albuquerque

CUMBERLAND — The Democratic primary for the District 1 Town Council seat pits incumbent Antonio J. Albuquerque against two political newcomers, Robert J. Dias and Thomas P. Tougas.

There is no Republican challenger, so the winner of the Sept. 9 primary will serve on the council. District 1 covers the Valley Falls and Berkeley sections of town.

Albuquerque, of 46 Howe St., is seeking his second term in office. He ran unopposed in 2006 after Democratic candidate Keith E. Fayan was deemed ineligible to run by the state Board of Elections.

He said that if reelected, he would advocate for greater communication between the council and the School Committee, a process that he said began this year with a series of hearings on the school budget hosted by the council’s finance subcommittee as it was deliberating on the town budget.

“I think, in the end, we accomplished what we set out to do, which is that the schools and the town are closer than they have ever been,” he says. “The next step is to do whatever it takes to continue to build that bridge.”

Albuquerque said that as a member of the finance subcommittee, he was involved with arranging a special lease to finance the purchase of computers for the middle and elementary schools. That lease allows the town to pay its debt back in five years, he said.

For his district, Albuquerque said he secured about $100,000 in town funding for a new roof at B.F. Norton School, construction of which is to begin this year.

He supports the Broad Street Regeneration Initiative, a federally financed plan to revitalize the main street that runs through Pawtucket, Central Falls and the Valley Falls section of town. He hopes the plan will help bring new business to fill vacant storefronts, resulting in job opportunities and an expanded tax base.

“It’s something that needs to be done,” he said. “Valley Falls is an old district, and we need to find ways to bring businesses back in and make it better.”

Albuquerque, 55, is owner of the Third Base Bar and Sports Grill on High Street.

A 1970 graduate of Central Falls High, Albuquerque has served on three separate occasions as president of the Club Juventude Lusitana, a social club in Valley Falls. He is a former member of the town Planning Board.

He was also an organizer of the Run for Kids, a road race that benefited the Cumberland and Lincoln Boys and Girls Club, as well as the Phantom Farms Road Race, which benefited Northern Rhode Island Mental Health in Woonsocket.

He has a 35-year-old son.

Tougas, of 46 Harrison St., said he decided to run for office because he felt like his family’s efforts to contact Albuquerque were ignored these past two years.

“As an elected representative, you got to make an initiative to call people back,” Tougas said. “Everyone’s phone call is important.”

Albuquerque said he spoke with Tougas last year about a block party Tougas’ wife was organizing on Harrison Street and brought the request to the full council. The block party was approved by the council and police barricades were provided, he added.

Tougas’ wife has helped organize fundraisers for two neighborhood residents, Matthew Setera and Brittany Rosa. Setera’s Cumberland Street house was damaged in an electrical fire in 2006; neighbors pitched in to make the house, which had been condemned by the town, livable again.

Rosa is an 18-year-old, also from Cumberland Street, who is partially paralyzed after suffering a severe allergic reaction to chemotherapy treatments for a rare form of brain cancer. Residents are raising money to renovate and make her family’s home handicap accessible.

Albuquerque said he was not contacted by either of the Tougases about fundraising events for the Rosas or Setera. “We have so many big issues in town, we should be talking about those issues, not outside fundraising,” said Albuquerque.

Tougas said he is interested in seeing residential streetscape improvements, including long-neglected curb and sidewalk repairs, done in Valley Falls. He supports the Broad Street Regeneration Initiative. “These streets are not showing a good impression of Cumberland,” he said.

Tougas is also concerned about what he sees as inequalities in public education in the town. He said students at B.F. Norton have fewer resources than the district’s other elementary schools. He said that, if elected, he would push for more after-school programs for children.

“I’m not an expert on this sort of thing, but I’m hard-working, which is why I think I’d be good for the job,” he said of a council member’s duties.

Tougas, 40, is a warehouse manager for Central Paper in Pawtucket. This is his first run for public office.

A 1985 graduate of the William M. Davies Career and Technical School in Lincoln, he is a member of the Knights of Columbus, St. Thomas Council, in Cumberland, and the Elks Lodge in Warwick.

He and his wife, Rhonda, have three young sons.

Robert J. Dias, 41, of 23 Abbott St., is running for his first public office. He did not respond to repeated calls and a visit to his home this month.

pmarcelo@projo.com