April 2022

As the Town Council sharpens up its pencils and works to crunch the numbers in the budget for fiscal year 2023, it is increasingly running up against a hard truth. “We are in a zero-sum situation,” Council Member Keith Stover told the group on April 6 at the public hearing on the budget. “In order […]

The April 4 meeting of the New Shoreham Town Council began, as meetings so often do, with public comment. Alicia Martin of the ad-hoc group Block Island Affordable and Attainable Housing spoke to the council about the ongoing shortage of quality affordable housing on the island and the need to fund housing development. Martin suggested

Pysanky eggs are a Ukrainian springtime tradition dating back centuries that utilizes a wax resist technique akin to batik. This year with the war in Ukraine, the tradition is gaining in popularity all over the world. The eggs pictured here were brought to the island by Marlena Paulson of South Kingstown for the workshop she

A group of 15 students, one teacher and an additional chaperone from the Block Island School spent six days in Washington, DC from March 20 to 25, meeting with members of Congress and talking about key issues the United States faces today. In Washington, the group successfully completed the demanding “Close Up Washington” student program.

The Town Council continued its budget process at a work session with department heads on March 28, hearing from the administration and finance departments, the police department, the fire and rescue and Emergency Management department (Dispatch), Public Works, Harbors Department, building officials, GIS and technology, and boards and commissions. The council also heard from the

As the Town Council continues poring over the proposed budget, one new cost the town is potentially facing is a charge for state police coverage. Traditionally, the Rhode Island State Police have sent troopers to the island to augment the local police force during the busy summer months. Town Manager Maryanne Crawford explained to the

The Town Council has been holding hearings on the proposed budget in preparation for the final budget vote at the Financial Town Meeting in May. One department’s budget created more discussion than any other in the meetings on March 28 and 30. The police department saw an increase in its recommended budget of $160,317 over

The results were a mixed bag on Tuesday at the R.I. Public Utilities Commission meeting when the Block Island Utility District’s Docket 5192 was taken up at an open meeting. The meeting was, specifically, not a public hearing and no comments from the general public were entertained. Filed on Oct 26, 2021 the docket is

Ballard’s Beach ResortBallard’s Inn Realty, LLC appeared before the Historic District Commission to present its plan to build a new second floor deck and raise the roof on part of the building to accommodate a second floor. As Eric Zuena of ZDS Architecture and Interior Design explained, the basic plan is taking a “vaulted space and

Back in January, somebody asked Mimi Leveille if Block Island did anything for Earth Day. Upon hearing the answer, he then said: “It’s getting to be a big thing, you know.”And so it was that Leveille found herself in the middle of organizing the island’s first fair to commemorate both Earth Day and Arbor Day,