Joe Robicheau

Portsmouth Republicans struggle with proofreading

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Shool time. Click to embiggen.

Another Portsmouth Republican direct mail piece dropped today, and it's clear that this team has problems with basic proofreading skills.

Take a look at the graphic above Tom Vadney. Yeah, they misspelled "School" in advertising their candidates for school committee. It's quite unfortunate, and it's certainly not Tom's fault — he's much smarter than that. I've served with him on the technology committee, and I intend to vote for him next week, and suggest that supporters of the shools will want to do the same.

The other major blunder is just weird. Take a look at how they caption Dan Reilly's race, compared to Chris Ottiano.

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I don't know what the heck "State Congress" is, but I heartily support the idea of voting for Dan Reilly in District 12. Wherever that might be. Please, by all means, write his name in. (Voters in the actual State Representative District 72, on the other hand, should consider the incumbent Democrat Linda Finn.)

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The "h" is silent.

Add these together with the howler from earlier this week — where they misspelled the name of their former Town Council President on their own web site, and you get a pretty poor impression of the ability of local Republicans to manage a spell checker, let alone a Town budget.

Full disclosure: I am a partisan hack. But I know how to spell.

Tags: 
02871, Localblogging, Elections, Joe Robicheau

Portsmouth Council President Joe Robicheau responds to Sandy info concerns

Portsmouth Town Council President Joe Robicheau has responded to the questions I sent Thursday, after he sent me the same "Somali piracy" letter to the editor already posted on Patch. Since my guess was that the more pressing issue on most residents's minds was the approach of Sandy, I asked the following questions:

  1. Why are you sending non-time-sensitive political letters today, instead of communicating to residents of Portsmouth about the impending storm?
  2. What steps have you, as Town Council President, taken to address the problems in communication and organization that happened in the run up to Irene last year?
  3. Middletown is posting storm updates on their home page and Facebook (compare Middletown's home page to Portsmouth's -- attached) -- why is Portsmouth not doing this?
  4. What would you say to reassure Island Park residents?

Town Council President Joe Robicheau's unedited responses follow.

Hello John,

1. I disagree that tolls on the Sakonnet Bridge is a non-time-sensitive issue. The threatened toll is the absolute largest issue facing people in Newport and Bristol counties and the window of opportunity to overturn the initiative is very narrow. We must pursue the Governor and General Assembly with all haste.

As far as the storm goes there is nothing to communicate to residents. It is merely considered a Weather Event. It could certainly develop into something more ominous. Until then it would be unwise to de-sensitize residents with premature warnings.

2. There was most definitely confusion in the Island Park neighborhood relative to evacuation during Irene. Since then, the administration has taken steps to improve public outreach with the able assistance of dedicated civic volunteers Gary Gump, Rich Talipsky and Doug Smith. I understand their efforts are coordinated by Portsmouth Emergency Management coordinator John King. Additionally, the Council has budgeted for, and the Town has installed a reverse “911” system, Code Red, with which to communicate information to residents. This system is supplemental to Police, Fire, and DPW assets.

3. Portsmouth spends more resources on Schools than Middletown. Middletown has an IT staff of 3, and a Town Engineer. Portsmouth is pursuing use of social media and will integrate it as time and resources permit.

4. Island Park is the most vulnerable residential area on Aquidneck Island. Portsmouth Police and Fire Departments are well aware of our most fragile residents and will assist them, specifically, if required. All other residents in the neighborhood should keep informed via radio and television outlets as to the track and timing of the storm. The Town will use all means at its disposal to communicate an evacuation notice should it be required. Information specific to Portsmouth will be posted on the Town’s website. Portsmouth Emergency Management is tracking the storm, Sandy, and the latest information can be obtained at http://portsmouthemergency.com/. Additionally, residents can monitor AM radio stations WADK 1540 and WSAR 1480, Portsmouth Emergency Facebook page, and follow developments on Twitter @PortsmouthEmerg.

I am not the mayor of Portsmouth. I am an elected legislator. As President of the Council, however, I am responsible for declaring a state of emergency and storm driven evacuations. Accordingly, I am updated routinely by the RIEMA, Portsmouth EMA and the Town Administrator. If necessary I will be in radio contact with Town staff should events require my attention.

I hope this information is helpful.

Joe Robicheau

Let's see. 1. Scary messages on tolls are not desensitizing but storm information is? Everyone from the Governor to the Portsmouth Library has posted storm info, but for the Town to offer specifics would be desensitizing. Okay. 2. The first Council vote on the reverse 911 system actually failed. 3. Robicheau blames the school budget for the lack of resources to inform citizens. Well played, sir. 4. Not sure what the Town has done since last year when "all means at its disposal to communicate an evacuation notice" amounted to hearing about it online and nobody home at Town Hall. We'll see what the APRA request turns up.

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871, Irene, flooding, Sandy, Joe Robicheau

Is Portsmouth prepared for Sandy? How do we know?

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Left: Middletown home page, Right: Portsmouth.



With all eyes along the East Coast watching the approach of Hurricane Sandy, what has the Town of Portsmouth done to demonstrate to residents that there were lessons learned from the communication failures of Irene? As of today, not much, which has led me to remove my name from the list of communications volunteers and file an Access to Public Records Act request for the after-action report on last year's storm.

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OMG, did the people who posted this complete FEMA ICS-100 and ICS 700.a training?

Yesterday, the Town of Middletown posted three updates to Facebook. Newport posted a preparedness checklist. Portsmouth Patch did stories. Even the Portsmouth Public Library posted to their Facebook wall about preparing for the storm.

From the town of Portsmouth and their Emergency Management team? Crickets.

This, despite a Portsmouth EDC survey that found 60% of respondents felt the Town's communication before Irene was inadequate or poor.

Town Council President Joe Robicheau sent me an e-mail yesterday. Not, as one might hope, with an update about the storm, but the same letter he posted on Patch, accusing the general assembly of Somali-style piracy over Sakonnet Bridge tolls.

Where was President Robicheau during Irene? I replied to his e-mail asking what he had to say to reassure residents of Island Park (who, last year, were subject to an incoherently communicated and haphazardly enforced evacuation order). He has not yet replied.

But this is not just about political differences with Mr. Robicheau, which I freely admit I have. Or vice-president Judi Staven, who, according to remarks posted on Patch, suggested what might be charitably described as an extremely limited role for Town government in communicating public safety information. "If we have a hurricane, turn your TV on. That's how I found out about Hurricane Irene." (See entry at 8:23 pm.)

The problem, I fear, is systemic. I have tried to be part of the solution. After the debacle of Irene, I volunteered with Portsmouth Emergency Management (EMA) to help with communication. Several dedicated volunteers jumped through hoops -- including online courses to obtain FEMA certification. In order to update Facebook.

But despite what appears to be a adequate planning effort, there has been no improvement in communication with the public.

There has been a policy of only using social media to communicate in the most dire conditions. In fact, I was told by the Portsmouth Emergency Manager, John King, that he had even received pushback over my posting about the tabletop exercise the Town conducted back in August. I was asked not to report on the content of EMA volunteer meetings, at which point I threatened to leave.

As a side note, you won't believe what was required to convince our Town's IT consultant that it was even possible to use Facebook. Pointing out that neighboring towns were using it quite happily — that hundreds of state and local governments were using it — could not sway them from some unspecified concerns about security.

At least, finally, Portsmouth EMA has both a blog and a Facebook page but even as of this afternoon, all they are doing is reposting weather reports.

The purpose of advance communication is to reassure the public. Portsmouth is failing. Again.

Full disclosure: I live in Island Park, 14 feet above mean high tide, and we followed the Town's mandatory evacuation order last year. While I'm very glad that the Escape Bridge now provides us a second method of egress from Island Park, I remain deeply concerned about the Town's response.

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871, Irene, flooding, Sandy, Joe Robicheau