Also present: Tina L. Mastroianni (City Clerk), Sheri A. Petronio (First Deputy City Clerk), Napoleon Askie (City Sergeant), Jeffrey Dana (City Solicitor)
Recorded votes
(2)
Warrant of the City Clerk to Napoleon Askie, City Sergeant with Return Certification
RECEIVED
Consideration of Mayor Brett P. Smiley's VETO of the Providence Rent Stabilization Act Ordinance
MAYOR'S VETO SUSTAINED [9 TO 1]
Moved by Councilor Sanchez·Seconded by Councilwoman Harris
Good evening, counselors. Good evening. Calling this special meeting of
Rachel Miller
-
the Providence City Council to order on Friday, 05/15/2026. Madam clerk, please call the roll.
Tina L. Mastroianni
-
Council president Miller. Present. Deputy majority Wip Vanderwa. Present. Councilor Davidson.
Tina L. Mastroianni
-
Present. Majority leader Espinal is absent. Senior deputy majority leader Gonsalves is absent. Councilwoman Graves?
Rachel Miller
-
Present.
Tina L. Mastroianni
-
Deputy deputy majority leader Harris? Present. Councilwoman Peterson? Present. Council president Pro Tempur Pichardo?
Tina L. Mastroianni
-
Present. Council Arroyas? Proudly present. Councilwoman Ryan? Present.
Tina L. Mastroianni
-
Majority Whip Sanchez? Present. Councilman Taylor is absent. Councilwoman Anna Vargas is absent. Councilman Oscar Vargas is absent.
Tina L. Mastroianni
-
You have 10 present and five absent. You have a quorum. Thank you, madam clerk.
Rachel Miller
-
Majority Whip Sanchez.
Miguel Sanchez
-
Madam president, motions waived, invocation.
Rachel Miller
-
Second. Any discussion on that motion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?
Rachel Miller
-
Any abstentions? The motion passes. Tonight, the pledge of allegiance will be led by pro tem Pichardo. Will everyone please rise?
Juan M. Pichardo
-
I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Rachel Miller
-
Thank you, pro tem.
Miguel Sanchez
-
Madam president, motion to waive the reading of items one and two.
Althea Graves
-
Second, madam president.
Rachel Miller
-
We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstentions?
Rachel Miller
-
The motion passes. Madam clerk, please note one and two as received, so noted. At this point, madam clerk, I would like to ask the pro tem Picciardo come and share item three.
Juan M. Pichardo
-
Thank you. Madam clerk, item number three.
Miguel Sanchez
-
Mister president, motion to waive the reading of item three and override the mayor's veto on a roll call vote.
Althea Graves
-
Second, mister president.
Juan M. Pichardo
-
The motion has been made and second. Any discussion? Before we have any discussion, I'm going to call on our Providence solicitor to explain to the our body some clarification on the vote. You got a clarification? Of the vote that we're taking a yes or no, I thought Okay.
Juan M. Pichardo
-
On the override.
Justin Roias
-
Yeah. So any yeas would be to override the veto. Nays would be not to override the veto.
Juan M. Pichardo
-
That sounds good. Is everybody clear on that one? Just wanna make sure that everybody's on the same page. Any discussion on item number three?
Rachel Miller
-
Mister president.
Juan M. Pichardo
-
Madam president, councilwoman, Rachel Miller.
Rachel Miller
-
Thank you, sir. Counselors and mister president, we are here on this historic Friday night. Thank you all so much for being here. In front of you is an ordinance that will, of course, protect residents. It will do so while allowing property owners to have what they need to have to keep properties maintained, to invest in their properties, to make sure that, they then earn an investment that can go back into our city.
Rachel Miller
-
It's also more than that. It is very much a fork in the road for the city of Providence. Together, this council has already made history. It's we've made it clear to the residents of the city that council is fighting for the beating heart of our city, for the people who live here, for the people who call it home. And we have heard from so many people over the last two years when we've really been discussing through the work of chairwoman Harris and the housing task force, through the other issues that we've taken on in affordability as we've talked more and more about the principles that would lead to the ordinance in front of us.
Rachel Miller
-
We have heard from hundreds of people, people who are sharing stories about how their lives are on the edge of a knife. That 40% increase in rent, since 2020 is too much. That that edge of a knife is one bill away from catastrophe for themselves and their family. And I hope that every counselor, and I know, many have have gotten a chance to hear from the many many constituents of theirs who have stories to share about why this ordinance so critically important to them. We've also, of course, heard from many opponents of rent stabilization.
Rachel Miller
-
Many of them themselves, property owners, realtors, representatives of corporations who have a lot to lose frankly. Large corporations who have been driving up rent beyond property value, beyond what is needed to maintain properties. And we've heard a lot from opponents, but it occurs to me that there's something we really haven't heard whether, from opponents external to the city or government officials themselves when confronted with the fact that for families across the city, for people across the city, rent renewal comes with a rent increase that amounts to eviction. When asked where should those families go, that is the sound we hear. It is silence.
Rachel Miller
-
There is not an answer from the government or from the city. So of course, we know that we cannot build our way out of what is amounts to a catastrophe for families, an emergency for families, and a loss to our city as families move away and move out of the city. I also worry that in that silence, in that absolute nothing, by intention or by default, there's a a movement that is moving providence for the wealthiest among us and not for the rest of us. So of course, we will keep building as this council has dedicated millions of dollars to do. We will keep protecting property values by ensuring that families can invest in their properties.
Rachel Miller
-
We will keep moving, families towards home ownership, but for the 60% plus of us who rent, we have gotta do something, and that time is now. We've also heard from a testimony that it would take over thirty years plus to build our way forward. Mister president, I don't know where you're gonna be in thirty years. I don't know where I'm gonna be in thirty years. I don't know where our city's gonna be in thirty years if we do not act to protect people today.
Rachel Miller
-
There's lots of other things to say about what we've heard. A lot of it's been comparing apples to oranges from the industry that this threatens. And we shouldn't be surprised because this is a very very very old story. It's one we've all heard if we know it or not. Show me a regulation on an industry and I will show you an industry who resists that regulation every time.
Rachel Miller
-
Right from seat belts to breathable air to basic bank protections to controlling algorithmic pricing. Right? We are told by industry representatives that if you regulate, catastrophe follows. And here we are. We have seat belts, we have regulations on air and drinking water, and we are better for all of those things.
Rachel Miller
-
And I know and you know that government regulation is not enacted because the industry clamors for it, but because the people demand it. I know and you know that our residents are in crisis, and they need their local government to step up to the plate. I know and you know that rent regulation does exactly one thing, it regulates rent. And that together, we're gonna keep doing all those other things that we need to do to move us from a larger affordability and housing crisis. And so I'm asking, all of my colleagues tonight to vote to overcome this veto, to let tomorrow be the very first day that people can wake up in the city of Providence, and renters can wake up in the city of Providence and have some amount of security in their homes.
Rachel Miller
-
And I also know that tonight, if we stay as nine together, if we do not overcome this hurdle, there will be people in the city who are celebrating. They will think that this is defeated. They will think that this is the end. I guarantee, I know, from firsthand that they are already planning, to funnel their wealth into opponents for the nine of us and and others to replace us. And so I say to those kind of those wealthy interests, fair warning because what I have seen over the city in the last months and years is that rent stabilization has lit a fire in the imaginations of the residents of this city.
Rachel Miller
-
That it has let all of us dream together of a local government that stands for its residents, that protects its residents, that fights for its residents no matter who we are, no matter how much money is in our pocket, no matter where we live. So while this not might might not be one tonight, it is a long way from being over tonight because we all we have seen it before. Once hope lights up the imagination of residents who have for far too long been given no reason to hope, been given no reason to think that local government on a broad scale is, working to represent them against wealthy interests. They've had no reason to it. Now, that hope exists, because of the actions of this council, and that will continue to light a fire in the imaginations of all of us.
Rachel Miller
-
And so, mister president and colleagues, please join me in voting yes to override the veto. Thank you very much.
Juan M. Pichardo
-
Thank you, madam president. Councilwoman Althea Graves.
Althea Graves
-
I wanna start out by saying, even if it this bill is defeated and he succeeds in vetoing this, The fight is not over. We are here to fight for the city of Providence. We are here to fight for the citizens of Providence. We are here to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. You voted us into this office to fight for you, and we will continue to fight for you.
Althea Graves
-
We're not fighting. We are not fighting for those who live outside the city and raise get all the money from the city and go vacation in somewhere else and spend their money in some other city who put their children in private schools, who put those all these wonderful things for themselves Right. But do not do anything for us. We are here to vote for you, to pray for you. We're gonna we're gonna make it through.
Althea Graves
-
And you know why why we're gonna make it through? Because God is on our side. God is on our side. And I'm gonna tell you something. I am gonna tell you something, I feel it in my bones and the reason I feel it in my bones is because I know, I know that all the times that we have struggled and fought and cried, we always come through in the end and we're not come through in the end because we know that we made this city.
Althea Graves
-
They didn't make this city, we made this city what it is. It's our blood, sweat, and tears. And I refuse I refuse to let a few people come in here and take our city from us. I refuse that a few people come in here and let us all become homeless. Right.
Althea Graves
-
Right. It's not gonna happen, not on my watch. So even if we lose tonight Right. You know what? Those people that chose not to come tonight, the power is in the voting box.
Althea Graves
-
They are trying to vote us out. Let's run join together and get the right people out. Let's show these people that we are not afraid of them. Let's show these people that we don't care. They don't even live here.
Althea Graves
-
They don't have a boat and the few that do live here, they only got one. So let us show them where the power is. It's not with them, it is with us. It's with the ones that are sitting around here with exceptional one and it's with you. So my people do not fear, do not fear.
Althea Graves
-
If we lose this time, next year we can bring it back. Re
