Crowd Outraged as Committee Gives Initial Approval to New Ward Map

Crowd Outraged as Committee Gives Initial Approval to New Ward Map

Despite objections from an angry group of Providence residents, the subcommittee convened to redraw the city’s 15 wards voted 4-1 Thursday to send the map to the full City Council for a vote scheduled for next week.

A half dozen police officers were needed to quell outbursts from the raucous crowd, which continuously interrupted the committee hearing and a presentation by Kimball Brace, the $126,374 consultant hired to help redraw the districts.

Much of the outrage was directed at Council Majority Leader and committee chairman Seth Yurdin (Ward 1) and Finance Chairman John Igliozzi (Ward 7), who are being accused of manipulating the maps for political purposes.

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The final version of the map gives the city five majority-Hispanic wards (up from four) and ten majority-minority wards (up from nine). But naysayers claim Yurdin, who will now represent downtown Providence, pushed Ward 11 Councilman Davian Sanchez out of the neighborhood simply so he can benefit from controlling the Route 195 property.

In a last-minute change to Ward 7, the committee gave the area around Laurel Hill Ave., Hillhurst Ave. and Union Ave back to Igliozzi, whose family built St. Bartholomew Parish, which is located in the neighborhood. In turn, the committee shifted several neighborhoods in the eastern part of Ward 7 to Ward 15, including the street a potential opponent lives on.

The potential opponent is Doris De Los Santos, who Igliozzi soundly defeated in 2006.

"It's About Compromise"

Igliozzi said he understood the crowd’s hostility, but overall he was proud that the committee increased the number of majority-minority and majority-Hispanic wards in the city to better reflect the population.

Brace said the confusion around the last-minute shift stemmed from a request made by Ward 15 Councilwoman Sabina Matos. He said Matos orginally requested to represent that Laurel Hill Ave area and the first draft reflected that request. He said he assumed that she had worked out an agreement with Igliozzi, which wasn’t the case.

“Not everyone is going to be happy with the process,” Brace said. “It’s about compromise.”

Matos said she questioned whether Igliozzi would be okay with the map and Yurdin told her not to worry about it. She said she'll vote against the map.

The police arrived roughly 20 minutes into the hearing after the crowd continued to yell and swear at members of the committee. Several chants broke out in the tiny third floor conference room in City hall.

“There’s a lot of people in here screaming and there’s going to be a lot more screaming if you keep this up,” one woman said.

Sanchez: 80 Percent of Complaints Came From Ward 11

All three Wards on the East Side lost population according to the latest census data, which is part of the reason a redraw is necessary. Yurdin’s district lost about 500 residents while Wards 2 and 3 combined to lose nearly 1,800 voters. The committee has argued that Yurdin picking up downtown is the most logical move to gain voters.

But Darrell Lee, a developer from the South Side who spoke during several public hearings over the last two weeks, said the committee was not listening to the concerns of city residents. Lee claimed Yurdin has been planning a takeover of downtown for years and said the Majority Leader wants to “exclude people of color” from economic development in the city.

“The reality is they know that we already understand what is being proposed and what's being proposed is a consolidation of economic, political, structural and resource development power in one person's hands,” Lee said.

Near the end of the meeting, Councilman Sanchez shouted that 80 percent of the complaints during the public hearings came from Ward 11, yet not changes were made.

“When we first met, you said if everyone is a little mad, ‘I did my job,'” Sanchez said to Brace.

Then he turned to Yurdin.

“Chairman, are you a little mad? No.”

Editor’s Note: The two videos were shot on a camera phone by a member of the public. The first video begins just as the police enter the conference room. Sanchez's outburst comes in the second video at the 6:30 mark.