Budget Hearing Postponed & Other Ward 3 PVD Updates

Hello Friends & Neighbors,

It was so lovely seeing so many folks outside enjoying Porch Fest yesterday all across Ward 3 (and much of the East Side)! The streets were full of folks of all ages listening to music, dancing, connecting with friends and neighbors. A big thank you to the organizers & to everyone who hosted bands on their porch or lawn -- it was such a great reminder of how wonderful this community really is.

And as always, there's a lot going on in Providence, so will jump right in:

Providence Budget Process:

Note: the Public Hearing previously scheduled for Monday, June 9th has been postponed - new date is still being determined. I will share a date either via this newsletter or on my social media as soon as we have a new date set. I am an active member of the Finance Committee, and we have reviewed all of the department budgets at public meetings - you can find the materials and videos from those meetings on the City's Open Meetings Portal here.

Upcoming Meetings & Events:

• Ordinance Committee Hearing: Tuesday, June 10th at 5:30 in Council Chambers: The Agenda includes a zone change request for 16 Braman Street. The storefront at 729 Hope Street (where Trek used to be) is being converted into a daycare facility, and a portion of the parking lot behind it will be turned into an outdoor playspace for the kids -- which requires a zone change. I will be supporting this update and am glad to see a new daycare facility opening in our neighborhood. You can see the agenda here.

• Finance Committee Hearing:  Thursday, June 12th at 5:30pm in Council Chambers. We will be reviewing the proposed contract between the City and the 1033 union of city workers. More details here.  

• City Council Regular Meeting - June 26th at 6pm. While normally the Council meets as a full body on the 1rst and 3rd Thursday of every month, the City is closed for Juneteenth on June 19th, so our rescheduled meeting will be on June 26th.

• North Main Street Task Force: June 25th at 5:30pm:  The North Main Street Task Force will be meeting in the 3rd Floor Committee Room for updates on lighting, RIPTA, traffic engineering fixes at Benefit & North Main, and other updates and discussion.

• Ward 3 Community Meeting - July 14th at 7pm -- location TBD. We will be inviting a few City Departments for updates; I can provide updates on the City's budget, and there will be plenty of time for Q&A and comments.

  
  

Community Updates:

• Billy Taylor Basketball Summer League sign up info:

• Safe Streets for All Public Meetings:  Traffic safety is one of the top concerns I hear about from residents. Join one of these public meetings (see below) for updates from the City & to give input.

Street Repavement by DPW:

There are several streets scheduled for repavement by DPW in the coming weeks. These are the ones that are coming up in June/July for Ward 3.  

• Hillside Ave (North Main St to Swan St/90 Hillside Ave)

  • Mill/Pave: 07/10/25 – 07/17/25

  • Concrete/Prep: 06/23/25 – 06/26/25

• Larch St (Ivy St to 116 Larch St)

  • Mill/Pave: 07/10/25 – 07/17/25

  • Concrete/Prep: 06/17/25 – 06/21/25

• Orms St (at Charles St)

  • Mill/Pave: 06/07/25 – 06/10/25

    
    

Other streets may be repaved through this time if they underwent utility work: utilities are required to fully repave after doing work on their infrastructure under our roads. I have an ordinance in committee now that would require specific public notice requirements so residents have information about these additional repavements.

Empire Guitar Ribbon Cutting & Grand Opening June 14th:  

Big congrats to Empire Guitar, who will be holding a ribbon cutting on June 14th at 10am at their new location on North Main Street at 10th Street. I am looking forward to celebrating this newly opened location, which will bring a lot of great energy to North Main & our community!

Rodenticide Ban:

The General Assembly is considering legislation championed by the Audubon Society of RI to limit the use of specific types of rodenticides that are particularly lethal for birds of prey (and dangerous for humans). While controlling the rat population is important, using these types of rodenticides can be counter productive because it kills owls and birds of prey who otherwise would kill and eat hundreds of rats per year - reducing one of our primary means of controlling the rat population. The bill has passed the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House (House bill sponsored by our own Rebecca Kislak - thank you, Rep Kislak!). I sponsored and unanimously passed a resolution at the Council in support of this legislation, which you can read here and submitted it to the General Assembly.

Providence Pride Festival & Parade: June 21rst:

Providence's Pride Festival and Illuminated Parade will be on June 21rst!  Find out more information here: https://prideri.org/pridefest/

Hope to see you there!

Juneteenth Celebration: June 22nd, 12pm - 7pm at Roger Williams Park 

In the Community:

I try to attend and plan as many community events as time permits to get a chance to interact with you! Here's a sample of what I've been up to outside of Committees and Council Chambers & you can follow me on Facebook & BlueSky for more regular updates.

Sue on BartholomewTown:  In case you missed it, check out my interview on BartholomewTown! We talked about all things City -- budget, schools, safe streets, and also how I work to bring empathy and heart to policymaking at City Hall.

Light up Hope for Democracy: Thank you Darlene Allen for co-planning this fantastic community event with me and for everyone who came out. It was a lovely night of singing, music, conversation, and connection.  

National Children's Book Month: As a big reader myself, I had a great time reading to students at Mary Fogarty Elementary for National Children's Book Month! We read a book about our emotions and talked about what we do when we feel big feelings.

Billy Taylor Ribbon Cutting: I love the new artwork on the bridge connecting Billy Taylor Park to the neighborhood and so pleased to be able to support it in even a small way with my neighborhood improvement funds. The artwork was designed by a Mount Hope neighbor, with a lot of input from kids at Billy Taylor Park - and then fabricated at the Steel Yard -- a fully Providence project.

Gratitude: Thank you for the opportunity to serve our community on the Providence City Council. I know that not everything I do on Council is visible to the community - the late nights in committees at City Hall, discussions with my colleagues on challenging contracts and legislation, pushing forward projects in the community, writing and researching legislation, responding to requests and emails. I am grateful for the trust you have in me, and try to pull back the curtain of City Hall for you through these emails and community meetings. Please always let me know if there are issues you'd like to see address or discussed -- there is so much more going on in our City and at City Hall than can be included in any one newsletter, so omissions are never intentional.

Please reach out anytime at AnderBois.Ward3@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook& Bluesky. 

City Council is a 4-year term, and I am beginning to plan for the 2026 election cycle. Any donation to my campaign is greatly appreciated.

With Gratitude,

Sue AnderBois