Government
Public services and government action
After four years, Cranston panhandling ordinance struck down
“I supported the majority on the City Council in 2017 consistent with my strong views that our citizens need the best protection in our neighborhoods and on our streets,” admitted Mayor Hopkins about the ordinance he supported as a city councilor that cost the Cranston $140k.
Providence marches for Adam Toledo
"Adam Toledo was 13-years-old. 13. A seventh grader. Adam will never get to complete eighth grade. He'll never get to experience high school, his first date. He won't know the sluggish feeling from staying up all night to study because he procrastinated to the very last second. He won't know the horrors of algebra or geometry. He won't learn how the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell," said 15-year-old high school student Zainabou Thiam. "He won't get to be married. He won't have kids. He won't be able to buy a house. Adam Toledo is dead. He was murdered."
RIDOT Director is relaxing schedule on Kennedy Plaza break up, making room for public comment, and more
"We're taking every one of your comments, your suggestions, your criticisms, and I mad it a point to make sure that our team at RIDOT is integrating all of it into whatever we do," said RIDOT Director Peter Alviti. "We're relaxing the schedule. We're going to make room for more public comment. More formal public comment that interacts directly between us, and all of you. We don't have a final design. We're in preliminary design and it won't become final until after we've had an opportunity to talk to all of you."
Save Kennedy Plaza! say riders and advocates at protest against RIDOT/McKee plan to destroy it
Neighborhood, social justice and transportation advocacy groups urge Governor Daniel McKee to halt the rollout of RIDOT's flawed plan and start working with the community to develop a better one
Rhode Island demands justice for Daunte Wright - and systemic change
"...we need to create a system that breaks the cycle of violence. Then we need to end what is the mother of crime, which is poverty," said Kinverly Dicupe. "Poverty is a choice our society has made, and we can choose at any time to restructure society so that people have a floor under them. We can make sure everyone is guaranteed a high standard of living. So no one ever has to steal, sell drugs, sell their body, to make ends meet ever again. We can create a society where people don't have to self-medicate because their current reality is intolerable."
RIDOT's "bewildering" response to Kennedy Plaza plan TITLE VI civil rights complaint
RIDOT’s written response to the complaint is superficial and flimsy and disregards the significant, disproportionate and negative impacts that RIDOT’s plan will impose on people of color, disabled and low-income populations across Rhode Island. RIDOT’s trivial response took 85 days, 25 days longer than the department’s own Title VI response guidelines. Also: Newly minted lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos responds to question about the plan.
RI State House Tuesday April 13, 2021
Tuesday April 13, 2021 2pm House Oversight https://youtu.be/nUFsIztsd6I AGENDA: Call Meeting to Order.Presentation on the 2020 Rhode Island Healthy Aging Data ReportBeth Dugan, Associate Professor, Department of Gerontology, University o...
South Kingstown rallies for justice in the wake of arrests
"We all want to help healing to happen," said Eve Mombelly. "For there to be justice and repair of the harm that has been caused. First we need to see these young people returned home to their family. For the boys to beat the odds of being a Black man in the justice system and get a fair shot in our legal system."
Elorza releases report on public safety in Providence - community leaders push for action
"Many of the arrests created by the Providence Police Department are understood to be state mandated arrests by either the issuance of a warrant from a court or some regulatory issue such as driving on suspended or revoked licenses. These arrests drove about 25% of all arrests by the Providence Police Department," said PFM's Ronal Serpas, who helped author the report, "More importantly, we know in Providence and around the nation that these arrests, particularly around regulatory crimes, have a disparate racial and ethnic outcome," continued Serpas, even though a racial analysis was not the object of the report. "This can tell us that the current system is inefficient and expensive. It also begs the question of how to best service the entire community."
House Finance considers budget amendment to save Kennedy Plaza
"Back in 2014, 60% of Rhode Islanders voted to pass this $35m bond to improve the vital role of mass transit across Rhode Island," said John Flaherty, Deputy Director of GrowSmart RI. "Our concern is the potential that bond funds may be used in a way that brings harm to the transit system and to the thousands of Rhode Islanders who rely on it to get to work, to school, and to go about their daily lives."