The final forum co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters-Rhode Island and the East Bay Media Group, owner of The Post, for candidates from East Providence involved in the September 13 Primary Election took place last week, August 31, between those seeking the open Senate District 18 seat and those looking to unseat the sitting mayor.

The chase between Bob Britto and Greg Greco to be the Democratic nominee for Senate 18 representing parts of East Providence and northern neighbor Pawtucket opened the evening.

The nightcap was conducted between the quartet looking to be the next mayor of East Providence — incumbent Bob DaSilva along with challengers Maureen Gomes Lopez, Ruari Miller and John Rossi.

Senate 18 forum
The Senate 18 forum, maybe because it involved just two candidates, felt a bit more substantive.

Britto is a professional in the building trade at R.I. Housing and a three-term member of East Providence City Council. Greco, a first-time candidate, is a Special Education teacher and part of the progressive Rhode Island Political Cooperative (RIPC), which had a very fruitful showing in city at the 2020 Election.

They’re both looking to fill the post being vacated by incumbent Democrat and RIPC member Cynthia Mendes, who stunningly upset veteran East Providence pol Billy Conley in the 2020 Primary. Mendes is on a ticket this cycle as the candidate for lieutenant governor with former Secretary of State Matt Brown seeking the governorship.

Both candidates last week said a central focus of their time on Smith Hill would be devoted to building more affordable housing in their district as well as across the state.

Greco said a significant amount of the “huge surplus” Rhode Island have upon receiving federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds should he earmarked for the endeavor. Britto said not only should new housing be affordable, but “sustainable” while including such “green” elements as electric car charging stations among other future-looking aspects.

Asked if the state should initiate a ban on assault-style weapons like the AR-15 used in so many mass murders, each said yes.
Britto lauded the recent efforts of the General Assembly, saying the body did an “excellent job” this past session by passing several pieces of related legislation. He also said the state needs to give law enforcement more “tools” to combat the issue.

Greco, too, said legislation passed, including one piece on “ghost guns” penned by retiring city senator Cindy Coyne (D-District 32), was progress, but lawmakers continued to “lack urgency,” adding more could and should be done immediately.

On how legislators at the state level can help grow the economy, Greco said the first thing legislators should not do is give “sweetheart deals to large developers” like those associated with the Tidewater Landing soccer stadium complex in Pawtucket.

He called such moves “unwise investments” in “luxury developers instead of people in the state.” Greco called for greater investment in Career and Tech School curriculum and also used pandemic relief funds to “prop up small businesses” as they were meant to do.

Britto said there remained a need to streamline the permitting process, adding he supported the Tidewater Landing project, noting the site along the Seekonk River had been abandoned for about 50 years. He said it was a “blighted site” and its redevelopment as a stadium along with mixed use commercial units and affordable housing could “bring the community together.”

He added Rhode Island “needs these types of developments to draw people into our state.”

Greco quoted a recent study he claimed would see the state invest upwards of $60 million into the project, but only receive $7 million in revenues over a 20-year period. He also said there were no guarantees of any other development baked into the agreement aside from the stadium being built.

Greco said the project could become the next 38 Studios, the now notorious investment of some $75 million in state funding to the ill-fated video game company owned by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.

Greco termed it a “bad investment” and questioned if there was a market for “minor league soccer.” The franchise to take up residence in the stadium would be part of the United Soccer League, currently recognized as the second tier of the professional game in the United States behind first division Major League Soccer (MLS).

On matters of climate change, again, Greco called for greater urgency at the state level. He said one proposal as a means of combatting emissions would be to expand the offerings of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA).

Greco also said more must to done to preserve “green” spaces in the city and around the state, using the removal of the tree grove to make way for the Newport Center project on Newport Avenue as an example.

Britto said Greco, who lives in the adjacent area, never once voiced his opposition in person or in writing to the plan, which received the backing of the East Providence City Council, the mayor’s office and the Planning Board.

Greco admitted to not speaking in public, saying he was busy with personal matters like many, but that leaders are elected and entrusted to make proper decisions. He added, “Time and again Robert Britto has chosen to tear down green space” for new development rather than improving dilapidated commercial spaces around East Providence.

One last subject of note addressed, that of a women’s right to choose an abortion, saw both candidates agree it should remain safe and legal in Rhode Island.

Greco went a step further, saying the Equal Abortion Coverage Act (EACA), which most notably would allow Medicaid recipients to use insurance to cover the cost of abortions, should be passed.

Britto, saying he was fundamentally against the act, still stated he was for a woman's right to choose and would vote to enshrine it in state law. On EACA, he said that was a matter between insurers and patients, not government.

Greco countered, saying too much of the healthcare system is already based on insurer mandates and abortion should not be another aspect of that.

Mayoral forum
The mayoral portion of the forum was much more combative. It was apparent DaSilva, as the office holder, was the main target of all three of his opponents, a bit more so by Rossi and Gomes Lopez than Miller, who actually at one point said the current mayor was doing an “adequate” job and that the city could have a “far worse” person in the seat.

From the first question on, DaSilva faced accusations/insinuations of all kinds from lack of transparancy to incompetance among others.

Like on the issue of installing speed control cameras around the city, which Gomes Lopez and Rossi called  “a money grab" and each equated it to a quasi tax. Rossi added it was a way for the administration to close budget shortfalls without having to do any real evaluation of potential savings in the budget.

DaSilva, countered, saying the cameras and other signage were part of safety measures to combat speeding near schools and other locations.

He said 72 percent of revenues are taken in by the city and that citations are issued only if a motorist goes 11 mph over te posted limit.

Rossi claimed only one study was done and that was on Pawtucket Avenue in front of the Kent Heights School where speeds averaged only 36 mph. He also said tickets were being issued for drivers going far less than 11 mph over the limit. Gomes Lopez said there the contract language is not in the favor of the city. And Miller said the cameras aren’t truly effective and that were other so-called “traffic calming measures” available that could do more to slow down motorists.

Asked about both preserving/creating open spaces around the city and the related topic of how to address the status of the former Metacomet Country Club, the candidates again said DaSilva hasn’t or didn’t do enough.

Miller derisively called the negotiators representing the city’s interests “The Bad News Bears,” saying more concessions could have been extracted during the talks, while Rossi said he would put the notion of taking the property by eminent domain directly to the voters in a special election.

DaSilva emphasized the Metacomet property itself and the transactions done for it in recent years between parties were “private.” He said the City Council, which held ultimate approval of the matter, studied the eminent domain question and found it to be financially unfeasible.

DaSilva also noted East Providence has some 700 acres of existing parks and open spaces and that the developers of Metacomet were bequeathing nearly 10 acres back to city to serve as a publicly accessed buffer for the project near Lyon Avenue and Fort Street.

One of the last questions had to do with  increasing the city's allocation of school funding, which currently sits at the low end around the state at about 48 percent.

DaSilva said his administration has met or exceeded the request of the school department since he took office in 2019. He said increasing the city’s allocation is difficult, that the administration must “keep the needs of the entire city in mind."

Miller noted East Providence has “chronically” underfunded schools, while “overfunding” police, fire and the general operations. He said city remains at funding levels from 2009 prior to the installation of the budget commission.

And he also made a direct charge to Rossi, Miller saying school expenditures were “obviously not important" to one of his fellow challengers because did not attend the budget workshop on the topic the previous evening. Rossi took offense, pointing out he, unlike the other three candidates, was a “product” of city schools and that he has grandchildren with special needs in the district.

Forum videos

Watch the full Senate District 18 forum here.

Watch the full East Providence Mayor forum here.