City Council - Regular Meeting

Testing one, two. Testing one, two. Testing one, two. Testing one, two. Testing 12, testing 12. Testing 12, testing 12. Testing one, two. Testing one, two.

Isaac and Rob. Isaac and Rob. Rob. Rob. OK. Counselors, let's get going here. We are missing a couple people. I know we're here. All right.

Are you ready, everybody?

Okay, good evening and welcome to the Providence City Council on this Thursday, June 4th. Before we get started, I just want to let folks know, while we still have our beautiful videos, we're having a pause on electronic voting. um we lost some expertise in the in the office and we will get it back in the meantime we'll have to go old school on our voting by voice all right madam clerk please call the roll council president miller presence deputy majority whip anderba counselor davidson majority leader espinal present

Senior Deputy Majority Leader Gonzales. Present. Councilwoman Graves. Present. Deputy Majority Leader Harris. Present. Councilwoman Peterson. Council President Pro Tempore Pichardo.

Present.

Councilor Royas. Is absent Councilwoman Ryan? Majority Web Sanchez? Present. Councilman Taylor? Is absent. Councilwoman Ana Vargas? Present. Councilman Oscar Vargas? Present.

You have 13 present and two absent. You have a quorum. Thank you, Madam Clerk. This evening, the invocation will be given by Councilman Joanne Ryan. Will everyone please rise, including our guests?

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Heavenly Father, tonight I ask you for blessings on my colleagues elected to serve the people of the great city of Providence. Remind us, because we all forget from time to time, especially in the noisiness of what passes through political debate, that we are not only leaders, but also servants, and that it is our responsibility to humbly serve the common good of all people of Providence. Remind us that no matter where we live, everyone is our neighbor, our sibling, and that throughout the ages, prophets have called the leaders of the people to respect and protect the least of those among us, our children, the elderly, the poor, those who are hungry, those who have no homes, those who are ill in body, mind, or spirit, the strangers and immigrants in our midst, those who live on the margins, those who are alone, those who are forgotten. Grant us the wisdom and courage to know and to do what is right and good and true to our charge. May we speak out when it is time to speak out and listen patiently and receptively when it is time to listen. May we always be guided by the spirit of community, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of love. And may we give thanks to all the women and men who came before us, who fought so hard for passage of the 19th Amendment, vesting the franchise in women, as we celebrate today, June 4th, its 117th anniversary. Dear Lord, may your light unfold us, may your spirit guide us, and may your grace abound in us. Amen.

Thank you, Counselor. And this evening, the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Counselor Miguel Campos. While we don't have something on the agenda, I want to remind everyone that a few years ago, the Providence City Council passed a resolution making June Pride Month in perpetuity for the city of Providence. And so I want to wish everyone a very happy and safe Pride. And remember that Pride was always about standing up for the rights in good climates and in bad and invite the whole city to join us on june 15th for the pride flag raising at 5 30 and on june 18th at 4 30 for a special pride exhibit here on the third floor madam clerk item three please madam president majority leader motion to weigh the reader of item three and move approval second madam president we have a motion and a second any discussion All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? The motion passes. Item four.

Madam President.

Majority Leader.

Motion to waive the reading of item four, substitute, and pass for the second time on a roll call vote as amended.

Second, Madam President. We have a motion and a second. Councilors, I'm gonna take a very brief moment and just explain the amendments that are in front of you. These were amendments that were agreed upon at a very late hour ahead of this meeting with myself, other councilors, Mayor Smiley, and in his conversation with police. So the first thing that is different is on page two and then new new is in green um that just sets term limits for a pair of board members no more than three consecutive terms same as other elected officials in the city of providence the next amendment is section t it's the second to last page And it outlines, it's called, the section is called Cooperation. It outlines access to information that the para executive director and investigative staff have access to. They shall be given read-only user access to the records management system used by police, including but not limited to police incident reports, arrest reports, stop survey reports, accident reports, report supplements, and body-worn cameras. And then an additional new thing is just defining what they do not have unlimited real-time access to. Access cannot be used to conduct parallel investigations with the Office of Professional Responsibility. Such access shall not include detective or investigative modules within the records management system. Criminal intelligent databases, confidential informant records, or other databases maintained primarily for ongoing criminal investigations, prior to accessing any report or file under the subsection, the executive director of PARA and the staff shall notify the commanding officer of OPR and the chief of police. Such notice shall not require approval prior to access and shall not restrict PARA's access under the subsection. On the following page, it outlines access to information held by the Office of Professional Responsibility. The Executive Director of PARA and staff may request any information including files or records from the system utilized by OPR for an official PARA investigative, audit, review, or oversight function authorized under this chapter Such request shall be fulfilled no later than 96 hours, that's four days, after the request is made. The next section provides some guardrails on access. I'm not gonna read the whole paragraph, but folks did get it. It lays out authorized users, ensures that you can't share login, all of the things that you would need in a functioning IT system, the same as the world over. and then the last one um creates a wish for the city that should we have the tech that we need to grant you know real-time access to para to the information that it needs right without this request of opr uh should that future exist that uh the chief of police and the executive director of para can make a written agreement in implementing that system And that is the primary changes. Most of them are clarifications of the ordinance. So with that explanation underway, any discussion on this item? Councilman Sanchez.

Thank you, Vice President. I just want to commend you and the policy staff, the mayor's office, for coming to the table. It's a gut to a place that seems like works for most people, if not everyone around this chamber. This process has been very lengthy. As folks have mentioned in previous committees, Councilman Harris, Councilman Pichardo, Thank you, guys. You guys have been working around this very important topic for many years. Without your guys' leadership, we would not be where we are today. I just want to thank the para staff and members here in attendance. At the end of the day, all we want is accountability, transparency, like any other department. Parks department, council staff, clerks office, we all have mechanisms in place for checks and balances. As public servants, we always strive to do the best. But like any other human being, sometimes we fall short of what the residents of Providence expect from us. And at the end of the day, we just want us to keep moving in a better direction. And I think this ordinance here definitely does that. And I definitely appreciate the adding the amendment of possible changes, such technology being technology be available to us um so like i said uh council president i just wanted to thank you uh for your leadership on this this has not been a easy lift uh but a very important one thank you thank you counselor i give me and the clerk just one minute

There was just one error in the amendment that was posted just ahead of this meeting. It was very last minute. Thank you always to the church office. We will fix that. The amendment in front of us, the amendment on all of your desks specifies such requests shall be fulfilled no later than 96 hours. That's the request from Paris to OPL. And that is what we are voting on tonight. and we'll fix it immediately after the meeting thank you and i'm sorry any other discussion on item four majority leader thank you madam president um

First of all, welcome back. I know it's been a very difficult last couple of weeks for you, and your efforts to be here today, I really commend it. Thank you so much. And thank you for all your hard work in addressing some of the issues that we've had. Two weeks ago, I got up and I spoke So I want to be grateful to some of the institutions and groups that have written to us and they have concerns. uh that was similar to what i had and i feel that this year is a step forward and it begins to address that so i am happy tonight i'll be voting for it i'm glad that we came to this agreement with the other person and party in this thank you thank you counselor further discussion

Thank you, Madam President. I rise also to commend the staff and also and the board and the community for really pushing the community for more transparency. These amendments brought people together, the administration, Mayor Smiley, and also the private police. So that way we strengthen our community participation and oversight. So that way we don't erode our confidence and trust that we have among our communities. And I'm glad that we were able to all come together to be able to say, you know, we can live with this. And the most important thing is that we conduct ourselves in a more professional manner, but also know that everyone is going to be held accountable. And the fact is that if any of these things are violated, that everyone is held to the highest standard of accountability from the police, from the community, but also within us. So I commend all the people that worked on this and also the organizations for over all these years, staying, making sure, staying strong on the fact that we need more oversight and more trust within our own bodies that respond to our neighborhood requests. So congratulations, and I hope that we all can vote for it and unanimously pass this. Thank you.

Further discussion?

Council President, thank you. And I too want to note that you've had a challenging period for you, so my condolences to you and the loss of your dad. I can't help myself, but I voted no on I voted no because the language in the ordinance compromised sensitive information for our most vulnerable population. I couldn't vote yes. I couldn't abstain. I had to make my voice heard. I am so happy. i'm so happy that staff and you and the mayor worked together and made revisions to this document and got it into a form and fashion that addressed some of the challenges that were presented very articulately to us by a number of organizations in in writing while on i just saw this last version literally 20 minutes ago I would love to have had an opportunity to digest this information with you all, the specifics of it, because I think we all are better prepared to vote on something when we understand it completely. While I haven't had the chance to delve into this, I've had discussions in the very very quickly before this meeting on so that i am at a comfort level where i can vote yes on it but i just would like to say to staff and my other colleagues we need to push back these matters that we deal with are very very sensitive they impact people's lives and most often aren't the most vulnerable among us. So I think, if anything, this should be a lesson that we should take the time. I know that this has been something we've been working on. But the ordinance that was before us, we needed to spend more time on it when so many people came forward and identified issues that were of grave concern. We all think that this is an important piece of legislation. when we voted on it a few weeks ago, and again I voted no, I just basically said let's get a version before us that we can all feel good about. And I think that you've done that kind of thing, so thank you.

Thank you, further discussion on item four? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Council President Miller. Aye. Deputy Majority with Anderbois. Aye. Councilor Davidson. Aye. Majority Leader Espanol.

Aye.

Senior Deputy Majority Leader Gonzales.

Aye.

Councilwoman Graves. Aye. Deputy Majority Leader Harris. Aye. Councilwoman Peterson. Aye. Council President Pro Tempore Pichardo.

Aye.

Councilor Royas is absent. Councilwoman Ryan? Aye. Majority Whip Sanchez?

Aye.

Councilman Taylor is absent. Councilwoman Ana Vargas? Aye. Councilman Oscar Vargas? Aye. You have 13 ayes, 2 absent. The motion carries. The matter is approved for the second time on a roll call vote as amended. Thank you Madam Clerk. Item 5.

Madam President. Majority Leader. Motion to waive the reader of item five and pass for the second time on the roll call for.

Second, Madam President. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion on item five? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Council President Miller? Aye. Deputy Majority Whip Anderbaugh? Aye. Councilor Davidson? Aye. Majority Leader Espanol?

Aye.

Senior Deputy Majority Leader Gonzales?

Aye.

Councilwoman Graves? Aye. Deputy Majority Leader Harris?

Aye.

Councilwoman Peterson? Aye. Council President Pro Tempore Pichardo?

Aye.

Councilor Royas is absent. Councilwoman Ryan? Majority Whip Sanchez?

Aye.

Councilman Taylor is absent. Councilwoman Ana Vargas? Aye. Councilman Ostervargas? Aye. You have 13 ayes, 2 absent. The motion passes. The matter is passed for the second time on a roll call vote. Thank you. Item 6.

Madam President. Majority Leader. The motion is to waive the reading of item 6 and pass for the second time on a roll call vote.

Second. Any discussion on item 6? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Aye. Council President Miller.

Aye.

Deputy Majority Whip Anderbois. Aye. Councilor Davidson. Aye. Majority Leader Espinal.

Aye.

Senior Deputy Majority Leader Gonsalves.

Aye.

Councilwoman Graves. Aye. Deputy Majority Leader Harris. Aye. Councilwoman Peterson. Aye. Council President Pro Tempore Pichardo.

Aye.

Councilor Royas is absent. Councilwoman Ryan.

Aye.

Majority with Sanchez. Councilman Taylor is absent. Councilwoman Ana Vargas? Aye. Councilman Oscar Vargas? Aye. You have 13 ayes, 2 absent. The motion carries. The matter is passed for the second time on a roll call vote. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Item 7.

Madam President. Majority Leader. Motion to waive the reading of items 7 and 8.

Second, Madam President. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion on 7 and 8? Councilman Anderwa.

Thank you so much, Madam President. Just a quick note on 7 for folks who might read this and be like, huh, what are we talking about? This is the easiest thing we're going to look at all night. Basically, there's currently a state law that you can't park within a certain distance from a stop sign or a corner. It's called daylighting. It makes it safer. it's a state law so our local parking enforcement are not allowed to enforce it and so we don't have any local enforcement of that law so this just puts it in our own code so that our local parking enforcement can actually enforce state law and make our streets safer so it should be easy peasy lemon squeezy but let me know if you have any questions thank you everybody thank you counselor further discussion

Councilman Sanchez.

Thank you, Madam President. Another easy peasy item in front of us. This is the beginning of a very important conversation that's happening across this country and across the world, to be honest. And this is around data centers. We're seeing the impact mostly, if not all, negative to local communities. So we need to start the conversation on how we're going to legislate these not so eco-friendly facilities when it comes to the city of Providence. So this is just the beginning. This is going to get referred to Chairman Espina's committee ordinances. We definitely will work together to get a public hearing, to get engagement on this. I hope to see all of you participating in this important conversation because this is impacting all of us. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Counselor. Further discussion on 7 or 8? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? The motion passes. Madam Clerk, please refer 7 to the Special Committee on Environment and Resiliency, and 8 to the Committee on Ordinances.

So noted.

Item 9. Madam President?

Majority Leader. What is the weight of the written of item 9 through 11?

Any discussion on 9 through 11?

May I have the resolution of number 11 read out?

Whereas every day nearly 130 people in the United States are killed by gun violence and more than 200 are shot and wounded, with an average of more than 19,000 gun homicides every year. And whereas people in the United States are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high-income countries. and whereas Rhode Island has 54 gun deaths every year, of which 63% of gun deaths are suicides, with a rate of 4.6 deaths per 100,000 people, a crisis that costs the state $752.1 million each year of which 15.8 million is paid by taxpayers. And whereas, gun homicides and assaults are concentrated in cities, with more than half of all gun homicides in the nation occurring in 42 cities. And whereas, cities across the nation, including Providence, are working to end the senseless violence with evidence-based solutions. And whereas, protecting public safety in the communities they serve is the highest responsibility of elected officials. And whereas, support for the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from those who are a danger to themselves or others. whereas mayors council members and law enforcement officers in partnership with local violence intervention activists and resources know their communities best are the most familiar with local criminal activity and how to address it and our best position to understand how to keep their citizens safe and whereas gun violence and prevention is more important than ever as gun violence continues to impact communities across the country. And whereas in January 2013, Hadiyah Pendleton was tragically shot and killed at the age of 15, and whereas on June 5, 2026, to recognize the 29th birthday of Hadiyah Pendleton, born June 2, 1997, People across the United States will recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day and wear orange in tribute to Hadiyah Pendleton and other victims of gun violence and the loved ones of those victims. And whereas the wearing of orange is inspired by a group of Hadiyah's friends who asked their classmate to commemorate her life by wearing orange a color worn by hunters to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods and thus one that symbolizes the value of human life and whereas anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on june 5th the first friday in june 2026 to help immigrant heritage month is an opportunity to honor the immigrants who make our to continue those conversations with said developer thank you