Welcome to the Providence Eye’s Readers’ Voices Section. We’d Love For You to Join the Conversation.

by Philip Eil

For as long as I’ve worked in Rhode Island journalism, something has bothered me. The city of Providence – where I grew up and still live – is diverse, interesting, fresh, and exciting. It’s filled with people from all over the world; of all ages, [...]

The Case for Ranked-Choice Voting in Providence.

by Scott Shuler

Providence may soon be at the forefront of improvements in the way we vote. Many citizens, in Providence and across the country, express frustration with their elected officials and fear for our democracy. They are sick and tired of negative campaigning and extremist candidates. Countless [...]

Letter to the Editor

by Charles Gormley

I wish I had the words to express my gratitude to Jane Lancaster for her marvelous July 16 article, “Who’s the Paul Cuffee School Named For? The First Person of Color to Enter the White House Through the Front Door*” FASCINATING is the best I [...]

Providence Residents Have Waited Long Enough for Affordable Energy. It’s Time for Rhode Island to Pass the PIPP.

by Lachlan McCann

In a packed committee room at the State House in March, a woman began crying. Her name was Gloria. She shared that she and her husband had undergone several medical operations, sending the couple into financial hardship. She was now looking for a job at [...]

Waving Foreign Flags at a Protest Isn’t an “Invasion.” It’s a Reflection of What Makes America Great.

by Aleida Benitez

The protests in Trump 2.0 have taken longer than many expected. But I joined my first protest in Providence in April, which was the largest demonstration the city had seen in years. Thousands of people gathered and marched from Hope High School to downtown for [...]

Providence’s New Architecture Not Doing the City Credit

by Fraser Lang

I enjoyed reading “Filling the Gaps: New Housing Popping Up in Previously Vacant East Side Lots” by J. Hogue on June 11. A program that addresses the housing shortage in Providence is welcome. My concern is not the initiative but the implementation. For the most [...]

Providence Raised Me. Leaving Helped Me to See That — and the City — More Clearly.

by Jen Cole

Seventeen years and two months ago I packed up and left Providence for good.  I mean, I said it was for good at the time, but by then I had left and come back more times than I could count on two hands.   Let’s go [...]

Readers’ Voices 06.18

by Barry Schiller

The Narragansett Bay Commission that Nini Stoddard wrote about in the June 4 Eye [“Time to Find Out about your Wastewater Treatment Plant”] does a good job at treating wastewater, but I question the fairness about who pays for the $570 million they spent on [...]

The case for rent stabilization in Providence

by Harper Keehn, from the DARE Tenant and Homeowner's Association (THA)

Providence is now the worst place to be a renter in the United States. That’s not just rhetoric—data shows that we have the widest gap in the country between what renters earn and what they are expected to pay. The income required to afford the [...]

Our City’s Lack of Confidence Has Costs. It’s Time for Providence to Get Serious About Tourism.

by Bradly VanDerStad

Providence is one of the most culturally rich, historically significant, and creatively energized cities in the United States—yet it doesn’t seem to believe it. We have all the raw ingredients of a top-tier tourism destination: walkable historic districts like downtown, College Hill, and Broadway; extraordinary [...]