We Endorse RI Rep. David Morales in the 2026 Providence Mayoral Primary

In 2022, the Noise Project surveyed all three mayoral candidates and, on the basis of their answers, endorsed two of them: Brett Smiley and Nirva LaFortune. Having recently surveyed the two candidates in the 2026 primary (now-Mayor Smiley and RI Rep. David Morales), compared their responses, and reviewed the mayor’s record on noise in his first term, we cannot renew our previous endorsement.

Our decision comes down to a series of comparisons — namely, comparing Mayor Smiley’s survey responses in 2022 to his record in office, comparing his 2026 survey responses to those of Rep. Morales, and an apples-to-apples comparison of Smiley’s 2022 responses to Morales’ 2026 ones (i.e., both as pre-mayoral candidates). On all counts, we think Rep. Morales stands out as the better candidate.

We’ve made no secret of our disappointment with the conduct — and more importantly, the results — of Mayor Smiley’s noise-reduction efforts. In 2022, we applauded Smiley’s willingness to highlight noise in his campaign (albeit as a “quality of life” issue), which contrasted sharply with then-Mayor Elorza’s “What noise?” approach to the issue. (We’re not even sure if the word “noise” ever crossed Elorza’s lips.)

But Smiley hasn’t been as full-throated on noise as mayor as he was as a candidate — he continues to mention it, but his administration never issued a formal Providence policy on noise, which we think is vital both as a guide to city officials and as a message to residents that noise is as important as any other public policy the city implements to improve the health and well-being of its residents and visitors.

Moreover, the noise initiatives he touts — sound-level meters and noise cameras — are technocratic approaches that haven’t yielded measurable outcomes. Loud residential house parties consistently plague the city, commercial venues are not dramatically quieter (and were actually deregulated this year), and vehicle noise remains a daily blight, with noise cameras proposed in early 2023 still not operational nearly four years later, and unlikely to issue any actual citations until after the election.

We recognize that his inclusion of noise within the purview of the PVD Police’s Community Response Team is a change from the Elorza era, and that the more recent Neighborhood Response Team is a step in the right direction. But the city has provided little information on the introduction or outcomes of both, and instead continues to operate largely behind the scenes, leaving deliberate noise violators undeterred and too many residents afflicted by unhealthy, unnecessary — and illegal — noise on a recurring basis.

The city’s answer to critiques is, “We’re working on it,” but the data it provides doesn’t merit much optimism: Noise reports to the police have remained steady at around 5,500 every year — an average of 15 a day every day of the year, and about the same as Elorza’s last year in office — and although noise citations are up to around 160 per year (from just 19 for all of 2022), illegal mufflers and over-amplified stereos remain rampant, indicating that the loss of deterrence due to sporadic and inconsistent enforcement is not preventing noise. Yet the mayor’s response seems to just be doing more of the same.

We could go on, but his record is at best mediocre, which may be why we’ve heard comparatively little from him about noise or “quality of life” in the 2026 election campaign. Instead, he’s touted public safety, which clearly doesn’t include protection from unhealthy noise — and the sleep deprivation, high blood-pressure, and adverse cardiac impacts that are its well-documented effects. Yes, it’s good that residents are less likely to be murdered, but far too many will still die prematurely due to chronic noise exposure.

In that dismal context, Rep. Morales’ approach to noise reduction represents an overdue departure. He recognizes that the adverse effects of noise “fall hardest on working-class and immigrant residents.” And his signature initiative is shifting noise enforcement to civilians — something the Noise Project has advocated for years, but few city officials (including progressives who want a smaller role and budget for police) have been willing to discuss, much less support. Not all will agree with it, but it’s bold leadership.

Unlike Smiley, Morales supports an independent panel or consultant to study noise and develop a systemic plan to reduce it (as the City Council unanimously requested in 2021), measuring noise on an ongoing basis to produce actionable data and issuing annual reports on noise levels, creating a dedicated noise hotline — rather than current police dispatchers and PVD311 — and actually hold commercial venues (which Smiley touts as economic pillars) accountable for illegal sound levels.

He also agreed to implement a public-education campaign to provide residents with information on the adverse health effects of noise and city and state laws that regulate noise, including information about noise health effects in the Providence public-school curricula (in partnership with educators and the school district administration), engaging with community organizations beyond just neighborhood associations, and utilizing technical means of enforcement such as noise cameras.

Morales differs from Smiley — and to some extent, from the Noise Project — in his reticence regarding police enforcement of noise limits. We share his view to a degree, in that we advocate trying civilian and technical enforcement as alternatives. But in the current absence of such initiatives, we don’t think police enforcement should be reflexively abjured, thereby leaving residents to endure even more sonic anarchy.

PVD residents have indicated that most of the noise they’re exposed to comes from deliberate sources such as mufflers, stereos, fireworks, etc, and we don’t think the individuals responsible for it should be spared the consequences. Intentionally / unnecessarily breaking the law merely to inflict unhealthy noise on your neighbors and others is not “fun,” masculine, an entitlement, or a supposedly “victimless” crime that no one around them cares about. We know that because we actually hear it from their neighbors.

Morales’ views on what’s referred to as “over-policing” also depart from Smiley’s, and to an extent from the Noise Project’s too. To us, examples of over-policing include stopping and frisking individuals on the street without probable cause, or capturing images of every vehicle that passes Elorza’s Flock cameras.

But individuals driving on a city street with a modified muffler or blaring stereo, or blasting music or fireworks (especially late at night) at a residence — leading their neighbors to report it and the police to respond, and maybe issue a citation — are not being “over-policed,” because their illegal and anti-social actions invoked a response from the community, including the police. That’s hardly “unfair” or “unjust.”

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In 2022, we took then-mayoral candidate Brett Smiley at his word (based on his survey answers), endorsed him for mayor, and have mostly been disappointed. We recognize that we’re once again taking a candidate without a record in executive office at his word, but we feel the residents of Providence are best served by voting for a candidate who seems to understand the fundamental nature of the issue — and also seems willing to depart from the city’s ineffective approach and re-frame its responses to it.

But just as we’ve done with regard to Mayor Smiley over the last four years (and will do with any future mayors), we intend to hold Mayor Morales to his word regarding the policy statements and pledges in his responses to our survey, and whatever else is necessary to ensure that his administration takes effective, demonstrable action to bring about significant and documented reductions in unhealthy noise levels in Providence. Campaign promises are easy to make, but we don’t think they should also be easy to break.