Cranston mayoral candidates both claim to love July 4th in fireworks-filled debate

Robert Ferri (center left) and incumbent Mayor Ken Hopkins (center right) exchanged sometimes biting words with one another in a debate just a few weeks ahead of the mayoral election. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)

There were dozens of empty, burgundy seats in the auditorium of Cranston High School West for a debate between the city’s two candidates for mayor. But even without a full house, the incumbent Republican mayor and his Democratic rival treated the audience to a show. 

After a particularly vicious Republican primary between Mayor Ken Hopkins and his state rep opponent, Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, one might think the rancor had been exhausted, but that proved untrue Monday night. With less than a month to the Nov. 5 general election, Hopkins — having beaten Fenton-Fung in the September primary — had no shortage of barbs for Democratic challenger, City Councilor Robert Ferri.

At various times during the hour-long debate co-hosted by The Public’s Radio, Rhode Island PBS and Cranston Herald, Hopkins assessed that his opponent — a city-wide member of the Cranston City Council — understood little about government or how it works.

“My counterpart Mr. Ferri needs a lesson in civics,” Hopkins said when challenged on his plans for affordable housing. A silent Ferri sighed and shook his head from side to side as Hopkins launched into a defense of the apartments being developed at Knights Corner — a development, Ferri contended, that “does not have one single unit of affordable housing.” 

 Ferri’s offensive stance, even with his occasional foot tapping visible downstage, was firm: the city’s “wasteful spending” has worsened under Hopkins.

“We need to eliminate wasteful spending until we get our budget in order,” Ferri said. “We cut 24 positions two years ago, and he seems to think that our services have not suffered…When I moved to Cranston, they used to sweep my street once a month. Now, if I’m lucky, I get it once a year.”

For Ferri, Fenton-Fung’s failed-but-spirited challenge to the incumbent mayor signaled an erosion of trust. “I look at it this way: 2,600 people in this city walked into the voting booth on Primary Day and voted in the Republican primary and said, ‘I do not want Ken Hopkins to be the next mayor of the city,’” Ferri said.  

Hopkins, who beat Fenton-Fung by 17 percentage points, didn’t see it that way. “I don’t think people are disenchanted with the city of Cranston,” he said. “And that’s not reflected in that vote. I think people, for the most part, like the direction…they very much like the direction that the city is going in.”

The panel of journalists who asked questions of the two candidates were a returning cast from the Aug. 26 debate between Hopkins and Fenton-Fung: Cranston Herald Editor Rory Schuler, Rhode Island PBS Weekly Producer Isabella Jibilian, and The Public’s Radio Political Reporter Ian Donnis.

Where did they agree?

The candidates aligned very few times. Both said they would vote to support a constitutional convention, one of five ballot questions in this year’s general election. In a rapid fire round of softball questions, both said their favorite holiday was Independence Day. 

And yes, both men agreed: There are a lot of rats in Cranston.

Or, as Ferri put it, “in every ward now,” with the city’s only pest control official unable to control the situation. Ferri thought more could be done to oust the critters, but Hopkins noted not inaccurately that urban rat populations have boomed since the pandemic, as more people eat at home, helping trash to accumulate in new ways. 

Besides, Hopkins said, his administration is in the process of exploring “two out-of-the-box types of possibilities” for rat control: Using birth control for rat bait, or bringing in opossums to control the rat population.

“Don’t bring in the Burmese pythons,” panelist Donnis cautioned. “They took over Florida.” 

Seemingly in all matters of taste, Hopkins and Ferri were at odds, even regarding restaurants. Ferri said he liked Twin Oaks, the popular spot that overlooks Spectacle Pond. Hopkins dodged the question at first, and said everything in Knightsville — a major chess piece in Hopkins’ revitalization efforts of the city, and one the mayor has referenced numerous times this campaign season.  

But Donnis told the mayor he had to choose just one restaurant. Amedeo was Hopkins’ choice — a restaurant in Knightsville just footsteps away from Itri Park, another Hopkins-led initiative. When Itri Park opened in 2023, Hopkins called it “a continuous and positive reminder of everything that is good in our city.”

But for Ferri, Knightsville is indicative of everything wrong with the Hopkins administration. “We ripped up millions of dollars worth of sidewalks in Knightsville to put stamped concrete in, when those sidewalks could have been repaired and saved,” Ferri argued. “The Knightsville rehabilitation is costing the taxpayer $10 million. I think a lot of that was wasteful spending.”

Hopkins’ reply: “Well, the proof is in the pudding. In the last two years, we have cut the budget by $7 million in spending. I haven’t seen that in the last 30 years of any administration in any municipality throughout the state of Rhode Island.”