Mayoral candidate Fenton-Fung opposes Hopkins order criminalizing homelessness
"We should not be criminalizing and fining people who are homeless - people who can barely afford food - you should not be fining them."
State Representative Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung is challenging Cranston Mayor Kenneth Hopkins in the upcoming Republican Primary. At a press conference on Thursday, Representative Fenton-Fung spoke about a Hopkins mailer she said contained false attacks against her. This allowed me to ask the Representative about the executive order Mayor Hopkins issued that effectively criminalized Homelessness. [See: Cranston Mayor Hopkins issues executive order allowing police to crack down on encampments]
Full video of the press conference here:
Below are her opening remarks, followed by the questions I was able to ask. The transcription has been edited for clarity:
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung: Knowing that he's losing badly in this mayoral campaign, Kenneth Hopkin's team released a desperate mailer this week, falsely claiming that I voted for free tuition for illegal immigrants. This piece of trash mailer is so bad they've already started to try to distance themselves from it. Yesterday morning, it was reported on Latino Public Radio that his campaign told their reporter that they didn't send this mailer despite it saying “Paid for by Friends of Ken Hopkins” in the disclosure at the bottom of the piece and the mail permit number being the same as every single one of his other mailers. For the record, it's number 345 from Fall River.
Then the Hopkins campaign claimed that my campaign was responsible for releasing a hit piece on itself. That's something we would never do. That claim was insane. Later in the day, they had to flip-flop and admit that they were the authors of this mailer. It's like a four-ring circus over there in Hopkinsland. What is very clear is that the Hopkins campaign is the poster child of a desperate campaign in a complete and utter death spiral.
Ken Hopkins faked a citation. He included a fake citation to his claim - just pulled out of thin air -saying I voted for his wild claims on a day that the General Assembly was not in session. I also have never voted to give those here illegally free college tuition. One would think that a former teacher would be ashamed of being caught spreading false information and using fake citations. If he were a student at one of our high schools, he'd probably get suspended for turning in a fake piece of work like this. But getting caught in major lies has been a pattern for Ken Hopkins over the past few months after he polled and found out that he was losing badly.
He has gone full negative, stopping at nothing, including this latest mailer's outright malicious lying, to cling to power. Ken was caught lying in another mailer just a few weeks ago claiming he inherited a $7.6 million deficit[ from his predecessor Mayor Allan Fung] despite an outside independent auditor and Ken himself admitting in the press that he inherited a $3 million surplus for Cranston.
Then, in our debate just two weeks ago, [Hopkins] admitted that he inherited a $14 million rainy day fund from my husband, [Mayor Allan Fung.]. Ken was lying, red-handed, again during that debate, boasting emphatically that he had performed 200 ribbon cuttings for new businesses in Cranston. After scouring his official calendars and his social media accounts, we were only able to find evidence for 29, including one that he blew off. That's 179 or 85% off of his claim.
Cranston deserves more from their mayor than one who will repeatedly lie to their faces and think they are stupid enough to believe it. He's honestly insulting all of our residents. Late last night, my lawyer Ken Barrett sent a cease and desist letter to the mayor and his campaign manager, Bob Murray. Additionally, today I am demanding a formal apology in the press, on his social media accounts, and via a letter to all the recipients of this mailer, admitting to its maliciously false information and also apologizing for faking a citation.
For his entire mayoralty and certainly, the past few months we have all learned that Hopkins is quite simply not a name that you can trust after this stunt, no one can trust a word that he says ever again. If you get a mailer from him in the next few days, rip it up.
Steve Ahlquist: After you brought up these mailers, [Mayor Hopkins] released an executive order overriding a city council decision to not pass an ordinance that would essentially criminalize homelessness. Do you think that's related to your complaint in any way? Is trying to grab headlines there?
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung: I don't know why Ken does what he does when he does it. I think you're referring to the fact that there are multiple homeless encampments here in Cranston. This is Cranston under Ken Hopkins. There was the homeless encampment in Arlington that was filled with needles. Then we had one over by Knightsville just yesterday. [It was] noticed that there is one over by Stonehill Elementary. A principal released an email to the school community saying that she was informed by the City of Cranston that there was a homeless encampment near the school, but then Ken Hopkins gets on TV... and says, that the first he ever heard about it was from that email.
If the principal is saying that the City of Cranston is letting them know, how come Ken Hopkins seems to be the last one to figure this out? Is it just because he doesn't show up to work? We saw the calendars. He has nothing on the schedule 40% of the time. I don't think that Ken Hopkins is very clued into what's going on in the city. If he doesn't seem to know which way's going,
Steve Ahlquist: Would you be in support of his executive...
[Boston Globe reporter Ed Fitzpatrick: … order to remove the encampments and do you support the ordinance that would allow that?
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung: I certainly don't support the ordinance. We should not be criminalizing and fining people who are homeless - people who can barely afford food - you should not be fining them. That is what his ordinance did. In the House of Representatives, we've been very aggressive about housing in general and trying to get more options for those who are unhoused. I think our State House has done a wonderful job at making housing a priority, but we have to be much more aggressive. Just think, all these encampments, especially the ones in Arlington, the ones near Knightsville, they've been around for a very long time. Ken hadn't been doing anything about them. He's a day late, a dollar short, and two steps behind on issues like this, where we've been aggressive out front. These are issues that you're not going to solve overnight, but you have to bring a full-court press and it's inhumane to try, as Ken Hopkins did, to find the homeless.
Steve Ahlquist: The executive orderly leaves out the fine.
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung: It is an improvement, but what I would've done is be much more aggressive months ago in trying to help these people find permanent housing. It is not humane. It is not a life filled with dignity if you're defecating outside.
Steve Ahlquist: Would you be supportive of supplying services then so that [unhoused people] would have an outhouse, trash pickup, and sharps containers?
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung: I think what we have to do is take a bigger picture - get them into permanent housing, having a place where they can shower, having a place where they can not just have a permanent home, but also a place to then start looking for employment and hooking them up with the services they need.
Steve Ahlquist: But we are aware there's none of that in Cranston right now.
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung: Let's take a look at Harrington Hall [a shelter on state land in Cranston near the prison]. When I took over as state representative there, [there were] over 50 sex offenders permanently registered there. That number is way down now. Crossroads has done a wonderful job working to find them permanent housing outside [Harrington Hall] and closer to where their services are. That's a full state effort and that's something that we have to look at. We did a good job with that area, and as mayor, we'll take a bigger look. It's not just one thing. You can't just put out one little fire because another one's going to get lit. Here. We have to take a much more comprehensive approach.
Nothing new. My recycle bin is getting full. It's full of lies, half-truths, and 'asks' for money. Any Cranston resident who believes half of the stuff that Hopkins says needs to pay attention and look around. Do some research - it's pretty easy. You will find plenty of half-truths. Rolfe Sq. - trees planted. Pawtuxet -same thing. Total - $750K. Itri Sq. - Not only a new gazebo but an entire park, in a busy intersection where one can sit, watch the cars go by and inhale exhaust fumes - $$$$millions and counting. Community pool - there is one but is no longer viable since it hasn't been maintained under Hopkins' watch. His excuse - it's old. Well, so is he. Meet with the people - once in the 3 yrs. since this was brought to his attention. $350K to some architects who see $$$ but don't examine the pool in its entirety. Nothing brought to the people but Hopkins decides on his own, what will be there. There's no input allowed. There's more but everything on the flyer referenced by Ms. Fung is a falsehood. It's recycle worthy - that's it.
Shocked that I agree with BFF on the headline, but I see from the article that she is still 🚮