Amendola's Neighbors Are Mad at Him

[1960Pats]

RI used to be cool and unlike MA.

Looks like PC has spread and ruined that place too.

I think you can add NH. It isn't only higher taxes that have spread north.

 

[Triumph]

Nah, we've always sucked.

Hardly

My sister went to Bryant so I spent some time there. Like it. The beaches were clean and not crowded. Bought lobstas right off the boat in Galilee.

Kind of reminded me of NH back in the day when the state was the polar opposite of Mass.

 

[Triumph]

I think you can add NH. It isn't only higher taxes that have spread north.

Dont they have a lib Govenor now?

 

[QuantumMechanic]

And you are intimately acquainted with them all? ZBAs are guided by state and municipal codes.

They're about as fair as NFL HQ. Sure, they are "guided" by state and municipal codes (the way Roger is "guided" by the CBA), but somehow they magically manage to let things slide for political and/or financial bigwigs in town (or their friends) while hosing other people.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Nah, we've always sucked.

I grew up there. Concur. (Except for Del's and NY System).

 

[1960Pats]

They're about as fair as NFL HQ. Sure, they are "guided" by state and municipal codes (the way Roger is "guided" by the CBA), but somehow they magically manage to let things slide for political and/or financial bigwigs in town (or their friends) while hosing other people.

The worst part of that crap is that it's being accepted as "just the way it is."

Here in my home town we have an incredibly beautiful stone and cement building that was built in the 30's as part of Roosevelt's WPA, and part of it was destroyed on a whim by a handful of non-elected city officials. I still get sick when I walk into that "new" section and think back to my memories there from the 60's.

 

[Joker]

heh...I've lived all over the country coast to coast at one time or the other. Being from RI, eventually I was drawn back. My closest friends are the ones I made growing here, to this day. To understand the RI mindset one only has to look to the fair town of Johnston. There's a couple of local guys named Russo and Russillo that want to be mayor a few years back. So, in RI, it's always an advantage to be listed FIRST on any ballot because, well,the populace is easily distracted, wracked with ADHD, too drunk or a combination of the three. So one Russo gets the idea "I'll legally change my name to aRusso...THAT will do it!". Not to be outdone, his opponent changes HIS name to aaRussillo. Well, NOW total "a" war has been declared and aRusso changes HIS name to aaaRusso. Anyway, read this clip if you want a few laughs. This is why they cal R.I. "Vo Dilun"


Back in 1964, Democrats had a strangle hold on political offices in Johnston (still do, in fact). Two insurgent Democrats, councilman Raphael (Ralph) R. Russo and town clerk Mario Russillo, decided to run for state Senate and the new position of Johnston town administrator, respectively. Trouble was, state law dictated that endorsed candidates be listed in the first column, while all other candidates were listed alphabetically in columns across the ballot.

Knowing that people were more likely to vote for one of the first names they saw listed, and that it was physically more difficult to pull the voting machine levers in the columns to the right, Russo and Russillo cooked up a scheme. Town Clerk Russillo, acting as a probate judge, signed papers that changed Russo's name to aRusso. Then Russillo's deputy, taking over the role of probate judge, did the same for her superior. The petitions were witnessed by John P. Bourcier, an insurgent leader who later went on to become a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Although challenged in the courts and before the State Board of Elections, the name changes stuck. Results of the jump to the left side of the ballot were mixed: aRussillo won his seat as the first Administrator of the Town of Johnston, while aRusso lost his bid for state Senate. But that didn't leave aRusso jobless—aRussillo appointed him to the position of town finance director.

Four years later, it was aRusso running against his old ally for the town administrator position. This time the entrenched Democrats thought they had a strategy to keep both upstarts out of the running—they added candidates with names like Acciardo, Anderson, and Arcand to the ballot. The resulting ballot was over three feet wide, presenting the same mechanical problems as before, and the same position problems for aRussillo and aRusso.

aRussillo's response was to add another "a" to his name. Probably the resulting publicity, as much as his visibility on the ballot, helped aaRussillo keep his seat by thirty-nine votes.

aaRussillo declined to run again in 1970, and this time aRusso snagged the position of town administrator and served ably in that capacity (and after 1974, as Mayor) for twenty-four years. aaRussillo dropped the "a"s from his name in 1995, while aRusso always kept his. They both died at the age of 76, aRusso in 1999, and Russillo in 2001.

Heh...you don't even want to know about the shenanigans that went on in Cranston during this time.

 

[RayClay]

You gotta read Joker's post

That's freakin hilarious. I miss the real thievin and corruption living out here in the boonies.

 

[RayClay]

heh...I've lived all over the country coast to coast at one time or the other. Being from RI, eventually I was drawn back.

Extradition action?

 

[Joker]

heh...no comment

I was wrong about it being a real estate firm making the complaints about Amendola. Just had dinner at Haruki's in Wayland Square(spectacular BTW) and got the real story from the East Siders that live on Benefit. They DID call for a "historical preservation" committee that put in for special regulations from the city. There isn't even a garage on any of the properties at that end of Benefit St. So this garage tent is considered an eyesore to the residents on this end of the street.

The point is, half these "restored" houses have been RISD apartments and dwellings for Brown students since the 40's. Now a certain percentage of cognoscenti have moved in and taken over ownership, refurbished and restored to original colonial specs the entire northern end of Benefit from College Hill north. These people are incensed that some jock millionaire is just thumbing his nose at their fought for zoning changes and they will certainly have none of it!!

There's a clip from one of the local media outlets with a reporter asking five or six well heeled and coiffed ladies of the neighborhood about this issue. I'll see if I can find it. Personally, I find their pretentiousness disgusting but...it does seem it IS their property and their duly enacted regulations call for the eradication of any temporary structure not in line with the specified regulations governing this segment of Benefit St.

 

[Patjew]

heh...no comment

I was wrong about it being a real estate firm making the complaints about Amendola. Just had dinner at Haruki's in Wayland Square(spectacular BTW) and got the real story from the East Siders that live on Benefit. They DID call for a "historical preservation" committee that put in for special regulations from the city. There isn't even a garage on any of the properties at that end of Benefit St. So this garage tent is considered an eyesore to the residents on this end of the street.

The point is, half these "restored" houses have been RISD apartments and dwellings for Brown students since the 40's. Now a certain percentage of cognoscenti have moved in and taken over ownership, refurbished and restored to original colonial specs the entire northern end of Benefit from College Hill north. These people are incensed that some jock millionaire is just thumbing his nose at their fought for zoning changes and they will certainly have none of it!!

There's a clip from one of the local media outlets with a reporter asking five or six well heeled and coiffed ladies of the neighborhood about this issue. I'll see if I can find it. Personally, I find their pretentiousness disgusting but...it does seem it IS their property and their duly enacted regulations call for the eradication of any temporary structure not in line with the specified regulations governing this segment of Benefit St.

I had lunch there yesterday. Always solid.

 

[Joker]

here's the Channel 10 link to the Amendola Tentgate story

Patriots player's carport rankles in historic neighborhood

 

[Deus Irae]

heh...no comment

I was wrong about it being a real estate firm making the complaints about Amendola. Just had dinner at Haruki's in Wayland Square(spectacular BTW) and got the real story from the East Siders that live on Benefit. They DID call for a "historical preservation" committee that put in for special regulations from the city. There isn't even a garage on any of the properties at that end of Benefit St. So this garage tent is considered an eyesore to the residents on this end of the street.

The point is, half these "restored" houses have been RISD apartments and dwellings for Brown students since the 40's. Now a certain percentage of cognoscenti have moved in and taken over ownership, refurbished and restored to original colonial specs the entire northern end of Benefit from College Hill north. These people are incensed that some jock millionaire is just thumbing his nose at their fought for zoning changes and they will certainly have none of it!!

There's a clip from one of the local media outlets with a reporter asking five or six well heeled and coiffed ladies of the neighborhood about this issue. I'll see if I can find it. Personally, I find their pretentiousness disgusting but...it does seem it IS their property and their duly enacted regulations call for the eradication of any temporary structure not in line with the specified regulations governing this segment of Benefit St.

He got permission to put it up, and the complainers should all GFT.

 

[Joker]

I told you RI was full of whack jobs...I know, I'm one of them. Did you guys SEE that clip? Ridiculous...I mean there's a level of East Side snottiness that rivals the Bellevue Avenue, Newport mansion crowd for over the top elitist snobbery.

 

[IcyPatriot]

The best thing about Rhode Island is we can easily drive into Massachusetts to make more money than we can make in our state and then we can go back home and live a more peaceful existence. Massachusetts is nuts ... entire towns/cities hate each other .... never seen anything like it.

 

[IcyPatriot]

I told you RI was full of whack jobs...I know, I'm one of them. Did you guys SEE that clip? Ridiculous...I mean there's a level of East Side snottiness that rivals the Bellevue Avenue, Newport mansion crowd for over the top elitist snobbery.

Did you see where Buddy Cianci is getting married .... OMFG ... too funny. All that drinking and partying when he was younger then prison and he kept on ticking and now he'll probably croak in the sack.

 

[Deus Irae]

The best thing about Rhode Island is we can easily drive into Massachusetts to make more money than we can make in our state and then we can go back home and live a more peaceful existence. Massachusetts is nuts ... entire towns/cities hate each other .... never seen anything like it.

Rhode Island is the same basic toilet as Massachusetts, with idiocy and corruption as far as the eye can see. It's just smaller and less nationally relevant.

 

[Joker]

I know Buddy's ex-wife Sheila ...since I was a teenager. Saw Buddy at Costantino's on the Hill this summer and talked with him for a few minutes. He introduced her as his secretary. I remember she had a rock on her ring finger the size of a friggin grape.Hey, as Mel Brooks once so succinctly put it.."It's GOOD to be the king!"

 

[Deus Irae]

I haven't gone to the Italian festival in a long, long time. I need to remedy that.

 

[Joker]

Rhode Island is the same basic toilet as Massachusetts, with idiocy and corruption as far as the eye can see. It's just smaller and less nationally relevant.

at least our congressional senators made every single vote in the Senate this year...and it's not corruption if you don't get caught...or at least if you do a judge will throw it out anyway..