When the rubber meets the road (continued)

ON THE SURFACE, Segal and Luna might not seem to have much in common. Segal, 24, is a Colombia University-educated native of the Washington, DC, suburbs who speaks haltingly and gravitated to the Green Party after supporting John McCain’s Republican challenge to George W. Bush in 2000. Luna, 46, whose speech retains a healthy trace of his native Dominican Republic, embraced activism after encountering discrimination in Providence, and he’s a dedicated Democrat. Both men stand about 6’1", but Segal is thin, while Luna is built like a bear. Yet despite their superficial differences, the two men make for ideological twins on the Providence City Council, because of their shared left-leaning beliefs.

Segal, who says he absorbed an interest in politics while growing up outside of the capital, moved to Providence after graduating from Colombia because he had a number of friends at Brown University. He faced some criticism after winning the four-way race for the open Ward One council seat in 2002, particularly from supporters of independent Harry Bilodeau, because they felt Segal lacked the local experience to adequately represent the ward. The freshman councilor, however, has generally impressed observers with his diligence and thoughtfulness. After previously working as a teacher, Segal decided not to hold another job during his first year in office, sustaining himself on the low five-figure salary he’s supposed to receive as the council’s minority leader.

Luna’s introduction to politics was more dramatic. As a child, his father forbade him from getting involved in such things, in part because a relative had been slain while fighting the Trujillo dictatorship. The attraction persisted, though, even after Luna received a belt whipping for violating his father’s prohibition by handing out political flyers and putting up posters. Coming to Providence to join relatives in the early ’80s, Luna says he was drawn into community politics after learning that utility companies were asking residents with accents to supply a deposit, unlike those without one. In contrast to idealized images of America, he says, "I began to realize the milk was spoiled and the honey was not so sweet." Luna went on to work with groups like Direct Action for Rights & Equality and the Center for Third World Organizing. He won the Ward Nine seat on his second try, in 2002, ousting incumbent Democrat Patricia Nolan.

The two freshman councilors win plaudits from progressive activists. "They’re always available and willing to introduce new policies," says Aimee Olin, head organizer for ACORN. "It’s like having two outlets on the city council. We can approach them at any time, and talk to them about our agenda, and they’re responsive and willing to sit down with us and work together to move forward."

Sara Mersha, DARE’s executive director, who stressed that she was expressing her personal opinion, says, "We’ve seen definitely seen that they’ve been very connected to the community and the issues that they spoke about when they got elected. Miguel has a committee of his residents that are very active in thinking about what issues are important to them, and what they need out of him as a representative. Similarly, David Segal has been very active working with grassroots community groups, such as trying to make sure the city hires local folks for city jobs," as with pushing for implementation of the first source ordinance. "They’ve done a lot," Mersha says, "I think, to stay true to the issues that are important to community members."

Besides crediting Segal and Luna with being strong community advocates on economic development, Matthew Jerzyk, the former director of Rhode Island Jobs With Justice, who managed Luna’s campaign, says, "I think they’ve also been a leading voice on calling the city council’s attention to progressive issues — the anti-war resolution, the anti-Patriot Act public hearing," and resolutions in support of workers at the Providence Biltmore and the Providence Journal. Segal, Luna, and Aponte also helped to bring greater diversity to the School Board and other appointed posts, Jerzyk says, by forwarding suggestions to Cicilline.

Jerzyk credits the mayor with doing a strong job in transitioning to a new vision for city government, placing untraditional choices – like police chief Dean Esserman — in positions of influence. Olin, though, feels Cicilline has fallen short in his pledge to revitalize Providence’s poor neighborhoods and to equip residents with rat-proof garbage containers (the mayor says the city is pursuing a new policy to eradicate rats on a geographic, rather than house-by-house basis). Mersha offers a mixed review, praising Cicilline for his accessibility, while citing concern about the impact that budget moves will have on health-care benefits for lower paid city employees.

Although the two freshman councilors have backed some pet causes — hybrid cars in the case of Segal — one of their most important contributions may be as voices for taking a broader perspective in looking at issues in Providence. At the same time, it seems open to question how much of an impact councilors can make on the city’s overarching issues. Luna, for example, condemns the rising cost of housing in Providence, describing gentrification as "neocolonialism." "We should be thinking on a more broader basis of economic development," he says. "My disappointment is that I see how people get displaced from neighborhoods. It happens before, [and] it continues," even if the development of upscale housing gets admiring attention in some parts of the city.

"We’ve done a very good job on that — on bringing a different perspective to the city council," Luna says. [But] we need more than two or three people to really move an agenda that could be more beneficial for the City of Providence."

THE PROVIDENCE CITY Council is many things to many people.

To critics, the council’s greatest fault is the provinciality that traditionally confined the concerns of 15 councilors to their respective wards. Aponte struck a blow against this practice several years ago, angering DiRuzzo in the process, when he criticized Feldco Development’s initial plan to demolish a collection of 19th-century mill buildings in Eagle Square to make way for a shopping development. After a widespread community protest, a revised proposal preserved some of the mill buildings.

To some observers, the council is a mix of progressive and politically retrograde members.

Paolino says he thinks the council plays a very important role. "A council person is one of the toughest jobs in government, getting calls constantly from neighbors and constituents," he says. "They’re there to take care of the neighborhood problems . . . They need to be there, fighting for the people they represent."

Similarly, Aponte calls the council "the collective political and electoral voice of the general public," filled by part-time legislators with more than full-time responsibility.

Paolino, who won election to the council at age 23, says he had smooth relations with the chamber during his tenure as mayor. "Buddy was somewhat different. He was divide and conquer," Paolino says. "He would get his eight votes however he could." When it comes to Cicilline, "I think the ball is in his court to reach out to them as much as he can to get them involved in the process."

Some councilors, particularly council president John J. Lombardi, are troubled by what he calls a lack of communication with the mayor. "We are a co-equal branch of government, whether the executive branch of government wants to acknowledge that [or not]," says Lombardi, who briefly served as acting mayor during the transition period from Cianci to Cicilline. "If you truly want to avoid stepping on some of the mines of the past, we truly need to make this a co-equal branch of government."

The conflict over the police chief’s contract notwithstanding, Cicilline says, "I’d say I’ve enjoyed a really strong relationship with most members of the council . . . There are certainly some members of the council who have been resistant to the kind of change we’re trying to bring to the city, the kind of change I was elected to bring to the city."

Still, based on the track record at least, it seems unlikely that an administration intent on making progress on some difficult issues is about to cozy up to the council. The static might lend more unity to the council, which voted unanimously when it hired a lawyer to challenge Cicilline over the Esserman contract.

Luna and Segal, meanwhile, can be expected to carry the progressive flag in the city, targeting such things, as Segal puts it, "Improving quality of life for people in Providence, not just making it attractive to a mobile professional class that would be as happy anywhere else as they are here."

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.