Gas-to-electric plant planned at landfill

Enviros have expressed concern about at least one past plan for an energy plant near the Central Landfill in Johnston. How this initiative will be greeted remains to be seen.

From Vision Strategies:

Ridgewood Renewable Power, an international owner and operator of renewable electric power and infrastructure projects, will announce the development of a major electric power plant fueled by landfill methane gas, which will be located at the state’s central landfill in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Executives from Ridgewood Renewable Power will hold a press conference on Wednesday, December 3 at 10:30 a.m. to announce the specifics of the project, which will create the second largest landfill gas-to-electric power plant in the United States. Governor Carcieri will attend the press conference along with Michael O’Connell, executive director of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC) and House Majority Leader Gordon Fox.

Event Details:

Who:     Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri; Randall D. Holmes, president and CEO of Ridgewood Renewable Power; Stephen D. Galowitz, managing director, Ridgewood Renewable Power; Michael O’Connell, executive director of RIRRC; Johnston Mayor Joseph M. Polisena; legislative leaders and other state and local officials.

What:    Press conference announcing a new power plant at the state’s Central Landfill.

When:   Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 10:30 a.m.

Where:  Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, 65 Shun Pike, Johnston, RI

              Administration Building – Board Room             

ACLU raises new questions on detainee's death

Some three months after the death of Hiu Lui Ng, a Chinese national, the Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU points to a new court transcript in raising further questions about the case.

Relying on a just-released court transcript, the Rhode Island ACLU charged today that officials at the Wyatt Detention Center were deliberately misleading in their public pronouncements on the death of Hiu Lui Ng, a Chinese national, at their facility in August. The transcript, the ACLU said, also lends credence to the view that Ng, near death and experiencing great pain, was dragged from his cell at Wyatt by immigration officials and forced to travel to Hartford, Connecticut in reprisal for a petition filed on July 29th by family lawyers seeking his release from prison because of his severe medical condition. Mr. Ng died a week later, on August 6th, as the result of complications from advanced cancer; he was also found to have a broken spine. The RI ACLU is preparing a civil suit on behalf of the family.

At a hearing held before U.S. District Judge William Smith on July 31, 2008, less than a week before Ng’s death, the transcript reveals that the attorney for the federal government claimed that Ng was getting “more than adequate medical care” and that “any suggestion that he hasn’t received adequate medical care is really stretching it.” At the same time, the government attorney also stated, just days before Ng died of advanced cancer, that Wyatt’s medical records revealed only that Ng had “lower back strain and sciatica.” This stands in direct contradiction to a statement that Wyatt officials issued shortly after Ng’s death, in which they claimed that Ng’s “diagnoses came as the direct result of medical care and special diagnostic evaluation recommended by the facility’s medical staff.”

The transcript further reveals that federal officials had no logical answer as to why, just one day after attorneys filed the lawsuit seeking his release from Wyatt, he was dragged from his cell and transported to Hartford, Connecticut for a day.

Tourism Council has DC travel plan

We know how coveted those tickets are for the Obama inaugural. Want to be among the masses? The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council can hook you up. 

Seldom in a lifetime does an occasion of such high importance claim a prominent position in history.  On Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 the inauguration of America's 44th President, Barack Obama, is such an occasion. 

The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council is offering this trip.   For $139 per person, you can be a witness to history and join the Blackstone Valley and fellow Rhode Islanders on this historic journey. 

The trip departs from Rhode Island Monday, January 19 at 10:00 pm and includes reserved round trip seats on a comfortable, convenient chartered luxury motorcoach; official D.C. Metrorail System Maps and a Commemorative Inaugural gift. 

Be part of this extraordinary event and order your tickets now online at www.tourblackstone.com or by contacting the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council at 401-724-2200.  This ticket does not include admission to or seats at the Inauguration.  For background and information about the inauguration visit www.inaugural.senate.gov.

Modeling good behavior on pensions

In a state with a history of ethically challenged behavior, the Rhode Island State Police has long had a well-deserved reputation for integrity. And when Channel 12's Tim White looked at the prevalence of accidental disability pensions in Rhode Island, the state police came up very favorably by comparison.  

From my Q+A with Superintendent Brendan Doherty in last week's Phoenix:

OF ALL THE COMMUNITIES EXAMINED BY CHANNEL 12, THE STATE POLICE HAD THE LOWEST RATE OF ACCIDENTAL DISABILITY PENSIONS. MOST CITIES AND TOWNS WERE UP AROUND 40, 30 PERCENT, SOME IN THE 20S. YOU GUYS WERE AT EIGHT PERCENT. I THINK IT WAS OF 230 RETIREES, ONLY 19 HAVE AN ACCIDENTAL DISABILITY PENSION. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THIS LOW RATE TO?
Unfortunately, we've had some troopers hurt to a degree where they have to retire. We closely scrutinize any request for a disability pension. I have refused two myself in the last two years, and those people have gone on to retire. I think the troopers take a lot of pride in their conditioning, and take a lot of pride in their job. We do not have a problem with sick leave. About four years ago, I surveyed the troopers of the state police and found, I believe, they use 1.5 sick days a year on the average. That's incredible. Now many, many do not use any time. I once went 10 years without a sick day, and there are many troopers that have gone longer than that.

A post-Thanksgiving segueway

The just-past holiday has a big food component, so if you missed the Q+A with David Byrne in last week's Phoenix, check out the musician's answer to this all-important local query:

I'VE SAVED THIS QUESTION FOR LAST, BUT I AM COMPELLED TO ASK. IT IS DEEPLY ROOTED IN LOCAL LORE THAT THE FOREARM-CHOPPING MOVEMENT IMMORTALIZED IN THE "ONCE IN A LIFETIME" VIDEO IS, IN FACT, A NOD TO YOUR DAYS WORKING IN A PROVIDENCE WIENER JOINT.
[laughs] Well, I did work in a wiener joint, but if you look at the video, the source of the movement is right there in the video. It's from Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. They had all these street dancers — they still have street dancers — in the park, and I videotaped some of them. And there's a whole group that does kind of rockabilly stuff, and there's other ones that do this kind of weird, spacey stuff, and that's what I gravitated to. And some of them were doing that movement and other movements, and I just thought, "Where the hell did that come from? What is that? That's completely unrelated to any kind of movement that I've seen before." But yeah, I did work in a hot dog place where you'd put hot dogs up your arm. You'd kind of extend your arm and stack, like, eight hot dogs up. And then drip hot chili sauce all over them. Pretty disgusting.

Happy Thanksgiving '08

Coming Friday: Buy Nothing Day

A Rhode Island tradition, courtesy of the Greens:

12th ANNUAL BUY NOTHING DAY
WINTER COAT EXCHANGE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28th, 2008 10:00am - 2:00pm
 
If you have a coat to give, please drop it off.
If you need a coat, please pick one up.
State House lawn (directly across from Providence Place mall)
* Rain/Snow sites: St. Patrick's School, 244 Smith Street, Providence
& The Blackstone Valley Visitor'ss Center, 175 Main Street, Pawtucket
Other Coat Exchange Sites:
Newport — St Paul's Church, 12 Marlborough Street
Wakefield — St. Francis Church, 114 High Street 10:00am - NOON
Woonsocket — St. Ann's Arts & Cultural Center, 84 Cumberland Street

Quixotic mission: policing ethics in RI

Not for nothing, but Kent Willever had an interesting choice for a bit of office decoration when he took up the job as executive director of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.

As I wrote in 2002:

An illustration of Don Quixote seems like an appropriate image for the man who faces the challenge of restoring the battered reputation of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. But Kent A. Willever, who became the commission's director after his predecessor was unceremoniously sacked last April, says the placement of the decoration in his office reflects just an uncharacteristic bit of whimsy. "I had been given so much advice when I was first getting ready to take over this office, about how difficult it was going to be, like tilting at windmills," Willever says. "But I said, `I'm not crazy, I'm not like Don Quixote.' I just hung it on my wall more as a conversation piece than anything else."

Fair enough. In fact, Governor Carcieri deserves credit for subsequently strengthening the Ethics Commission with some of his appointments.

Yet a recent decision by Judge Francis Darigan poses a serious obstacle to the commission's work -- a topic taken up yesterday in Ed Fitzpatrick's second consecutive excellent column -- seemingly returning it to the kind of neutered state that it occupied in the meltdown prior to Willever's arrival.

The commission plans to appeal Darigan's decision, and Fitzpatrick expresses his skepticism about whether it will be successful. Good point; for what it's worth, let's remember that Frank Williams, chief justice of the RI Supreme Court, was very critical of Willever's ill-fated predecessor at the Ethics Commission.

Driving home the significance of this issue, Fitzpatrick, getting his sea legs as a columnist, writes:

I agree we need to protect legislators from meddling by other branches of government, especially from whatever politician happens to be governor. But should we protect legislators from an independent, nonpartisan Ethics Commission?

I’m sure legislators would appreciate that protection. But given the potential for a part-time legislature to have conflicts of interest involving legislative activities, I don’t think that protection is warranted. Not now. Not when, for the first time in history, two top legislators — former House Majority Leader Gerard M. Martineau and former Senate Corporations Committee Chairman John A. Celona — are behind bars for corruption.

As they say at the State House, “out of an abundance of caution,” Rhode Island needs an Ethics Commission with a full set of teeth.

Interesting juxtaposition

 

[A]ll is not bleak for the Republicans. There were two notable Republican winners. You didn’t hear about them? Michael Pinga unseated Sen. Stephen Alves, of West Warwick, and Ed O’Neill, of Lincoln, trounced Senate President Joseph Montalbano. You might have overlooked them because to win, they abandoned their party and ran as a Democrat and independent, respectively. And here’s the real rub: Conservative as both of them are, they will find many compatible colleagues among the Democrats of the General Assembly.

The failure of the state Republican Party is a failure to recognize that there is demand for a constructive and conservative party here. Sadly, state Republican leaders refuse to supply that demand. Governor Carcieri seems to relish spending his time bashing immigrants, unions and advocates for the poor on the radio even while candidates who concentrate on those issues lose. Meanwhile Pinga and O’Neill, who appear to approximate old-time Yankee Republicanism, did just fine.

As we know, we're at the point where even George Nee and other ideological foes of the GOP are citing the desirability of a real two-party system in RI.

Meanwhile, with a letter to the editor in today's ProJo, Susan Story says that TransformRI . . .

is here for the long term to help the public understand and act on issues of critical importance to our state.

Our state is facing some very great challenges. As Governor Carcieri told the General Assembly last January, Rhode Island is at a “tipping point.” We need to see real reform in our state if we are going to rebound from the economic abyss we are experiencing.

Yet doesn't it go to Sgouros's point about the RI GOP's lack of traction when the main image on TransformRI's Web page today is one of Governor Carcieri talking on WPRO?

Strengthen the Working Waterfront

I agree with Matt and with David Carroll, who takes up the topic today in a ProJo op-ed: as Rhode Island struggles with joblessness, Providence's Working Waterfront should be stregthened, not weakened.

Today, the piers and wharves of the Providence River handle ships and barges that bring in gasoline, home-heating oil, cement, highway rock salt and coal. They also take on scrap metal for export to international ports.

For some reason, however, city leaders seem to think there is something unattractive about this scene. They have commissioned studies that show a future Allens Avenue waterfront without any marine or industrial businesses. Similarly, developers show off fancy renderings of waterfront condos, hotels and recreational marinas that leave out any views of the area’s piers, oil-storage tanks, and salt and coal piles.

I find many of these supposedly “ugly” and “noisy” businesses — boat repair, scrap-metal handling, and oil, coal and salt offloading — to be beautiful, and music to my ears. Why? Because those “ugly,” “dirty” and “noisy” businesses that the city seems so intent on doing away with represent commerce and good jobs that Rhode Island cannot afford to lose.

"Baby Shacks" or "Baby Shanks"?

[image from thebrothersbulger.com]

During Colonel Brendan Doherty's appearance this morning on Newsmakers, I was surprised when he responded to a question about Louis "Baby Shacks" Manocchio, the reputed head of organized crime in Rhode Island, by referring to him as "Baby Shanks."

It had been my impression that "Baby Shanks" was a mistaken derivation of the actual nickname.

The sometimes-authoritative Wikipedia goes with "Baby Shanks."

But a number of Internet references employ "Baby Shacks."

Tim White, who is continuing his esteemed father's work in reporting on organized crime, later explained that both nicknames have their adherents (as reflected by Doherty's response). As he wrote on Channel 12's Web site:

The two most popular theories: he got the "Baby Shank" moniker from working in a restaurant (presumably "shank" of meat), and "Baby Shacks" for being rather successful with the ladies (as in "shack" up). Baby, is a bit of a mystery.

One high level law enforcement source says the confusion on the nickname isn't the media's alone.

"Wiseguys call him Louie Shacks or Baby Shanks," the source says. Noting Shanks has nothing to do with a cut of meat. "God no. Baby Shanks... it's a small knife."

You will also come up with Luigi over Louis, often. But Manocchio is listed with the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles as Louis. And since they're never wrong... (incidentally, the DMV has not officially decided on Shanks or Shacks).

Ice is nice: skate downtown

Deb Dormody sends along word about the Bank of America City Skating Center:

Skating rink opens to the public on Friday, November 21 at 6pm with admission & rental prices at the same rate for the last four years

PROVIDENCE  - The cocoa is hot and the skates are sharp at the Bank of America City Center skating rink - one of New England's most popular destinations for winter fun. As the rink prepares to open for the new season, it offers 2004 prices in the 2008 economy for families looking for fun without breaking the bank.

The 14,000-square-foot facility, which is twice the size of Rockefeller Plaza's ice rink in New York City, will offer a variety of programs this season, including an invitation for City of Providence residents, with valid identification, to skate for free on the first Saturday of each month with a $2 charge for skate rental. 

General admission is $6 for adults and $3 for seniors and children (under 12).  Skates can be rented for $4.   The Bank of America City Center offers discounted prices for school groups.  The hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.  The skating rink is open on all winter holidays.

The following are just some of the scheduled events at the Bank of America City Center for the 2008-2009 season:

-- Downtown Holiday Celebration with a professional figure skating demonstration on December 6th following the Mayor's tree lighting at City Hall.
-- Learn-To-Skate four-week session begins December 6th.
-- Skate with Santa, Sunday, December 14th and Sunday, December 21st from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.
-- Disney on Ice (mini performance) followed by an opportunity to skate with Disney characters, Friday, December 26th 10 a.m.
-- Providence Bruins practice, Saturday, December 27th 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
-- Bright Night, December 31st. Check our website for special deals and performances.
-- College Night, every Wednesday from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.  Admission for college students is $3 with a valid college photo ID.
-- Lunchtime Special, every weekday from noon until 2 p.m.  Admission is $3 and skate rentals are $3.
-- Afterwork Special, every weekday from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.  Admission is $3 and skate rentals are $3. 
 
For more information about the skating rink, including birthday parties and group rates, visit the Bank of America City Center website at www.providenceskating.com or call (401) 331-5544.

Change.com applications top 200,000

Guess those privacy concerns aren't putting too many people off (NYT's the Caucus via Halperin):

According to officials at the Obama-Biden transition office they have received more than 200,000 applications for positions through the online form on the Web site Change.gov.

The site invites job-seekers hoping to get hired at the White House, or in any federal department, agency or commission to submit an “expression of interest” form as a first step. From there, they are asked to complete a more extensive application, and then it’s time for the old don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you routine.

And with far more applicants than available slots, it could be a long wait by the phone. Still, the Web site reassures potential employees who may be nervous about their chances that “applying on-line is the fastest and most accurate way to get your information to us.”

The Mob fades, but the fascination endures

During the bygone heyday of Raymond L.S. Patriarca, some inferiority complex-plagued Rhode Islanders took solace in how the New England Mob was headquartered out of a storefront on Atwells Avenue.

Now, although LCN has continued its longstanding fade across the country, public fascination (as well as that of the press) continues when Mob-related stories burst into the spotlight.

During a taping this morning of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers, Colonel Brendan Doherty, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, expressed concern about a rising level of youth violence, with about 63 shootings in Providence so far this year. He endorsed the efforts of the Providence streetworkers, and says the profileration of street gangs has complicated the work of law enforcement.

Doherty says the RISP continues to keep a close eye on wise guys and their associates in Rhode Island. Unlike the old days, when aspirants longed to be "made," mob-affiliated criminals no longer want the "button," Doherty said, because they can make more money without it.

Organized crime in RI -- which claimed about 22 "made" men during its heyday -- is down to about nine "made" guys, some of whom are "retired," says the colonel.

Ken Block wants your help

In terms of furthering the third-party cause in RI, Ken Block sends this along:

This will take less than one minute of your time.

 

The Moderate Party of Rhode Island has an important meeting next week with Rhode Island Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis.  At this meeting, we will be asking Secretary Mollis to consider proposing legislation to level the financial playing field for new political parties in Rhode Island.  It will be important for anyone who supports the idea of backing a new political party to send an email to Secretary Mollis indicating your support for this electoral reform.

 

More specifics on how current RI electoral laws disadvantage new political parties can be viewed here:

 

www.moderate-ri.org/news/quest.htm

 

The link below will take you to a form email ready to be sent to Secretary Mollis.  In less than a minute, you can enter your email address, name and address and the email will automatically be sent to the Secretary.

 

Also, if possible, please forward this email to other people that you know who are tired of the same old political landscape in Rhode Island.  Change can and will be made.  Every voice counts.

 

Send email here:

 

www.moderate-ri.org/mollis