by Billy Kepner | Jul 16, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-1, Ward-10, Ward-14, Ward-3, Ward-6
At tonight’s City Council meeting, Councilor David A. Salvatore (Ward 14) introduced an amendment to the Code of Ordinance, along with co-sponsors President Pro Tempore Michael Correia (Ward 6), Councilman Pedro Espinal (Ward 10), Councilwoman Nirva LaFortune (Ward 3), and Councilman John Goncalves (Ward 1), that would set forth a designated schedule for street and sidewalk sweeping in the City of Providence. Currently, there is no ordinance that creates a predictable plan to ensure that these vital qualities of life issues are handled in a timely matter.
“Over the past several weeks, I have made observations of the state of our streets and sidewalks in Providence, and my findings are disturbing. Our City needs a higher level of cleanliness,” stated Councilor David A. Salvatore. Currently, there is nothing in our City’s Code of Ordinances that spells out a street and sidewalk sweeping program. This amendment would ensure that our streets and sidewalks are swept on a regular and predictable basis while enhancing communication with city residents.”
The amendment would require the Department of Public Works (DPW) to sweep every street within the City at a minimum of six times per year. The DPW director will also be directed to maintain a street sweeping calendar that identifies a recurring schedule of when each street will be swept. Like other municipalities, the DPW will be required to notify residents with overnight parking permits using best practices from other cities including signage and other forms of direct notification in addition to PVD 311.
DPW will be also be required to sweep sidewalks along all principal arterials, minor arterials, major collectors, and minor collectors as classified by the State of Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning within the City at a minimum of three times per year.
“Local governments promise a social contract with its residents to make certain that their quality of life is upheld. Unfortunately, Providence has portrayed itself as a dirty city, which jeopardizes the environment, homeownership growth, and expanding our tax base,” reiterated Councilor Salvatore. “Our residents and businesses deserve to have clean streets and sidewalks, and it is my hope that my amendment will fix this decades-old issue.”
The amendment to the Code of Ordinances will be sent to the Committee on Ordinances for vetting and consideration.
by Billy Kepner | Jul 16, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-5
Tonight, Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan (Ward 5) will introduce a resolution calling on the City to address specific rodent issues in the City.
“I have heard from numerous residents about colonies of rodents that have popped up in parts of the City,” stated Majority Leader Ryan. “Rodents create a serious quality of life issues, and when not addressed quickly, can cause health concerns for residents. I have asked that the Director of Public Works immediately address the issue either with City staff or with an outside vendor to address this quality of life issue.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rodent population around the country has grown due to the decrease in residents being outdoors and creating more waste due to being home. It’s recommended that residents ensure that any garbage that is left outside be put in sealed trash barrels. If you have a barrel that is broken or has even a slight hole or cracks in it, you should call the Department of Public Works to request a replacement barrel at 401-680-7500 or visit them online at providenceri.gov/public-works. Replacing your broken barrels will help cut off the food source for these nuisance pests.
Majority Leader Ryan continued, “For these reasons, we must address the issue head-on before it escalates. Quality of life is paramount, and in this current climate where we are living with the COVID-19 pandemic, our residents deserve to have this issue addressed and swiftly.”
Upon passage, the resolution will be sent directly to Mayor Jorge Elorza and Director Leo Perrotta of the Department of Public Works.
by Billy Kepner | Jul 16, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-10, Ward-15
Tonight City Council President Sabina Matos (Ward 15) along with co-sponsor Councilman Pedro Espinal (Ward 10) will be introducing a resolution at the City Council meeting calling on the Department of Planning and Development and the Department of Inspection and Standards to create a security deposit assistance program for residents that are displaced due to fires or their homes or rental units being condemned.
“Currently, if a resident loses a home due to fire or their property being condemned, the City provides them with hotel vouchers for a limited period of time,” stated Council President Sabina Matos. “That is an important temporary step, but what happens when those vouchers run out? These residents then become at-risk of becoming homeless. By re-purposing some of these funds we now use for hotel vouchers for long term housing, we can mitigate against that risk and help set families up for success.”
There are particular circumstances where individual buildings are deemed to be in violation of the Building Code to such an extent that the structure is no longer habitable. When that occurs, the Department of Inspection and Standards is forced to condemn the structure, which can lead to the removal of tenants from their homes. The City currently provides those residents with temporary housing vouchers at local hotels for a short period using revenue collected by the Providence Housing Court.
President Matos’ resolution would work to establish a comprehensive plan to ensure displaced residents don’t fall into homelessness, and that a means to provide access to stable housing is afforded to these displaced individuals.
“I firmly believe that housing should be a right for every resident of Providence. When residents experience displacement, it can become a slippery slope economically and for their health. We all deserve stability and assistance during those times when we need it most,” continued President Matos.
by Billy Kepner | Jul 16, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-14
Tonight, I will be introducing a resolution to recognize Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. for his honorable service as the President of Providence College. Rev. Shanley is the longest-serving president in the 100-year history of Providence College and is also the only Rhode Island native to ever serve as president.
On June 30, 2020, Father Shanley’s tenure as president of Providence College ended following fifteen years of guiding the school through a period of remarkable change and growth.
Under Father Shanley’s presidency, the College built upon its proud heritage as a Catholic, liberal arts institution, sustained its commitment to its ideals, and modified both practices and facilities in ways that have enhanced its national profile. As a result, Providence College created a sustainable platform for long-term success.
Father Shanley has overseen a substantial transformation of the Providence College campus including the additions of the Ruane Center for the Humanities, the Arthur F. and Patricia Ryan Center for Business Studies, and the Ruane Friar Development Center, as well as a completely re-envisioned model for pedestrian and vehicular movement around the campus.
Father Shanley made diversity a high priority of his administration. Establishing the advancement of diversity as one of the core values of both Providence College’s 2011 Strategic Plan and its 2018 successor plan was crucial to growth. The plans resulted in the percentage of undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds almost tripling (to approximately 20 percent of the student body population) since 2005, and the percentage of diverse full-time faculty has risen from eight percent to 17 percent over the same time period.
Providence College is one of the ten largest employers within the City of Providence and a major driver of the local economy. As a result of Father Shanley’s leadership, the College maintained a strong commitment to the City through more than 55,000 hours of student community service assisting over 150 different social service agencies, community groups, public, private and charter schools, and city government offices.
I wish to extend my deepest gratitude and thanks to Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. for his dedicated service to the residents of the City of Providence through his 15 years serving as the President of Providence College and I wish him well on this next chapter.
David A. Salvatore
Providence City Council
Councilor – Ward 14
by Billy Kepner | Jul 15, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-7
Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Councilman John J. Iglozzi Esq. (Ward 7) announced today that the Committee will have a discussion tonight with representatives from the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) Program based in Denver, Colorado.
“After a nearly nine-hour long public hearing on the budget, our Committee heard loud and clear that their needs to be a new way of looking at policing in our community,” stated Chairman John J. Igliozzi Esq. “We heard calls to abolish the police and to defund the police, but in each of those refrains, it was centered on the need for the decriminalization of societal issues – like mental health, low-level drug offenses, public intoxication, and other issues that would not warrant an armed response. These are things that can and should be handled by trained medics and mental health professionals, and would allow individuals to receive social services rather than being confronted with the potential of an arrest.”
Last week, the Committee on Finance heard from representatives from Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) launched by the White Bird Clinic in 1989 in Eugene, Oregon. Their program addresses the social service needs that are better treated by trained counselors, medics, and crisis managers than the police. The program deploys teams of two unarmed civilian officers with a medic and trained crisis worker to calls that are nonviolent and do not require an armed response. According to their shared data, they handled 18% of the 133,000 911 calls in the City of Eugene last year and only needed to call for police backup 150 times. The program is operated on a $2-million budget and saved the city nearly $14-million in costs of ambulance transport and emergency room care in the past year.
The STAR program is funded through the Caring for Denver Foundation and began its pilot phase on June 1, 2020. The program has been in development for several years and was planned to launch in April but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The program, based on the CAHOOTS model, is different as it is not housed in the public safety division of the City but based out of the Mental Health Centers of Denver.
“These programs are not one size fits all. We need to find the right balance and the right kind of program that would address the needs that are specific to Providence. Over the next few weeks, we will continue to have these conversations and looking at ways we can integrate unarmed response teams to help serve our community and free up our police to do the work they are intended to do. I believe our Police Department is doing a great job and I applaud how they have been handling themselves throughout these difficult conversations. However, I believe that we can always do better. If creating specific programs to address these societal issues and alleviate the stress of our police force having to go to calls that would be better handled by trained medical and social service professionals, I think that is a great start to better community policing and intervention,” continued Chairman Igliozzi.
by Billy Kepner | Jul 15, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-11
As other Black Americans are intimately aware of, the Black experience is one riddled with broken promises, false hopes and dreams, violence, trauma, and systems and institutions that seek to benefit from the exploitation of our individual and collective anguish.
Black communities across this country are suffering exponentially more because of COVID-19, a stalled economy, and a defective criminal justice system. Except, we’re not only risking health, eviction, homelessness and joblessness; Black families are risking body and life to keep the exhaust of our nation’s engine away from our collective consciousness. Black Americans across this country are forced to send their children to failing school systems, are relegated to minimum wage jobs, and are forced to live in decaying neighborhoods to support the American dream of others.
Therefore, the debt owed to my Black brothers and sisters not only stems from historical transgressions against our freedom, but accumulates to this day because of the underclass conditions we are forced to live in and told to be grateful for.
We don’t need to look too far back to find examples of discriminative governmental polices. There are plenty of inequitable systems today that desperately need our attention and energy.
With two years left in our terms, I believe the right initiative to undertake would be a Crisis Mitigation Plan for Black Communities in light of COVID-19 and every other modern-day inequality my community has to endure and disproportionately suffer from.
While I agree that we as a society are overdue for tough conversations about our past, that conversation doesn’t necessarily have to be tied to restitution.
The word “reparations” is a special word, and like a well, elected officials should refrain from using it so much or risk diminishing its worth. For when I think of reparations, I think of a restitution that is intrinsically connected, dollar for dollar, to the value of the uncompensated services provided by generations of Black slaves. I think of the compensation owed to us for our physical, mental, and emotional trauma that we experienced when our families were torn apart at auction blocks and cotton fields: trauma that haunts our community to this day.
Therefore, when I think of what is due to the Black community when we utter the word “reparations” I’m thinking of a remedy so thoughtful, holistic, and valuable as to be able to make a dent in the debt owed to my community. Whatever the reparation is better be capable of generationally shifting the plight of an entire community.
While down payment assistance programs, and tax abatement programs for our Black communities are initiatives worthy of exploration, they do not meet the criteria that is collectively conjured when we think of what is owed to these families.
I look forward to conversations about these very important matters and applaud the Mayor for providing a forum for doing so.
Yet, 2020 is definitely not the year to overpromise and underdeliver. My people have been through enough.
Mary Kay Harris, Deputy Majority Leader
Providence City Council
Councilwoman – Ward 11
