Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE, RI -- Mayor David N. Cicilline's appointment of Meredyth C. Church to the city Plan Commission has drawn fire from community activists who cite it as further evidence that the administration is taking a "pro-gentrification" stance.

Church is director of marketing and sales at the Armory Revival Company, a city-based developer of the Pearl Street Lofts and, along with Baltimore-developer Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse, Rising Sun Mills in Olneyville.

Her nomination will be considered by the City Council Finance Committee Thursday at 6 p.m. in City Hall.

Community activists Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) and the Olneyville Neighborhood Association (ONA) issued a joint press release Wednesday saying that Church's appointment to the commission, which oversees all city development projects, will continue a "pro-gentrification and pro-displacement stance" currently taken by that board.

DARE and ONA assert that the commission's development policies have been a "major cause of Providence's current woes" and are aligned with "the interests of a small group of real estate developers."

"For years we've watched the CPC approve projects like Rising Sun and ALCO which displaced local businesses, fired up speculation, exacerbated the affordable housing crisis, and squandered industrial space that could have been used to generate good new jobs for Providence residents. What have we gotten? A foreclosure crisis and property taxes spiraling out of control, with ordinary folks suffering, while Struever and Armory Revival walk away with tax breaks," Bruce Reilly of DARE said in a statement.

Late last month, Cicilline selected Church, of 69 Wyndham Ave., to replace James H. Leach, whose term expired in January. The mayoral appointment must be approved by the full City Council.

The plan commission comprises seven members, five of whom are mayoral appointees (the other two board members are city officials). Board members serve staggered five-year terms, with one term expiring each year.

 Tags  armory revival company cicilline dare meredyth c. church olneyville neighborhood association providence providence plan commission

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