Redistricting Opponents Claim Class Warfare in Providence

Redistricting Opponents Claim Class Warfare in Providence

Several Providence residents and two Councilmen Friday accused Council leadership of engaging in class warfare over a proposal that would redraw the city’s ward map to give Majority Leader Seth Yurdin (Ward 1) control over all of downtown.

A vote on the proposal will take place Tuesday evening. The plan was originally supposed to be voted on in February, but seven Council members who were expected to vote in favor of the map skipped the meeting because their eighth vote (Ward 2 Councilman Sam Zurier) was out with an eye injury.

But at a sparsely attended press conference on the city’s South Side, opponents of the proposal said the map is part of a larger plan to exclude minority residents from the economic development opportunities created by the open Route 195 property.

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“It’s already clear that the play is that they want to control the waterfront,” said Darrell Lee, the founder of BCOG Planning and Development. “I have major issues with what is being proposed.”

Map Gives South Side "No Leverage"

The current proposal, which is expected to win passage by an 8-7 Council vote, would allow just one Councilman (Yurdin) to represent downtown as opposed to three (Ward 11 Councilman Davian Sanchez, Ward 13 Bryan Principe and Yurdin).Those in favor of the map have consistently said it helps restore previously divided neighborhoods and creates more cohesive wards.

The proposal also gives the city five majority-Hispanic wards (up from four) and ten majority-minority wards (up from nine), although critics say those increases mean very little if downtown is controlled by only Yurdin.

Lee said the 195 redevelopment will be worth “hundreds of millions of dollars” and that South Side residents would have “no leverage” if Councilman Sanchez is pushed out of downtown.

During the press conference, Sanchez and Principe proposed an alternative map that would keep downtown controlled by all three Councilmen. The map would also move a potential challenger to Ward 7 Councilman John Igliozzi back in to his neighborhood.

Principe and Sanchez said their proposal would be more inclusive for all city residents.

“If the [current] proposal passes, the people of the West End, Federal Hill and the South Side will lose their voice,” Principe said.

Sanchez said the entire redistricting process has been flawed.

“The process all along has been very disturbing,” Sanchez said. “It seems like they aren’t paying attention.”

Group Urges Mayor to Veto

Still, with the current plan likely to pass, the opponents said they are already looking at other options for reversing the changes. Lee said the group already has 800 signatures urging Mayor Angel Taveras to veto the plan.

And if that doesn’t happen?

“If we don’t have a veto from the Mayor, we are prepared to go to court,” Lee said.

The Taveras administration refused to comment.

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