Candidate for City Council Ward 2: Matthew McDermott
GoLocalProv Politcal Team
Candidate for City Council Ward 2: Matthew McDermott
GoLocal asked him the following question this past week. Learn more about him at his website HERE.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
GoLocal: Where did you grow up?
McDermott: Actually born and raised in Rhode Island, just south of here, in Warwick.
GoLocal: When did you move into the Ward?
McDermott: So I was out of the state, I think, as many do, for college and a job, and coming through the pandemic. My husband and I started having discussions about where we wanted to go home and where we wanted to grow and raise a family. And Providence was at the top of the list, so we moved back up to Providence about five years ago now.
GoLocal: What is the City of Providence’s budget?
McDermott: About a half billion dollars or so. If you want me to put a hard number to it...(EDITOR'S NOTE: The FY2026 budget is $624M).
GoLocal: Are you a Smiley or a Morales supporter?
McDermott: Very much supporting Brett Smiley for re-election as we supported him for his first election. Happy to sort of go into why, but I think more than anything else, we have fiscal stability in this city for the first time in a generation.
GoLocal: Why does this election — the Second Ward — matter?
McDermott: Look, I think, and it's honestly why I jumped into this race, that this city is going to be facing decisions, and this council in particular is going to be facing decisions in the next few years that are critically important to the future of Providence and, frankly, to the future of the state on everything from education to housing to public infrastructure.
There are going to be votes on this council in the next year or two that really are going to decide Providence's future. I think schools more than anything else, the return of schools to local control likely next summer, I think, is the most important inflection point that this city is going to face in the next decade.
GoLocal: How are you different from your opponents?
McDermott: Look, I think I bring a very different generational experience to this Democratic primary. You know, I mentioned already, I jumped into this race because my husband and I are here to raise a family, and this city is going to be making decisions over the next few years that are going to really shape how families are able to prosper in the city. These are issues that, unfortunately, are not going to be settled in the next six to 12 months. This is going to be years of work and I am stepping up with the commitment to put in years of work.
GoLocal: Do you think the City Council has gone too far left — Palestinian Flag, attending American Democratic Socialist events?
McDermott: What frustrates me about the state of politics and profits right now is the inability to focus on and move progress forward on any of a number of issues. And the root of that is a dysfunction that exists right now in our city government between the council, the mayor's office, and on the issues of schools, our school board. We have got to get this council working together with the mayor to move progress forward in this city.
And unfortunately, on too many issues over the past year or two, we have been focused on citations and ordinances that are meaningless. Don't affect us. any legislative priority whatsoever, and the root of that is we have a council right now that seemingly is not interested in working with the mayor, and that has got to change. We have got to be able to address serious issues facing the city, particularly in light of the federal political environment we're in right now. There are a lot of big issues that are going to be facing the city over the next few years, and right now, I am not confident that we have a city council that is able to sit down at a table and work together and collaborate, both with the mayor and the school board, but also with our state delegation. Far too many issues facing Providence right now are going to need our state delegation at the table, and I don't have the evidence that our council is meaningfully working with our state delegation to move progress on those issues forward.
GoLocal: Providence has among the highest rent in the country (fastest increasing too), clearly the market is not providing enough inventory — should the city implement rent control?
McDermott: We know this is going to be addressed by the council. We know a piece of legislation has been written. And what appears to be happening is that the council leadership is refusing to release that piece of legislation, so we can't use the city council special election to debate the dynamics of it.
Rent stabilization is a very complex issue. There is not a single city in this country that has done it in the same way with the same contours as any other city. Montgomery County, Maryland, pursues something very different than the Bay Area, which is very different than what exists in New York City.