hard deadlines

Portsmouth Library Board president Michael Mello presents funding request to the Town Council.

The exchange between Michael Mello of the Portsmouth Library and Town Council President Dennis Canario was typical of the groups that came before the Council last night, pleading their case for money in the 2008-09 budget, and most returning empty-handed, at least in this preliminary pass.

"We think the Council has lost sight of the fact that we do provide a service to all the citizens," said Mello. "We are the only library in Rhode Island that has not had an increase in aid in 3 years. We will lose $5K from state aid. We are now running 6 fundraisers with most funds going to operational costs. If you do not provide an increase in funding, we must resort to using our endowment. We appreciate the town is in financial difficulties, but we need support for our operational budget."

Council President Denis Canario was sympathetic but firm. "I can appreciate everything that was said," Canario noted, but went on to reject the assertion that the town had lost sight of the Library's needs, "I personally take exception to that. I was one of the biggest supporters of buying the land for the [new parking area next to the] library. This Council has serious challenges facing this town."

The bottom line: the Council, while they appreciate the plight of the library, denied the request for increased aid and could offer no more than flat funding, year-on-year, at $439,930, the largest chunk of civic support.

As Councilor Jim Seveney noted, "We're in a zero-sum game here. We're at the cap. I'm sorry to say that $13K is considered serious money, but in this environment, it is."

The rest of the civic support groups in the "A" list — those that provide essential, nonduplicated services specific to Portsmouth — were lucky to see flat funding. Portsmouth Action for Youth (which runs the after-school program at Hathaway and summer activities), an unquestionably valuable service to parents, got their $54K, but no increase, which, given rising costs that everyone is familiar with, is essentially a cut. "Some of the programs we wouldn't be able to run this year," said director Cybil Pacheco.

Same deal for the Portsmouth Arts Guild, the Portsmouth Historical Society, the Senior Citizens Center, and the Portsmouth Prevention Coalition. Flat funding. And these were the lucky ones.

All the "B" groups — organizations that had had other funding sources or that provided services that were not essential — were zeroed out on this first pass through the budget.

Councilor Jim Seveney moved to give $500 to the first group up, American Legion Post #18, in line with the token funding given to B groups last year, but Tailgunner Gleason wouldn't go along, saying she favored zeroing all the requests. "It's a very unfortunate situation but it's reality we can't ignore," said Gleason. "I'm hoping over the next two years this can all change for the better."

Is Ms. Gleason aware that the tax levy cap shrinks by a quarter point each year over the next two years? Is there some law of economics that only she understands? Evidently not, because Peter McIntyre jumped on the bandwagon.

"This is the first one in B," said McIntyre, adding that he did not want to proceed with giving token funding back to each one. "We are in a terrible bind financially. Maybe 2 or 3 years down the line we can look at some of these."

Seeing the sense of the Council, Seveney had no choice but to withdraw his motion, but he clearly wasn't happy. "I don't think we're hitting the priorities," he said, and moved to zero fund the American Legion.

And it continued that way: Red Cross: Zero. Anthony House bus trip: Zero. Boy Scouts: Zero. Child and Family Services: Zero.

East Bay Community Action Plan CEO Dennis Roy pleaded with the Council. "We delivered conservatively over $400K in services into Portsmouth in the last year," he said. "We want you to be part of that solution. I ask that you consider the work that we do."

Zero.

"Good luck," Roy muttered to the CEO of Newport County Mental Health as he approached the table. It didn't help. NCMH: Zero.

Newport County Womens' Resource Center, Samaritans, Visiting Nurse Services: Zero. Volunteer Center of Rhode Island: Zero. Youth Success: Zero.

All youth sports programs: Zero.

I'm reminded of the comment that Councilor Len Katzman made last year at this same meeting. He said, "When people say that they want less government — this is what less government looks like."

Dr. Numi Mitchell shows coyote packs on Aquidneck Island.

Shifting gears, Town Administrator Bob Driscoll introduced Dr. Numi Mitchell, the lead scientist on the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study to talk about the results of her team's study of the population on Aquidneck Island.

"Is it true they would chew their own leg off to escape from a trap?" Councilor Seveney asked. "I'd chew my leg off to get out of this meeting."

Dr. Mitchell reviewed some of the background — coyotes only came to Aquidneck Island about a dozen years ago, they are opportunistic omnivores, they are highly territorial, and they naturally control their population based on the availability of food. The study used GPS radio collars to track 17 coyotes in the 10 packs that exist on the island.

It was clear, said Mitchell, that they were finding food plentiful. "Whenever they are roadkill," she said, describing their lush fur, "They look like they lived on a diet of Nacho Supreme." And they were quick to learn the location of human-provided augmentations to their diet — "subsidies," in coyote-study jargon. Mitchell, showed a spike of visits to an area where winter kills from a lamb farm were stored. "One person feeding coyotes will train the entire family," she said.

But there was good news. Since they are territorial and naturally match population to food supply, a natural control program is cheap and feasible. "When you stop subsidizing coyotes, they defend a larger area. Decrease subsidies, you'll see a decrease in population." The next step she proposed was to work with the Council to develop wildlife feeding ordinances which would prevent inadvertent (or intentional) feeding.

Now I'm sure it was unintentional that Dr. Mitchell's presentation happened to fall on the civic support night, but it is hard to mistake the lesson. In nature, only the fittest survive, and subsidizing a pack only leads to an excess of coyotes. But what about Cub Scout packs? Or Samaritans? Are we really just animals, driven only by the laws of physics and biology, efferent agents of Nature red in tooth and claw?

This is what the conservatives would have us believe. The act of "giving" money to organizations like the Visiting Nurses only promotes sloth and excess, sleek coyotes feeding at the public trough, rooting through the dumpster at Burger King instead of fighting and killing for their supper.

Is this really who we are as humans? Is this really who we are as a community?

Is this the Portsmouth you want?