Mayor Hopkins Appoints Committee To Review Tax Exemptions

CRANSTON – Mayor Kenneth J. Hopkins stated that recent public attention on the property at 1890 Broad Street in Cranston has failed to focus on the fact that the City of Cranston had already issued violation notices to the property owner, Spring Street Realty, LLC.

“Recent articles have described the condition of the multi-family apartments as relayed by tenants who are in legal contests with their landlord,” said Hopkins. “The City has no role in those issues and the courts will sort out the rights and responsibilities of the parties.”

“The fact is that prior to any of the recent publicity the Minimum Housing Department had been inspecting several apartments and issued violation notices against the landlord,” he said.

The Mayor said that on March 27, 2024 an inspection was conducted by our minimum housing personnel. As a result of that visit, the owner was cited with two (2) notices of violation of the State of Rhode Island Property Maintenance Code, the mayor said.

The notices were sent on April 1, 2024 demanding remediation of the various code issues.

“In one notice, attention was drawn to a particular apartment as well as other aspects of the complex,” Hopkins said.

The other violation notice spoke to the overall condition of the property, and both demanded action within ten (10) days. The owner was advised that a reinspection would occur on April 22, 2024.

Mayor Hopkins emphasized that the city personnel had undertaken action against the property owner before articles had appeared in the news media.

“One of my opponents had attempted to inject political grandstanding into this serious matter of living conditions, public safety and health and sanitary matters,” Mayor Hopkins stated. “The difference between me and her is that I am doing the job of mayor effectively without clamoring for public attention and all she can do is engage in political mudslinging.”

“As evident by the timetable of action by the City inspectors, political donations have no influence on me,” the mayor said. “My administration will continue to do its job enforcing building code issues regardless of who owns properties that may require attention.”

“My understanding is that the owner has already addressed some of the violations,” Hopkins concluded. “We will insist that he continue to make progress on all identified areas of concern,” said Hopkins.