Pryeor announces run for District 23

GLOCESTER – A Glocester resident and longtime florist has announced his candidacy for Senate District 23 representing Burrillville, North Smithfield and Glocester.

Lewis Pryeor grew up in Providence and went to Classical High School, earning a bachelor’s degree in business management from Rhode Island College. He notes he spent weekends with family on Keech Pond, and that both his mother and father have roots in town, including a great grandmother who fled from Germany and moved to Chepachet prior to the 1920s.

Today, he lives in Chepachet in a house his father built with Pierre, his partner of 44 years, and his 93-year-old mother.

Pryeor, a Democrat, ran his first flower shop, Putnam Pike Florist, in the 1980s and was a member of the Glocester Business Association. He then lived in Warwick where he owned Peter Pots Flowers and was very active in the community, serving as a city councilman for six years representing roughly 9,000 residents of Ward 8. He notes his accomplishments included the purchase of a 100 acre property known as Barton Farms for open space.

“This was by getting involved with the residents, forming  a neighborhood group and working together,” Pryeor said, noting he worked with representatives from both political parties. “We put the parties aside.”

Pryeor also lived for a time in Woonsocket where he worked as a home care CNA. He said the job was a great learning experience on the needs of the seniors and the needs of health care, and that he learned about the heroics of veterans and the lives and the daily battles of seniors.

Today, Pryeor works as a florist in Greenville.

“My concerns in our communities are water. All of us should have a healthy water source,” he said. “Burrillville needs and deserves state attention and funds for it.”

He noted open space is also on his agenda, and that solar “farms,” should not be treated as farms.

“No, it is not a farm,” Pryeor said. “My chickens, ducks and rabbits and gardens would agree. Solar should be considered not farms but a commercial industry when it is built off private single family properties. Solar is not agricultural and should not get the same tax breaks as the real agricultural owners deserve.” 

“I hope to be considered to be your choice for the District 23 Senate seat,” Pryeor said. “Working together with everyone is possible to get our share out here in northern RI from the budget. I will work with all to see us to make a difference.”

To learn more, follow Lew Pryeor for Senate District 23 on Facebook.