Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot & Who’s Not? - July 7, 2017

HOT

Camille Vella-Wilkinson

Amidst the chaos of the House leaving before a budget was passed, the first-term state representative from Warwick scored a major legislative victory in passing a bill that would make municipal union contracts continue even their expiration date--taking away leverage from mayors and town managers.

This is legislation that municipal unions have wanted for years, and it makes certain that Vella-Wilkinson will have their loyalty moving forward.

HOT

Ray Rickman

The former state representative and deputy secretary of state who heads up his own public affairs firm will be appearing on GoLocal LIVE every Thursday. Rickman is a long-time civil rights and racial equality leader here in Rhode Island, and it will be an absolute treat to hear his opinions on a regular basis going forward. Rickman is a throwback--an old school gentleman who can disagree with someone without being disagreeable. His perspective will continue to constructively add to the dialogue here in Little Rhody.

HOT

Timothy Babineau

Lifespan, the state’s dominant hospital chain, had a better year financially than in previous years. Thanks to that improved financial position, the hospital decided to make an additional, voluntary $400,000 payment to the City of Providence, to help the city’s beleaguered taxpayers. Lifespan hadn’t kicked in to help the city in recent years but it’s a much-appreciated, if not a bit overdue, move.

HOT

Garden City, Cranston

While the hits keep coming for the Providence Place Mall (it recently lost Fire And Ice, one of its first restaurants), Garden City continues booming. Two new restaurants, The Simple Greek, and Tavern in the Square will join Legal C bar in a new 30,000 square-foot building located between Bank of America and Newport Creamery. That’s another feather in the cap of the upscale Cranston retail and restaurant center.

HOT

Andrew Stewart

The local progressive activist and filmmaker makes the case for progressives to disengage from the Democrat Party and focus on building a more honest third party. Stewart often comes off a bit idealistic, but there’s something to be said for his fearless brand of intellectual honesty.

HOT

Saul Kaplan

The Business Innovation Factory, led by Kaplan, has received a $1 million grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to "help integrate the many fragmented innovation solutions, tools, and approaches being tried across the U.S. education system in order to transform student experience and produce better student outcomes." This grant will allow Kaplan’s organization make new ideas education more cohesive and therefore effective for students.

HOT

Boston Red Sox

Slow and steady wins the race. Sure, the Red Sox didn't’ have the ultra fast start to the season like the New York Yankees. But their consistency, day in and out, has them securely atop the AL East standings heading into the All Star break. That’s a good sign for the home team moving forward this summer.

NOT

Larry Lucchino

The owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox, led by Larry Lucchino, have signaled that they are ready to explore moving the team elsewhere, since the legislature has yet to approve them a massive giveaway of taxpayer money to build a new stadium. I hope team ownership understands that the people of Rhode Island don’t want to hold them back. If they can grab more taxpayer money from people somewhere else, they should certainly take that offer as soon as possible and let us keep our money. We will find someone else to play baseball here--no problem--since our fan base will support it. (Especially if the new team doesn’t have a vampiric desire to bleed us dry!)

NOT

Nicholas Mattiello and Dominick Ruggerio:

The House Speaker and the Senate President have found themselves at an impasse since they’re both trying to flex their muscles and show that one is more powerful than the other.

Mattiello claims that Ruggerio and he had an agreement on the budget based on a backroom handshake, and that Ruggerio violated the agreement by allowing the Senate to amend the budget. Ruggerio says that no such deal was ever reached and the Senate has the right to amend legislation as the body sees fit.

Make no mistake about it: this fight is about power and who can and should be calling more of the shots. Yawn.

NOT

Aaron Regunberg

The East Side progressive has been a good boy all year long making sure he marches in lockstep with legislative leadership. But Regunberg wasn’t rewarded for it at the end of the legislative session, as his main bill, which would have allowed Rhode Island workers to accrue sick time, died after House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello sent the representatives home and the Senate passed a different version of the bill--leaving the two houses unable to reconcile the differences.

Other progressive pieces of legislation also died this way, including a bill that would have mandated that the state seize guns from domestic abusers. Representative Regunberg: Maybe the go-along-to-get-along method of legislating isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be?

NOT

Dr. Stephen Petteruti

On the heels of GoLocal’s report that Dr. Tad Sztykowski had his license revoked from the Rhode Island Department of Health due to lack of an accredited degree, GoLocal reported this week that his fellow WPRO radio show host Dr. Stephen Petteruti has also been in trouble with the RI Department of Health.

Petteruti has been cited by the Department of Health for having a sexual relationship with a patient in the late nineties, and for writing improper prescriptions for controlled substances in late 2011. I guess WPRO likes the bad boys of the medical profession.

NOT

7th Worst

Providence has been ranked the 7th worst city for driving out of 200 cities surveyed according to a recent report by Allstate insurance. We must admit, it would be nice if we used our blinkers a bit more and went a little easier on our brakes.

However, it’s not like we’re the only city in New England with bad drivers. Worcester, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut, all also placed in the top ten worst cities.

At least our neighbors aren’t better drivers than us.

NOT

Marriage

Bloomberg reported this week that just 40 percent of Millennials between the ages of 25 and 34 are now married, whereas in 1980, that number was 66 percent. Some might view this statistic as selfish, but maybe Millennials are just wise enough to wait in order to make sure they’re getting it right? In any event, it’s clear that young folks aren’t in any big rush to tie the knot.