How it all came togather

Every homework helped me and my partner keep going with the next one. We used my mission statement in a lot of the homework’s such as brochure, flier, and my web page. The articles we read helped me write all the essays and do these blogs. The more and more we learned helped us become more interested and be able to engage people in our organization. The facts I learned were my key points and helped a lot.
These are my points:
Do you know?
· 18% of the roads are safe to drive on.
· 164 of 772 bridges are safe to be on.
· Two of the state’s most important bridges have a weight limit.
· Rhode Island has the 3rd worst roads in the country.
· The Government wants to put more taxes and fees in order to better the roads.
· The government wants to start charging people to enter and leave Rhode Island to pay for the roads.
I also used my contacts list and put it in my brochure. It helped a lot having done the contact list.

Brochore and flier

My partner and I came up with our flier and brochure today. We tried to make it look interesting but be informative. We used different methods of doing the flier and the brochure. The flier just has a picture of the roads and the mission statement with some contact information. The brochure has a lot of facts and contact information but it also has the mission statement. We used pictures on both to make it more interesting seeing how most the people I was giving it to was my classmates.

mission statement

My partner and I wrote the mission statement to let people get a clear understanding of what our organization is about. I put our mission statement on the brochure and the flier because that what people should be informed about when they learn about are organization. Today I was informed that we need to have two different mission statements so it made it a little complicated.

We may not work in the State House and make the decisions but we are citizens of the United States and should have an impact on where are budget is being distribute. We are promised safety by our government and are roads are not safe. We work hard and contribute to taxes. We have a voice so let’s use it. E-mail the people in charge and tell them what we want. Are voices can change the world. Tell the government we need better roads and shouldn’t have to pay more. Put are taxes to use and let’s get better roads it’s what we deserve after working hard as a citizen.

finding with the questionnare

My questionnaire asked 10 questions on how often do you drive and your experience on the roads. When getting the test back every single one said we need to improve the roads and many said other states have better roads. If other states have better roads why can’t we? What are we doing so differently that we can’t afford better roads? We pay our taxes like every other state and we follow laws just like the other state so we should have nice roads like every other state. Wrong every person said we have bad roads so it’s no secret we need to improve. Many of the kids I asked were in high school and just getting their permits so they are just starting to realize that roads can be a safety hazard. Roads are very important as I understood from many of the people that took my questioners and it should be discussed more often. You don’t have to be on the roads all day to understand they need some attention. Most of the people answered that they spend 15 hours on the road a week. Now multiply 15 by the population of Rhode Island and that how populated the roads are over a week. 3 out of the 5 said they rarely see construction. A question I should of put on the questionnaire is “do you know why we don’t have good roads like other states?” Maybe it will get people ready to ask questions of their own.

research

When looking up information on my topic I found a lot of things alike. One thing was the dates of the articles most of them were published in 2008 or 2009 which means the information isn’t new. It doesn’t mean the information is old it’s just that there hasn’t been anything done between now and then. The articles didn’t have any secrets it let out all the information so it’s not like people are not informed about this. It’s just nothing is being done and no one is taking notice. The other thing alike was each article had number facts to help you understand the problem. I don’t understand how people cannot do anything after understanding that nothing has been done over the past 2 years and the devastating numbers proving we have bad roads. WHY ISNT PEOPLE DOING ANYTHING

Question of the day

If the government had enough taxes then don’t you think they would have fixed the roads?
I was talking to a teacher about my organization and she had asked me this question. It got me thinking because I did have the question on how I should found my organization in the beginning. I absolutely don’t think more money should come out the pockets of tax payers and nor should money be donated. The money should come out of taxes and the issue may be we have no money left in taxes. the people in charge of where are money is spent should be held accountable if we don’t have enough money. I don’t really understand how the taxes gets spend and who decides on what but there should be money aside saving construction. So I found the answer to my teachers question; No, I don’t think the government would help the roads if they had enough money because their priorities are all messed up.

awareness day

Today I walked around school and tried getting signatures for my “Better roads without higher taxes” petition and let me tell you it was a struggle. My partner and I had the most trouble with trying to get the adults signatures. The adults were unwilling to sign my paper and said “I support your cause but I can’t sign your paper.” Are you kidding me? This is why nothing gets done because people like that. By the way they acted toward my organization I think they would careless for better roads. The students had no problem signing the petition and they even seemed more involved then would have imagined. I got a little over 200 signatures and other peoples inputs about the roads today. I say it was a success in getting information out but also a lesson. A lesson that describes some peoples attitudes toward change.

Follow the money

I read an article on how much it would cost in order to fix the roads and the state Transportation Director Michael Lewis explains the department has said it needs $300 million per year over the next decade to repair the roads and bridges. This made me start wounding where some of our taxes go. I came across an article in the ProJo “Some R.I. tax check off donations go straight to general found.” The article explained that when you donate money from you tax refund thinking it goes to wildlife, benefiting the arts or treating drug addicts your really not. A portion of your money is going into the state’s general fund. This found has been around since 1995 which is the same year they voted on the money being able to get spent without having to tell tax payers the real purpose of the money. Rhode Island is corrupt!! Now if Rhode Island had a found for the roads and didn’t have people taking money out without permission of the people we would have the best roads.

Small construction Vs. Large construction

I was speaking among my fellow peers about Rhode Island and construction. We had a conversation about how they always seem to be doing construction on the roads and bridges. I was stuck because I think the roads are bad but they always seem to be working on them. Why is that? I came to a conclusion; we always have workers on the road working on the small construction. The construction that will last a year, stop people from complaining but also is cheap. What I realized is from this short term construction it only creates bigger problems. To fix a pot hole they fill it up with cement but this cement creates a bump and this bump creates cracks. I think you know what all this causes damage to your car. Wouldn’t it be smart to just hold off on filling the pot holes and just redoing big section roads? Most of the roads that have pot holes would benefit having the whole road done anyways.

Call 511

I just went on the DMV page for Rhode Island and found a help full phone number. Did you know if you dial 511 within Rhode Island on any phone you can be informed on the roads? You’ll be linked to the latest information on roads closes due to weather conditions, construction projects, accidents, and other road safety cautions. Also you can listen to the radio for road alerts just tune into 1630 Am in Rhode Island.

Here is a list of states that have 511

Alaska 511
Arizona 511
ARTIMIS - Northern Kentucky - Cincinnati
Boston 511
Central Florida/Orlando
Colorado 511
Eastern Sierras, California
Florida Statewide 511
Georgia 511
Idaho 511
Inland Empire 511
Iowa 511
Jacksonville 511
Kansas 511
Kentucky 511
Los Angeles / Orange / Ventura 511
Louisiana 511
Maine 511
Minnesota 511
Montana 511
Nebraska 511
Nevada 511
New Hampshire 511
New Jersey 511
New Mexico
New York 511
North Carolina 511
North Dakota 511
Oregon 511
Pennsylvania 511
Rhode Island 511
Sacramento - Northern California Region 511
St. Louis Gateway Guide 511
San Diego area 511
San Francisco Bay area
South Dakota 511
South Florida SunGuide
Southwest Florida 511
Tampa Bay area 511
Tennessee 511
Utah CommuterLink
Vermont 511
Virginia 511
Washington State 511
Wisconsin 511
Wyoming 511

Who Should You Contact

When doing an interview on how safe the roads are and what people are doing about it I realized people don’t know who to contact to complain. Many people have complained due to the fact they don’t know who to contact. The question is the people in charge; this would be your Mayor, Senates, and your governor. It’s easy to search them on the web but below I have a list of some people you could contact and their phone numbers. Your voice is important in your community just as much as your taxes so get your money worth of complaint!!!
Governor of Rhode Island
Donald L. Carcieri
State house, room 115
Providence, RI 02903
Phone: (401) 222-2080
Fax (401) 222-8098

Speaker of the house Rhode Island
Gordon D. Fox
State House 323
Providence, RI 02903
Phone: (401) 222-2466

Senator in Congress
Jack Reed
1000 Chapel View Blvd.
Suite 290
Cranston, RI 02920
Phone: (401) 943-3100
Fax: (401) 464-6837

Senator in Congress
Sheldon Whitehouse
170 Westminster Street
Suite 1100
Providence, RI 02903
Phone: (401) 453-5294
Fax: (401) 453-5083

Providence Mayor
David N. Cicilline
Providence City Hall, Room 202
25 Dorrance Street
Providence, RI 02903
Phone: (401) 421-2489
Fax: (401) 274-8240

Ummmm… . I wonder how bad are roads are going to look after this? It’s March 30, 2010 and Rhode Island is getting the worst rain storm in over 100 years. My biggest concern is the roads. I really don’t think the roads can take all this rain. There is lack of sewers on the roads in Rhode Island so the water has nowhere to go. When water is on the roads for too long it creates the roads to crack and soften so pot holes start to appear. This isn’t good for people’s tiers!! Now you may say that’s not the only reason for floods but it defiantly would prevent floods if the water had a place to go. This like most the other things in Rhode Island are going to come out the people’s pockets. So before something happens to your car call the people in charge that would be the mayor or the governor and express your anger on why we don’t have enough sewers.

Rainy day

Another rainy day… that means more cracks in the road and bigger pot holes. Due to Rhode Island not spending the prober time on the roads we have floods and closed roads. I may not be a road specialist but I do know is more sewer drains would prevent flooding in the street. Rhode Island doesn’t think the roads are top on a priority list so big infrastructure plans are out of the question. That’s unless you want to pay more taxes and bigger fees. Let’s think logic for a second more drains less cracks, less little repairs that don’t last more big repairs that last long. This is all a matter of long term vs. short term. If we just keep thinking about short term then it’s going to cost more not only from tax dollars but car repairs.

Sick Of Pot Holes in RI

I’m sick of all these pot holes its crazy!! I can’t drive down the street without swerving out of the way. I recently popped a tire on a curb when trying to avoid a pot hole. That’s just more money out my pocket trying to fix something the state should be responsible for. The government wants to tax us more in order to have a safe ride on the road but that crazy if we already pay taxes. I just read an article that expressed only 18% of the roads in Rhode Island are safe. IF ONLY 18% ARE SAFE THEN WHY ISN’T THIS A BIGGER ISSUE!!! It’s like the government is saying “we can’t give you safe roads because we just spent thousands of dollars putting the electronic late pass device in Providence Career and Technical Academy”. Really? This is where the people in charge of are taxes priorities are at.