Committee approves resolution to honor Donald J. 'Danny' Lopes with Camp Street renaming

The Providence City Council Committee on Urban Development and Renewal Planning on Monday voted to send to the full council a resolution establishing an honorary designation of Camp Street (from Cypress Street to Rochambeau Avenue) as Donald Danny Lopes Way in memory of Donald J. "Danny" Lopes Sr.

The resolution, read into the record by staff, recounts Lopes’s public service: he served as a Providence city councilman for Ward 3, was a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention, served on the Providence Civic Center board, led the organization SWAP (Stop Wasting Abandoned Property), and held leadership roles with labor and senior organizations.

Family members and community supporters addressed the committee in favor of the change. Misty Delgado, who identified herself as Lopes’s great‑niece, said, “It is with immense gratitude and a full heart that I stand here tonight on behalf of our family.” Larissa Lopes, who said she is the youngest of the Lopes clan, told the committee that “community was very important” to her father and described his lifelong habit of helping neighbors.

Miguel Young, who prepared an archival blurb for the committee, summarized the archival record and noted the family’s long ties to Camp Street. The resolution instructs the Department of Public Works to manufacture, install and maintain one or more honorary signs at prominent locations along the designated portion of Camp Street and asks that copies be shared with Lopes’s family.

Councilwoman Graves moved the motion to pass the resolution to the full council; Councilwoman Vargas seconded the motion. The committee approved the measure by voice vote.

The resolution will next be considered by the full Providence City Council, which will determine whether to adopt the honorary designation and authorize installation of signage by the Department of Public Works.