by Ted Rao
In the wake of Providence City Councilman David Segal’s decision to run for retiring State Representative Paul Moura’s seat in the General Assembly, Ward One (encompassing Fox Point and a portion of the College Hill neighborhoods) produced two energetic and vibrant candidates for the office. Ted Rao interviewed both candidates, Ethan Ris and Seth Yurdin, for The Agenda. Yurdin won the primary. Space constraints forced us to print only excerpts in the paper; the full interviews can be found online at http://agendanation.net/20/yurdin and http://agendanation.net/20/ris.
Seth Yurdin, 38, graduated from NYU School of Law and works as an attorney representing small businesses. He also helped coordinate Howard Dean’s 2004 Presidential bid in New Hampshire on behalf of Democracy For America, and is the leader of Rhode Island’s DFA chapter. More recently, he volunteered in Mississippi in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He is endorsed by both Councilman Segal and Representative Moura. This is his first bid for elective office.
You’re originally from Long Island. What brought you to Providence?
I had friends that had been here for a long time, and about eight years ago I was looking to settle down, in terms of community. I was living in Boston, and was aware of a lot of the neat stuff about Providence, and looked around, bought a house and moved here. That was around 1999.
I think that a lot of us who have lived here a long time recognize the intrinsic advantages Providence has over a city like Boston, but it’s still a tumultuous time for Providence…
Well, I grew up in Long Island, outside of New York City, and went to law school in New York City, and… I appreciate what big cities have to offer, but they’re a victim of uncontrolled development, and I want to make sure that that doesn’t happen here in Providence.
On your website you talk about what going to public school meant for you. What do you think is the biggest problem in the Providence School Department?. How would you take steps to try and reform the department?
I think the problems with education relate to a number of different things. “It's not just a question of the school department, it's the whole system.”One thing is, we’re talking about four out of five kids in Providence who according to the school department are at the poverty level, which means they come to school at a real disadvantage and the school department has to bear the brunt of that. That’s part of the reason our school funding is the way that it is, is dealing with these challenges. So you have to look at the poverty question before you can really start to focus on any one particular actor, in terms of that. I also think that increasing strong after school programs is a way to deal with some of the disadvantages people have and also encouraging parents to get involved, and also putting pressure not just on the school department but on the council and on the mayor’s office to demand the changes they want to see. It’s not just a question of the school department, it’s the whole system.
Do you think that you’d be running for the seat if David Segal was still in the race?
I don’t know how to answer that question. I mean, I’ve had a lot of experience working in politics, both working for Democrats in Democratic primaries and in protecting people’s ability to vote and stopping voter disenfranchisement. I hadn’t run for office before, and I went down to Mississippi where I was a manager of a shelter; that was in September after Katrina. And I came back and it was sort of a series of events that happened where…without sounding corny, it was a life-changing event where I really was trying to help people with severe problems beyond anything I had ever seen before. People who lost their homes, lost relatives, had nothing but the shirts on their back, and were looking to me to basically try to help them in any way that I could. That was an incredible test. And I came away from that, back to Rhode Island, and through a mutual friend was put in touch with David Segal who told me that he wasn’t interested in running for the council seat, and that it would be an open seat. So I can’t really answer the question; it’s really just life. I came back from this experience and there was this opportunity in front of me. Life happened to me, and this is a chance.
You also worked in Florida during the 2004 Election. What did you do there?
We were involved with coordinating the efforts of 3000 volunteer lawyers to basically make sure that people who went to vote in a lot of different areas of the state weren’t interfered with. And unlike here, there’s an unfortunate tradition in a lot of other states where a lot of people are threatened or intimidated, there’s a lot of problems, so we made sure that we had a network of lawyers out on the field to prevent any of those kind of things from happening, and I was involved in the statewide networks, and assisted in coordinating that entire effort.
You have experience with that in working for Democracy For America and the Dean campaign.
I was involved in doing grassroots organizing for them and basically building community and getting people who care about issues but haven’t yet taken the next step to get involved, and working with them to get involved to make the changes that they want to see. It’s something that’s very satisfying and it creates real change irrespective of the outcome of the actual campaign. People get involved, and they learn things, and they go on to do other things. I think there’s a good reason to do it running, because a councilperson can’t do it alone, but if you have the strong support of people with skills in your neighborhood, and you share their beliefs, then you can be much more effective at getting the changes that everybody wants to see done. So it’s a worthwhile effort, as well as being satisfying.
Would you care to give a rating of David Cicilline as mayor?
I think that Mayor Cicilline has done a lot of good things for the city, and is moving things forward, so I think that’s an encouraging thing.
You went to NYU law. You’ve said you work with small businesses. Explain to me what your practice does.
In my current practice I work with small businesses, dealing in intellectual property law, which involves negotiating contracts for them as they develop their products, helping them incorporate as they start up, and whatever other laws are out there that businesses need lawyers to help them navigate through. I also have a background in litigation. I’ve worked in a large law firm doing civil litigation, environmental issues, some transportation issues, some labor and employment. So those all help me when I’m dealing with small businesses.
Can you think of, upon election, four or five issues that you would like to address specifically?
I can give you the three top things: One is the schools. They really drive what’s going to happen to the city over the next number of years. “We need a really diverse city, not just made up of retirees and people who haven't had kids yet.”We have a lot of new people here with small kids who have to make the choice whether they send their kids to private schools, whether they have the confidence in public schools, and at least in Ward One, people will either move away or not be engaged and involved, and I think that’ll hurt the city, since they’re good tax-paying people. We need a really diverse city, not just made up of retirees and people who haven’t had kids yet.
Hope High School’s had an amazing turnaround, through pretty unorthodox means.
There are good things happening; I’m not meaning to say all schools are horrible. My viewpoint is that public school is a really valuable experience. I’ve spoken to a lot of parents who share those values, and if they’re engaged in the system, and there’s some changes made, it can happen. Another is development. Whether it’s a big or small project, just making sure that the community’s voice is heard in the way the planning process goes and that we have growth that reflects what the community is interested in, and not have haphazard growth, or a land-grab, or insider growth, but one the public is interested in. And then the third thing is environmental issues, something that Councilman Segal’s been strong on, and that includes renewable energy, making sure those projects are fully implemented. It means having open space and protecting the waterfront from inappropriate development. But like I said, any councilperson can’t do it alone. With the help of engaged people, we can make those changes.
Read the rest of the Seth Yurdin interview here: http://agendanation.net/20/yurdin.
Ethan Ris: Out But Not Down
Ris is continuing to focus on his students, teaching literacy and social studies at the Met School, and volunteering for Sheldon Whitehouse's Senate campaign.
You stated in a local paper that you’re opposed to on-street overnight parking. There’s pilot programs to enact on-street overnight parking, in kind of a slow, neighborhood by neighborhood fashion throughout the next year. Why do you oppose on-street overnight parking?
I oppose it in Fox Point. I think that there are neighborhoods where it makes perfect sense, and if the residents want it, they should absolutely be allowed to have it. In my own neighborhood I don’t want it because, the major issue is, I really think there are too many cars in the city of Providence. I’m not a car owner; I rely on public transportation or my bike and walking to get where I need to go. Young people especially, who are a huge percentage of Fox Point and the East Side, the college students don’t need to own cars. And initiating an on-street overnight parking program will dramatically encourage them to own cars, no matter what restrictions you put on it, no out-of-state plates, they’ll get them, because they can afford it. They’ll get them if it’s a viable option for them. So I’m thoroughly against that. And a lot of my neighbors say, and I agree with them, that most of the streets in Fox Point are extremely narrow, and in the dead of night, on Arnold Street or Transit Street or Sheldon Street where I live, the idea of a fire truck getting down that street in the dark with cars on either side…it’s not feasible. And it seems extremely dangerous. And frankly, I don’t see the need for it. Obviously, daytime parking is very important for the business community, but overnight not so much.
Read the rest of the Ethan Ris interview here: http://agendanation.net/20/ris.
