By Steve Klamkin WPRO News

Residents and representatives of Providence’s Washington Park and Southside neighborhoods called on Wednesday for a pause to projects that they complain, they’ve had no say in developing.

In a Wednesday morning news conference at Collier Point Park, overlooking the waterfront arrayed with scrap metal and other industrial operations, the group, led by State Senator Tiara Mack and Representative Jose Batista

“There’s too much that’s happened and Senator Mack and I have been relegated to learning about things happening in our community via Twitter. That is unacceptable,” said Rep. Batista.

He and others pointed to the planned closure of the Alan Shawn Feinstein School in Washington Park, a planned expansion of Rhode Island Recycled Metals and a rumored homeless shelter on the Southside, leaving many residents angry.

“Their voices matter, their communities matter,” Sen. Mack said.

“So, it’s just about time that we ask for the state officials to pause these plans, the closure of their school, the expansion of Rhode Island Recycling Metals, and a proposed homeless shelter right here, so they can meaningfully engage in robust conversation with communities, with neighbors and with people who call this part of Providence their home,” Mack said.

Among the speakers in the wind-swept park was Monica Huertas, Executive Director of the People’s Port Authority, who outlined how her group intervened in a renew of the city’s lease with ProvPort.

“We got together the community and went down to City Hall and we’re like, “absolutely not. You cannot continue to propose these things and think that we’re going to just roll over, sit down and take it”, Huertas said.