Bonnie Van Slyke – Town Council Candidate In December Election
When: Vote from November 12 to December 2
Where: Charlestown Town Hall, 4540 South County Trail – or by Mail ballot
What: Special election to fill a Town Council seat left vacant by the passing of Richard “Rippy” Serra
Please support Independent candidate Bonnita B. Van Slyke in the December election.
Bonnie’s family has long loved Charlestown and been active in the community. Her father, George Bliven, was instrumental in defeating the nuclear power plant that the electric company planned to build on the former Navy base and then led the long effort to create Ninigret Park.
When Bonnie moved back to Charlestown to live full time in 2006, she dove right into community involvement. She served as an officer and a member of the Board of Directors of the Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center from 2007 to 2014 and on the Town Council from 2014 through 2022.
At Frosty Drew, a nonprofit education institution supported entirely by donations and grants, she worked to raise funds for and operate the science center and observatory. In 2012, when the then-Town Council proposed stadium lighting for a wide area next to the observatory and too near the National Wildlife Refuge, she worked to stop the plan and preserve the amazing dark skies above Ninigret Park.
In her eight years on the Town Council, Bonnie worked with her fellow councilors, members of the planning commission, staff, residents, and others to move critical issues forward—from reducing the tax rate to one of the lowest in Rhode Island and adopting a policy to reserve sufficient savings to protect taxpayers in the event of emergencies; to updating and adopting our long-range Comprehensive Plan to guide growth and preservation; to conducting a scientific survey of all members of the community to discover their opinions and desires; to listening to scientific experts and enacting ordinances to protect our groundwater; to guiding our town through the Covid-19 pandemic, keeping town offices open and providing services to our citizens; to rallying our community, nonprofit organizations, and legislators to defeat the Federal Railroad Administrations 2016 plan to bisect Charlestown with high-speed rail.
When re-elected to the Town Council, Bonnie will hit the ground running to stand up for the best interests of our town, and she will bring a much-needed balance to the Town Council where everyone is now part of the same political group. Bonnie is committed to accountable and ethical leadership, sound fiscal management, local control over land use, wise stewardship of our natural resources, and positive educational leadership.
Education
- Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, BA, Economics (with honors)
Professional Experience
- Freelance copy editor, technical writer, and publications specialist
- Thompson Steele Production Service, Harvard, MA (2000–2013), as a copy editor, technical writer, and publications specialist on college textbooks for major educational book publishing companies
- Executive Assistant, Arthur D. Little, Cambridge, MA
- Legal Secretary, Newport, RI, and Providence, RI
Public Service
- Member of the Charlestown Town Council, 2014–2022
- Officer and member of the Board of Directors, Frosty Drew Observatory & Science Center, 2007–2014
- Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, Harvard, MA, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Harvard Conservation Trust, Harvard, MA
- Chair of fundraisers, such as the Frosty Drew Sea Star Marketplace and the Harvard, MA, Flea Market; volunteer in school parent organizations; coach of the Harvard, MA, Ski Team, and Cub Scout Den Leader
Personal
- Bonnie enjoys sailing, tennis, biking, hiking, alpine skiing, and visiting her son and his family in San Francisco. Bonnie and her husband restored an antique colonial and had a flock of sheep on their small farm in Harvard, MA.
Banner image is a photo of Bonnie with her dog Sam at Charlestown’s South Farm Preserve this October.
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