by Billy Kepner | Aug 25, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-4
In 2016, we were all saddened to hear that a fire destroyed the Parks Department Grounds Maintenance Facility at Roger Williams Park.
Today, the Parks Department Grounds Maintenance Facility will officially be opened along with the renovated Carriage House. Roger Williams Park is one of the City’s most iconic places, and as a member of the Board of Parks Commissioners, I know how hard Superintendent of Parks Wendy Nilsson and her team worked to rebuild the space.
Public tours are being offered today from 9 am – 1 pm, pre-registration is required. You can do so by visiting the following site:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4caeaa2ba3f8c25-grounds
Congratulations to the Parks Department on these great new upgrades.
Nicholas J. Narducci Jr., Senior Deputy Majority Leader
Providence City Council
Councilman – Ward 4
by Billy Kepner | Aug 21, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-14
In recent weeks, violence has risen in our City to an unacceptable level. We have had five deadly shootings in two weeks. Sin Bakery in Providence’s Federal Hill Neighborhood was robbed, and thousands of dollars were stolen. A home on Hawkins Street in the Wanskuck Neighborhood was robbed of 52 firearms in addition to an early morning homicide inside of a smoke shop. Gun violence and other crimes have occurred in almost every corner of our City. As an elected leader in the City that I love, I won’t sit idly by and watch this happen.
I have been calling on our state and federal leaders to enact legislation that would make it harder – not easier – to access a firearm for those that would do harm to a fellow resident. I have called on our leaders to follow the lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and recognize gun violence as a public health crisis, and to reinstate funding for research and other programs that would protect communities like ours. Congress has to get off their hands and stop looking to the NRA and start listening to their constituents.
We can debate the issues of the root causes of this deadly public health crisis. Still, we know they stem from systemic racism, poverty, access to affordable housing, organized crime and in some cases, an individual’s mental well-being. Change has to come, and not just from the top down.
If we are to succeed in stemming the violence and addressing this public health crisis, we must do so together.
We must work with our community members who are in need; we must work with our schools and those entrusted in our care; we must work with our colleagues in government to affect change that can serve the many and not the few and demand that important legislation like prohibiting renter discrimination based on source of income get passed out of committee and become law; we must work with our social service agencies who have their boots on the ground and provide them the support they need, and we must work with our police department to ensure that they have the resources and skills to work inside our culturally diverse communities while holding those accountable who wish to inflict harm on our community.
Until we take this public health crisis seriously and demand that leaders at all levels address the systemic issues at hand, we won’t be able to stem the violence.
I pledge today that I will continue to advocate and work with my colleagues to ensure that we can do whatever is within our power at the local level to keep our city safe from violence. We will continue to urge our state and federal leaders to make change a reality and to invest in finding solutions to this ongoing public health crisis.
David A. Salvatore
Providence City Council
Councilor – Ward 14
by Billy Kepner | Aug 21, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-15
Our City has suffered five homicides in the last two weeks alone.
In the throes of a global pandemic, as we as a City wrestle with the resulting economic fallout, and as we as a nation confront centuries of systemic racism, we are witnessing widespread frustration manifesting itself in many ways.
Cities all across the country are experiencing a spike in homicides indicative of deeper-rooted issues that have led some to turn to senseless violence.
There isn’t a single agency, organization, elected official, or municipal department that can quell this surge alone.
The remedy will require a community-wide response that holistically addresses the causes and not the symptoms.
We must support our diversion programs and non-violence advocates like our City partners at the Nonviolence Institute. We must continue to work towards increasing the affordable housing stock in our City, so no parent turns to desperation to pay their rent. We must strictly adhere to mask-wearing and social distancing guidelines to help fully reopen our economy as soon as possible and get our community members back to work. We must fully commit to a long-term school turnaround plan if we want to provide our youth with new pathways for success. We must support legislation that reduces the number of firearms that end up on our streets.
We must do everything possible to pull in our most at-risk community members and instill in them a sense of purpose and dignity and not push them away when they need us most.
Violence is the manifestation of lack of resources in our community and a sad reminder that we are all connected and like the virus, requires that all of us take part in the process to eliminate it.
Sabina Matos
President-Providence City Council
Councilwoman-Ward 15
by Billy Kepner | Aug 19, 2020 | Uncategorized
On Wednesday, August 12, Councilman John Goncalves (Ward 1) joined with the Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Place to recognize and honor elders in the Cape Verdean community with City Council Proclamations. Councilman Goncalves is the first Cape Verdean to be elected in Ward 1.
As the city of Providence and the State of Rhode Island commit to lead the nation in presenting a truthful and inclusive history of its residents, a significant thread currently absent from State historical narratives of Rhode Island’s rich history: the Cape Verdean experience, an archipelago of ten islands off the West Coast of Africa and the first sub-Saharan African people to immigrate to Providence, Rhode Island, voluntarily.
“I stand on the shoulders of giants, and I am honored that I could help celebrate my Cape Verdean heritage and the elders in our community,” stated Councilman John Goncalves. “The Cape Verdean community is one that plays an important and integral role in the modern economic history of our City. If you visit India Point Park today, you can still see the logs in which the longshoremen would move goods from incoming ships, many of those longshoremen were Cape Verdean. I was honored to visit with our elders and present them with a City Council Proclamations for their dedication to the community.”
The new immigrants sailed and arrived in 1892 on the packet ship Nellie May captained by Antonio Coelho. The community settled and continued to grow in the historic Fox Point area including Tockwotton and Sparrow Parks near the waterfront and the Port of Providence from the late 19th through the mid-20th century. The close-knit Cape Verdean neighborhood of tenement homes and businesses stretched contiguously through Tockwotton, then along South Main, Pike, Brook, Traverse, and Wickenden Streets all of which are located in the City’s First Ward.
Glynis Ramos-Mitchell, President, Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Place, Inc. stated, “This recognition serves inclusively to validate, educate, and bring an awareness of the heritage, legacy, and contribution of Providence, Rhode Island’s first Cape Verdean immigrant community in Fox Point. We are proud to memorialize this historic Fox Point immigrant neighborhood by recognizing six elder former residents: John “Johnnie” Britto, Deacon Charles “Charlie” Andrade, Patricia “Pat” (Oliviera) Andrade, Cecelia “Dottie” (Alves) Ramos, Alice (Alves) Andrade, and Domingos “Mingo” Lopes.”
Councilman Goncalves was joined by Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Place, Inc.’s Vice President and Project Director, Claire Andrade-Watkins, PhD., and Director of Publicity and Community Engagement, Michelle Cruz to hand-deliver City Council Proclamations to each of the recipients. (They ensured social distancing and safe delivery between the elders and the group.)
“I was born in Fox Point, and I’m Cape Verdean…It gave me the sense of who I was and where I was from. South Main Street has many many memories for me. South Main Street had a lot of pride in the fact that we were a neighborhood that loved each other. It was also a time where you walked to school or wherever you went, you were proud to say, ‘I’m a Fox Pointer,'” stated Domingo “Mingo” Lopes, Retiree, Local 1329, International Longshoremen’s Association (I.L.A.).
For more information on the Fox Point Cape Verdean Heritage Place, visit them on the web at http://fpcapeverdeanhp.org/
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Domingo “Mingo” Lopes and Councilman Goncalves
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John “Johnnie” Britto with “Straight Outta Fox Point” shirt on
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Christine Andrade, Charlene Andrade, grandson, Melanie Andrade, Patricia “Pat” (Oliviera) Andrade, and Deacon Charles “Charlie” Andrade with Councilman Goncalves
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John “Johnnie” Britto (in doorway) with his family and Councilman Goncalves
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Kim Pie Ramos and Cecelia “Dottie” (Alves) Ramos with Councilman Goncalves
by Billy Kepner | Aug 17, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-9
I want to be very clear that as a woman of color, I fully support the Black Lives Matters movement. I also agree that we need to enact reforms and training for our Police Department to ensure cultural competency and to educate our officers on racial biases.
This past weekend, a video was shared that did not show the totality of my statement. After watching the video, I had a conversation with Nika Salazar and asked her to please retract and put out my full statement. She apologized and promised to solve this misunderstanding and put out the full video, which so far has not happened. That’s why I decided to give this statement today.
To be clear, I stated that I could not support defunding the police in the way that I was asked. I do not agree at this time to give the police department more funding for their pensions. We need to look at the police department’s pensions and some of the wage increases they’re asking for and possibly make cuts in those areas. Still, I am not in favor of completely defunding or abolishing the police department.
My neighborhood needs more police officers, not less. I pledge to examine the budget and see areas where we could eliminate unnecessary costs and redirect them to affordable housing and education. Having said that, I sincerely believe that we need to fund our police department so that they can do their job safely. The area south of Providence is diverse and beautiful, but crime and violence remain a problem. As Councilwoman for Ward 9, I am committed to protecting the quality of life of my neighbors, and that means supporting public safety.
As a member of the Committee on Finance, I am in support of Chairman Igliozzi’s desire to create a social services unit that would be devoted to responding to calls that the Providence Police Department doesn’t believe would warrant an armed response. I agree that we need to repeal the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights so that our Chief of Police can readily act when an officer is accused of a crime.
I stand in solidarity with those calling for reforms and working towards the goal of ensuring anti-biases within our police ranks.
Carmen Castillo
Providence City Council
Councilwoman – Ward 9
