EAST PROVIDENCE — The last of the  2022 general election forums for candidates from East Providence only co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters-Rhode Island and the East Bay Media Group/East Providence Post took place Tuesday night, Oct. 25, at City Hall.

The evening headliner and in the leadoff position was the contest between incumbent Mayor Bob DaSilva and his challenger, John Rossi.

In fairness, not much new ground was covered since the last time the two shared a stage when the pair was joined by Maureen Gomes Lopez and Ruari Miller in a similar setting during the primary campaign in late August.

DaSilva eventually won the September 13 vote with a resounding 50.8% of the tally. Rossi had just 26.9%, Gomes Lopez 11.9% and Miller 10.3%. Also, DaSilva’s 3,954 total was more than the combined sum of his three opponents (Rossi 2,095, Gomes Lopez 927 and Miller 802).

Last week, as happened then, Rossi attempted to bruise DaSilva by charging the mayor’s administration lacked integrity and transparency.

Among other demerits, Rossi also claimed the traffic cameras installed, which became operational at the beginning of this calendar year, had “nothing to do with school safety,” as city officials have asserted, but rather were a “revenue generator” used fund to plug holes in the city coffers.

DaSilva pointed out the cameras initially received the full support of the council, including two members who are backing Rossi (Ward 4 rep Ricardo Mourato and Ward 2 rep Anna Sousa). The mayor said the “No. 1 complaint” he receives from residents is on the matter of speeding and that several residents have asked for similar cameras to be placed in their neighborhoods. At the moment state law only allows for the cameras to be in officially designated school zones.

Both candidates reiterated their previously known stances on topics like the former Metacomet Country Club.

Rossi said he would put the matter up to the voters in the form of a referendum, asking residents whether or not they would want to attempt to take ownership of the property by eminent domain. Rossi would need a majority of the council to support the measure before it could be placed on any ballot.

DaSilva countered, saying the current council had hired an appraiser independent of the administration to look into the matter and, again, the majority of the body deemed it financially unfeasible to go down the eminent domain road. The mayor also highlighted the proposal to redevelop the 138-acre parcel includes several caveats negotiated by the council: about half a third of the property is deed restriction to be either a 9-hole golf course or open space. The golf course will be public and accessed by the East Providence High School program; another nearly 10 acres is being donated to city as a buffer to residents along Fort Street and Lyon Avenue; and that 10 percent of any residences built must be considered in the affordable housing category.

Asked about how an administration could better support small businesses, Rossi said the city’s current tangible property tax figure of some $58 per $1,000 of assessed value, which typically ranks it in the top five in the state depending on the time of year it rated, needed to cut. To make up for the budget shortfall, however, either of the two other main sources of revenue, residential and/or commercial property rates, would need to be raised or spending/programs would need to be trimmed. Rossi was not challenged on how he would go about accomplishing the feat.

DaSilva crowed mostly about federal pandemic relief and community block development programs the city benefitted from over the last four years, though didn’t mention any sort of potential tax relief he supports.

The most pointed comments either of the candidates made towards each other actually came in their closing statements.

Rossi referred to alleged statements DaSilva had made to parties each know well, saying the former would be beholden to political cronies, like former state rep and city councilor Brian Coogan, and family members, like his wife, former councilor and school committee member Chrissy Rossi.

Rossi looked in the direction of the audience where Coogan was seated at the forum and told him, he “will not have any more influence than other resident.” To his wife, Rossi said, he “will only hired qualified people” for any positions in his potential administration.

In addition, Rossi seemed to claim DaSilva had labeled him as a racist or bigot. Rossi said after the white-nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Va., he almost immediately the joined NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ) and in his role as a union intermediary lobbied for benefits for his same-sex members before it the Supreme Court issued its Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015.

DaSilva initially spent his ensuing closing remarks again touting his record for guiding the city through the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants his administration applied for and received from both state and federal sources.

He also boasted of being a “community of inclusivity, acceptance, diversity…That’s who we are.”

In response to Rossi’s charge of cronyism, DaSilva went into specific detail, alleging both his opponent and his wife,  Chrissy Rossi, both of whom he said supported his 2018 run to be the city’s first elected mayor, lobbied him for a job. Chrissy Rossi supposedly asked for a position in the planning department while John Rossi, himself, sought favor to be hired as the director of the senior center.

DaSilva added, he hasn’t “bowed to cronyism…We’ve done things the right way.”

The following the video link to the East Providence mayoral candidate forum...
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/RY1lsR7dNA6W0qygEFap02W8XYOfcj4cyfWJ7RXycKX5VhH5f26bo0KqBUPvZ1hb.R3_Y57HCp9RYm7D2?startTime=1666731612000