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Rhode Island
Providence pallet shelter village expected to open by end of February • Rhode Island Current
Forty-five tiny cabins assembled off Route 146 in Providence in February 2024 to temporarily shelter people experiencing homelessness will be ready for occupancy by the end of February 2025, Rhode Island’s acting housing secretary told a panel of senators Tuesday.
“I’ve not given a date in the past because we’ve disappointed so many people,” Secretary Debroah Goddard told the joint gathering of the Senate Oversight Committee and Committee on Housing & Municipal Government. “But I would say probably within four weeks we will be open.”
It’s been an agonizingly slow process to open ECHO Village, which will be managed by House of Hope, a Warwick community development corporation.
The one-room cabins off Victor Street were supposed to have opened by the end of March 2024. Then the project was pushed to the end of spring, then the fall, and then to some time this winter.
Part of the blame has been placed on the state’s fire and building codes. The state’s fire marshal told a legislative committee in December that his office found it difficult to determine which section of the state fire code applied to the pallet shelters. Staff decided to go with the one used for hotels or dorms — which the state also used in its initial application submitted last January.
Fire permits were ultimately approved in April. A building permit was issued last June.
“It’s seven months that this project has been under active construction,” House of Hope Executive Director Laura Jaworski told senators Tuesday. “That’s still incredibly aggressive and [a] remarkable time period to have done what we have done on that site.”
All that remains is hooking up each of the cabins to a Rhode Island Energy transformer — something the state initially requested last July, Housing Department Spokesperson Emily Marshall told Rhode Island Current in an email.
“At that time, the site still had significant work to do before it could be electrified, but the request was made early in the process knowing that, given supply chain issues, it could take many months for RI Energy to acquire a transformer,” Marshall wrote.
Goddard called the delays “inhumane.”
“We need to have a collective mind and a collective will across government, across communities, across actors to address this,” she said. “I want to keep looking forward.”
Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, still had doubts about the state’s new timeline.
“By the time the end of February comes, we’re looking at spring,” she said.
Tuesday’s meeting was called by Senate leadership in order to review the state’s plan to address homelessness, which has faced scrutiny over a lack of emergency shelters amid recent cold snaps.
It also served more as an informal confirmation hearing for a housing secretary who has yet to undergo the chamber’s formal vetting process.
“This is the first time I’m meeting most of you,” Goddard told the joint panel. “I hope I have the chance to show you that my manner is generally very straightforward — sometimes too straightforward.”
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CUMBERLAND, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island State Police are investigating a crash that happened on I-295 North in Cumberland Tuesday night.
The crash happened in the right lane near Exit 22 just before 9 p.m.
It’s unclear exactly what caused the crash or if anyone was injured.
12 News has reached out to Rhode Island State Police for more information but has not heard back.
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Scandals shake up Capitol Hill ahead of midterm elections
Congressional reporter Zachary Schermele dives into the latest scandals on Capitol Hill and how they’re shaking up politics ahead of midterms.
Rhode Island’s Democrat and Republican primary elections will officially be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9 this year, instead of the usual Tuesday election day.
Lawmakers passed the bill at the urging of state and local officials, who were concerned that an election day falling the day after Labor Day would not give them enough time to set up polls for the arrival of voters.
Gov. Dan McKee signed the bill on April 20, officially moving the primary day for 2026.
Which races will be on the ballot? The Republican and Democrat nominees for a swath of local offices – most notably governor but also lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Why was RI’s primary day moved?
At a hearing on the bill earlier this year, Randy Rossi, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns explained the “significant logistical and financial challenges” municipalities otherwise would have faced having an election the day after Labor Day.
“Beyond cost, municipalities face serious logistical challenges accessing and setting up more than 430 polling locations on a major federal holiday, a process that often requires many hours and access to facilities that are typically closed and unstaffed on Labor Day,” he said.
“Compounding these challenges, many municipalities conduct early voting in city or town halls that must also serve as primary day polling locations,” Rossi noted.
Without changes to current law, he said, “municipalities would be required to conduct early voting and primary day polling simultaneously, often in the same limited space and with the same poll workers, requiring additional staffing and facilities.”
By the time this legislative hearing took place in January, other states facing similar issues, including Massachusetts, had already adjusted their primary dates, “and Rhode Island itself has demonstrated that alternative scheduling can be successful, as occurred during the statewide Wednesday primary in 2018,” Rossi said.
EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (WPRI) — If you’re looking to satisfy you’re sweet tooth, look no further than Division Street.
Nothing Bundt Cakes opened its first Rhode Island bakery in East Greenwich earlier this month. The new bakery is situated within East Greenwich Square, which is also home to the Ocean State’s first Crumbl.
The bakery is known for its handcrafted specialty Bundt cakes, as well as smaller “Bundtlets,” and bite-sized “Bundtinis,” that come in a variety of flavors.
“There’s a strong sense of local pride, creativity, and community here that aligns perfectly with our values,” said Jake Williams, who owns the East Greenwich bakery. “We were drawn to the area’s vibrant small business culture and the opportunity to contribute something special.”
Nothing Bundt Cakes is also expected to open another bakery at Chapel View in Cranston later this year.
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Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the free WPRI 12+ TV app.
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