by Billy Kepner | Mar 14, 2020 | Community Engagement, Council News, Press Release, Ward-1, Ward-10, Ward-11, Ward-12, Ward-13, Ward-14, Ward-15, Ward-2, Ward-3, Ward-4, Ward-5, Ward-6, Ward-7, Ward-8, Ward-9
Dear Neighbors,
The Members of the City Council have been in constant communication with the Administration, the Providence Emergency Management Agency, the Providence School Department, and Public Safety officials to assess and ensure the safety of our residents during these trying times.
As you are aware, yesterday Governor Raimondo moved the spring vacation of all public schools in the State of Rhode Island to begin on Monday, March 16, 2020. Since that announcement, the Providence School Department has worked to put mechanisms in place to ensure that no student goes hungry.
Beginning on Tuesday, March 17, there will be eight sites across the City where Providence Public School children can access “Grab & Go” lunches for that day and breakfast for the following day. The locations will be open from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm Monday – Friday during the duration of the break, and will continue if the State decides to keep schools closed for a longer period to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Service lines will be located at the front entrance of each school. No families will be allowed in the buildings. Sodexo staff will hand each student pre-packaged meals. To qualify for meals, students must attend a Providence Public School and be personally present at the distribution site.
The Eight Sites Are:
Asa Messer Elementary School located at 1655 Westminster Street.
Gilbert Stuart Middle School located at 188 Princeton Street.
Providence Career and Technical Academy located at 41 Fricker Street.
Mt. Pleasant High School located at 434 Mt. Pleasant Avenue.
Alvarez High School located at 375 Adelaide Avenue.
E-Cubed Academy located at 812 Branch Avenue.
Juanita Sanchez High School located at 182 Thurbers Avenue.
Hope High School located at 324 Hope Street.
During this time we ask that everyone continue to practice safe hygiene by washing their hands, coughing and sneezing into their elbows, using hand sanitizer, and staying indoors and at home if feeling sick.
Every student present in Providence schools on Friday – in grades 3-12 – was sent home with a Chrome Book so that they can access online learning and other tools. Here is a great selection of sites that have waived subscription fees during this period: Online Learning
The City has implemented a 100 person rule for restaurants and bars and has closed all City buildings and many of our cultural sites to protect against the spread of the virus. Today, the City launched a website with information for residents on COVID-19 and our response: Providence COVID-19.
The City is also working with utility companies to ensure that if someone is unable to pay their bill due to lack of income, that their services will not be interrupted. As we know more about these programs we will share them in later updates.
As of now, we are awaiting direction from the Attorney General’s Office regarding public attendance at the City Council meeting on Thursday, March 19 at 7:00 pm. Due to the advice of the Rhode Island Department of Health and the City to implement “social-distancing” we encourage you to watch the meeting on our YouTube Channel or Facebook Page where it will be livestreamed.
For more information on what you should do if you feel that you may have contracted COVID-19, or come into contact with someone that could potentially have COVID-19 please visit the Rhode Island Health Department’s website or by calling the COVID-19 hotline at 401-222-8022.
Sincerely,
City Council President Sabina Matos and the Members of the Providence City Council
by Billy Kepner | Mar 10, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-1, Ward-10, Ward-11, Ward-12, Ward-13, Ward-14, Ward-15, Ward-2, Ward-3, Ward-4, Ward-5, Ward-6, Ward-7, Ward-8, Ward-9
The Providence City Council unveils updated website honoring our long and storied history
centered on our neighborhoods and community engagement
Today, the City Council unveils an updated user-centric website and a rebrand of its communications that pays homage to the City’s storied and diverse neighborhoods.
Council President Matos stated, “Providence residents love and are proud to represent the neighborhoods they come from. The rich history of our city could not exist without the great contributions made by generations of families who hail from every corner of this city. Wards and ward boundaries change over time. What anchors people to Providence are the memories made in settings like Federal Hill, Mt. Hope, and Washington Park. The story of our city is a story of neighborhoods.”
Providence is made up of 25 neighborhoods represented by 15 City Councilors. Those neighborhoods are Blackstone, Charles, College Hill, Downtown (Jewelry District), Elmhurst, Elmwood, Federal Hill, Fox Point, Hartford, Hope ( Summit), Lower South Providence, Manton, Mount Hope, Mount Pleasant, Olneyville, Reservoir, Silver Lake, Smith Hill, South Elmwood, Upper South Providence, Valley, Wanskuck, Washington Park, Wayland, and the West End.
President Matos continued, “We are extremely excited to have our neighbors interact with our new website. This new site is easier to use, navigate, and find relevant information about Councilors and meetings. Most importantly, from the landing page the site establishes a reverence for neighborhoods.”
In addition to the website, the Council will also begin livestreaming Council Meetings beginning in April on both Facebook and the Council’s YouTube Channel.
by Billy Kepner | Feb 6, 2020 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-10, Ward-11, Ward-12, Ward-13, Ward-14, Ward-15, Ward-2, Ward-3, Ward-4, Ward-5, Ward-6, Ward-7, Ward-8, Ward-9
Tonight the City Council will introduce a resolution to honor the life and legacy of Michael Van Leesten, a Providence native and a pioneer in the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1960s.
Mr. Michael Van Leesten was a graduate of Hope High School, Rhode Island College, and was a veteran on the United States Airforce. Upon his graduation from Rhode Island College, he became active in the Civil Rights Movement and participated in SCLC SCOPE Project in Choctaw County, Alabama. He along with six other college students, worked doing community organizing and voter registration in rural Alabama during the height of the Civil Rights Struggle. He spoke of his time in the Movement as a “defining moment in my life,” and he believed that this singular experience made him a better person, better husband, better father, and better community leader.
“Michael Van Leesten was my friend, and a ray of inspiration and hope to many. We would talk over the phone and laugh and before we hung up he would also say ‘Nirva, I am so proud of you,’” stated Councilwoman Nirva LaFortune (Ward 3). “He was more than a board member, the executive director of OIC or a father, he was a community citizen, someone who was aware of and understands the broader issues that our community- and his place in the community and his role in effecting change. He was all of these things because he was a community citizen first and took an active role in his community and the people of his community. He was a bridge builder, an architect of connections and that is why it would be appropriate to name the bride after him. Like the new Pedestrian bridge he bridged gaps and created a platform for all to pass through and that gave others permission to do the same.”
Mr. Van Leesten served as the Executive Director of Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Rhode Island, which he helped found, for more than 15years. He was also a consultant and the owner of Van Leesten Associates, and also served as the Director of Planning and Development in Providence. After which, he went on to be the Director of Public Affairs for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, and then in 2006 he resumed his role at the OIC until his passing. He was board member of numerous organizations including the Board of Regents, Peerless Precision, and Fleet Bank, and was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Roger Williams College, Rhode Island College, and the University of Rhode Island.
Deputy Majority Leader Mary Kay Harris (Ward 11) stated, “Mike played a very important role in my life. Through his vision as the Executive Director of Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC), he was essential to me becoming a welder. Giving me a profession and career that helped me raise my children and provide them with a quality education. His life’s work was ensuring that those living in poverty could find a way to rise up, learn a trade, and we are all better for having had him in our lives.”
Many community members have been working on several different ways to honor Mr. Van Leesten’s life and legacy, and the City Council and its members wish to make that process more cohesive. The resolution that will be introduced tonight and will be sent to the Council’s Committee on Urban Redevelopment, Renewal, and Planning, which is chaired by Deputy Majority Leader Mary Kay Harris. There the Committee will work to bring all the relevant parties together to discuss the most meaningful and fitting way to honor Mr. Van Leesten.
by Billy Kepner | Dec 6, 2019 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-11, Ward-15, Ward-4, Ward-6
This TSA is one of the first that will generate a guaranteed funding source for the City’s Affordable Housing Trust
At last night’s City Council meeting a majority of the council voted in favor of granting the developer of the property located at 203 Westminster Street a 20-year Tax Stabilization Agreement (TSA) which will be the first since the Council passed the Affordable Housing Trust Fund – that requires the City’s Tax Assessor to deposit 10% of their annual tax contributions to the fund.
The Affordable Housing Trust Fund was passed in July of 2019, and requires 10% of TSAs tax payments to go directly to a fund to help support affordable housing projects across the City. This TSA, by end of its terms, will have generated at least $500K for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund based on estimates provided by the Tax Assessor’s office.
Council President Sabina Matos (Ward 15) stated, “Our City is bustling with new hotels, restaurants, and attractions. Our skyline is rapidly changing. However, some of our most precious historic buildings need a little extra help to get them back online. This building, located directly across the street from City Hall, sticks out as a sore reminder that opportunities to redevelop our most endangered buildings don’t come around often. While there is definitely room for discussion regarding the role and scope of TSA’s, this development meets a specific criteria for me: the condition of the building necessitates it, it would help save one our most storied buildings, and it’d be making a significant contribution towards affordable housing efforts across our city over the course of the agreement.”
The developer of the property located at 203 Westminster Street and the adjacent property, formerly the Providence Journal Building and the former Kresge Department Store, will be turned into a hotel that would create 233 full-time construction jobs, and 154 full-time jobs after the building is completed. The property owner is currently paying over $136K in property taxes per year and by the end of the TSA they will be paying over $516K in property tax per year. Over the twenty years of the agreement, the development will have contributed an additional $3.6 million in tax revenue. This is in addition to sales tax, hotel occupancy tax, and income taxes that will be realized by the completion of this project.
“I have been on record that I am not in favor of 20-year TSAs,” stated City Council Deputy Majority Leader Mary Kay Harris (Ward 11). “I pushed to have the Council pass an ordinance that codified monies from our TSAs be directed to support our neighborhoods, and those that needed the support the most. When I see people without roofs over their heads, or living in fear of losing their home, or can’t afford to fix their homes because they are on a fixed income – how can I in good conscience support such projects? By adding this funding source for affordable housing, it begins to chip away at the hard work that we must accomplish to make equity a reality. This project will deposit an estimated $500K into a fund that will have a direct impact on our community’s and that is why I am standing in support of this project. This will have a direct impact on the residents we represent, and that is worthwhile.”
Senior Deputy Majority Leader Nicholas J. Narducci Jr. (Ward 4) stated, “I have always stood on the side of Unions, and I still do. That said we must look at the bigger picture of economic development for our city and the funding that this project will provide for our Affordable Housing Trust which will have a direct impact on the most vulnerable members of our community. These buildings have stood abandoned and vacant for years. We have a developer that is willing to make a sizeable investment in our City and I believe that we need to support progress, not stand in opposition of it.”
The developers proposed TSA was continued indefinitely by the Committee on Finance, but with a majority of the Council’s support it was discharged from Committee and sent to the full Council for a vote.
“I look at the old ProJo building every day from my office and see its potential,” stated City Council President Pro Tempore Michael Correia (Ward 6). “I believe in order for our City to continue the trajectory we are on we must embrace development, but with an eye on the greater good. We have multiple buildings in our city center that have been abandoned and are rapidly deteriorating and it is creating a negative narrative about our downtown. After so many of us have worked so hard to redevelop this district to become an economic engine and a great place to shop, eat, and live for our residents and visitors alike.”
Through the TSA the developer is also required to use 10% of the construction cost on women and minority owned businesses; they are required to make a good faith effort buy construction materials from Providence based businesses; they must develop a First Source Agreement with the Director of First Source Providence; 100% of hours worked on the project will be performed by trade construction subcontractors who have or are affiliated with an apprenticeship program; and over the term of the TSA will deposit nearly $138K into the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund that goes to support the City’s parks, pools, waterparks, and recreation centers.
by Billy Kepner | Sep 20, 2019 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-11, Ward-14, Ward-5
Council Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan (Ward 5), Deputy Majority Leader Mary Kay Harris (Ward 11), and Councilman David A. Salvatore (Ward 14) introduced two resolutions requesting that the City of Providence provide status reports and updates on street and sidewalk projects and their expenditures associated with the $45M Bond that was approved by the City Council in 2017.
“To date the Council has had not been updated regarding what Bond proceeds have been expended,” stated Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan. “I have been advocating for accountability for the work that was authorized under this bond for months. When constituents question why certain streets are being paved or not, and why the City is installing ill-conceived street redesign plans they deserve to know how the City is spending their tax dollars. I also want to know how much of these funds were used to develop the Mayor’s ‘Great Streets’ initiative. I am not an opponent of bicycle lanes, in fact, I support creating an urban environment conducive to multimodal transportation. However, that was not what the City Council had in mind when we authorized the City to secure this bond funding. Our goal was to make sure that we spend precious taxpayer dollars to pave and fix as many streets and sidewalks as possible, and to ensure accountability in the process.”
The resolution introduced by Majority Leader Ryan and Deputy Majority Leader Harris focusses on the portion of the funding that was allocated for street repairs, paving, and improvements. “In my Ward there has been little improvement to our streets and that concerns me. My constituents continually ask when their streets are being paved or repaired and I just don’t have the answers. They deserve better,” stated Deputy Majority Leader Mary Kay Harris.
In 2017 the City Council approved the Elorza Administration to take out a $45M Bond to implement a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to fund critical improvements to streets, sidewalks, and other infrastructure projects. To date the City Council has not received a public report regarding the status of these funds.
Councilman David A. Salvatore stated, “Holding the Administration accountable for how they spend our resident’s hard-earned tax dollars is not only our duty, but it is unfortunate that we have to do so by passing legislation to get a breakdown of what work has been done. I hear from constituents every day about the state of our sidewalks. I realize that this was a large scale project, but their needs to be transparency for our residents.”
The City Council is requesting the Administration and the Director of Public Works to submit a project progress report and fiduciary updates to the City’s Internal Auditor for review within 30 days of passage.
by Billy Kepner | Sep 13, 2019 | Council News, Press Release, Ward-11
