Six candidates are lined up to represent the entire city of Cranston. Of those six, half will get to represent six times the constituents of their future colleagues.

Three Democrats — Jessica Marino, Jesse Dooley and Lauryn Pregoni — and three Republicans — Richard Campopiano, Chris Buonanno and Paul Stascavage — are aiming for the Citywide City Council spots, which could be critical for determining which party ends up with a majority of the city’s nine council seats.

Voters will be asked to choose up to three candidates; the top three vote-getters will win the city-wide seats.

Current Councilors

With Robert Ferri running for mayor and Nicole Renzulli not seeking reelection, Marino, the first female council president in Cranston’s history, is the only current citywide councilor seeking reelection.

Throughout her time as a citywide councilor, Marino said, she has built up a record of helping the city, pointing to issues like the city’s recent school bond referendum, for which she advocated.

“We could get, potentially, three quarters of our money back,” Marino said. “That’s going to benefit the entire city.”

One other candidate has council experience — Campopiano, who is currently Ward 4’s representative.

He said that with much of the current council stepping down, other than himself and Marino — Ward 6’s Daniel Wall and Ward 2’s Kristen Haroian, are the only incumbents running — he wants to ensure the council has much-needed experience. If elected, Campopiano said he would become Cranston City Council’s longest-tenured Republican.

“I’ve been through two budget processes, and I felt it was time for me to step up and represent the whole city,” Campopiano said.

Marino, though, said she has concerns about the city’s budgets going forward.

“We used the COVID money to plug budget holes — that’s what the mayor had proposed and that’s where the money largely went,” Marino said. “And I’m not confident that going forward, the city is going to generate enough revenue to be able to maintain that kind of money to the tunes of millions of dollars in the budget.”

Marino advised the new councilmembers, which will comprise a majority of next year’s council, to make sure that they remain actively involved as citizens outside of their work on the council.

“When you have spent a lot of time in the City Council chambers, not on the council side, but on the other side, with the people, as a citizen, advocating for the community that you care about, that is always first on your mind,” Marino said. “That is your top priority.”

The city, Campopiano said, was a special place to serve.

“Cranston is unique in the way that you go from Ward 1, which has walkable shops, the ocean, all these quaint areas, to Ward 4, where I am now, where you have farm stands and spacious lots around houses,” Campopiano said. “It can satisfy anyone’s needs or wants. No matter which way of life you enjoy, you can find it in Cranston.”

The Challengers

Each of the four non-incumbents said that they have taken a unique path to get to the point of running for office, and are offering unique campaigns for Cranstonians.

Buonanno, a member of the city’s zoning board, said that he had always wanted to run for office, and believed that this year in particular was an “inflection point” when he felt he should run.

Preparing to represent the entire city, Buonanno said, is something that he views as a unique opportunity as well as a challenge.

“The cool thing about Cranston is that each person is represented by four city councilors, which is really unique,” Buonanno said. “I really enjoy talking to everybody. You get a wide breadth of opinions on a wide breadth of issues.”

Stascavage, on the other hand, said that he first decided to run in April, hoping that he could make a positive impact on the city. His campaign, in addition to knocking doors, has primarily focused on setting up six billboards throughout the city, which he hopes will pay off for him in November.

“There’s so much territory to cover, you could have 20 people helping you for five months and there’s no way you could cover the whole city,” Stascavage said. “I’m trying something new, and we’re going to see what happens.”

Pregoni-Camara, similarly, has taken up another unique campaign strategy in addition to door-knocking — hosting park cleanups throughout the city. Doing that, she said, had helped raise some funds for her campaign while also directly working to improve the community, which she said connected with her reason for running.

“I’ve always been involved in some aspect of community activism and wanting to improve my community in some way or another,” Pregoni-Camara said. “I noticed that the park, playgrounds, the bike path weren’t as well-maintained as other cities I’ve lived in, and I saw a huge opportunity for them to just be improved.”

Dooley, a member of the Ward 2 Democratic Committee, has been working to get his name out there in the city as well. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Dooley said that his experience living in different parts of the country had given him a different perspective on the city.

“I’ve been here 10 years — I love living in Cranston,” Dooley said. “Being an outsider — I think that’s kind of a benefit.”

The Economy

Similarly to the mayoral debate between Mayor Ken Hopkins and Ferri, candidates tended to differ on where they saw the city’s economy, with Democrats generally having a less rosy view of it.

Pregoni-Camara said that while some local businesses could be closing for reasons beyond the control of the city’s government, she still found the number of small businesses closing in Cranston to be concerning.

“When you look at Cranston compared to Providence, Providence has a lot more small businesses opening and a lot more businesses sustaining their life, whereas in Cranston we have a lot of trusted places like Solitro’s and Wein-o-Rama that are closing,” Pregoni-Camara said. “I think that’s concerning, and I don’t really see enough going in to replace those. That troubles me.”

Dooley said that he would need to see more data, though he believed the city was doing alright financially. He also noted that he was concerned about how the city would make up for ARPA money from the federal government that would no longer be going into the city’s budget.

Buonanno said that overall, the city’s economy was in a strong position, and credited Hopkins with the city’s financial shape.

“We’re not facing shortfalls in the budget,” Buonanno said. “We’re not facing large tax increases, and the mayor’s been responsible with the money. If you look at our city and municipal budget, it’s actually been decreased. He’s eliminated wasteful spending, which is what we need to do to avoid raising taxes unnecessarily.”

Stascavage said that while the international economy is in a bad spot, thus hurting Cranston’s overall economic outlook, the city is in comparatively good shape.

Housing Shortage

On the issue of the current housing crisis and affordable housing, candidates differed on how much of an impact they believed they could make as a councilor.

Buonanno said that he would like to put a greater focus on affordable housing in the city, saying that it would help expand the city’s tax base and help the city’s economy.

Stascavage said that he viewed the housing crisis as a national problem that Cranston would not be able to solve by itself in an effective manner. He also mentioned the city’s homeless encampments as something that the city needed to work on, saying that he had spoken with some at the encampments who moved from Johnston, Warwick and Scituate.

“I asked a few ‘Why are you doing it here?’ and they said they’re doing it here because Cranston allows it,” Stascavage said. “I’m not against the homeless — nobody should be homeless in 2024 worldwide, without a doubt, but we also can’t have our woods being trashed with debris all over the place.”

Dooley, who works with the homeless, said that the city needed to work with the state and federal government if they hoped to help with the problem.

“Every Thursday, I lead a support group for the unhoused at Harrington Hall,” Dooley said. “I meet on Tuesday mornings with individuals for one-on-one counseling. I’ve seen, multiple times a week, the impact of the shortage in housing firsthand. It’s not just a Cranston issue — there’s no way for it to be solved at the local level … What is the realistic solution? I think it takes collaboration. I don’t think any mayor, any councilpeople, can address this issue without state and federal collaboration.”

Pregoni-Camara said that the city’s affordable housing units were too low, citing Ferri, who claimed in the debate that the city had not built affordable housing in 13 years. As a councilor, she said, she would look to champion the building of affordable housing in the city.

Rats & Speeding

Though they come from different viewpoints, what each candidate has been hearing on the street has largely been similar. Each candidate pointed to the city’s rat issue and speeding as the things that most residents have mentioned to them as their biggest concerns about the city.

“It varies a bit by ward — there are definitely some wards plagued more by the rat infestation than others — but it’s a constant that comes up in almost every neighborhood,” Pregoni-Camara said. “And I’ve spoken to a lot of folks in all age ranges that don’t necessarily feel safe walking on our sidewalks and streets because of the amount of cars that are speeding or texting and driving, just not paying attention.”

Other than those two issues, candidates pointed out that they had heard a lot about the city’s taxes.

Stascavage also said that he had heard concerns about window tinting in cars, something that the owner of Volare Motors would plan to address if he’s elected.

Similarly, Dooley said that he has heard complaints about flooding — something that he said he is receiving advice from his wife, a civil engineer, about.

With early voting beginning today and the General Election on Nov. 5 just around the corner, all six candidates are approaching Election Day with confidence, though with a bit of apprehension as well.

“I’ve met a lot of people,” Campopiano said. “I’ve helped a lot of people. It seems like my name is out there, so I feel pretty good about it.”

Marino also pointed to her record as a reason for confidence, saying that it had been an honor to represent her home city and it would be an honor to continue to do so.

That pointed to one spot of agreement among all six candidates — that it would be an honor to represent the entire city on the City Council.

“Cranston is in a good spot, and I want to continue the momentum; keep it headed in the direction it’s going in,” Buonanno said.