We have a lot in common. I moved to the northwestern part of Rhode Island in 1983. I grew up in Providence - in the Branch Avenue/Charles Street area - in what is now known as the North End of Providence. In the 1950s and 60’s political upheaval and war was juxtaposed with a proud sense of place and desire for community. I grew up in an extended family with my grandfather and uncle, three siblings and two parents sharing a house built in 1874 that stands today.

My mother Silvia worked at Lying Inn Hospital as a nurse taking care of the premature babies. She loved her work.

I learned how to cook at age seven cooking breakfast for my mother who worked the “graveyard” shift from 11pm to 7am. I made breakfast before I went to school each morning she returned from work.

My father, Guido, worked as an automobile mechanic. I learned how to fish from my father. On early weekend mornings, I saw the beauty of the sunrise next to our oceans and bays as he and I fished together.

I discovered early on the fragility of our sense of place, our environment and how our environment impacts health, education, community and the lives of those we love. My mother contracted ALS - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - or Lou Gehrig’s Disease - in her early 60s. While many think this is a genetic disease, having seen it first hand, I believe it was our environment that helped trigger this disease in my mother.

Since that time, I have devoted my adult life to working on environmental issues with passion and energy. Issues that can change people’s lives. Issues that, I know, you share as well. A list of that work is given below. I hope you have a chance to read it.

Today, this campaign is about having a voice in our government where there is none. This pandemic has shifted our focus away from our business as usual model and magnified the inequalities in systems that we thought protected everyone. The recent US Supreme Court rulings demonstate the tenuous nature of our rights to clean air, independent choice and freedom without fear. How do we move away from the past, strengthen each and everyone of us while at the same time fostering a systemic change in health care, appreciation and care for our natural world, the end to racism, education and training for the future and more. We need somone at the state house who wants to make those changes happen We need some who doesn't yell or insult people. We don't have that now. Our current Representative wants us to stagnate, stay put, and in many casses go backwards. That is why I am running. How can we achieve a new wave of optimism in an era of divisiveness and separation during this upheavel? First, we don't yell. No name calling. No slamming of anythig on desks or tables.I believe that if we work together to solve issues, recognize disparities and then do something about it, we can make government work for us instead of against us. I have always reached out to our representatives for advice, support and help. But help and even a kind response was in short supply.

I got into this race because I had too much I wanted to do to just sit idly by on the sidelines. I have learned in these years, that I am not alone. That is what we have in common. There are many of us that share this feeling also. We together have too much to do, to sit idly by on the sidelines to let others decide our fate. I need you now to step out of the shadows, out from behind those walls and join me for that next chapter in Rhode Island. A new day in Rhode Island. For here, in this place, with you and me side by side, we can make a difference in our town, and in our state.