GMH
Gotta love 'em. They certainly know how to squeeze a dollar. First the fed'l gov't gives Aquidneck Island a good screwing when it allows the Navy to sell what was once OUR property to the highest bidder. Unlike when towns got first dibs (how Middletown gots its library, rec center, Kennedy School). Now it also grants long time leases while still "owning" properties. Even they now need extra income.
This then results us in our loosing income. How? Navy decides not to offer public services like police & fire protection. Navy still owns the land. So what happens to sewers, water lines? Who has to maintain them? Who pays? What about schools for kids? Navy no longer pays a supplements to offset costs. Navy isn't subject to local/state taxation. What about land pollution (arsenic)? Whose problem?
GMH then subcontracts work. These subs have been apparently hiring illegal carpenters in defiance of Taft-Hartley laws which require paying the prevailing wage on gov't sites. But evidently no one is watching or checking. Witness the carpenters' picketing out in Melville & national news stories.
My grandfather was a union carpenter. He worked hard & suffered from arthritis in his later years (a job-related disease if there ever was one). I support those union carpenters all the way. These should be local jobs.
What's going to happen with the Anchorage? Affordable-housing sounds good, but who is going to end up paying here? Schools, sewers, roads, etc. all cost big bucks. Middletown has about 9% of the state mandated affordable housing. Newport even has more, unlike most of the state. Stay tuned for more.
Housing now is all about big business. Forget local ownership of complexes. And the ironic part is that it's our own federal government who is doing this to our area. Yet another reason to vote out the Republican majority.
This then results us in our loosing income. How? Navy decides not to offer public services like police & fire protection. Navy still owns the land. So what happens to sewers, water lines? Who has to maintain them? Who pays? What about schools for kids? Navy no longer pays a supplements to offset costs. Navy isn't subject to local/state taxation. What about land pollution (arsenic)? Whose problem?
GMH then subcontracts work. These subs have been apparently hiring illegal carpenters in defiance of Taft-Hartley laws which require paying the prevailing wage on gov't sites. But evidently no one is watching or checking. Witness the carpenters' picketing out in Melville & national news stories.
My grandfather was a union carpenter. He worked hard & suffered from arthritis in his later years (a job-related disease if there ever was one). I support those union carpenters all the way. These should be local jobs.
What's going to happen with the Anchorage? Affordable-housing sounds good, but who is going to end up paying here? Schools, sewers, roads, etc. all cost big bucks. Middletown has about 9% of the state mandated affordable housing. Newport even has more, unlike most of the state. Stay tuned for more.
Housing now is all about big business. Forget local ownership of complexes. And the ironic part is that it's our own federal government who is doing this to our area. Yet another reason to vote out the Republican majority.
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