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Providence Noise Project News
"Noise is the New Smoking"
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Our Endorsement in the Ward 15 Special Election
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As most Providence residents know, former City Council President Sabina Matos was picked by Gov. Dan McKee to serve as his lieutenant governor, thus vacating her seat on the Council as the representative for Ward 15, which includes the Valley, Olneyville, and Silver Lake neighborhoods.
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This prompted a special election to choose Lt. Gov. Matos' replacement, with the primary occurring this Tuesday, June 8. Since all four candidates are Democrats and there is no one else running, the primary will essentially be the election, since whoever wins the primary will run unopposed in July.
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The Providence Noise Project asked all four candidates for their perspectives on the excessive level of noise in the city, and how each would try to address it if they are elected. One of them, Doris De Los Santos, responded with a statement. The other three — Casandra Inez, Santos Javier, and Oscar Vargas — did not respond.
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Despite this, we attempted to ascertain their positions on noise. Ms. Inez's website includes the following statement, regarding noise: "I want to help ... reduce air, noise, and traffic pollution in Olneyville ..." (emphasis added). We applaud her for doing so. Mr. Javier's campaign information does not mention noise.
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Mr. Vargas did not respond to the Noise Project's formal request for a statement, but did offer the following in an email conversation with our communications coordinator: "[Noise] is a concern of mine as well, and of other residents too. I’ll be glad to look into this issue when I get elected!"
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That brings us to Ms. De Los Santos' statement, reproduced in full below.
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Doris De Los Santos' Statement on Noise
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"Often, city residents are expected to ‘put up’ with, or tolerate, noise nuisances simply because they choose to live in a city. This position is flawed in two ways: It assumes that 1) everyone who does in fact live in a city can afford to live elsewhere, but chooses not to, and 2) noise nuisances are unavoidable or incurable in an urban environment. I wholly disagree with the premise that nothing can be done towards mitigating noise nuisances and noise pollution. As I knock on doors in my neighborhood, I frequently hear complaints from neighbors about excessive noise: whether it be a group of ATVs, a busy intersection, a nearby highway, a raucous nightclub, or a house party that has gone on late into the night. No Providence resident should be expected to tolerate these intrusions that greatly diminish our collective quality of life.
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If elected, I commit myself to working with other councilors and the administration to help address this issue in ways that doesn’t increase criminalization of offending parties, but helps curb it through measures such as public awareness campaigns, exploring the feasibility of quality-of-life officers, and revisiting our ordinances to ensure they address noise offenses most common today.
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While it is true that some noises — such as the sound of a basketball bouncing at a local basketball court or the chime of a church bell — are a normal part of city-living, others are not. As a resident of Ward 15, I also find it problematic that noise pollution tends to disproportionately affect lower income communities like mine more so than other wards in the city.
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This is not OK and if elected, I commit to working with my colleagues and the administration towards an equitable noise nuisance policy that prioritizes quality of life.”
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The Providence Noise Project's Endorsement
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On the basis of her statement above, the Providence Noise Project endorses Doris De Los Santos in the June 8 primary and subsequent July special election, as the Ward 15 City Council candidate who has most clearly and thoroughly expressed her perspective on excessive, unnecessary, and unhealthy noise in the city, and offered potential policy options to address it. We recommend that residents of Ward 15 vote for her on that basis in the upcoming primary and special election.
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The Noise Project will closely follow the statements and actions of whoever wins the special election in July and becomes the City Council member for Ward 15, which will inform our endorsements for the regular City Council election in November 2022. The residents of Ward 15 have a unique opportunity to see whether their new Council representative is actually willing and able to address noise in the ward and the city as a whole, and should make tangible reductions in neighborhood and city-wide noise levels a condition for returning that person to office next year.
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If you'd like to volunteer your time or expertise to help address noise in Providence, please feel free to contact us
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