RI poll workers train for upcoming election
RI Board of Elections’ Robert Quinn demonstrates the working of voting machines for poll supervisors during a training session.
A few weeks ago the Newport Daily News sent out questionnaires to candidates in local elections so they could have an opportunity to communicate their views on current issues to the public ahead of election day.
The five At-Large positions on the Newport City Council are unique, not only because they represent the interests of all citizens regardless of which ward they live in, but because they are the only candidates able to be selected as the city’s mayor. The mayor is chosen by their fellow council members to serve as the chair of the council. Additionally, at-large members are also eligible to serve as vice-chair.
Of the seven At-Large candidates, four currently sit on the council: Bedjet CEO Mark Aramli, Director at PFM (Government Finance Advisors) and current Newport Mayor Xaykham “Xay” Rexford Khamsyvoravong and retired insurance saleswoman and former Newport Mayor Jeanne Marie Napolitano. Councilor Charles “Charlie” Holder Jr. is also running at-large after serving as the representative for the Second Ward for four years.
They will be running against Government Contracts Negotiator/Manager Stephanie Smyth, who ran for Newport City Council in 2022; self-employed welder John Walker and Harvest Market owner Ian Billings Martins. Martins did not respond to the questionnaire.
Here’s how the candidates responded to our questions.
This year brought record numbers of tourists to the City by the Sea, but many residents have raised concerns over whether the amount of tourism in the city has reached a tipping point, unsustainably impacting their quality of life. What is your view of the city’s current relationship with its tourism industry and how, if anything, should the city work to alleviate these concerns?
Mark Aramli
Tourism is the engine that feeds and nourishes the economy of Newport. We need to appreciate the visitors and recognize they are a vital part of our city. However, we need also recognize that Newport’s City Council has for decades prioritized growth of tourism without adequately considering quality of life issues for full time residents.
Between the traffic congestion, the street noise, and the sheer volume of bodies in the city, over-tourism is a real thing that has impacted many international destination cities. I believe a better balance between tourism growth and quality of life for our residents is needed. In my first City Council term, I championed and got passed several measures relating to curbing loud vehicle exhaust noise and enhanced enforcement of street safety laws.
Newport needs a Tourism Master Plan, such that residents can have a voice in our strategy for managing tourism moving forward. Do we need even more tourism and more hotels than we have today? Or do we already have enough, and should the city shift its focus away from growing tourism and into diversification of our economy and resident quality of life issues? In this regard, residents should be determining the destiny of our city rather than our tourism boards.
Charles “Charlie” Holder Jr.
As the only current candidate that is most directly involved in the hospitality/tourism arena, I see the effects of both sides of this discussion. I believe the city overall has a good relationship with the tourism industry. The issue I see is that for too long Newport has not allowed itself to embrace and use the tourism industry and the money it generates to its fullest. Unfortunately, a big reason is that we are beholden to the state of Rhode Island in being able to levy taxes and keep that money in our local coffers. I want to work with local hotels, The Preservation Society and larger event companies to come up with a better plan to allow Newport to receive some money through either event fees or taxes that will go towards infrastructure needs. We must remember that we live in a place that has so much natural beauty and history. This is why people love to travel here. Since the pandemic, the tourism issue from a locals’ perspective is the increase in daytime traffic. We are being flooded with day trippers which are difficult to quantify into economic growth.
Xaykham “Xay” Rexford Khamsyvoravong
The relationship between tourism and residents is upside down and doesn’t work favorably for residents: Newport’s 3.5 million visitors per year generate less than $10 million a year in tourism related taxes for our City’s $115 million annual operating budget. That means our residents are stuck footing most of the bill for running a world-class destination.
I believe we need to refocus City government on helping residents by developing solutions for middle class and workforce housing, resilient infrastructure, better transportation, a top performing education system. For an example of how I propose refocusing the Council, check out my September Op-ed, “Council Should Focus on Housing Not Hotels.”
For decades, Newport’s civic leaders made championing tourism a priority and they deserve credit for helping make Newport an international destination. But the pendulum has swung. Crumbling infrastructure, an underperforming education system, and a housing crisis are pushing out the residents who make Newport so special.
We need to be 100% focused on working urgently to help residents and leave the business of tourism to the professionals at Discover Newport.
Jeanne Marie Napolitano
Residents have seen a tremendous uptick in events and tourists this past summer. I, along with Councilor Celie, presented a resolution requesting an inquiry and study be done to ascertain “best practices” used by like communities to alleviate both parking and traffic concerns for residents.
Tourism is a tremendous draw mostly during the summer months. Newport possesses natural beauty, sweeping landscapes, and historically significant locations from revolutionary times to the current day. Mansions from the Gilded Age, once occupied by summer residents, grace Bellevue Avenue and Ocean Drive. Titans of finance & industry abounded, as did their competition for conspicuous opulence. I recognize we also have a large naval presence installation augmented by both the Coast Guard and NOAA employing residents and thousands of others in our surrounding communities.
At the city’s request, DOT has completed a parking area right off the exit area of the bridge which will provide parking for several hundred cars with a short RIPTA trolley to the Gateway Center. Events in late spring and early fall (and night events) sometimes take advantage of Easton’s Beach parking for a fee and bus services to a particular event. Increased harbor services should be more available for major events at Fort Adams. Finally, I would recommend a coordinated calendar of events limiting the number of attendees, so as not to overburden entrance & exit areas leading through residential neighborhoods. Fees charged should correlate with attendance and resources required by the city.
Stephanie Smyth
Newport has reached a tipping point where tourism is concerned, and it is negatively impacting the quality of life of the residents.
We have become a year-round tourist destination that typically peaks during the summer months, it’s important to constantly analyze the impacts that it has on our residents and infrastructure.
You constantly hear that the fall and winter months are the “locals’ season”, and it shouldn’t be that way. The locals shouldn’t have to avoid certain parts of the city during the summer because it’s too congested with tourists, impossible to get around, and you can never find adequate parking when needed.
However, tourism contributes greatly to our local economy and is valuable to our city’s small businesses. Evaluating the impacts, both positive and negative, on a regular basis will help us to find the balance that we need. It will help us to leverage our tourism industry more so that the benefits of being a tourist destination is spread out throughout the year and we can reap the financial benefits that it brings.
To do that though we need to collaborate with and have more of an equitable partnership, than we currently have, with organizations like Discover Newport.
A good starting point is if we have an active Tourism Commission that’s comprised of residents, business owners, and representative from Discover Newport. It would help us to achieve more balance, sustainability of our infrastructure, and leverage the industry to the city’s financially benefit.
John Walker
Whether or not we have reached a tipping point is more of a question to be answered by some sort of analytical study. However, I know for certain that the tolerance for the tourists by most full time residents and some part time residents has reached a boiling point. I hear this everywhere I go in our community and I myself feel the effects of it personally.
There are many reasons for this but the easiest ones to cite and perhaps the most important ones are probably, traffic and pedestrian congestion, noise and nuisance related issues, and parking/ accessibility to public spaces and businesses and the lack of access to the old school types of establishments that the locals would like to hangout at. It does sometimes seem that Newport is only for tourists and we just don’t have as much of a stake here as we used to.
The majority of Newport residents are not employed by the hospitality industry and do not benefit from it in any direct manner, rather they tend to suffer with the negative effects that the industry has on their quality of life. Many Newporters , including myself are tired of feeling like we live as characters inside a giant amusement park. And are sick of rude motorists, rude pedestrians and a general attitude that we can’t upset our tourists because we want them to have a pleasant experience here and they may not return if they don’t.
The city is currently challenged to fund a backlog of deferred infrastructure projects with a total price tag of roughly $500 million. What are some ways the city should look into paying for these projects?
Mark Aramli
We need to tax the tourists, not the locals. Newport is a city of 25,000 residents that hosts over 4 million visitors a year and 100,000 folks a day in peak season. Visitors enjoy more use of city infrastructure and public safety services than the residents. Yet direct tourism taxes pay for a paltry 6.5% of the cost to run Newport, with 80% of the money coming from local property tax. This is completely upside down and a signal that city finances have not been well managed.
We have a backlog of deferred infrastructure projects because decades of City Councils focused on tourism growth without ensuring the City actually received more direct revenue from the tourists.
During my first City Council term I proposed a doubling of the hotel tax that Newport receives from our overnight visitors, along with a ticket/admissions tax for high volume events to get more money from our day visitors. I voted to more than double of our cruise ship passenger fees. We need to continue this
strategy of harvesting more revenue from our tourist economy to right the ship. There is more than enough money out there to pay for all of Newport’s infrastructure needs via tourism revenue if we are brave enough to challenge our special interest groups and go get it. And we can get it at levels that won’t damage our tourism economy. Currently Newport is far below national averages for what other destinations cities get in direct tourism taxes.
Charles Holder
The current $500+ million-dollar price tag to cover infrastructure costs is certainly an astounding number. We must start to chip away at the projects that are taking up a large portion of the total. The first order of priority is passing the $98.5 million bond that is in front of the voters on Nov. 5th. There is a good chance the bond will not cover all the projects on the bond currently, but it will get us started on the effort to tackle some of the major issues we are facing, most notably, the Easton’s Beach nourishment project, Easton’s Pond water protection and the replacing of Perroti Park’s bulkhead and harbormaster building. We are also looking for help from state & federal agencies to help cover some of these costs. We have been able to increase the cruise ship fee which will directly help in offsetting the Perrotti Park bulkhead cost. We are receiving a matching grant to help with the cost of repairing Cliff Walk.
Xaykham “Xay” Rexford Khamsyvoravong
My twenty-year career has been focused on helping governments address big financial challenges and has included serving as Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. infrastructure strategy at a $100 billion dollar investment platform and leading over $1 billion dollars in infrastructure financings at a major bank.
The first step is quantifying the problem. We can all see decay of our infrastructure, but it’s like an iceberg where the actual scale of the problem is much larger. This Council worked
together to put the facts about our deferred infrastructure backlog on the table, which is how we reached the $500MM figure.
Second, we need a team capable of tackling the problem. In the past twenty-two months we’ve recruited top federal, state and local government professionals to senior positions in the City, and given them support – like grant writers and lobbyists – to help us aggressively pursue state and federal funding and tourism related revenues.
Third, we all work together to relentlessly compete for funding – and win. Our approach is working. In my first term the City’s secured over $40MM in state and federal grants for everything from repaving roads to Cliff Walk repairs and after school programs. Further, while the state controls our ability to raise taxes on tourists, we’ve proven we can work with the legislature, securing approval to triple cruise ship fees, and committing that money to repairing our waterfront.
We need to keep our momentum going so residents aren’t stuck footing the bill.
Jeanne Marie Napolitano
We are challenged to find ways to fund the backlog other than on the back of taxpayers. There are many residents who work full or part-time (for extra income) in the tourist industry. We should not lay all the blame on tourism. When presenting legislation upstate, which could favorably impact our governments, we should not work in SILOS. It would be easier and more beneficial if we were all pulling in the same direction. Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton, and Jamestown are all facing growing needs in education, roads, infrastructure, housing and employees. We must make our case to our representatives and legislators throughout Newport County as a body of one, not little fiefdoms, if we are to be heard and successful. We must also look to both State and Federal for resources in funding and grant opportunities to meet some of the challenges with our infrastructure needs. Sharing the cost of a full-time grant writer for the County could be discussed. We should look at the true cost of certain operations when exploring alternatives for future funding.
Stephanie SmythWe need more grant funding. Bonds are helpful and, in some cases, may be the answer but isn’t the ideal answer.
It shouldn’t solely be on the residents to supplement the money required to fix our infrastructure issues, especially when a good portion of the pressure that is put on our infrastructure is due in part to the 4 million visitors that Newport sees each year. We don’t need another water bill incident putting financial pressure on the residents.
We need ways to leverage our tourism industry. Venice, Italy leveraged theirs by charging a $5.00 day fee that each visitor coming into their city has to pay to help maintain their infrastructure.
A good portion of the money that the tourism industry brings into Newport goes to Providence and other municipalities, we need to find creative ways of keeping most of that money here. A Tourism Commission could help with that.
We also need to look at discontinuing spending on certain programs, such as the Sister Cities visits. This program would be beneficial if it was used as a research and development mission to see how other communities are addressing similar issues that Newport is facing. That isn’t happening, we aren’t debriefed on the visits, and we aren’t seeing any benefits.
We don’t need to recreate the wheel to fix and fund our infrastructure issues, we just have to be smarter and more strategic in how we handle them.
John Walker
Being the only candidate who has experience in heavy infrastructure work, I understand what these projects take to complete, and I know that they most often go over budget and over deadlines. That being said, I think that 500 million won’t be enough. Our infrastructure is old, outdated, and as we expand as a city, it is approaching its peak capacity. This issue will need to be addressed soon whether we want it or not. It’s just not avoidable and the consequences of not being proactive will soon rear its ugly head.
Unfortunately we can’t afford to pay for it all at the moment with our current budget and revenue and I believe that we need to just start working on it as a case by case, project by project basis as we continue to explore our options for bulk funding . I know that we have the borrowing power to get most of what we need, but the issue becomes, can residents afford the tax increases that would be necessary to pay for most of it. And my gut feeling is, no they can’t afford more taxes. People are struggling with the high cost of living here as it is. Granted that some of the projects may have ways to fund their debt through avenues that won’t require taxes, like our harbor infrastructure upgrades that’s are needed, which should be Abe to be funded through that enterprise fund, and maybe some of the beach project can be funded in a similar manner.
Housing accessibility and affordability is a nationwide issue felt very acutely in Newport, where it impacts our economy and school systems as less people are able to live in the city year-round. What, in your opinion, are the major factors impacting people’s abilities to find year-round accommodation in Newport and what should the city do to change them, if anything?
Mark Aramli
Our middle-class housing stock has been gutted by Airbnb’s and out-of-state vacation home buyers. Renters and first-time home buyers simply cannot compete with incredibly lucrative Airbnb’s and high-income vacation home buyers from New York and Boston. Airbnb’s and vacation home buyers are both different manifestations of tourism.
I feel Newport’s City Councils have for decades focused on growth of tourism at all costs. We now see this strategy has had a cost, which is our renting community being pushed out of the city and first-time home buyers having to look elsewhere. Newport City Council needs to make bold and brave moves on housing, or the situation will only get worse. Building more housing, and protecting what housing we have left need to be priorities.
Recent votes from some of our longest serving City Council members show that housing may not be their priority, even while they say it is. It certainly is mine. I am willing to make the bold and brave decisions needed to protect our full-time renting residents, who have been in anguish as they are slowly forced out of Newport.
Charles Holder
The housing issue we are facing in Newport surely is a difficult one. While we have taken many steps to help in making Newport affordable for some of our residents that fall in the middle-class or lower categories, we are not making up enough ground. We are in a situation where we do not have enough buildable land available to increase affordable & workforce housing. The buildings we have available to make into this type of housing are taking an incredibly long time to create. Projects like the Newport Grand property and Coggeshall School are two of the current ones where we should have the ability to push through.We are continuing to look at our zoning laws to see where we can increase housing. One idea is to increase height regulations to allow for more living spaces. We also need to continue to solidify our talks with the Navy on purchasing the Naval Hospital land.
This question also ties back to the first question regarding the tourism industry. The fact is that we lean on this industry to generate revenue for the city, yet those workers cannot afford to live in Newport is a major problem. We need to work with potential developers and make sure that any new building will allow for housing for our working-class residents.
Xaykham “Xay” Rexford Khamsyvoravong
My last job was as a Managing Director at the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm where I spent considerable time with our real estate teams while working on U.S. infrastructure strategies. When combined with my work with Rhode Island Housing and the State Treasurer’s Office through the 2008 market meltdown, these roles equipped me with invaluable perspective.
At the top of the list: elected officials must move quickly to protect residents when markets change rapidly, with good policies – starting with holding the line on property taxes for residents.
Prior to my term, investors and technology took advantage of government’s slow reaction and turned many of Newport’s neighborhoods into investment portfolios of short term and seasonal rentals. This rapidly drove up the cost of housing while turning our neighborhoods dark for most of the year.
I’ve worked with the Council to deploy all the tools in our toolbox, from zoning to taxation to enforcement, to stop this trend by cracking down on illegal short-term rentals and disincentivizing the conversion of homes into commercialized investment properties.
Key to this has been providing City government with the power and staff to turn this tide. In the past twenty-two months, we secured State support for a zoning overhaul, a planner dedicated to housing solutions (we now have 300 new units in the pipeline), and an enforcement officer dedicated to cracking down on illegal short-term rentals (115+ violations issued this season).
We need to keep this momentum to deliver residents relief.
Jeanne Marie Napolitano
Affordable housing is an issue across the United States. It has more of an impact on a city like Newport, because of a new market commonly referred to as Airbnb. It has been noted that no significant new housing has been added in a great many years, particularly in Rhode Island. Housing that was proposed in certain communities was met with stiff opposition. Affordable housing is a nebulous term. What may be affordable to one person, may present a very real hardship on another. In our current economic environment, many of the younger people, and retirees on a fixed income retirement without any type of supplemental income, cannot afford current rent rates, much less buying a home, with high interest mortgage payments. It is imperative newer efficient homes are built, whether they are single family, condos, or apartments. Newport is challenged by the lack of acreage. Ten square miles, seven miles landmass, and three underwater.
Our economy has grown, and more workers are needed. For Rhode Island to continue to compete, we must provide reasonable housing options. There will be sacrifices for some, but the benefits outweigh the alternatives. States that refuse to change and grow will become stagnant with dwindling populations. There is a possibility of losing representation in Congress. Younger people with good educations and job opportunities will leave because of the lack of housing. We are losing our middle-class.
Stephanie Smyth:
Newport being a top vacation destination has opened the door for booming vacation rental and short-term rental ownership opportunities, especially for non-Newport residents. A competitive real estate market and the inflated cost of property values have made it too expensive for the working class to be able to buy homes or rent apartments here. These are just a few of the issues contributing to this problem.
A Housing Commission can explore how our city’s housing crisis is not only impacting the residents (specifically our working class and individuals who are on a fixed income), but business owners, renters, landlords, and real estate agents, all of which the commission should be comprised of.
The commission could research how other communities found creative ways of decreasing the impact of the housing crisis on its residents. Some communities like Henderson, NV and Fayetteville, AR approached the crisis through changing policy objectives, enforcing regulations on short-term rentals, and providing opportunities for owner occupied short-term rentals and incentives for landlords to rent to working-class year-round residents. And San Diego, CA and Lake Placid, NY conducted land use studies and zoning reforms to increase housing opportunities.
Again, we don’t need to spend money on recreating the wheel.
And we need a plan moving forward on how to avoid this crisis in the future. It Isn’t enough to just be thinking in the here and now, we NEED to be forward thinking on how this crisis could impact Newport in five, ten, and fifteen years.
John Walker:
As for our housing situation, this is a really tough issue, and let me be clear, I think that any candidate who is saying that they think we can go back to the days where housing was affordable in Newport is probably just saying what we want to hear, or they intend to subsidize housing or use government power to impose unjust and unethical policies on property owners, which we as taxpayers will likely bear the cost of in the end.
The likelihood of the market for homes in Newport to decrease in value in any meaningful way seems low to me. However, there may be some ways to mitigate the lack of opportunities in our rental market.
Like I had mentioned, the possibility of creating a workforce housing fund that could potentially buy homes and rent them relatively affordably is a possibility and could be implemented as a public private fund or something along those lines. But I think that sort of thing would need to be voted on by the people. It’s not our place to just impose that sort of thing.
Also, we have a lot of seasonal workers whom work in our hospitality industry during the busy season. Perhaps we can work with the industry to try to come up with a solution that will provide the short term housing they need while not making such an impact on our rental inventory.