Excessive noise is first and foremost a public-health issue. And like any other threat to community health, Providence should try to address noise proactively — i.e., seek to prevent or at least reduce it in advance — rather than waiting until after residents have been exposed to its adverse effects, and may (or may not) report it, at which point any response can potentially only deter future noise.1
Report “Active” Noise (excessive sound levels you hear right now)
If you‘re currently being exposed to sound levels that seem to exceed legal limits, the city’s passive response to noise has clearly failed to deter it — and gives you only two choices: 1) endure or 2) report it.
Providence offers residents only one option for reporting “active” noise: Calling the police.2 CLICK HERE for the Noise Project’s recommended procedure for reporting excessive noise to the police.
NOTE: If you know the source of the noise (including its location), it repeatedly generates noise, and you and / or others have reported it to city officials before, read below about reporting recurrent noise.Report “Recurrent” Noise (from a source of previous noise)
One way to prevent excessive noise is to deter recurrent and deliberate sources — the relatively small number of known “repeat offenders” responsible for most of the noise in the city — from generating even more. But for reasons that aren’t clear, Providence officials who claim to want to reduce noise seem unwilling to discourage recidivists from continuing to violate city sound ordinances.
Unfortunately, most excessive noise in Providence is from recurrent sources — including transient ones such as motor vehicles — and residents repeatedly exposed to it in their homes and public spaces are frustrated that they have little recourse other than to report it every time it occurs. And since doing so generally does little to actually reduce noise levels, most get discouraged and give up.
Despite Providence’s demonstrable failure to deter recurrent noise, the Noise Project recommends that residents report it to the police as it’s occurring — if only to document a record of repeat violations, ongoing city failures to address them, and specific data on the sources themselves. We also suggest a series of more comprehensive actions on recurrent noise listed below.
Scroll down below through the city’s convoluted noise-response bureaucracy to try to find the most appropriate point of contact for your specific situation — starting with the municipal agencies that the mayor controls, which are responsible for enforcing local and state noise laws and implementing city policies. If you e-mail a city agency about noise, we recommend cc’ing your City Council member and us.3
Recurrent noise contacts:
Mayor’s office • District police commanders • PVD 311 • City Council • Board of Licenses
The Mayor’s Executive Branch Agencies
MAYOR BRETT SMILEY — The noise should stop here
E-mail: mayor@providenceri.gov
Mayor‘s office contact page: www.providenceri.gov/mayor/mayors-office-contact-us
Phone: (401) 421-2489
Mayor’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/PVDMayor (@PVDMayor)
Official PVD Twitter account: https://twitter.com/CityofProv (@CityofProv)
The mayor is Providence’s chief executive officer and is responsible for making sure the city implements its laws and policies — including noise limits. Moreover, Mayor Smiley’s 2022 election campaign emphasized the need to reduce excessive and unhealthy noise in the city, and voters elected him at least partly on that basis. Thus, residents can and should hold him accountable for noise levels in Providence.4
In addition, the city’s executive-branch officials and employees — including the police and other agencies listed below — are answerable to the mayor for their response (or lack thereof) to the thousands of noise ordinance violations every year, and resident complaints about those infractions.5
So when municipal officials either ignore city noise laws or are ineffective at enforcing them, and the mayor allows that to continue without rectifying it, that means they’re essentially doing what he wants, and he should be judged on the outcome. Use the contact information above to let him know you want the city to act to prevent excessive noise, and better enforcement of noise-ordinance violations.
City Agencies
PROVIDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT — Responsible for enforcing city and state laws that regulate sources of noise
Police Chief: Oscar Perez (newly appointed by Mayor Smiley)
E-mail: operez@providenceri.gov
Non-Emergency Phone: (401) 272-3121 — Use this number (not 911) to report noise
PVD Police Twitter account: @ProvidenceRIPD
To be clear, the Noise Project does not advocate the use of armed police officers to address excessive noise, but successive Providence mayors and City Council members clearly do — it’s been city policy for decades, which they could change (or even just discuss) if they wanted to. So far, none of them has ever broached the idea of civilian enforcement, much less introduced an ordinance.6
So until the city government implements alternative proposals for reducing excessive sound levels, PVD residents must either suffer unhealthy noise or report it to the police.7 Reporting noise doesn’t guarantee it will be addressed effectively, but not reporting it ensures that it won’t be — and that the relatively small number of people who make most of the noise in the city will continue to have impunity to do so.
REPORT EXCESSIVE NOISE TO THE POLICE
Call the Providence Police Department’s non-emergency phone number: (401) 272-3121 (not 911). If possible, try to provide the civilian dispatcher with a specific street address for the source of the noise or as close as possible, so the responding officers can find it — and so the location of the source is part of the complaint and any subsequent report.8(We’ve also heard that asking the dispatcher to have patrol officers speak to you on-site may encourage a more thorough response. We are working to verify this.)
If the dispatcher’s response to your report is unsatisfactory, ask to speak to the officer in charge. If you still don’t get a satisfactory response, ask for the officer in charge of the patrol division. If their response is still not satisfactory, call Chief Perez or Deputy Chief Timothy O’Hara during a weekday at (401) 243-6109 or email their secretary at amcginn@providenceri.gov.
Police contacts for reporting more specific recurrent noise sources
- District commanders (https://ppd.providenceri.gov/find-your-local-police-station/) — If you are exposed to recurrent noise from an ‘identified’ source (e.g., a particular building or outdoor location) and contacting the non-emergency number hasn’t resolved it, use the link above to identify which of Providence’s nine police districts the noise source is in, and then contact the lieutenant in command of that district to alert them to the known noise source and ask them to address it as an ongoing problem. This helps to target additional attention and resources.
- ATV Community Response Team — A special unit established to address illegal off-road vehicles on city streets. If you provide them with a location where ATVs are stored or routinely congregate, the police have said they will confiscate them. If they don’t, please contact us.
E-mail: ATVtips@ProvidenceRI.gov [We recommend e-mailing them and cc’ing our info@ address]
Phone: (401) 680-8288 (680-8ATV)
- License Enforcement Unit — Enforces regulations related to commercial licenses (see the Board of Licenses below), especially entertainment licenses required to play amplified music.9
Commander: Sergeant Vincent Sollitto
E-mail: vsollitto@ProvidenceRI.gov
- Traffic Bureau — Among other things, the Traffic Bureau includes the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement (CVE) Unit, and is responsible for transmitting vehicle-related citations such as non-compliant exhausts to the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal and / or municipal court.
Phone: (401) 243-6279
Non-hazardous equipment violations such as modified mufflers can be enforced by either a verbal warning or a citation. If you are recurrently exposed to excessive noise from trucks and other commercial vehicles, especially from a specific source, report it to PVD311. If the problem persists, you can try contacting the Traffic Bureau.
- Public Housing Unit (PHU) — See Providence Housing Authority below.
- Community Engagement Bureau — That title was changed from “Relations” to “Engagement” under Mayor Smiley. It’s not clear how this affected its role or scope under his administration.
Webpage: https://www.providenceri.gov/police/community-relations/
E-mail: communityrelations@ProvidenceRI.gov
Phone: (401) 680-5320
Director: Michael Stephens (holdover from the Elorza administration retained by Smiley)
It’s worth noting here that Providence Police are often touted (including by themselves) for a law-enforcement strategy known as “community policing,” the foundation of which they describe as having three components: partnership, prevention, and problem-solving. The Noise Project supports all three of those things — especially preventing excessive noise.
But after years of experience we can say that the police have never even attempted to partner with us to address noise, even though it’s the single most-frequent complaint they receive. And residents can hear for themselves whether the police have succeeded in pro-actively preventing noise — rather than just responding to complaints about it after the fact — or in solving the problem of repeat offenders, who are the primary source of unhealthy noise in the city.
Civilian agencies for reporting specific / recurrent noise sources
Contrary to popular belief, Providence Police are not the only city agency that can and do enforce
noise limits. Below are a list of civilian agencies that also have a role in reducing recurrent noise.
PVD 311 (Mayor’s Center for City Services / MCCS)
Webpage: https://311.providenceri.gov
E-mail: PVD311@ProvidenceRI.gov
Social media: @PVD311 / Instagram
Phone: 311 or (401) 421-2489 Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. only (see note below)
Providence’s 311 system was updated in March 2025, but it was never designed to adequately address reports of excessive noise that require a timely response (i.e., measured in minutes rather than days): It is not staffed in the evening or on weekends, and can take a day or more to transfer a report to the police or other city department, which may not deal with it quickly themselves.
The online 311 form itself tells residents that they should call Providence Police directly to report “active” noise (i.e., happening now) — and to only use 311 as a way to “document” noise: In other words, to create an official record that the city was notified about excessive noise from a residence or business (e.g., entertainment venues, garbage collection), and must act to stop it from recurring.
If you provide your e-mail address, 311 will send a response to your noise report stating that it is “not able to dispatch [police] officers” to address it, but instead sends the resident(s) of the reported address — and the property owner, if different — a notification about the noise ordinance.
Noise Project suggestions for using PVD311
We recommend using the 311 website or e-mailing PVD311@ProvidenceRI.gov instead of calling, so you can submit your report in your own words and retain a record of the content.10 You don’t have to create an account on PVD311 to submit a report (or you can use a pseudonym), unless you want to use the city’s website to track how your report is handled.
The most important component of your report is the address of the noise source (or the closest you can come to it. If you send an e-mail, make the subject clear — such as “Excessive noise at [source type and location: house / business / city property address or approximate location] on [date].” Save any additional details for the text of the e-mail itself (see below).
To document recurrent noise, residents should describe the frequency of violations (how often it happens) — including specific dates and / or typical days of the week and times of day, the dates and case numbers of any previous reports to the police or 311 about the same source, and any results (or lack of them) from those earlier reports.11
The updated PVD 311 form eliminated two specific noise sources: fireworks and trash / recycling vendors operating too early. This will likely reduce the number of both reports to the city, as some residents who used 311 to report them are not willing to call the police about them — especially excessively early garbage collection, which is not viewed as criminal (but probably should be).12
BOARD OF LICENSES — Responsible for regulating noise from the 8,000+ commercial sources it issues licenses to each year, including 400+ liquor licenses to bars / clubs / restaurants, and enforcing local ordinances and state laws that regulate such establishments.
Chair: Dylan Conley (a holdover from the Elorza administration re-appointed by Mayor Smiley), has announced his resignation effective in Oct. 2025. Residents will not miss him.
Board members: Peter Mancini (vice chair), Adewole Akinbi, Erlin Rogel, Tiana Ochoa
Staff: Stephany Lopes*, director of licensing; Jose Giusti, deputy license administrator
Louis DeSimone, Board attorney; Mario Martone, city attorney
Webpage: https://www.providenceri.gov/board-of-licenses/
Phone: (401) 421-7740, ext. 5206 / 5207
E-mail: licensing@providenceri.gov (If you e-mail the License Board, please “cc” the Noise Project’s info@ e-mail address so we can track your complaint)
* May have left that position. As of March 2025, her name was still on the city website, but we have reports that she is gone.
ART, CULTURE, and TOURISM (ACT) — Responsible for some components of permits for events on public property, such as street festivals, and in public parks and on school grounds. If you’re exposed to excessive noise (e.g., over-amplified music) from such an event, e-mail ACT and please “cc” the Noise Project’s info@ address.
Webpage: https://www.providenceri.gov/art-culture-tourism/
Director: Joe Wilson Jr.
E-mail: jwilsonjr@providenceri.gov
Phone: (401) 680-5770
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProvidenceACT
OFFICE OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS — It’s website says it “actively engages Providence residents, business owners, and community members” to “build trust” and “work with them shaping the future of our city,” but we have no idea what it actually does on a daily basis, and the director hasn’t responded to any of the e-mails we’ve sent him.
Webpage: https://www.providenceri.gov/community-relations/
Director: Anthony Aquino
E-mail: aaquino@providenceri.gov
Phone: (401) 369-4930
CITY SOLICITOR’S OFFICE — The City Solicitor is Providence’s chief legal officer. Among other things, his office refers cases to the Board of Licenses and the city’s under-the-radar Nuisance Task Force.
City Solicitor: Jeffrey Dana (a holdover from the Elorza administration retained by Mayor Smiley)
Website: www.providenceri.gov/law-department/
E-mail: jdana@providenceri.gov
Phone: (401) 680-5333
NUISANCE TASKFORCE — An inter-agency entity created to “protect and improve the quality of life in neighborhoods throughout Providence” by identifying, targeting, and abating current and long-standing nuisance properties in Providence in a systematic and collaborative way, and “educate individuals and communities to prevent new nuisances.”
It includes representatives from the city solicitor’s office; the PVD Police, Fire, and Inspection and Standards departments; and the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office.
The Taskforce defines a nuisance property as “Any property that, by virtue of condition, activity, or situation, poses a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of the community or that otherwise interferes with the quiet use and enjoyment of nearby properties” [emphasis added]. That would certainly include excessive noise.
Website: https://www.providenceri.gov/law-department/nuisance-task-force/
PROVIDENCE HOUSING AUTHORITY — The agency that manages the city’s twelve public-housing developments and what it calls “scattered sites.”
Website: https://provhousing.org
Main phone: (401) 751-6400
Office of Security Operations: (401) 421-6980. You can also contact the Providence Police.
Phone numbers and e-mails for individual locations and building managers can be found by scrolling to the bottom of this page: https://provhousing.org/contact/. We suggest e-mailing the specific manager of the building in question, in order to retain a record of your report to them, and create a public record, and also cc’ing PVD311@providenceri.gov and the Noise Project’s info@ address, so we can track the issue, and it is added to city services data.
City Council / Legislative Branch
E-mail: council@providenceri.gov
Webpage: https://council.providenceri.gov/connect/contact-us/
Main phone: (401) 521-7477
Social media: @PVDCityCouncil.bsky.social / @PVDCityCouncil
Council President: Rachel Miller (see contact information below)
The Providence City Council is responsible for creating and amending the city’s laws and public policies — including noise limits — and for ensuring that the mayor and his administration actually enforce the ordinances and implement the policies it passes. It can’t simply enact laws and then completely forget about them once the vote is over. Too often, however, that seems to be the case.
If the City Council passes laws (including budget allocations) but then allows the mayor to choose whether or not to implement them, it is effectively abdicating its legislative role and authority under Providence’s Home Rule Charter, and ceding it to the executive branch — in other words, letting the mayor determine what the city’s laws actually are. In which case, why bother to have a City Council?
If Mayor Smiley’s administration is unresponsive or otherwise ineffective in addressing noise, contact the City Council, including Council President Rachel Miller and your specific City Council representative, to ask them to require the executive branch to implement the laws that the Council has passed. The ordinances they pass have legal effects and aren’t just legislative theater.
Suggestions for contacting the City Council
The Noise Project recommends that residents contact the City Council and its individual members by e-mail to their official city e-mail addresses (see table below), which constitute an official city record that must legally be retained by the city and can be obtained through a public-records request.12
E-mail is preferable to using the contact form on the city website because it also allows residents to “cc” the Council members’ unofficial personal e-mail address(es) that they actually use — and the Noise Project’s info@ address, so we can track the issue — and to retain a copy of the message.
Residents can also provide input on proposed ordinances and amendments that the City Council is considering, either by testifying during public hearings or by e-mail or printed mail. Note that the deadline to submit testimony is by 3:00 p.m. two business days before the date of the hearing.
| Ward | Council Member* | E-Mail Address / Social Media | Notes |
| 1 | John Goncalves | ward1@providenceri.gov info@JohnforWard1.com Twitter: @JohnGPVD | Fox Point and downtown Seeking third and final term in 2026 |
| 2 | Jill Davidson (pending special election in December 2025) | Blackstone, College Hill, and Wayland | |
| 3 | Sue AnderBois, chair Environment Committee | ward3@providenceri.gov anderbois.ward3@gmail.com @sueanderbois.bsky.social | Summit Seeking re-election in 2022 |
| 4 | Justin Roias | ward4@providenceri.gov JustinRoiasWard4@gmail.com Twitter: @JustinRoias | Charles / North End Elected in 2022 |
| 5 | Jo-Ann Ryan Majority Leader and interim Finance Committee chair | ward5@providenceri.gov campaign e-mail address Twitter: @JoAnnRyanPVD5 | Elmhurst Term-limited in 2026 |
| 6 | Miguel Sanchez Finance Committee | ward6@providenceri.gov Twitter: @MSanchezPVD | Mt. Pleasant Elected in 2022 |
| 7 | Ana Vargas | ward7@providenceri.gov | Manton, Silver Lake Elected in 2022 |
| 8 | James Taylor Finance Committee | ward8@providenceri.gov jtaylor@providenceri.gov | West End Re-elected in 2022 |
| 9 | Juan Pichardo | ward9@providenceri.gov juan@juanmpichardo.com Twitter: @JuanMPichardo | Elmwood Elected in 2022 |
| 10 | Pedro Espinal, chair Ordinance Committee | ward10@providenceri.gov pedroe1130@gmail.com | Washington Park Re-elected in 2022 |
| 11 | Mary Kay Harris | ward11@providenceri.gov Twitter: @MaryKayWard11 | Upper South PVD Term-limited in 2026 |
| 12 | Althea Graves | ward12@providenceri.gov Twitter: @MsAltheaGraves | Valley Elected in 2022 |
| 13 | Rachel Miller Council president | ward13@providenceri.gov rachel.miller.m@gmail.com Bluesky: Rachel-RI Twitter: @RachelRI | Federal Hill Re-elected in 2022 |
| 14 | Shelley Peterson | ward14@providenceri.gov Bluesky: ShelPVD14 | Elmhurst Elected in 2022 |
| 15 | Oscar Vargas | ward15@providenceri.gov oscarvargas15@gmail.com | Olneyville, Silver Lake Re-elected in 2022 |
State and Federal agencies
In addition to city government officials, state and even federal agencies and officials have a role in regulating sources of noise in Providence, such as motor vehicles. If the mayor and City Council are unresponsive to complaints about noise, you can try to contact RI agencies and legislators or the regional office of the EPA.
_______________________
1 A cynical observer could be forgiven for concluding that this is precisely the point of Providence’s lax response to noise — to condition residents to accept it as the norm, resulting in only the most persistent ones reporting it.
2 If you want to report noise to the city but not to the police, you can contact PVD’s 311 constituent-services system (read our caveats before doing so).
Noise denialists dismissively claim that you should just ask people making noise to be quieter, and if you try it and it works, the problem is seemingly solved — but for how long (on a given day, or over time)? Resident responses to our Community Noise Survey indicate that asking people to be quieter only resolves the issue 7% of the time — 39% report that it gets “somewhat” quieter, and more than half (54%) say there’s no change.
Moreover, some residents have reported people responding to requests to be quieter by deliberately getting even louder. Others (including several Noise Project volunteers) have been verbally and / or physically threatened when they ask people to make less noise, which is why Providence Police actually tell residents not to try to address noise on their own. Many city residents consider noise an entitlement, and that asking them to be quieter is an unreasonable request.
3 When residents e-mail city officials about noise, we suggest that they also “cc” the City Council member for their ward, and include the word “noise” in the subject line so they see it — and also please “cc” the Noise Project’s info@ address, so we’re aware of your issue and can follow up. This may also lead them to take your complaint more seriously.
4 The Noise Project has repeatedly asked Mayor Smiley to publicly designate a specific city official to address noise, but he has refused and instead leaves noise issues to chief of staff Emily Crowell, who handles all city policies in that capacity — and thus isn’t able to focus on noise. This seems to indicate noise has a lesser degree of importance than the mayor claims.
5 This includes reports of excessive noise to the Providence Police; Board of Licenses; Department of Arts, Culture, and Tourism; and other city agencies with at least some responsibility for enforcing municipal noise-related ordinances.
6 The fact that none of the City Council members is willing to study or even talk about doing so should tell residents a lot more than what some Council members may say about it. John Goncalves (Ward 1) proposed a study, but never followed through.
7 Again, see footnote 2 above.
8 In addition, noise reports are logged, so contacting the police at least helps to generate official data on the location and frequency of noise in the city, which Mayor Smiley has refused to otherwise collect using sound-level monitors — despite saying as a candidate that he would measure noise if elected.
9 According to a Providence Police Department report, in 2023 the unit addressed 24 violations for amplified entertainment without a license, 21 violations for disturbing the neighborhood, and 12 violations for excessively loud music.
10 If you report noise by phone, the person who answers will log your complaint in their words, which may not accurately convey what you tell them. The city will then use that second-hand report — i.e., PVD311 staff’s interpretation of you told them — as the official report, yet you won’t necessarily know what it says, or be able to dispute it.
11 Providing information about past violations may seem unnecessary, but the alternative is to rely on the city to aggregate information from previous reports, which is the key to demonstrating recurrent offenses. They may do so, but they may not, and if they don’t it means that the issue is never referred to the city’s Nuisance Taskforce — and the source isn’t addressed.
12 Confusingly, the drop-down menu on the previous version of the PVD311 form included an option to report fireworks, but told residents to call the police to report fireworks noise instead of using 311. For early garbage collection, it asked whether the service location was residential or commercial, the name of the company doing it — and included an option to keep the report private (presumably from the company itself).
13 Calling City Council members instead of e-mailing is not recommended, since (as with calling PVD311) there is no record of what was said on the call. Doing both is a good idea, as your e-mail can refer to the date and subject(s) of the phone call.