Deputy Dan emerges from his hideout

Just when you thought he was on the lam, here he is again
By Will Collette

On Monday night, Charlestown will be treated to what looks like the last act in Charlestown’s own Deputy Dan Slattery’s final Crusade. Yep, on Monday, the Town Council will vote on a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) with Charlie Vandemoer, our federal overseer and head of the National Wildlife Refuges in southern Rhode Island.

After several months of laying low, apparently hoping that Charlestown voters would forget all the crazy stuff he has done (e.g., his unauthorized investigations, his nonexistent documents, studies and evidence, search for “phantom properties,” the “Kill Bill” Campaign, his attack on Chariho, RHOTAP and his attacks on Charlestown working families, censorship of political opponents, not to mention his flat-out lies), Slattery will have another moment this Monday to wrap up his quest for the Ninigret MOU.

It wasn't about that one light!

How an anecdote led to a sleepless night

Peeps do not like excess light!

by Tom Ferrio

During the Town Council hearing on the proposed lighting ordinance, I decided to speak to add emphasis to two points. I didn't have any prepared words and I improvised my way through it.

After I sat down I thought "that was a disaster, I shouldn't have tried to inject some humor without preparation." The reaction of the Council confirmed that, to me.

Read past the break for the details.

The Feds, the town and Ninigret Park

What one of Deputy Dan’s secret documents shows

"It says right here the town has a legal, ethical and moral
obligation" to do what I tell them."

By Will Collette

For almost two weeks, we have been left to wonder what the hell Town Council Vice-President Deputy Dan Slattery (CCA) has been talking about in his latest quest for truth, justice and the American Way.

During the March 12 Town Council meeting, Deputy Dan launched a new jihad against town administration of Ninigret Park, the Parks and Recreation Commission and director, and the Town Administrator over two documents. He says these documents raise issues that put Charlestown in jeopardy of failing in its “legal, moral and ethical obligations” in the way it uses Ninigret Park.

Despite Deputy Dan’s repeated references to these two public documents, his stated intent of wanting them released to the public and my request for them under Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA), Deputy Dan has once again come down against open and transparent government. For earlier examples, click here.

But I have obtained one of the documents, and here’s what’s in it.

Confessions of a dark-sky skeptic

Planning Commission Chair Ruth Platner demonstrates
Parshields at the March 12 Town Council meeting.

Or, Fact-checking Ruth Platner is a full-time job, part 2.

I have a confession to make. I’ve never really taken the whole concept of the “dark sky ordinance” seriously. As a recent Westerly Sun editorial put it, “Charlestown is fortunate to have such an issue to address.” With all the very real and pressing pollution problems we face—air pollution, water pollution, potential nuclear hazards—I just can’t work up much energy to combat “light pollution.” To my mind, light is simply not a pollutant. It’s not waste matter like typical pollutants; it’s essential to all life on Earth. Light pollution doesn’t require cleanup or remediation like other forms of pollution and doesn’t persist in the environment. All you have to do to stop “polluting” with light is to turn the lights off.

No more Uncle Fluffy

UPDATED: Council President Gentz drops the mask

Goodbye, Uncle Fluffy. Hello, Boss Gentz

By Will Collette

I've been waiting all week to post this article until the video of the March 12 Town Council meeting was posted on Clerkbase. UPDATE: Thanks to my colleague Tom Ferrio, we now have an indexed version so you can navigate through the 4 hours of video and see different discrete segments.

I wanted you to see the video because I want you all to see for yourselves how our formerly jocular and bumbling Town Council President Tom Gentz (CCA) has transformed himself into an autocrat, into "Boss Gentz," if you will.

It's not a pretty picture.

Detailed video links for March 12 Council meeting

by Tom Ferrio
I would have rather paddled around Green Hill Pond finding goose nests but I decided we should close out Sunshine Week by providing our readers detailed links to our Town Council meeting video.

Having the meeting off-site has evidently complicated the process of producing the ClerkBase video so I spent half the day Saturday watching the entire Council meeting again (so you won't have to!) and capturing links so our readers can find the video for specific agenda items.

Where the deer and the geese play under the dark skies

Charlestown has been too hospitable to Canada geese,
and we must now engage in goose population control.

Our love-hate relationship with the local wildlife

By Linda Felaco

One of the joys of moving to a rural area like Charlestown from an urban area is getting to see wildlife other than pigeons and squirrels. When my husband and I bought our house here in Charlestown, we looked forward to seeing the wild turkeys and deer promised in the real estate ad. Turkeys by the dozens stroll through regularly, though we still haven’t seen any deer on our property.

We know they’re around, though, because some of our neighbors hire people to come around and spray their properties with deer repellent to keep the deer from munching on their gardens or landscaping plants.

We do seem to have some rather contradictory attitudes toward certain types of wildlife. 

Council compromises on beach fees

by Tom Ferrio

Beach parking fees have not been increased for years. The state raised parking fees last year and our new pavilions may be better served with more staff to keep them in tip-top shape.

The Parks and Recreation Commission concluded that a parking fee increase was justified but the recommendation was not well-received by the public, in emails to the Council and by speakers at the meeting.

Red Light Cameras – Charlestown asks for offers

Town issues a “Request for Proposals”

By Will Collette

The surprisingly controversial idea that Charlestown should install cameras at its stop lights along Route One to catch drivers who run through them is back.

Charlestown has officially posted an RFP (“Request for Proposals”) asking vendors to submit proposals to install the system to cover at least four, if not each, of our traffic signals. The RFP says Charlestown wants proposals that will provide the town with state-of-the-art coverage at no cost to the town.

Town Council Meeting - the March episode Play-by-Play

by Tom Ferrio

The event had been promoted as two title matches with several rounds of lighter entertainment.

The two big topics on the agenda were the proposed lighting ordinance which we have covered often as it's developed and Dan Slattery's four agenda items which we have characterized as War on Ninigret Park (here and here).

This article summarizes the topics as they were discussed at the meeting. We will follow with more in-depth analysis of the most important topics.

Tonight - Town Council rumble

Town Council meeting tonight could be epic!

"This is taxpayer money - let's have some FUN!"

By Will Collette

Tonight at 7 PM in the Charlestown Elementary School, the Town Council will hold what could be one of its most surreal meetings to date.

This meeting WILL NOT BE TELEVISED - the Elementary School is not wired for Clerkbase live-streaming. So you can't sit at home and watch it in your Snuggies chugging 40's and laughing (or crying) while it plays out on your computer screen. It will be live and lively, but only at the School.

There will be two mega-battles: one over the badly botched Dark Sky ordinance and the other over Council Vice-President Deputy Dan Slattery (CCA) and his legislative temper tantrum – his plan to punish Parks & Recreation by moving to end most activity at Ninigret Park except of course for the Frosty Drew Observatory, our sacred temple to the dark sky.

Westerly Sun article on lighting ordinance

Don't forget to e-mail your entry in the First (maybe Last)
Progressive Charlestown Peeps contest

See NOTE FROM WILL at the end of this article.

Sunday's Westerly Sun has a front page article by Cassidy Swanson explaining the points of view on the lighting ordinance that may be approved at Monday's Town Council meeting.

Council President Thomas Gentz said the meeting “will be a good place for people to come and tell everybody what’s on their minds. If done with everybody’s views in mind, it can be done appropriately.”

On March 5, Paula Andersen submitted a letter on behalf of the Parks & Recreation Commission. “The commission is in favor of and greatly appreciates the dark sky and feels that our mission is in keeping with providing dark sky compliance but finds this ordinance too restrictive for the future development of Ninigret Park,” she wrote. “Our members also felt that this ordinance would eliminate all but daytime activities in Ninigret Park.”

Beach sticker shock

It’s about to get a lot more expensive to visit the beach … unless you live within walking distance.

By Linda Felaco

UPDATE: for the outcome of the Town Council's action on beach fees, click here.

At the October Town Council Meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Primiano proposed allowing residents to purchase as many beach stickers as they had vehicles registered in and paying taxes to Charlestown, rather than the current limit of two per household. As I wrote at the time, I thought this was a good idea and only fair.

But I never heard any follow-up on the issue and it slid off my radar screen until this recent bout of springlike weather, which got me thinking about summer and beach stickers.

Then the agenda was posted for Monday night’s Town Council meeting (which, as a reminder, is being held at the elementary school and therefore won’t be live on Clerkbase, only taped). And there on the agenda were the new fees for beach stickers and no mention of raising the two-vehicle limit. Though at these exorbitant new rates, I doubt many people will want more than two and may even just limit themselves to one.

Can this ordinance be saved?

Rescuing the dark sky ordinance from Ruth Platner

Charlestown Wine & Spirits is already dark-sky compliant,
even without the lighting ordinance.
(Photos by Will Collette)

By Linda Felaco

Back in 2008, when the dark sky ordinance was first drafted, it was a collaborative effort between the Planning Commission and the Economic Improvement Commission. But somewhere along the line, the EIC was cut out of the loop, and now, as we’ve written about extensively here on Progressive Charlestown, several provisions have been added to the ordinance that town businesses have objected to and that would essentially ban nighttime recreational activities and festivals at Ninigret Park.

Opposition to the ordinance is currently so strong that it’s hard to see how it can possibly be passed at Monday night’s Town Council meeting, where it is up for a public hearing and possible vote. (Note that the meeting will be held at the elementary school and will not be live on Clerkbase, though it will be available afterward.) The Planning Commission was still revising the ordinance as of their last meeting, so the version that the council will be voting on Monday night will in essence be sight unseen. And as we saw with the wind ordinance, it only serves to create confusion and diminish confidence in government transparency to have the council voting on bills that differ from the published version.

If the lighting ordinance is to be enacted, several serious problems need to be addressed.

Town Council preview – not every agenda item is terrible

UPDATED: In addition to some truly awful stuff on the upcoming Town Council agenda, there are some other items of interest

UPDATE: the goose-oiling training that Council Prez
Gentz would like volunteers to attend (read here) has 
actually happened already (in February). Will Gentz
conduct the training himself?

By Will Collette

Before I get my blood pressure too jacked up, there are several items I found interesting in the agenda for the Monday, March 12 Town Council meeting – which will be held in Charlestown Elementary NOT Town Hall.

Also, this meeting WILL NOT be live on Clerkbase, meaning you can't watch it at home in your jammies while downing shots of tequila.

Yes, there will be the sad and divisive fight over the dark sky ordinance and, OH MY GOD, there are Deputy Dan Slattery’s resolutions aimed at ending many uses and plans for Ninigret Park. These two issues alone ensure this upcoming Council meeting will be one for the Charlestown history books.

But there will be some lighter items too.

Deputy Dan launches new War on Ninigret Park

Slattery proposes to transfer control over Ninigret Park to "stakeholders"

Listen to Deputy Dan Slattery's 
arrogance by clicking here

By Will Collette

At Monday night's Town Council meeting – which will be at Charlestown Elementary, NOT Town Hall – Deputy Dan Slattery plans his most audacious power play yet.

Buried in the agenda, and scheduled to be heard very late in the evening, are a set of resolutions by Slattery that would overturn the current way the town manages Ninigret Park.

Based on reading the documents now available on Clerkbase (links provided below), Deputy Dan proposes the following radical actions:

Agenda Meeting Surprise

Are we giving away Ninigret Park?

Dan has a plan

by Tom Ferrio

I attended the Town Council agenda meeting Wednesday night to see if there would be any discussion about whether we could legally have a hearing on the new lighting ordinance, considering that changes are still being made and we will clearly not have the legally mandated time to see the wording that will be discussed on Monday.

I didn't expect to see the Parks and Rec Commission be disemboweled with proposals on the agenda that could give away town decision-making about Ninigret Park direction and day-to-day operations.