Rhode Island preparating for Bankruptcy? The New Legislative District Maps

Today's Providence Journal online carries a map of the proposed redistricting maps for the Rhode Island U.S Congressional districts based on the 2010 census. There is something very interesting in these maps. Click on the above link. What do you see?

   Given the threat of more city and town bankruptcies and the narrow minded greed of the special interests who can't see the bigger picture, here are some thoughts about the maps and what they might mean for the Lively Experiment.

  Can you see the potential if Rhode Island goes bankrupt?


The current (2/2012) district lines

Proposals F & E both, would move the district line to the east and make for a division that more closely aligns with the natural boundaries created by the Blackstone River and Narragansett Bay

Proposal F

Proposal E

   What would it mean, if Rhode Island were to be the first state to go bankrupt?  Because the population balance is fairly even, just think how easy it would be to use Proposal E to simply divide the Districts equally between Massachusetts (District 1) and Connecticut (District 2). 

   The boundaries are almost perfectly aligned with the natural boundaries created by the river and the bay. Woonsocket and Pawtucket might have to become the twin cities, Woon, CT and Socket, MA and Paw, CT and Tucket, MA, for example. Or maybe West Woonsocket (CT) and East Woonsocket (MA) and East Pawtucker (MA) and West Pawtucket (CT).

   In the case of State Bankruptcy, this would make sense. Just like a failed bank, the Federal government might have to step in and force a merger. There might be a contest between CT and MA over the assets. Just think of the potential!  

First of all, there would be two seats in Congress (a major asset) at stake. What would happen to them?

For Connecticut, the South County beaches would certainly benefit its tourism business as well as the privately held Twin River Gambling facilities in Lincoln. Meanwhile, Massachusetts would gain Newport's attraction as a tourist center, and the gambling facilities at Newport Grand.

   The economic value of Narragansett Bay would benefit  for both states.

  CT would get the west shore with Quonset Point thus bringing in the whole of Electric Boat's Sub operation under the state's tax system (maybe they could do a better job than Rhode Island has with this gem). In addition they would get the Port of Providence and a second Ivy League university, as well as RISD, J&W, PC, and most of the Rhode Island University system.

   MA would get control of the east passage in the Bay. It would get Roger Williams University and Salve Regina and the Naval War College. It would also gain Raytheon and its subcontractors The merger would bring the eastern side of Narragansett Bay (Aquidnick Island and Bristol Co, RI) under the same state jurisdiction and unite it with Mount Hope Bay (Fall River, MA) and the Taunton River watershed (Taunton, MA). This would have the potential of creating a single, integrated economic development district in southeastern MA with direct access to the sea.

By the way, it would also lead to County government!!!

Such mergers might create something that might be TOO BIG TO FAIL. And if they did fail in the future, it would set the stage for another merger --  the Super State of Southern New England.  In any case, Rhode Island's bankruptcy would mark the end of the Lively Experiment.You can see all there in the maps.

Central Falls out of the frying pan and into the cauldron

Well it seems that a touch of reality has entered the Central Falls (CF) school crisis. When the union members discovered that there are over 700 - 800 teachers from around the nation willing to apply for the 90 or so opening created by the union leadership, reality struck. It seems that Central Falls is not the center of the universe. It is not isolated from the economic conditions facing the nation and the education profession. The local union can't control supply and demand on a national level.

Oh! Did I say, the union leadership caused the problem? The settlement reached between the teachers and the CF school administration is the same as the leaders refused to offer to their membership back in February. So where was the leadership then and why are they agreeing to it today?

It seems that threatening to sue, another union tactic, was not a viable option. So today, they are working behind closed doors to get their "FRIENDS" in the RI General Assembly to pass a law which

... seeks to prohibit the General Assembly from enacting changes to pensions that “diminish, impair or deprive” vested state employees of “presently existing rights or benefits.

Rhode Island State Senate Majority Whip, Dominick Ruggerio is the lead sponsor of S-2384, the Public Officers and Employees Retirement System Act. The bill will be taken up by the Senate Labor Committee this week ( week of May 16th). Like earlier efforts by these "FRIENDS" to impose binding arbitration on the cities, towns, and school committees, the unions are seeking a poison pill, golden parachute for themselves which is unsustainable.

If they succeed, they will be rewarding their older loyalists members at the expense of their younger members. This is a common union practice conducted every year through the bumping process which places seniority over competency in filling open positions. The future generation of teachers will have to pick up the future bill as tax payers and as dues paying union members.

But for the moment the school crisis seems to be under control. Out of the frying pan.

But according to the Providence Business News and the Providence Journal Central Falls has jumped into the cauldron of potential municipal bankruptcy. This is uncharted territory hundreds of communities and several states around the country are facing.

Receivership is a step away from bankruptcy. If Central Falls goes bankrupt, all contracts will be voided. The city may be required to unincorporate and to merge with a neighboring jurisdiction. These are the lessons we have learned from the failure of the banks, auto industry, among others in the recent national economic crisis.

It is no wonder that the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals has reversed it position regarding Rhode Island's application for Race to the Top grants. This was a "no started" last week. Now it may be the only hope for some districts, such as Central Falls.

This afternoon the Providence Business News online published the following story, State law bars Central Falls bankruptcy. Because of state law, the GA will be called upon to help resolve the issue. This should be interesting to see how the politicians solve this one.

This is the legacy of years of greed and short term thinking that seems to be a characteristic of Rhode Islanders and the people they elect to public, union, and corporate offices.

Stay tuned while we keep track of the temperature