An interview with Warwick City Council candidate Jackie Anderson

“I'm a nurse, I'm a working mom. I live in your neighborhood. I care about your neighborhood because I live here. My kids are growing up here."

Jackie Anderson is a nursing supervisor and Warwick resident who recently announced her candidacy for the open Ward 7 seat on the Warwick City Council. She first ran for office in 2022 against the powerful Speaker of the House, Joseph Shekarchi. At that time her primary focus was the passage of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (EACA), which the Speaker shepherded through the House in 2022. You can read her campaign announcement here.

This interview was conducted by phone on Wednesday and edited for clarity.

Steve Ahlquist: So you're announcing a run for the Warwick City Council and you're running against Council President Steve McCallister?

Jackie Anderson: No, no, he's resigning, so it's an open seat.

Steve Ahlquist: Okay...

Jackie Anderson: It makes this a little easier. I like to take on the big guns, but an easier run would be nice.

Steve Ahlquist: What is going on in Warwick that you want to make a dent in?

Jackie Anderson: We've got a lot of issues with our schools, particularly our high schools. We do have a good chunk of money, but we have to stay on top of our developers and contractors to ensure that the upgrades are done the way they should be because our kids deserve it. Warwick is huge. It's the second-largest city in the state, and I'm invested. I've got kids in the district.

I know housing is close to your heart. It's close to mine too. We need affordable and accessible housing. We need more than throwing houses up wherever we can fit them. We need accessible and affordable housing. What we're doing is not enough. We need to do more. I know Speaker Shekarchi has been hard at work passing housing bills, which is excellent and super helpful, but we need to take a step further and make sure that we have housing that is equitable for our lower-income and disabled families. We have an aging population in some portions of Warwick, and they need to have the opportunity to find housing that best suits their needs.

Steve Ahlquist: Is there a lot you think that a city council person can do to affect that kind of change?

Jackie Anderson: I'm hoping that we can sway that for sure. In my ward, we have a lot of houses being built right now, which is great. I love to see that. I live in a neighborhood where they tore down an old school - they redistricted the kids and put them in different schools and that's excellent. They're putting all of this housing in, but what percentage of that is accessible? As a city councilperson, I can bring attention to it and put pressure on the General Assembly to make sure that they're cognizant of that. I'm hoping I can make a positive impact in that regard.

Steve Ahlquist: I grew up in Warwick. I went to Vets like you did and I graduated in 1981.

Jackie Anderson: A little before my time.

Steve Ahlquist: I know a little bit about Warwick, having grown up there, and it's always been, in my opinion, a little conservative and probably more conservative now. Does this jibe with your experience?

Jackie Anderson: We have a fairly good mix of political views. I do think that the city council is becoming a bit more conservative, though. That said, the city council doesn't take on the social issues that the General Assembly does, so I'm hoping that we can disagree socially.

I wouldn't say that I'm conservative, but I think that my ideology aligns very closely with Steve McCallister's. He's been my city councilman for years, and I've never disagreed with any of the decisions that he's made. I'm hoping to pick up the baton and continue the work. We've got a lot of expansion and growth going on in Appanaug, which is part of my ward. I would love to see that through. I would love to support those small businesses and give them a boost, and we've got tourism coming with the new Apponaug Recreation Complex. It's going to be huge.

Steve Ahlquist: That's cool. I played Little League near there as a kid.

Jackie Anderson: I played Apponaug girl's softball right off Maine Avenue. Those are some of my best memories growing up. It's funny because when I was little, there was one little house right in the middle of Winslow Field, and I remember thinking, “When I grow up, I want to live in this neighborhood” and now I do.

Steve Ahlquist: That's so cool. What other issues are going on in Warwick? I grew up near the airport, and there was always expansion. We were constantly losing housing to the airport as the airport was expanded.

Jackie Anderson: I'm sitting, right now, where houses used to be. It's still a concern. I read today that Mayor Picozzi is bringing some legislation to the state legislators about being on the Airport Board. Which I think makes absolute sense. Kudos to Representative Joseph McNamara (Democrat, District 19, Warwick) and Senator Mark McKenney (Democrat, District 30, Warwick) for sponsoring that legislation because it's not fair to the residents if they don't have a voice.

Steve Ahlquist: That's interesting. I've been thinking recently that Providence should have a seat on the RIPTA [Rhode Island Public Transit Authority] board...

Jackie Anderson: There should always be representation from the community that you are building in. The community should always have a voice. You may work at the airport or make money from the airport, that's all well and good and we love that, but this is where we live. We have to make sure that we're looking out for our citizens too. And if they don't have a voice, then we're not.

Steve Ahlquist: I think a lot about homelessness, and Warwick isn't immune. How do we do better by people who have the least?

Jackie Anderson: You know how I feel about this because we've been at rallies together. It's heartbreaking. I believe that all of us are three steps away from being homeless, especially in the economy we're in right now. I have a very well-paying job, but my father lives with us. He's an older gentleman. I have kids who can't afford to move out and be on their own, so they live with us. It's backbreaking for just a regular working-class person to stay afloat. We're all three steps away from losing everything. I wish I had a solution. We need more shelters. These people have a right to occupy some space. And if we're not giving it to them, where are they supposed to go?

I don't understand what's happening with the Pallet houses. Why is that effort falling short?

We had Tina Guenette from RAMP [Real Access Motivates Progress] come and talk to the Democratic Women's Caucus, and man, was that eye-opening. Since that talk, when I walk into a restroom, I notice -Do the doors open out, or do the doors to the stall open in?

In my brain, because I'm a nurse, I'm always assessing everything. I assess every bathroom that I go in and I go, “Damn, this one's not accessible either.” So yeah, we need real solutions. I don't know if I am the person to do it, but I would love to focus on the unhoused population. In Warwick, it's maybe not as big an issue as in Providence, but for certain you can drive down Main Ave and see at least two or three panhandlers on your way towards Route 2, which is one of the busiest shopping areas in Warwick. It's a statewide issue. We need to come up with solutions that put people in housing. Motel vouchers are great. The NYLO hotel rooms were great. I understand that that caused some disruption to the neighborhoods, though, so there's got to be better long-term solutions.

Steve Ahlquist: Any other issues you can think of that you want to get at? I know taxes will be an issue.

Jackie Anderson: The budget is always an issue. Protecting our parks and natural resources - we have a beautiful oceanfront in Warwick, right on the bay. I want to make sure that's accessible to all of our neighbors and not just the ones that live there. We have a constitutional right to that. I want to make sure that we're a little bit more environmentally friendly and make sure we're protecting our natural resources. We have beautiful parks in Warwick. I spent my summers and springs at Winslow Park, and we need that for future generations. I wouldn't want my kids or grandkids to miss out on something because we used up all of our resources.

Steve Ahlquist: When you're out there on the street and you're going door to door, what's your pitch? You've got two minutes. What do you say?

Jackie Anderson: Oh, wow. “You might remember me from two years ago...”

Steve Ahlquist: It's a smaller district now, fewer people to convince...

Jackie Anderson: It'll be a little bit easier to walk.

I always like to lead. Nursing is the most trusted profession over the last decades. For decades it's been the most trusted profession. That lends me a good opener. “I'm a nurse, I'm a working mom. I live in your neighborhood. I care about your neighborhood because I live here. My kids are growing up here.

“What are the things that concern you? What is something that you'd like to see changed?”

I get a large variety of answers to that.

“I'm going to work hard. I've never been accused of not having a voice. I have never been accused of shying away from confrontation. But I've also never been accused of not being able to come to the table and hear somebody else's side and reach a compromise.”

Steve Ahlquist: Everybody, I think, tends to think that their way is best.

Jackie Anderson: As somebody who's been in nursing for so long, I'm now in leadership positions. For sure, people don't always agree, but the best leaders are the ones that listen and adjust. I have the experience of that from my everyday work. I'm hoping that that will lend me a little bit of collateral with the voters.

Steve Ahlquist: I would love to see people from more diverse backgrounds in politics. It would be nice to see more people from the medical field elected to office. Fewer lawyers and people with more diverse jobs.

Jackie Anderson: We're very heavy on the lawyers, and that makes sense because they understand the law, but as a nurse, I have learned portions of the law because it also governs what I do in my job. In a different life, I would have been a lawyer. My parents told me I should have been. But having a more diverse legislature, not just in terms of gender and race, but also backgrounds, is super important in terms of what we might bring to the table.

I think I've taught nurses, not in a school, but I feel comradery with teachers because they understand a lot. Like teaching, nursing is a female-dominated profession. We don't get a fair shake in things a lot of times because it's supposed to be more of a compassionate or empathy-driven profession - but we're professionals. Our voices deserve to be heard. We deserve a seat at the table, and we know how to command a room.

Steve Ahlquist: In my work, I see what we might think of as care work, or “traditional” women's work - teaching, nursing, elder care, daycare, and more - economically devalued.

Jackie Anderson: Absolutely.

Steve Ahlquist: We tend to underpay care workers. Nurses don't make as much as doctors. Teachers don't make as much as school administrators. Yet these are people doing the work. Workers at nursing homes are undervalued. Workers who clean our hotel rooms are too often treated terribly. We need to start thinking about the importance of care work.

Jackie Anderson: Can you imagine what would happen if those people put their voices together? We would be unstoppable.

Steve Ahlquist: If tomorrow, every nurse disappeared, the medical industry would come to a screeching halt.

Jackie Anderson: It would crumble.

Steve Ahlquist: Yet if every hospital administrator disappeared...

Jackie Anderson: We would keep on going.

Steve Ahlquist: Exactly. We'd be okay.

Jackie Anderson: I worked in the hospital systems for years and I loved it. It was great work, but it's hard. We deserve to be able to feed and take care of our families without having to worry.

Steve Ahlquist: Thank you so much!