Y’all: don’t follow our local officials home after meetings to harass them. Don’t do it!
We like to have a silly, goofy time here, and I love to throw shade with the power of the pen, but these are our neighbors and they deserve safety and respect. Also, their addresses are public information, so I find the in-person intimidation to be especially insulting. I can’t stop you from doing crimes, but at least be smart about it. 🙄
In the News
Westerly Sun article about the potential addition of roundabouts to Rt. 91 and 216
Joe Jackson takes Kristi Walston’s seat on the school committee
Don’t forget to support Senator Gu’s letter campaign to bring commuter rail to Westerly!
I wrote a letter to the editor thanking Councilor LaPietra for protecting us from seasonally appropriate downtown displays of festivity
Town Council
March 3 - Regular Meeting (agenda)
Caswell Cooke, executive director of the Misquamicut Beach Association, gave a very compelling presentation detailing the urgent need to combat the erosion happening to the beach. I recommend watching it! (Begins around 12:15 here.) The highlights:
The town is going to have to spend money on the beach no matter what, even if they choose to abandon the effort all together and let Atlantic Avenue dissolve into the ocean.
Replenishment is a coastal access issue: if the ocean encroaches farther onto the land and into the beach parking lots, where will people park to get onto the beach? (This is a good point - many of our coastal access challenges have focused on limiting nearby parking rather than the pathway to the beach itself.)
It will be expensive and will have to be redone approximately every decade. But what’s the alternative?
The project is supported by Representative Azzinaro and will require the buy-in from many public and private entities.
PERMANENT HOUSING COMMITTEE (yes, still - the public hearing is the 17th)
Councilor Van Dover, lord help me, objected to more low-income housing on the basis that she grew up in the projects and saw firsthand how housing developments changed the character of the community and brought in more crime and drugs.
Rose, if you’re reading this, come here. Lean in. Let me tell you something:
Rich people do drugs too; they just have more access to private spaces to do so away from the public eye. Our social understanding of “crime” is almost entirely based on protecting private property. You escaped poverty and are pulling up the ladder behind you.
Shout out to Councilor Healy for correctly identifying the prejudices underlying a seemingly benign comment connecting low-income housing and undesirable behavior.
School Committee
March 5 - Regular Meeting (agenda)
Presentation: ALEKs MATH
Policy update: STUDENT NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Our most vocal local transphobe continues to be obsessed with the genitals of children (very normal)
Other Boards and Committees
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