To the Editor,
I am a registered Democrat who has lived in Warwick most of my life. Normally, I would vote for the Democratic candidate for Mayor. But I can’t, and I’d like to …
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To the Editor,
I am a registered Democrat who has lived in Warwick most of my life. Normally, I would vote for the Democratic candidate for Mayor. But I can’t, and I’d like to tell you why. It started when Mayor Solomon first took office and gave his “hurricane” speech. Do you remember that? About how we all needed to be afraid of the terrible financial “storm” that Mayor Avedisian secretly created and dropped on Mayor Solomon’s lap? Then do you remember how quickly the alarming deficit miraculously resolved itself? How the rainy day fund was mysteriously replenished, with Mayor Solomon taking the credit? I thought to myself, “Wow, that is right out of the playbook, a politician creating a false sense of fear to gain popularity as a savior.”
Yet that wasn’t the end. Since Mayor Solomon became Mayor, he’s continued to send a message of fear to keep a tight grip on the City. The Warwick Center for the Arts, a 40-year community institution? His refusal to memorialize WFCA’s location with a proper lease cast aside the opportunity for a six-figure grant from the Champlin Foundation to fix the front steps of the City-owned property. Why? So the WCFA would live in fear of shutting its doors, and so Mayor Solomon could control WCFA’s existence. The Bayside Sewer Project that Mayor Solomon is stalling after 28 years of promises to residents? He has suggested that the project cost might cause people to be kicked out of their homes, even though no sewer project in the City of Warwick has ever had that result. Remember the Conimicut Lighthouse restoration project developed by the prior administration, using private funds to fix this City landmark? Mayor Solomon shot that idea down years ago, invoking fear that the operator did not have the requisite experience and that the deal was not good enough for the City. And then Mayor Solomon left the lighthouse to rot.
Even in this election, Mayor Solomon’s theme is that now is not the time to elect an inexperienced candidate as Mayor. He’s trying to make us fear someone who would be “learning on the job.” I’ll tell you what—this Democrat is not afraid of inexperience. What I am afraid of is more of the fearmongering that’s been the hallmark of the Solomon administration, along with an indecisiveness that has ground to a halt nearly every good idea that has come before the City.
The beach fees that Councilman Solomon joined the rest of the Council in approving? Soon after taking office, Mayor Solomon refused to implement the beach fees. Now, the City beaches are overused by non-residents and neglected. He said—years ago—that he needed to “study” the fees that he had already greenlighted. Where are the results of the study? And how about Mayor Solomon’s new plan for the Mickey Stevens complex? I won’t be the first to tell you that the plan is nothing more than an election-year bauble to be dangled before voters’ eyes. Right after election day, that plan too will go into the “study” pile, along with the plans for former schools like Aldrich that Mayor Solomon is still “studying,” while that building sits vacant and boarded up.
How about the million-dollar landscaping project in Apponaug that Mayor Solomon has left to wither and die, only to be called out for it on The Hummel Report? Or the City Hall Annex, closed for years while Mayor Solomon “studies” the best use for the property. Mayor Solomon’s excuse is that the City needs to wait for insurance proceeds to fix the car damage at the Apponaug rotary or to demolish or rebuild the City Hall Annex. That makes no sense – we all know that you don’t need to wait for the insurance check to come in to fix your roof when a tree damages it in a storm. Talk about “inexperience” in dealing with municipal “storms.” What Mayor Solomon is really doing is collecting all of the cards in his own hand, so only Mayor Solomon can win the game.
Create fear. Table it for further study. Hold on to the power that makes you feel strong. Well, Mayor Solomon, I for one have had enough of all that. It’s time for a change. For a new breath. For optimism. For decisiveness. That’s why this Democrat is voting for Frank Picozzi, and that’s why I think many others will join me.
George Shuster
Warwick
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mra139
would buy a used car from this man?
Saturday, October 10, 2020 Report this
Thecaptain
Speaking of used cars. Solomon continues to have the only used car lot on the planet earth with no inventory. He had 6 dealer plates on personal cars where he beat us all out of registration fees and car taxes. During that time he also rented out his dealer plates to other dealers as he had not sold 1 car in many years. Also illegal. He should re-name his car lot from Legal Motors to Illegal Motors. He still now has 3 dealer plates and has not sold a single vehicle. What a scam artist.
Lets talk about his lies. In 2019 he allocated $250,000 in tax dollars to perform a Warwick Fire Department efficiency study. You can hear his own words by listening to his speech during the 2019 budget hearings. He never spent 1 dime and didnt do the study. Instead, he took the money and put it into other line items. You can also hear in this years budget hearing how his finance guru Micheal Damico states during questioning that "We purposely hid $700,000 last year under the line item 75-198 Contractural Obligations. That line item is on page 69 of the 2019 budget. Except that itwasnt $700,000 it was 1 million dollars. When you look at the line item this year, it indicates $733,000. What happened to the other $267,000? It mysteriously disappeared.
How about McDermott pool? Last year in this paper he bragged how he performed the "annual maintenance" in only 6 days as opposed the usual 3 weeks. But he never drained the pool, didnt soda wash the pool, didnt paint the pool or locker rooms, and didnt rebuild the filters. Then the filters broke down and costs us more money. In the effort to cut corners he had unqualified people attempt to rebuild the filters. Now they are broken again and the pool is closed. He rented to the pool out to a movie company. The completely ruined the bottom and cut all of the stainless rails. Nice job LIAR JOE.
This man is a habitual liar and crook. How about on April 20th on the Dan Yorke show when he was asked about the third party accounting firm YKSM that was hired by the city to review the WFD theft. He stated that he had no knowledge of any third party firm. Too bad for him that Yorke called him out on it as Yorke had the signed council resolution in front of him with Solomons signature on it. LIAR. That's why he refused to go on WPRO.
On August 17th at 5:20 PM, on air Dan Yorke called him:
A LIAR
A WORM
AN IDIOT
WEAK
UNABLE
WORST ELECTED OFFICIAL IN THE STATE.
Yorke was correct. This slime does not deserve anyone's vote.
Monday, October 12, 2020 Report this