In the wake of nationwide protests for racial justice last summer, Newport’s Planning Board decided to assess whether the city’s comprehensive plan does enough to confront racism and inequity.
According to the final report submitted to the City Council, the Planning Board’s working group did not find explicitly racist language in the plan, which was last updated in 2017. Planning Board Chair Kim Salerno wrote, however, that the plan is “deficient through its omissions.”
By not adequately confronting existing inequities, she wrote, it does not ensure marginalized members of the community do not face potential adverse impacts of policy decisions.
That’s why the Planning Board recommended updating the plan with new language and policies to address equity, diversity, and inclusion.
“Equity does not mean equality of outcomes. It means equality of opportunity. So what we’re looking for is just making sure that access and opportunity is fair,” Salerno said at the City Council meeting Wednesday night.
The proposed resolution would have implemented the Planning Board’s three main recommendations: to include the Planning Board in future diversity training opportunities, to engage the public in a workshop or forum on policy development, and to direct city staff to investigate the possible hiring of a consultant with expertise in equitable planning policy.
Opponents of the resolution expressed concern during the meeting that the resolution was not specific enough about what ‘equity’ entails.
“To me, it’s becoming very vague on what we’re talking about and where we want to go. I mean, ‘equity’ to one person is completely different to ‘equity’ for somebody else,” said Councilor Charlie Holder.
Councilor Jamie Bova, who introduced the resolution, said it deliberately left space for Newport residents to play a role in deciding what ‘equity’ would look like locally.
“It’s a word that has become a bit of a buzzword, and we have to define it for Newport specifically for it to be meaningful for our community,” she said.
Multiple councilors who voted against the resolution told The Public’s Radio that their opposition boiled down to the section calling on city staff to investigate the possibility of hiring a consultant with expertise in equitable planning. They said they support adding language around diversity and inclusion to the Comprehensive Plan, but took issue with the idea of bringing in a consultant.
Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano, who voted against the resolution, pointed to a desire for more training before making any revisions to the Comprehensive Plan. She is currently coordinating a training for the City Council and Planning Board on “efficacy and equity,” she said.
“I do think we should have an addendum to our Comprehensive Plan that includes some of that language, but it’s when we’re trained and have a better understanding of it,” Napolitano said.
Napolitano also expressed concern that the resolution could be duplicative of the city’s efforts to prioritize equity in plans for the North End, a residential and commercial area of the city where looming redevelopment has spurred worries about gentrification and displacement.
The city hired a team of consultants in 2019 to draft a vision for the future of the North End, called the North End Urban Plan. A coalition of residents has since independently hired a separate national organization to create an equitable development strategy for the North End, which has been met with confusion and resistance from some City Council members.
Those plans, however, do not examine neighborhoods outside of the North End. That’s why the Council should add equity-focused language to the citywide comprehensive plan, Bova said.
“This is something that is for all of Newport,” Bova said. “Equity is an issue that affects our entire city and all of our residents, no matter where they live.”
Antonia Ayres-Brown is the Newport Bureau Reporter for The Public’s Radio. She can be reached at antonia@thepublicsradio.org
