Providence Committee on URRP, Tuesday, June 16, 2026 - 5:30 PM
Call to Order and Roll Call
The meeting of the Urban Redevelopment and Planning Committee was called to order, followed by a roll call of the members. The committee also briefly discussed waiting for legal representation from the city solicitor before proceeding.
Resolution Creating Essence Tyler Cristal Memorial Square
The committee discussed a resolution to create the Essence Tyler Cristal Memorial Square on Burnett Street. Members of the council and staff shared remarks honoring Essence's memory and her mother's advocacy against gun violence before voting to pass the resolution.
Resolution Renaming Corliss Park to Jennie Lippitt Circle
The committee considered a resolution to rename Corliss Park to Jennie Lippitt Circle to resolve mail delivery confusion for the Rhode Island School of the Deaf. Students from the school and the director of the Lippitt House Museum gave a presentation on the historical significance of Jennie Lippitt, after which the clerk read the full resolution.
Resolution Creating William Rose Way Memorial Square and Adjournment
The clerk read a letter from the traffic engineering division regarding the proposed William Rose Way Memorial Square on Burnett Street. The committee then moved toward approving the designation and concluding the meeting.
Speaker 0
-
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Mary Kay Harris, and we are right now in the urban redevelopment and redo planning committee. Today is June June 16. Yes. Yes.
Speaker 0
-
Madam clerk, please call roll.
Speaker 1
-
Chairwoman Harris? Present. Vice chair Pichardo?
Speaker 2
-
Present.
Speaker 1
-
Councilman Gonzalez is absent. Councilwoman Graves? Present. Councilwoman Barbas?
Speaker 0
-
Madam clerk, could you please let me know what I can start with the legal representation? Yeah. Thought that she just wants to know.
Speaker 3
-
Oh, what? So we're just waiting to hear back from the
Speaker 0
-
city solicitor to see who will
Speaker 3
-
be I'm sorry. I'm having trouble hearing. So we will
Speaker 0
-
be waiting for a response from Jay Dana, which is the city solicitor to see who was supposed to be coming to this meeting. So do I have a right to stop this meeting? Yes. You do. Okay.
Speaker 0
-
Thank you, madam clerk. Madam clerk, could you please read
Speaker 1
-
the first item into the alright. Resolution creating an Essence Tyler, Cristal, Memorial Square. Managing engineer traffic engineering. The Department of Public Works traffic engineering division has reviewed the resolution creating Essence Tyler Crystal Memorial Square. We researched available and determined that no other Memorial Square designations exist on Barnett Street.
Speaker 1
-
We concur with this ceremonial designation. We will make and install the appropriate sign resolution is finally approved and further information on the number and location of signs is determined. So they have
Speaker 0
-
a motion on the floor and second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay.
Speaker 4
-
Should I do each? Yeah.
Speaker 2
-
Alright. Good.
Speaker 0
-
It's up to the clerks. Yes.
Speaker 3
-
If if if you wanted to turn him in, the family's fine too.
Speaker 0
-
Do. Can you please state your name and state of public record?
Speaker 4
-
Aaron Easter Gardner, deputy chief of staff of the city council. So thank you. I just so I spoke with, you know, the majority leader a couple of hours ago. He had something that, you know, came up and he was unable to attend, which is unfortunate because he really did, you know, want to join and he's very, you know, supportive of this resolution. He just wanted me, you know, to share a message with, you know, in here.
Speaker 4
-
She's here. However, he just wanted to say that, you know, he understands clearly that, you know, a child, you know, can never be replaced. And, you know, as a parent, you know, he has an understanding of how profound, you know, such a loss can be. And he also, you know, understands that when things like this happen, having, you know, some type of memorial or a plaque, you know, can be so helpful in relief and, you know, bringing back some of the positive memories. And additionally, you know, he just sends a message that, you know, gun violence is not the answer and that, you know, as a city, we need to continue with everything that we can to, you know, mitigate and, you know, reach out to the community with all organizations, police department, etcetera.
Speaker 4
-
And one thing that he also wanted to say that it was very, very, very, you know, appreciative to see, you know, Diana over the years actually take the lead in, you know, speaking about, you know, gun violence. And additionally, you know, recently, especially in this term, the council, you know, she actually was appointed to the Pathway to End Gun Violence Advisory Council, which is a board that is under the city council that gives advice and advisory opinions and what have you to the administrations, the council, and anybody else who would be, you know, interested. Interested. So that's the only message that I had. He just wanted me to say this.
Speaker 4
-
Don't want put anything in writing. He just wanted to, you know, have that on the record to share. So that's all I have. Thank you.
Speaker 0
-
Thank you. Very well said. Thank you so much. Thank you. Vice chairman.
Speaker 3
-
Thank you.
Speaker 0
-
Face in their voice in that half. So thank you. Any more come councilwoman Peterson?
Speaker 3
-
Thank you. I would love to add my sentiments and support to this resolution. Essence's mother, Diana, is a ward constituent in Ward 14, and she's also a member of my board committee. Diana is probably second to none in making sure that the the essence of her daughter, for lack of a better word, is consistently memorialized and and remembered. Diana has done just a wonderful, wonderful job of making sure that a tragedy turned into something extremely positive for the city of Providence and I can't commend her enough for all the work that she's done, not just not just in the South Side, but she has the bowling tournament and that collects in fundraisers so that they she can then give back to the community again.
Speaker 3
-
She does a lock of arms in Lockwood, if I'm not mistaken. I mean, that's just those are just very few things in spite of a numerous amount of other things that she does in an effort to bring some positivity and some good support to the the the situation that happened, tragedy in her family. Essence's mom, Diane, is also an established author. If anybody ever has a chance to read the book regarding Essence, please do so. It's available at all of our libraries in the city of Providence.
Speaker 3
-
And it's just a wonderful reminder of what we have as an opportunity locally to support not only neighbors, but also a chance to, like I said before, bring some positivity in light of the tragedy. So I absolutely support this. I think it's a wonderful job, and it's a wonderful opportunity. It's a
Speaker 5
-
long time coming. I just Council
Speaker 0
-
Thank you. Miss. Yeah. Thank you, Caroline. I just
Speaker 5
-
you know, I know Diana personally and also am grateful to be able to lift up her efforts to as council of Peter said, turn tragedy into into light for our city. And you know, we're a small state, and we're a small city. We can't afford to lose any one of us. And I'm glad we are doing what we can to remember somebody who was special and who was, you know, cut short and who should be with us now. So I'm just I will look forward to supporting this when it is in front of
Speaker 6
-
the full body. Thank you.
Speaker 0
-
Yeah. If there's no other speakers from the floor, I'd like to close it out by just building my sentiment into my relationship with Diana and herself. In her essence, once around the globe, I had the opportunity to be a youth organizer at an organization called DARE, Direct Action for rights and equality. So I had the opportunity of having leaders, young leaders who were beginning to change build change in society around the things that they were doing within the organization. So years ago, I see that Diana, as a young person, the leadership that we hope and we push for every day that our young people begin to organize into and she's a prime example.
Speaker 0
-
So many great things have been set around this table today about Diana, and everything I wanna say that I approve, and I say that I agree 100%. Thank you for sharing your relationship and the leadership that Diana have given to our community here in Providence. So I appreciate that. At this time, I would like to take a motion to pass this out of the work committee before the board of May I have a motion to pass
Speaker 5
-
it? Second.
Speaker 0
-
You. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Nelson. Madam clerk, could you please read item two into directing?
Speaker 1
-
Resolution officially renaming the street known as Corliss Park to Jeanie Lippitt Circle.
Speaker 0
-
Okay. At this time, I'll Jenny.
Speaker 7
-
Jenny. Jenny Lippitt Circle. Okay.
Speaker 0
-
Just a small word for that afternoon, Tina, just to make sure we
Speaker 2
-
have it in there.
Speaker 1
-
Sure. And this is a letter from the post office addressed to Tina, the city clerk, saying that they checked with the delivery unit and our address management team regarding your street name change request. Since there is only one delivery point on the street currently known as 1 Farliffs Park, We're now in school for the deaf. Changing the street names would not cause any issues with mail delivery. Please let me know the effective date once the change is approved so I can inform AMS and the delivery unit.
Speaker 1
-
Thank you.
Speaker 0
-
Awesome. We're proud of that. That is not official. It is real. Councilwoman Peterson, I'm gonna start out with you for the meanwhile.
Speaker 0
-
We are so excited.
Speaker 3
-
Thank you. I'm very excited.
Speaker 0
-
Excited. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited. Excited.
Speaker 3
-
Oh, I cannot tell you how excited I am to be presenting this, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity. So at the beginning of this year, I was invited to the Rhode Island School of the Deaf to come in and listen to a presentation. And I was invited by some of the guests that are here today to learn a little
Speaker 0
-
bit