[Summit] Political stuff: Open letter type thing for Aaron and Gayle's opinion on ballot questions.

Fri Oct 21 23:41:20 UTC 2016

Thank you Aaron. I value your opinions and feel very fortunate to be
represented by someone who thinks well and deeply about issues that affect
all of us, is willing to listen and take into consideration the thoughts
and knowledge of others, and then acts on our behalf for the betterment of
conditions for everyone, especially the most marginalized among us.

On Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 5:57 PM, Aaron Regunberg <aaron.regunberg at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> For what it's worth, this is what I'm thinking (though to be very honest
> there are a couple I am not 100% decided on and am open to hearing more
> opinions, so I hope others will weigh in).
>
> Q1 - Tiverton Casino. I will be voting for. I'm not without reservations
> on this - I do believe in many cases casinos exploit the poor, and they're
> a regressive source of revenue. But we need revenue for all the things we
> want (school facilities repairs, higher ed funding, of course the list goes
> on and on). And my understanding is the folks in Tiverton are largely
> supportive.
>
> Q2 - Reinstating Ethics Commission jurisdiction over members of the
> General Assembly. I am strongly in favor - this is an issue I campaigned on
> in 2014 and advocated for very hard in the House. Having said that, so
> folks hear the other side, the ACLU has cited their concerns on this issue which
> you can read here
> <http://www.riaclu.org/blog/post/aclu-of-rhode-island-position-paper-on-question-2-the-ethics-commission-con>
> .
>
> Q3 - $27 million bond to build a new veteran home. I am voting in favor -
> our veteran population needs and deserves it!
>
> Q4 - $45 million bond for a new engineering campus at URI. I am voting in
> favor. I do have some concerns - like, is there some world in which this
> turns out to be a public subsidy for military-industrial corporations to
> train their workers at taxpayers' expense? But we need to invest in public
> higher ed (get excited, folks, cause I'll be introducing legislation for
> tuition free public higher ed this year!), engineering is a critical
> sector, and if we want to be a leader in it we need to have a strong
> program and up-to-date facilities.
>
> Q5 - $50 million bond for port expansions at Quonset and $20 million bond
> for expansions at ProvPort. Right now I am planning to vote no. I could be
> convinced otherwise - definitely want to hear more opinions, so please
> share with me if you have one. And I voted for putting this question on the
> ballot. But I have some concerns with the privatized nature of ProvPort, I
> have concerns with the contaminated land they're talking about buying, I
> have concerns with how its development impacts a community that already
> deals with too much pollution. I think there are ways this expansion could
> be really positive for the community and lead to sustainable jobs, but I
> don't feel comfortable about the transparency and oversight capacity we
> have to make sure that's the case. But as I said, I'm open to persuasion,
> so please weigh in if you think I'm wrong on this, because I very well
> might be.
>
> Q6 - $35 million bond for cleaning contaminated brownfield sites, bike
> paths, and green space. Heck yes!
>
> Q7 - $50 million bond for affordable housing. Yes! We need it! And I've
> been working closely with Rhode Island Housing to make sure that these new
> developments have access to solar energy (here's some info on the
> legislation I passed last year to make this possible
> <http://www.aaronregunberg.com/community-renewable-energy-for-all-rhode-islanders/>),
> so we're helping low-income Rhode Islanders and increasing our
> sustainability on this one.
>
> There's my two cents!
>
> --Aaron
>
> On Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 5:06 PM, Kim Clark <ktcxyz at cox.net> wrote:
>
>> everything i’ve read about the port sounds like it’s a bad insider deal.
>> The money goes to a nice sounding not-for-profit company, that is really an
>> arm of a not-very-good FOR profit company that siphons off the money.
>>
>> forgive me if I’m wrong or confused on this… I’ve read a few articles
>> that lead me to vote NO.
>>
>> best regards,
>> k
>>                     *Kim T. Clark*
>>          www.RHODYCRAFT.com <http://www.rhodycraft.com>
>>               780 HOPE STREET
>>           PROVIDENCE, RI 02906
>>                     401.626.1833
>>
>> <http://www.rhodycraft.com>
>> <http://www.rhodycraft.com>
>>
>> On Oct 21, 2016, at 4:56 PM, James Kelley <jameskelley4444 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Sorry for entering your mailbox on a political matter but I believe our
>> two General Assembly members  monitor this Listserv and should and could
>> provide to us their thoughts about the ballot issues.
>>
>> Our representatives have significantly more information than most of us
>> on these issues and I value their insights (isn't that why we elected
>> them).
>>
>> If they are in favor of all, great. Please tell me before I go to the
>> voting booth. I'm wondering about the ports issue for example.
>>
>> I really wish they had quarterly town hall sessions, for example. I never
>> hear from Gayle Goldin except at election.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Summit mailing list
>> Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
>> http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
>> SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Summit mailing list
>> Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
>> http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
>> SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Summit mailing list
> Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
> SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://sna.providence.ri.us/pipermail/summit_sna.providence.ri.us/attachments/20161021/636b7e45/attachment.htm>