Raymond Baccari
News Editor
Miguel Sanchez is running for Providence City Council in Ward 6. This year several incumbents are term-limited. This list includes Michael Correia, who is the current City Councilman for Ward 6. The Ward contains the neighborhoods of Manton and Mt. Pleasant. Sanchez did his first interview of the election cycle on Ray-ality TV.
Currently, Sanchez is the only candidate who has filed to run in Ward 6. He filed early in the election cycle – filing in 2021. The prospect of having a majority of the City Council be newly elected is one of many factors contributing to his run.
“I was born here in the Ward. My family has been here since [the] late 80s. We were the first Mexican store to open up in the state. [A] small business that’s still down the road on Atwells. [I] just really truly care a lot about the community. Tying that with the opportunity that we have here in 2022 with a majority [of] new members [and a] new Mayor – those are definitely some of the reasons that made my decision pretty easy to be honest,” said Sanchez in a recent episode of Ray-ality TV.
One of Sanchez’s key priorities if elected would be to create fair taxes in Providence that don't hurt working class families. Part of this policy proposal is to tax the private colleges in the city. Sanchez was one of several City Council candidates at an Apr. 7, 2022 press conference supporting state-level legislation that accomplishes this.
“I think that’s a big step of this proposal that I want to [implement]. The city is missing a lot of revenue from these higher education institutions like Brown, like RISD, like Providence College. Right now, the city is close to 40% tax exempt due to those types of institutions alongside other bigger nonprofits,” says Sanchez.
“The city needs to make up the revenue somehow. If we keep going down that road, it’s just a recipe for disaster. So definitely trying to be better collaborators with those institutions so those taxes don’t then fall on working families here in my Ward – because that’s usually what happens.”
Housing is another key issue Sanchez wants to address. He supports building more affordable housing, some form of rent stabilization and not giving away subsidies to wealthy developers.
The city’s unfunded pension system is a perennial issue in Providence. Sanchez supports a variety of ideas to solve the issue. One idea in particular is the proposed $500 pension obligation bond that voters will get to give their stance on this Summer.
Sanchez wants to sit on either the Finance, Public Works or Ordinance committee if elected. If Sanchez is elected, one of his first votes would be for the new Council President in January 2023. He described a few qualities that are crucial for the next Council President.
He said, “Someone progressive. Someone that has their values in the right place [and] that is going to be able to work with us newer Councilors if elected. Someone that’s going to hopefully collaborate more with the Mayor’s administration. [And] someone that’s going to be just a listener and a solution finder.”
Sanchez indicated there are current City Councilors staying next year that match his description. The three Councilors he said were Ward 13 City Councilwoman Rachel Miller, Ward 1 City Councilman John Goncalves and Ward 10 City Councilman Pedro Espinal.
Sanchez hasn’t decided who he would support for Mayor, but stressed the importance of the City Council working together with whomever is elected.
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