Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - June 26, 2020

HOT

NAACP's Jim Vincent

The endorsement of Superior Court Melissa Long to the Rhode Island Supreme Court is a strong move to realize a tangible positive change.

"The NAACP Providence Branch supports Superior Court Judge Melissa Long to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court...making history!" said the NAACP in a statement. 

HOT

Summer

Rhode Island has been enjoying the start of one of the most beautiful summers in recent history.

The spectacular weather has been a great break from the economic and health worries caused by a global pandemic. 

Summer is Rhode Island at its best...oh, the fall is pretty good too. 

HOT

The Loving Influence of Michael Van Leesten

The Providence Pedestrian Bridge is slated to be named after one of the city’s favorite sons, civil rights leader and businessman Michael Van Leesten.

Last week vandals spraypainted Black Lives Matter on the bridge. The vandalism was disavowed by organizers of the BLM effort in Providence. 

Van Leesten’s daughter Jill and his close friends Ali Cabral and Terry Cannon visited the bridge at 8:00 AM last Saturday morning to remove the graffiti from the bridge.

Cabral and Cannon were friends with Van Leesten for more than 50 years and the two were co-captains of the Community College of Rhode Island basketball team back in the late-1960s.

“We went down to the Bridge this morning at 8:00 am and tried to clean it up.,” said Jill Van Leesten.

“This bridge, like Michael Van Leesten, is all about the people of Providence.  It’s connecting the city.  A place of peace. We need to protect it,” said Cabral. 

Call to Name Bridge After Van Leesten

As GoLocal wrote in an editorial first suggesting the Pedestrian Bridge be named after Van Leesten on August 29, 2019:

"We recommend the bridge be named for the ultimate bridge builder -- Michael Van Leesten.

A man, who just out of college was in the South and in danger fighting for freedom and civil rights in his early 20s.

A man, who at 80-years-old, was still working to build an enduring organization that trains workers and uplifts spirits.

Van Leesten, like the bridge, was smooth — cool like a New Orleans sax player. He was the mix of those juxtaposing features. A man who not only could work and live with every community, but far more importantly could bring diverse people together.

He lived an amazingly accomplished life — athlete, civil rights advocate, community leader, entrepreneur, father, friend, and mentor. He did them all with an elevating touch.

His talents were immense. His passion was unwavering. He touched everyone. To not have met Van Leesten and enjoyed his leadership, vision, and energy for the community, would be to never have visited a beach in Rhode Island. You really missed out on one of the state’s best experiences." 

HOT

Providence to Newport Ferry

The Providence to Newport Ferry, including weekend service to Bristol, is returning starting on Friday, June 26. 

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) advises riders to plan ahead and make reservations, as capacity will be limited in accordance with COVID-19 public health protocols.

In its first year, the ferry carried over 33,000 passengers.

This year between a later starting date and social distancing restrictions the ferry will realize a fraction of that passenger count.

To keep everyone safe, the number of riders on the 149-passenger ferry will be reduced based on Rhode Island’s Phase II reopening guidelines. 

HOT

Dylan Conley

It could be a race.

In Rhode Island, 20-year Congressional veteran Jim Langevin has a primary challenger on his left.

Dylan Conley is an attorney and current chair of the Providence Board of Licenses, who released his first video to announce his "official campaign launch" for Rhode Island’s 2nd district. GoLocal reported Conley's run two weeks ago.

The often aloof Langevin campaign just spews out the same "He has always fought for the people of Rhode Island and will continue to do so.” But, Langevin's lax attitude about this primary could create an opportunity for the energetic Conley.

“Right now is a pivotal moment in our country’s history. I can’t be on the sidelines -- doing nothing is unacceptable,” said Conley. “The pandemic exposed our system. The foundational cracks that should have been fixed years ago have been laid bare. At birth, our futures are confined to the varied prison bars of our zipcode, race and gender. Until our own decisions and efforts are the only predictor of our health and wealth, we are not truly free. Until the average family and small business has a fair chance at sustainable economic margins, our government is failing us.”

“Jamaal Bowman’s victory against incumbency inertia is proof that this is a special election. We need different leaders with new ideas to take a seat at the national table. We need everyday people fighting for the future we deserve. We must confront our past complacency," added Conley.

“This campaign is not a ‘me’ thing, it’s a ‘we’ thing. Today, our team is building a coalition to win a single seat in the United States House of Representatives, but our goal is greater than a single seat. We aim to empower more people to run for more offices. Together we can build a new wave of political participation that will harness the energy of this once-in-a-century moment of historic change in American Politics and Culture. Now is our opportunity to stand up and make the American Dream our American Reality. No one will hand us the future we deserve, but now, together, we can stand up and take it," said Conley.

HOT

Representative Anastasia Williams

State Representative Anastasia P. Williams (D-Dist. 9, Providence) is urging Governor Raimondo and the Rhode Island Judicial Nominating Commission to reopen the application process for three judicial vacancies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected Rhode Island’s minority communities particularly harder than most.  The application period ended on April 30.

The three open judicial seats are for Associate Justice positions on the Supreme Court, the Superior Court, and the Family Court.

Williams is the latest Rhode Island leader to call for a fair process and the need for Rhode Island to add its first minority to the high court.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our way of life in too many ways to count.  Included in this upheaval was the judicial nominating process due to the deadline for applications to open judicial seats landed right in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown.  This deadline on April 30, in the midst of a state-wide quarantine, has shut out numerous highly qualified applicants, especially in regard to judicial applicants of color who were occupied with the COVID-19 pandemic that hit our state’s minority communities the hardest,” said Williams.

“The lack of a diverse judicial system that accurately reflects the multicultural demographics of our state has been a long-standing problem that needs to be rectified. This problem has only been exacerbated with this arbitrary deadline that affects our jurists of color the most.  If we truly wish to have a fair and diverse judiciary, the application process must be reopened so that qualified applicants who were predominantly occupied with caring for and supporting their families during the pandemic may have the opportunity to apply for these judicial positions.  Now is the time to fight back against the systematic injustices that have plagued our state for centuries and one aspect of this fight for justice is finally creating a diverse judiciary system.  This will only be possible if the application and the nominating process is reopened,” said Williams.

NOT

Greater Providence YMCA

GoLocal has learned a settlement has been reached in the gender discrimination case of two former Greater Providence YMCA executives, Karen Cooper and Linda Dykeman, against the nonprofit and its Chief Executive Officer -- and former head of the Rhode Island State Police -- Steven O’Donnell who is now head of the Greater Providence YMCA.

“They’re pleased with the result,” said Dykeman and Cooper’s lawyer David Cass. “The whole case has been resolved. That’s all I can say.”

Last fall, the YMCA and O'Donnell had filed for summary judgment asking the court to throw the lawsuits out — after Federal District Court Judge Joseph LaPlante had ruled three of four claims could go to trial. 

The case had been moved to New Hampshire courts due to Rhode Island federal court judge Will Smith being a personal friend of O'Donnell and serving on the YMCA's board.

As GoLocal reported in November, the judge outlined in his ruling the court found that the claims of gender discrimination and humiliation of the two women by the YMCA and specifically O'Donnell had merit to move forward.

“Plaintiffs Karen Cooper and Linda Dykeman allege that the Greater Providence Young Men’s Christian Association and their former supervisor, Steven O’Donnell, subjected them to a hostile work environment based on their gender and retaliated against them when they complained of this discrimination, in violation of federal and state law,” claim the Cooper and Dykeman in the lawsuit.

NOT

RI's Tax Burden Ranking

A new study finds that Rhode Island residents face the 8th highest tax burden in the country.

While a three-month delay gave Americans some extra time to get their financial situation in order to pay their taxes, there is substantial impact by the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

One simple ratio to judge the impact of taxes across the states is known as the “tax burden” and it helps cut through the complexity of the tax code and burden.

“Unlike tax rates, which vary widely based on an individual’s circumstances, 'tax burden' measures the proportion of total personal income that residents pay toward state and local taxes. And it isn’t uniform across the U.S., either,” writes WalletHub.

To determine the residents with the biggest tax burdens, WalletHub compared the 50 states across the three tax types of state tax burdens — property taxes, individual income taxes and sales and excise taxes — as a share of total personal income in the state. 

NOT

Business Killer

This week there were a number of businesses forced to close forever, in part, due to the coronavirus.

The owners of the Greenville Inn have announced the restaurant will be closing, after owning the family dining establishment for 23 years.

Hallworth House, a 57-bed nursing home on the East Side of Providence announced Wednesday that it has filed a plan to cease operations with the state’s Department of Health. The closure is anticipated to occur by the end of August.

NOT

Abusive, Mean People

An ice cream shop in Rhode Island is considering closing for the summer, after saying its young staff has been subject to "disrespectful and abusive" behavior from customers.

Brickley's -- with locations in Narragansett and Wakefield -- said that some customers have been refusing to wear masks -- and berating employees who ask them to do so.

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NOT

Sports

Professional sports are a mess -- and the infighting by baseball's ownership and players has been pathetic.