We’re having an awesomely huge sale all week here at Book By Book, 30% off everything in the store; classic literature, new releases, sci-fi, tons of art and art history, world history, crime thrillers, Harlequin romances, some very fine cookbooks, chick lit, dick lit (I made that up), and so, so much more. Also, we’re air-conditioned to where you can see your own breath and we’ll have free coffee. See you there! Book By Book, 1005 Main st. Pawtucket in Thee Hope Artiste Village July 8-13

I’ve often seen gentrification as a difficult problem to tackle. For many of my friends—young, working people trying to live in diverse areas and support themselves on small, non-profit or public service salaries—it is a struggle to find housing without becoming an agent of gentrification. But a New York Times piece today about Mount Morris Park, a traditionally-black Harlem neighborhood, explores one of the uglier examples of that phenomenon.

Timothy Williams chronicles the recent dispute over the neighborhood’s Marcus Garvey Park where, since 1969, drummers from Africa and the Caribbean have played an important role in shaping the social fabric and dynamic of the place. “The musicians,” he explains, “who play until 10 p.m. every summer Saturday, are widely credited with helping to make the park safer over the years.”

Across the street from the park however, at 2002 Fifth Avenue, is “a new seven-story cream and red brick luxury co-op with a doorman, $1 million apartments and a lobby with a fireplace.” Predictably, there have been some disputes about the character of the neighborhood.

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I understand one of his many vetoes this legislative session: the courthouse construction bill, a piece of legislation pledging $88 million to the construction of a new Blackstone Valley courthouse. According to the ProJo, Carcieri said in his veto message, “Never, not even once, has any Rhode Islander — save a legislator or a judge — ever spoke to me of the pressing need to build a court-house in the Blackstone Valley.”

On the urgency of the project, however, Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams declared in an April speech:

The need to better serve our citizens in northern Rhode Island and to decongest a severely overcrowded Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence by building a Blackstone Valley Courthouse is not going to go away.

As a legal intern with the RI Office of the Public Defender, I may not be privy to every aspect of life at the Garrahy complex. I do, however, work there 4 days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and I’m a bit perplexed by the congestion with which the Chief is concerned. In fact, things can get pretty slow around there, and I’ve taken to reading The New Yorker in between Judge Higgins’ arraignments in Courtroom 4C, where I am usually stationed.

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A new documentary, about the RI budget predicament:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8YDJyMRsM]

Oh no!

An explosion that destroyed 20 fireworks warehouses in China three months ago will probably dim night skies in the United States this Fourth of July.

Fireworks vendors said that because of the sudden shortage, fireworks such as bottle rockets, ladyfingers and Roman candles, as well as mortars used in professional displays, will be hard to get, meaning many of the usual pyrotechnic extravaganzas across the country may have to be pared back or even canceled.

”Everybody in the industry is scared to death that their orders aren’t going to get here in time,” said Ken Sprague, president of Hamburg Fireworks Display in Lancaster, Ohio, which choreographs fireworks shows throughout the Midwest. ”I haven’t slept a full night in months.”

The explosion occurred in a city that makes 95 percent of America’s fireworks. Fireworks factories in China, and anywhere, are extremely dangerous by the way. And the shortage is because many factories were rightly closed after this major blast.

Meanwhile, a three day period of mourning has begun in China for victims of the devastating earthquake in Sichuan, as hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of migrant workers try to reach home. On a cool note, If you want to contribute to the relief effort, Google has hooked up with organizations that will use 100% of your donation to support emergency relief efforts.

No word yet on what the situation may be in PVD, Bristol or at McCoy Stadium come the 4th, but I think we’ll be ok with less.

I’m heading down to Promet in a bit, for a tour of the “Working Waterfront.”

It’s worth checking out the Providence Working Waterfront Alliance’s website, to get a sense of the breadth of work that goes on down there — along with plenty of photos (don’t know exactly what to make of the tag-line at right), and a history of the port.

Here’s Working RI’s new radio spot on the budget crisis.

There’s at least one class of Rhode Islanders that’s not touched by the austerity measures being pushed through the State House.

Liberal elf and Princeton economist Paul Krugman sez that almost 80 percent of us drive to work alone, thus stupidly hastening the demise of our planet and the collapse of our economy.

So where are all the WWII-referencing posterz about how driving alone is driving with Chavez, or OPEC? Not exactly the same thing, granted.

So what’s a better analogy? more »

If you’ve ever driven Tillinghast Road in East Greenwich, been part of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, or traveled back in time to early 19th century Rhode Island and run for office, you are part of a grand story that’s coming to a close. The old-ass law firm now known as Tillinghast Licht, founded during the Late Cretaceous (in 1818) is set to fade away over the next six months. Maybe you know it by one of it’s different names:

In the early 20th century, with William Tillinghast still a member of the firm, Tillinghast & Tillinghast merged with another firm to form Tillinghast & Collins. It was the first of several mergers in the last century, all that saw the Tillinghast name remain preeminent. In the 1970s, Tillinghast, Collins & Tanner joined with Graham, Reid, Ewing & Stapleton. In the 1990s, Tillinghast Collins & Graham merged with Licht & Semonoff to form Tillinghast Licht & Semonoff. The name was later shortened to Tillinghast Licht to make it easier to say, according to Riedel. In 2000, it merged with the Boston firm of Perkins Smith & Cohen and called its Rhode Island office Tillinghast Licht Perkins Smith & Cohen, but the firms split several years ago, and Tillinghast Licht returned to its former name.

And Noah LLC begat Shem, Ham, Japeth and Jones, who begat Esau and Esau, who begat Dewey, Cheatam and Ezekiel…

Matt has a post on it, so we can send you his way. But suffice it to say, last night’s dealings will be the stuff of legend: Nobody I’ve spoken to can recall such a close vote, with the Senate Prez, Majority Leader, and Minority Leader, all coming to vote ex officio, together.  The supplemental budget ended up passing out of committee 7-6 — and it was all after a caucus that lasted for about 2 hours, as members tried to sort out what the hell was going on.

We on the House side have the advantage of voting on the budget piece by piece — I voted against several articles on our side, related to municipal funding, health care, welfare for kids, and more.  The Senate votes on the whole thing, up or down.

The fundamental problem — and the issue on which most of the senators in question took their stand — is that we’re still in a paradigm where worthy interests (the above three, for instance) are being pitted against one another. We need to shift the dynamic so that increasing revenues is on the table. First and foremost — we should restore the long-term capital gains tax back to the 5% where it was a few years back. It’d increase revenues by about $50 million, in a very progressive way. And we’d still be lower than Massachusetts, where long-term cap gains is taxed at 5.3% and short-term at 12%.

It wouldn’t be enough to close the whole gap, but it’d be a start.

On the Projo editorial page.

States raised their minimum-wage rates about 19 percent on average from 2005 to 2008. In Rhode Island, however, the minimum wage went up a stunning 44 percent in that time period. Michigan increased its minimum wage almost 40 percent, and Ohio increased it 36 percent.

The 2005 RI minimum wage was $6.75.  Now it’s $7.40.  That’s a less than 10% increase.  Or, in real dollars, no increase at all.  How does such an explicit lie make it to print?

Far from helping the poor, these regulations are hurting those most in need of work. The national unemployment rate is 4.8 percent, but Rhode Island’s is 5.7 percent. Michigan and Ohio are doing even worse, hitting a 7.1 and 5.5 percent unemployment rate respectively this year.

In Mass the min wage is $8.00.  In CT it’s $7.65.  And these states have union densities similar to our own.  The Mass unemployment rate is 4.4%.  (CT’s is lower than RI’s, but a little higher than the national average.)

If you’re a bullshitter, it’s really easy to cherry-pick stats and states to make a case: Hawaii has a 3.1% unemployment rate, with a $7.25 min wage and the second-highest union density, at 25%.  New York’s number one in union density, with average unemployment.

UPDATE: Footage, courtesy of the Greenwash Gorillas themselves… even as this was a pretty amazing spectacle, the footage kind of makes me want to give Tom a big hug. While I understand the criticisms of Friedman’s work, I wonder if this was an effective way to get the message across, or whether this merely reflects poorly on the University… thoughts? Could the pie-throwers have raised their dissent during the Q&A with as much flair?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv6nvMUq10U]

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman had just begun his Earth Day lecture at Brown last night, when Molly Little ‘08.5 and a colleague let him know what they thought of his work. The Brown Daily Herald reports:

A female audience member ran on stage last night and threw a green pie at New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman [...]. The woman had been sitting in the south side of the auditorium’s front row when she pulled the pie out of a Brown Bookstore plastic bag that had been tucked in a red backpack and leapt out of her seat.

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Please Join Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts for a Health Care Reform Community Meeting

Monday, April 28, 2008 — 6:30 PM

Temple Beth El — 70 Orchard Avenue, Providence

A discussion with Lt. Governor Roberts, other elected officials, community leaders, and your neighbors about how the problems in our health care system are affecting Rhode Island’s families, businesses, and communities. Lt. Governor Roberts will share the details of her Healthy Rhode Island Reform Act of 2008, which will transform the health care system in our state by putting in place a strong new structure for ensuring that all Rhode Islanders will have access to high quality health care at a price they can afford.

For Information Contact:
Brian Monteiro, Office of Lt. Governor Roberts
(401) 222-2371

Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Clinton:

“I think there is a big reason there’s an age difference in a lot of these polls,” said Bill. “Because once you’ve reached a certain age, you won’t sit there and listen to somebody tell you there’s really no difference between what happened in the Bush years and the Clinton years; that there’s not much difference in how small-town Pennsylvania fared when I was president, and in this decade.”

While nobody has suggested that there was “no difference” between his Presidency and George W’s, and while, in fact, on trade and economic issues Bill was perfectly happy to GATT it up with NAFTA, China Free Trade, etc, that’s not even the point here. In an increasingly disturbing campaign season, there have been few more obnoxious assertions than those, from the Buffenbargers of the world, for example, claiming that Obama’s supporters are just a bunch of wide-eyed college students, as if his ability to energize young voters (of both genders, in addition to a coalition broad enough to have him winning the popular vote and the delegate count thus far) means that he is somehow insubstantial or even dangerous.

The idea that young voters are somehow scary or threatening is boomer dog-whistle politics, conjuring memories of counter-culture turmoil despite the reality of Gen Y/Q’s commitment to service and change, and relative lack of interest in 20th century-style revolution. It’s another pile of political doody from the mouth of eminence-turned-hack Bill. And it’s part of a strategy that will end up leaving the Democrats looking like Carthage in the wake of the general. more »

This is the juciest tidbit from the Projo’s article on the movie tax creds:

In its own letter, the Motion Picture Association of America asked to be freed from having to thank Steven Feinberg, the director of the Rhode Island film office, by name in the closing credits of each movie to receive the tax credits. “This is not required by statute, nor is it a requirement in ANY other state.” The trade association suggested changing the definition of “Rhode Island vendor” to mean “a vendor that is qualified to do business in Rhode Island.”

Amy, with a perspective from the ground in Mexico, in this week’s Phoenix:

Miguel Pickard, who works for a social-research organization in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, says that the mainstream US media often overlooks how neo-liberal policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have contributed dramatically to the rise in Mexican immigration. Following NAFTA’s implementation in 1994, subsidized US agricultural products flooded the Mexican markets, and Mexican farmers couldn’t compete with the cheap imports.
 
Immigration to the US became a “survival strategy,” Pickard says, for campesinos that could no longer make money selling corn and other agricultural products, as they had for many years. As a result, immigration to the US from Mexico tripled after 1994, leading “millions” of people to make the trip, he says.
 
NAFTA’s impact illuminates how the source of the Latino immigration “problem” is sometimes closer to home than we are willing to admit.