Mayor Cicilline’s Blog

Happy New Year! Please click on the following links to look up the events going on tonight in Providence:

Dear friends,

Happy Holidays! Please enjoy this short, holiday video I recorded by clicking here.

Wishing you all the best for 2009!
~Mayor Cicilline

Last Thursday, I traveled to Chicago along with nine other mayors to meet with members of the Obama-Biden transition team.   Specifically, we met with Valerie Jarrett, who will serve as Senior Advisor to the President, and Cecilia Munoz, Director of Intergovernmental Relations, to discuss the Economic Recovery Package and the new White House Office Urban Policy.  We were joined later in the meeting by  President-elect Obama.

It was a serious discussion about the urgency of stimulating the economies in our cities and putting people back to work.  During this meeting, we advocated strongly that cities are in a unique position to help stimulate the economy by creating jobs quickly, by investing in infrastructure, rebuilding roads, bridges, public transit, schools and the development of alternative energy sources.  We stressed the importance of good accountability measures and transparency, as well as speed.

There was clear recognition that cities and metro areas are responsible for the vast majority of economic growth in this country.  The President-elect joined the meeting and promised that help is on the way and that the stimulus package will be substantial.  He also reaffirmed the role cities will play in this plan.

We also had a substantial discussion about the Office of Urban Policy and how that office will be designed and operate.  We committed to continue to work with Jarrett and the White House in this office and particularly its relationship with other departments and the Domestic Policy Council.

I recently wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal about infrastructure spending, which they published.  Please click here to read or see below:

Couched inside Karl Rove’s recent praise of President-elect Barack Obama’s economic advisors was, perversely, an attack on one of the key policies those same people are eager to implement: the modernizing of America’s infrastructure (”Thanksgiving Cheer From Obama,” op-ed, Nov. 28). As a mayor, I can appreciate effectiveness in the practices of both politics and policy, and Mr. Rove should stick to politics. When he says infrastructure is a poor economic stimulant, he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, has been warning about the depth of the coming crisis based on his experience in Japan. His prescription? A major investment in infrastructure. There are thousands of projects that are planned, permitted and ready to go. Turn on the investment switch and we’ll turn on the bulldozers.

There’s a quadruple benefit to investing in infrastructure: good jobs right here in America, a modernized platform for moving people and products in the 21st-century economy, increased homeland security, and increased quality of life. Those are the benefits. And then there is the cost of not investing. We remember that levees are infrastructure, too.

The Mayor was visiting the residents of Dominica Manor on Federal Hill and offered his response to efforts by employee unions to block the city’s move to change its health care administrator from Blue Cross to United, a move that will save taxpayers nearly $11 million without compromising the quality and scope of care provided.

The Mayor called on the unions to cease any further efforts to block the change in health care administrators. He called the unions’ actions “reckless” in light of the current economy and the fact that thousands of Providence families are currently without health care coverage of any kind.

Earlier that day, attorneys representing the city’s unions had asked a Superior Court judge to grant an injunction against the city. A hearing date was set for next week.

Please click here to view a video of the Mayor responding.

Mayor Cicilline traveled to Washington D.C. on Monday with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to discuss a federal infrastructure investment program.  The Mayor had this to say of his trip:

With a federal economic recovery package working its way through Congress, we were there to make the case that America is now a city-based economy — 90% of our nation’s GDP is now produced by our metropolitan areas — and that cities are where federal infrastructure investment will get the most bang for the buck. There’s a quadruple benefit to investing in infrastructure: 1) good jobs right here in our local communities; 2) a modernized platform for moving people and products in the 21^st Century economy; 3) increased homeland security; and 4) improved quality of life.

We further pointed out that we have thousands of major projects ready to go. They’re just waiting for investment. Specifially, we urged Congress to pass the MainStreet Economic Recovery Act, which will do just that. I was proud to share with my colleagues the detailed planning we have done here in Providence for school construction (Building a Legacy), transit (Transit 2020), and green projects (Greenprint: Providence). We could literally start tomorrow.

Click here to watch the video he recorded to address city residents as soon as returned.