“Ghettoization” of Newport: City Councilor Uses Term in Bloomberg Article, Draws Ire of Former Mayor
GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle
“Ghettoization” of Newport: City Councilor Uses Term in Bloomberg Article, Draws Ire of Former Mayor
This week, Bloomberg’s Alex Ulam wrote “History and Gentrification Clash in a Gilded Age Resort,” in which he wrote about Newport’s North End being at the center of an “increasingly intense battle over development.”
The focus? Newport’s move last fall to block developer Carpionato from a $100 million proposal at the Newport Grand property by imposing a development moratorium.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“I just read the Bloomberg hit piece. While I take exception with its narrow focus, I take great exception with your characterization of the North End as a ghetto,” wrote Winthrop in an email to City Councilors, obtained by GoLocal.
In the article, Ulam wrote:
Like larger cities that are imposing construction and demolition bans in the face of fears about gentrification, Newport is wrestling with fundamental questions about what kind of city it wants to be, and how to encourage development that doesn’t displace residents or fundamentally change the city’s character. In a town with such a striking gap between poverty and affluence, that’s a big ask.
“It would be so significant if we could break up the ghettoization of this area of predominantly subsidized housing and reintegrate it into the fabric of the city,” says Susan Taylor, a Newport City Council member who co-sponsored the development moratorium. “The people I hear from are desperate for the city administration and the residents to take a step back and have a serious conversation.”
Taking Affront With Term
“I’ve lived in Newport for my entire 70 years and never once have I heard the North End referred to as a ghetto,” wrote Winthrop.
Taylor, according to state elections records, lives in the Point section of Newport -- one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of not just the city, but the entire state.
According to Zillow, her home value estimate is $1.2 million.
“A responsible representative of the people would have never made such a comment,” said Winthrop. “You owe the residents of the North End and more broadly all of the residents of Newport a public apology.”
Winthrop, when reached for comment Friday morning, stood by his email.
“I was shocked she said that,” said Winthrop. “I don’t understand what she was thinking.”
“For starters, there’s been tens of millions of dollars of investments in that area already,” said Winthrop. “Then Carpionato came with a plan to put $100 million of their own money in their project. They had a proposal that could have started through the regulatory process, gone to the zoning board for review.”
“And what happened? The [city council] puts the moratorium in place, and pays a consultant $345,000 to come back a plan almost the same as Carpionato’s, except with a lower height for the [proposed] hotel.”
“Frankly, I found the Bloomberg article slanted and not representative of the sentiment of the majority of people of Newport,” said Winthrop.
Taylor Responds
"Alex Ulam interviewed me in January or February – I honestly don’t remember when. At that time [consultant] NBBJ was aggressively seeking public input on the North End Urban Plan, and what was coming out from the public was exactly what I’d been hearing since before I first ran to represent the First Ward in 2016 – that people north of Admiral Kalbfus feel the traffic which is funneled onto that street effectively ghettoizes the neighborhood north of it," said Taylor.
"The term 'ghettoization' is more nuanced than the term ghetto," she added. "A ghettoizing factor serves to isolate and segregate a neighborhood or a community. That’s different from calling the neighborhood or community a ghetto. I’ve worked, and will continue to work, to reduce the ghettoizing factors impacting the North End."
Updated Friday 1:54 PM