2007
- Newport's Budget - A Perfect Storm
"Newport's Budget - A Perfect Storm" was presented
to the public at City Hall Monday evening, November
4, 2007. The presentation summarizes the decisions made
for the 2008 city budget; how these impact future budgets;
emphasizes the discrepancies between available revenues
and expenses; lays out some of the tough decisions facing
Newport's City Council; and suggests changes to improve
the budget process.
View
Handout from the Meeting
- Newport Community Emergency
Radio Network
In March, 2007 the moderator of the KnowingNewport.com
civic blog and ham radio enthusiast, Mike Cullen, informed
ALN members of a citizen friendly backup radio system
called the Newport Community Emergency Radio Network.
This Network leverages the estimated
100 million low cost FRS radios now in service. When
combined with an “umbrella” network of higher
power radios run by ham radio operators and GMRS owners,
a neighborhood could field a rudimentary emergency communication
system using FRS Channel 1 that could operate without
relying on a public, hi-tech infrastructure. The
scheme has been used successfully in Washington DC ,
Hartford , CT and San Diego County .
Click
here to view Presentation
- Newport’s Application for Designation as a World
Heritage Site
In April, 2007 the Executive Director of the Newport
Restoration Foundation, Pieter Roos, updated ALN members
on the status of Newport ’s application with
the National Park Service for inclusion in US nominations
for the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List of
the world's most significant cultural and natural
treasures. The United States was the prime architect
of the World Heritage concept and the first country
to ratify the World Heritage Convention, in 1973.
Currently, only 830 places around the world, including
20 in the U.S. , have this recognition. The preparation
of a new tentative list, led by the U.S. Department
of the Interior, is the first such endeavor in 25
years.
UNESCO requires countries to wait a year before submitting
nominations from their tentative lists. The first
U.S. nominations drawn from the new list could therefore
go forward by February 1, 2009 and be considered by
the World Heritage Committee the following year.
For more information go to http://www.newportworldheritage.org/
-
The
Economic Cost of Bad Roads
Rough Roads impose a hidden tax on motorist in wear
and tear, depreciation, and higher fuel costs that
can add 20 cents a mile over the cost of driving
on smooth surfaces according to Lynne Irwin, Associate
professor of Cornell University ’s Department
of Biological and Environmental Engineering.
See http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/news/engineering-magazine/archives/cem-summer-2006/upload/CEM_summer2006.pdf
Better
City Streets Article
-
Clean Water
In May, 2007, Christopher A. D’Ovidio, an
environmental scientist and attorney, gave a presentation
on the application of the Clean Water Act in Rhode Island
and discussed how residents can participate in its enforcement.
Click here to read Christopher’s article on this
topic
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2006
- Results for 2006 Surveys are here! Question
and Answers
- The candidates for School Committee were asked to
respond to eight questions. Responses were received
from Bob Leary and Charlie Shoemaker. Reponses were
not received from: Jo Eva Gaines; Hugo DeAscentis; Frank
Coleman; Thomas Phelan; Thomas Galvin; David Carlin.
School Committee
- By Burt Hoffman Newport's sewer system, unable
to treat our sewage properly, is polluting our harbor
and beaches. We must stop adding sources of waste. Failure
to stop new sewer connections until the system's capacity
is increased threatens the health of the public and
the health of the economy.
Newport Sewer cont.
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