Letters: Why I don't support another Newport bond
Why I don't support another Newport bond
Pray tell: Why would any Newport voter support a $98.5 million dollar bond issue that the Newport City Council is asking the state to allow the city to put before its residents?
This is the same Council that voted to hire a lobbyist at $5,000 monthly. This is the same Council that approved the repair of 23 windows at an obsolete fire station to the sum of $172,500 (do the math – that's $7,500 per window). This is the same Council that, I assume, agreed to allow city management to close down the bathhouses at Easton Beach this year and possibly longer. This is the same Council that proposes to spend $60,000,000 on Bellevue Avenue (a road that measures 3.2 miles – that's $18,750,000 per mile).
When did the fiscal responsibility of the Council cease? Case in point: Closing down the bathhouses at the beach eliminates a tidy sum of income. Why can't the rotunda and old brick former bathroom building (still standing) be utilized for beach management, lifeguard office, etc? The Council prolonged its decision regarding beach action/inaction for so long that the beach season is around the corner and still no construction/destruction has begun.
When is someone in city management going to face the fact that the Touro fire station is obsolete? Why do we need to hire lobbyists to convince our state government what the City of Newport's needs and wishes are? Didn't we elect people to do that on our behalf as our representatives?
In my 77 years years of living on this beautiful island, I have come to realize that today we have a lack of critical thinking and poor management when it comes to running this city. I don't claim to have all the solutions to our problems but I do know that what is now occurring is not the best answer(s).
Stephen D. Diomandes, Newport
Let the light shine
Government works best in the light. When its actions are open, seen and transparent, they can be measured. They can be scrutinized. They can be questioned. They can be challenged.
These principles apply at every level of government. When the local zoning board considers granting a variance to town building codes, when the city council decides how many millions of dollars to extract in property taxes, when police officers remove people from their homes and place them behind bars, government is at work.
When inspectors file reports about the condition of highway bridges, when state agencies launch a new mass transit system, or when lifeguards collect parking fees at public beaches, government is at work.
Government is busy doing things every day — deciding which roads get paved, who does the paving, and how much they get paid; selecting the next department head with a $200,000 salary and a lifelong pension.
All these actions demand scrutiny, or at least transparency. Laws create that transparency, and journalists (along with citizen watchdogs) provide that scrutiny. Their greatest tools are the principles codified in both federal and state laws that ensure the public can always access their government and its records. Here in Rhode Island, the two most important statutes for government transparency are the Open Meetings Act (ensuring public agencies, boards and commissions meet and make decisions in a visible way) and the Access to Public Records Act (making every government document open to the public, unless some privacy restriction prevents it).
Now comes a time to recognize and celebrate those laws, and the shrinking field of journalists who wield them for good. Welcome to Sunshine Week 2024, a national initiative to celebrate open government protections and the fundamental role of journalists in this nation – a role so significant it is written into the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Sunshine Week is being recognized in newsrooms and journalism classes throughout the state, culminating in a program this Saturday, March 16, at the William Hall Library in Cranston. A panel discussion on “How Public Records Shed Light on State and Local Government in Rhode Island” features several notable speakers with years of experience in the field. It begins at 10:30 a.m. and is open to the public – visible and transparent, as it should be.
Scott Pickering, general manager East Bay Media
Newport must end at-large seats on elected bodies
What comes to mind when you think of racial gerrymandering? Alabama, where the Supreme Court was forced to step in and order the redraw of a seven-seat congressional map that contained only one opportunity district for Black people, who represent over a quarter of the population? Texas, whose state legislative districts have been ruled unconstitutional for suppressing minority voices every decade since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965?
Sure, these examples are egregious. But those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. And our very own Newport City Council is just as unrepresentative as any other governing body.
The Census Bureau’s latest figures indicate that our city is 75.7% non-Hispanic white, meaning that roughly a quarter of our population are BIPOC. In a fair, proportional, system, there would be two City Council seats designed as “opportunity districts” – seats in which the population of a marginalized group is sufficiently large to allow them to elect a representative who will advocate for their specific needs and concerns. In contrast, under the current model, the First Ward is the least white of the four Council constituencies (the three wards and the city as a whole, which elects four at-large members) but still consists of less than one-third people of color. That district is represented by Angela McCalla, the only non-white ward councilor.
What’s the issue? The fact that the bulk of the Council seats are elected at-large gives the city’s white majority disproportionate influence. The problem is even more egregious for the School Committee, where all seven members are elected at-large – and, consequently, an all-white board governs a school system in which close to two-thirds of the students are BIPOC. For decades, jurists across the ideological spectrum have struck down similar systems in localities as different as New York City and Burke County, Georgia, ruling that they disproportionately dilute minority voices.
For our democracy to properly function, every voice must be heard. We cannot truly address structural inequities until marginalized communities have the representation they deserve in the halls of power. It’s long past time for Newport to scrap at-large elections and elect our City Council and School Committee from seven wards.
Michael J. Garman, Newport
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Letters: Why I don't support another Newport bond
