CURB-TIVERTON IS BACK

With town-budget season under way, CURB-Tiverton is once again active, on the blog, on Facebook, and with email updates.

Unfortunately, a Town Council proposal to take away citizens' rights by imposing a tax-cap on the voters of Tiverton at the Financial Town Meeting has made informing and uniting people even more urgent. The issue is simple and clear: does government have the right to take for itself rights reserved in our Charter for the people? The pro's & con's of such a proposal are irrelevant at this point, unless the Council presents such a plan for voters to decide, as our Charter and state-law require.

Please spread the word about this threat to our rights as citizens, talk to your friends & neighbors, and get involved by contacting your elected representatives on the Town Council, writing letters to the newspapers, and attending the February 28 public hearing.

CURB-Tiverton is designed to be a grassroots way for people to get information on town matters, express and discuss ideas, and participate in your town government. Please share your views and ideas by submitting a post via email to "curbtiverton@cox.net", or by commenting on Facebook.

It's our town, and we all need to do our part to preserve and improve it. Hopefully those seemingly intent on forcing their political agendas upon the people of Tiverton will recognize that the more time and energy we spend fighting with each other, the less time and energy we have to actually tackle the problems we face as a community. Compromise and cooperation shouldn't be seen as dirty words. But efforts to bypass the law and our democratic process must be resisted. All that's needed to defeat such threats is for people to get involved in preserving their rights and their community.

Brian Medeiros
Tiverton RI