You think it’s hot out there? Give it a few months and we’ll be griping about the cold. Regardless, thanks for stopping by for my weekly column. As usual, your tips and comments are welcome, and you can follow me through the week on the twitters. (A program note: TGIF is taking a summer break and will return in August). Here we go.
1) The future is now for the next chapter in the long-running saga of the Providence Public Schools. People have talked for years – decades – about the miserable condition of education in Rhode Island’s capital city and how that has dire implications for the workforce of tomorrow. Now, a few months after Angélica Infante-Green arrived on the scene as Rhode Island’s new education commissioner, the state is poised to take over in Providence. In other words, stuff is about to get real. So while everyone can agree in theory about the need for better schools, what happens when push comes to shove? How will Infante-Green build accountability into a system where it has been sorely lacking for so long? How will she try to change the contract with the Providence Teachers Union, described by the Johns Hopkins report as a systemic barrier to improving education? How will students, educators, parents and others respond to the need to make incremental progress in the coming school year even while striving for long-term goals?
2) It would be understandable if Gov. Gina Raimondo wants to cap this topsy-turvy week with something a little stronger than a Del’s at Roger Wheeler State Beach. Her efforts to broker a combination between Lifespan, Care New England, and Brown University came up empty. But then influential New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman showed Raimondo some love, calling her “my kind of Democrat.” Raimondo also got to celebrate the opening of the Wexford Innovation Complex in the I-195 District, something she touted as “a game-changer” back when the project was announced in 2016. But then Morning Consult (whose methodology doesn’t always win raves) showed Raimondo’s near the bottom of the pack among the nation’s governors. To cap things off, President Trump returned fire at Friedman and tried taking credit for economic improvements in the Ocean State. (Speaking at the Wexford event, Raimondo crowed about how RI’s unemployment rate is lower than the national average. And she warned in the NYT about Democratic presidential candidates going off the edge.) So yeah, it was that kind of week.
3) When you’re at the beach this weekend or sitting in front of an air conditioner somewhere, take a mental trip to the Rhode Island of 2024. How much will the Providence schools be different? Will the I-195 District be flourishing with a heightened degree of activity? Will we have a Republican governor? Or will things be more like they are in the summer of 2019?
4) All but a few Rhode Island Republicans have remained publicly silent about the controversy sparked this week when President Trump called on four congresswomen of color, three of them born in the U.S., “to go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.” Former state Sen. Dawson Hodgson of North Kingstown has always been something of a maverick, so his criticism of the president’s remarks was unsurprising. (Hodgson tweeted this message from Justin Amash to the RI GOP: “If you’re a Republican, please ask yourself if the party really represents your principles and values. You don’t need to become a Democrat. Simply stand up for what is right. America’s tradition of liberty is beautiful, and it depends on our love and respect for one another.”) Also commenting on Twitter was Gary Sasse of Hassenfeld’s Institute for Public Leadership, a one-time aide to former GOP Gov. Don Carcieri. Sasse has an appreciation for institutions and governance, and he’s never been much of a Trump fan. Yet beyond that it appeared to be crickets on the twitters among RI Republicans. (By contrast, the GOP governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, was vocal in criticizing Trump’s remarks.) Meanwhile, in the view of Providence City Council President Sabina Matos, a native of the Dominican Republic, Trump’s remarks appear aimed largely at dividing Democrats and appealing to his base.
5) Another 911 blockbuster from Lynn Arditi – how more states are hiding 911 recordings from families, lawyers and the general public.
6) Providence City Council President Sabina Matos will be prevented by term limits from seeking re-election to her Ward 15 council seat in 2022, so will she run for mayor? During an appearance on Political Roundtable and Bonus Q&A, Matos said that if she pursues an office that year it will be for mayor. Meanwhile, due to the imposition of a three-term limit on the council, the body is set to lose at least seven incumbents after the 2022 election: Seth Yurdin of Ward 1; Nicholas Narducci of Ward 4; Michael Correia of Ward 6, John Igliozzi of Ward 7; Luis Aponte of Ward 10, David Salvatore of Ward 14; and Matos. The council president said she has launched monthly training sessions on different topics to try to enhance the knowledge of council staff and other stakeholders. Regardless, with the council poised to lose more than half its membership in 2022, the next mayor will arrive with a very strong hand.
7) Analysis on the dissipation of the Lifespan-CNE-Brown deal, via Shane McKeon of The Public’s Radio: “Access to capital was one reason Care New England pursued a deal with Partners. Now that these in-state talks are off, the question naturally becomes: Is the Partners deal back on the table? [CNE CEO James] Fanale says ‘nothing is imminent,’ but still, he says he thinks the prospect of a deal with Partners is ‘terrific.’ ”
8) Hasbro’s signing up as a lobbyist of Mark Ryan (h/t Katherine Gregg & Patrick Anderson), whose profile is on the rise at the Statehouse, is a sign that the toy maker is at least considering staying in Rhode Island, and seemingly wanting to put something in play in the House in the next legislative session.
9) Ken Doctor says it looks like GateHouse Media – the owner of the ProJo, Newport Daily News, and papers in Fall River and New Bedford, among others – will be buying Gannett (best known as the owner of USA Today), creating “a newspaper megachain like the U.S. has never seen.” Adds Doctor: “Simply put, these companies’ leaders think a megamerger buys two or three years — ‘until we figure it out.’ The ‘it’ is that long-hoped-for chimera of successful digital transformation. Gannett and GateHouse, like all their industry brethren, look at ever-bleaker numbers every quarter; the biggest motivation here is really survival, which in business terms means the ability to maintain some degree of profitability somewhere into the early 2020s. If the deal gets done, the parties will, of course, cite the synergies of the deal — all real, all likely inflated to some degree, as they are in nearly all mergers. Figure those savings could add up to something like $200 million over the next two years, though some are putting the number higher.”
10) During the City of Providence’s July 4 celebration at India Point Park, Mayor Jorge Elorza introduced the event by saying (this is a paraphrase based on my recollection): It doesn’t matter if you have that piece of paper – we’re all Americans.” To some, it may have sounded as if the mayor was downplaying the significance of borders. But Providence City Council President Sabina Matos, who appeared with Elorza at the event, said she didn’t interpret it that way. “To me, he was just talking that we’re all here celebrating, we all have the right to be here celebrating America and celebrating the greatness of this country,” she said on Bonus Q&A.
11) Episode 4 of Mosaic – the immigration podcast from The Public’s Radio: “The impact of early European immigration on Native Americans in New England is examined through the story of Samson Occom, a brilliant Mohegan Indian from Eastern Connecticut who gains fame on two continents before his story takes a dramatic and unexpected turn.”
12) Boston Globe tech columnist Scott Kirsner this week grouped Providence among New England cities that don’t seem to be chasing the dream of being the second-most innovative city in the region: “One key test: Would a recent graduate of a school like Brown, UMass Amherst, or Tufts be willing to live there and spend a few years working to build a successful company — rather than be pulled to Boston or New York?” After the Wexford ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, I asked Gov. Raimondo why Kirsner didn’t rate Providence more favorably. “I don’t know – he should have,” she said. “Because clearly he’s not here today.” For now, it’s up to Wexford’s tenants like the Cambridge Innovation Center to elevate Providence’s profile as an innovation-centric place.
13) Why did Sufjan Stevens abandon his 50 states project?
14) Rest in Peace, Vincent Igliozzi, longtime political power in Silver Lake, whose survivors include Providence City Council Finance Chairman John Igliozzi and former state Sen. David Igliozzi. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Igliozzi “gave me an education in political grassroots and political loyalty. He loved our country and state.” Meanwhile, back in 2000, in an effort to capture a bit of Igliozzi political magic, Angel Taveras got David Igliozzi to introduce his CD2 run that year (although Igliozzi even then was backing the eventual winner, Jim Langevin.)
15) Happy birthday to Brown alum Rebecca Ballhaus, now a White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Asked by Politico how the Trump presidency is going, she responded, “I would direct you to Twitter.com.”
