up to get new legislation passed that increases the age of children who are able to utilize recorded forensic interviews when testifying before grand juries in cases of child sexual abuse.

If you take the time to look at the records of each of these women, you can see for yourself the depth and breadth of the issues they took on. Then take a look at the records for Justin Price, Elaine Morgan and the departing Flip Filippi.

Anyone who thinks that party doesn’t make a difference just isn’t paying attention.