Ward 2 City Councilwoman Rita Williams will seek a fifth term on the Providence City Council this fall, but first she will have to fight off a challenge for her party's nomination from Cliff Wood - the former director of the city's Department of Art, Culture and Tourism.
Wood announced May 16 that he will take on Williams in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary.
"Every job I've had in Providence, every volunteer effort I've engaged in, has allowed me to focus on making Providence a better place and that's why I'm running for City Council," Wood said in a press release.
In the 10 years he has lived in Providence, Wood told The Herald, he has been "very close to City Hall, and I've seen that the City Council has a great deal of impact on the city and how the city runs and functions."
But the council does not get much attention from the public, Wood said, allowing it "to fly under the radar."
"People have to see what the Council does and hold them accountable for the positions that they take," he said.
In taking on Williams, Wood is challenging a council heavyweight. She has represented Ward 2 - which includes much of College Hill and Brown's campus north of Waterman Street - for 16 years, serving as deputy majority leader and chair of the Ordinance Committee.
Williams said she was not surprised by Wood's announcement, which was widely rumored. She said she is "not concerned" with Wood's challenge.
"I am just going to do what I usually do and continue to do the work that I do," she said. "He has the right to do this, and there's nothing to say but 'Good luck.'"
Williams said she hopes the campaign will be "a cordial race where we each just do our own thing. I'll run on my record."
Wood was the first director of the city's Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, a position he resigned from in early March. He said he told Mayor David Cicilline '83 at the time that he was planning to run for City Council, and Cicilline "wished me luck."
Wood said if elected, he will fight to pass an ethics ordinance and expand the council to include at-large seats.
"You need someone in that office now who has the energy and is willing to move that body forward," he said.
Wood - whose two daughters attend the public Vartan Gregorian Elementary School in Fox Point - said education will be a major campaign issue, noting that the East Side pays a heavy tax burden to the city but does not always enjoy the services provided by the city.
"You pay the taxes, but people are not comfortable with using the school system," he said, and as a result parents move away or send their children to private schools.
"I don't know that there's a silver bullet," Wood said. But, he added, "I think a big, important part of it, and a thing that has been lacking at the City Council, is having a consistent dialogue about how to improve the school system."
Williams, a former teacher and school social worker, is chair of the Council's Commission on Education, which has not met since last year.
She is also a member of a team recently assembled by Superintendent Donnie Evans to examine the "appropriate use" of Nathan Bishop Middle School, the East Side's only public middle school, which the city decided to close in April. The decision to close Nathan Bishop was met with an outcry from parents and neighbors.
Williams said the team will meet over the summer and make recommendations in the fall.
"I hope that we will be able to come up with a good plan that will attract some of the families on the East Side who want to send their kids to public schools," she said.
Wood said the closing of Nathan Bishop was a "lightning rod" that helped the community focus on the issue of having "good public education on the East Side."
Williams has not faced a primary or general election opponent since 1998, when she defeated Republican Howard Scott Shore with 66 percent of the vote. But with just under four months until the primary, Wood is confident.
"I have tons of support and I'm looking forward to the race," he said.
