Mayor Cicilline’s Blog

Dear Friends,

Last week I traveled to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the U.S. Conference of Mayors as part of the first official delegation of American Mayors to visit that country. This trip was part of the Saudi government’s diplomatic efforts to attract investment and strengthen ties between both countries. What I observed and experienced during this trip profoundly reinforced my great love and deep respect for our country and the democratic values upon which it is founded.  It was because of these values that we elected Barack Obama as our next President, renewing America’s optimism and hope after eight disastrous years under the current administration. With a new sense of optimism and urgency, we can begin to repair our relations with the world community, become energy independent, protect our environment, respect civil rights, educate our children and rebuild our economy.

On Election night, as we came to the historic realization that Obama would be our next President, I know many of you shared my feeling that we would do anything he might ask of us to help repair and strengthen our nation. Moments later, that’s what he did. He said: “Let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.”

In that spirit, I am asking you to get involved in our community to an even greater degree than you may already be doing. To answer President-elect Obama’s call to action by helping a young person in our city by becoming a mentor or volunteering to do any other community work.  I have included links below to some of the many great organizations where you can make a difference.  If you would like to discuss opportunities for service in a particular area, please call my Office of Neighborhood Services at 421-CITY.

In advance, I thank you very much.

• Volunteers in Providence Schools
• Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence
• Providence Afterschool Alliance
• Groundwork Providence
• Volunteer Center of RI

Let’s seize this moment to lift each other up in honor of our next President and our nation’s renewed spirit of civic responsibility.

Sincerely,

David N. Cicilline
Mayor

Mayor David N. Cicilline this week announced the City’s partnership with AS220 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in creating an innovative public technology workshop in downtown Providence. AS220 Labs will make Providence one of 20 sites worldwide to host a fabrication laboratory – commonly called a Fab Lab – developed by MIT. Fab Labs provide training and public access to technology and equipment that enable anyone to design on a computer and instantly build new products and inventions.

AS220 Labs, which is currently housed with its youth program in the organization’s Empire Street complex, will relocate to AS220’s Mercantile Block building, after the development project is complete in 2010. The Mercantile is the third - and largest - building in downtown that AS220 will have rehabilitated and transformed into a vibrant, mixed-use complex serving artists and the community.

What a night Tuesday was!  We have elected a thoughtful, brilliant, passionate, honest and inspiring man to lead America through this incredibly difficult time.  Listening to President-elect Obama’s magnificent speech was very emotional.  In part because with the election of Barack Obama we have ended the oppressive, incompetent, and reckless presidency of George Bush and ended so many practices and policies that undermined the foundations of our democracy.  This victory belongs to the people of America, who by their votes, reclaimed our great country.  This strong victory was a rejection of those practices and policies that undermined the core values of our democracy.

As President-elect Obama took the stage, it was clear he had in that moment become our President.  His serious tone and call to action made clear that he understood the heavy weight now on his shoulders.  We have been allowed to dream again, to believe we can meet great challenges, repair our relations with the world community, become energy independent, protect our environment, respect civil rights, education our children and rebuild our economy.

There is much to do.  It will not be easy or quick.  It will require the commitment and sacrifice of our entire nation.  It will demand a new kind of civic engagement and responsibility.  In this election, we have spoken as a great nation that we are united with common mission to set aside partisan rancor, divisive politics, and listen to our better angels.  As we do this, we will be lead by a great new President!

A new day has dawned in America.

Mayor David N. Cicilline today presented Providence’s first-ever, strategic plan for creating a more sustainable city government and accelerating the green economy with Greenprint Providence.   The wide-ranging plan contains a number of initiatives designed to help position Providence at the leading edge of a green economy poised for explosive growth.

The eight strategic areas in Greenprint Providence are as follows (with highlights):
Energy – renewable energy credits (payments for the creation of renewable energy) to offset 100% of the electricity consumed by City Hall; infrastructure upgrades for $1M in savings; plans to create a planning board to coordinate efforts and a revolving fund to capitalize green renovation projects.

Green buildings – construction of energy efficient schools through multi-year Building a Legacy school facilities campaign; LEED standards for all new municipal buildings.

Public Space – continue to grow tree canopy through unprecedented tree planting program, expand community gardens, install solar powered lighting in public parks, address storm water management.

Transit and Transportation – implement Transit 2020 recommendations; create incentives for transit-oriented development; expand walk-ability and bike-ability.

Recycling and Waste Management – increase recycling rates through assistance of full-time recycling coordinator and educational campaigns; create economic incentives for recycling.

Purchasing – issue Municipal Green Purchasing Policy through Executive Order to include the purchase of energy efficient appliances, cleaning supplies, paper and the procurement of services.

Water – phase out single-bottled water use in municipal buildings through Executive Order, conserve water use through technological innovation.

Green Jobs – ensure that Workforce Development partners incorporate green job training into educational and job readiness programs, capitalize on school construction projects that contain green design elements to create green jobs.

To obtain an electronic copy of Greenprint Providence, visit the City’s website at www.providenceri.com/greenprint.

Dear friends,

I just posted this web video and wanted to share it with you:

Employee health care

It’s an effort to cut through the noise and explain the City’s decision to award the bid for 3rd-party health insurance administration to United Healthcare and CVS/Caremark. I outline the competitive bid process that led to it and explain how my administration focused on two goals: delivering the same high-quality healthcare at a price that is affordable to taxpayers.

If you have been asked questions about this issue or are interested it might be worth the three minutes.

Sincerely,

David Cicilline

I attended the final Presidential debate on Wednesday evening at Hofstra University.  It was great to be there.  Senator Obama was brilliantly eloquent, masterfully prepared, and seriously Presidential.  Senator McCain, who I of course respect for his service to our country, appeared angry, petty, and unfocused.  Senator Obama was in clear command of the debate and demonstrated real confidence. He was inspiring and focused on the issues that matter to most Americans.  Senator Obama was especially strong in dispelling some oft-repeated, but untruthful and distorted facts.  Bob Scheiffer was excellent as well; very fair and good questions!

It is very clear to me that Senator Obama’s vision for our country, his priorities for America and his intellect, passion and judgment are just what need from our next President!  The final debate confirmed these views strongly.

The National Conference of Democratic Mayors continues to engage Democratic Mayors all across America with the Obama for America campaign.   We are currnetly doing daily conference calls with the campaign and Democratic Mayors all acorss the country and will continue this until election day.  Our focus for the final weeks is Voter Protection, Get Out the Vote activities, and early voting efforts. Mayors are leading efforts in swing counties to ensure that every vote is counted and no one who is properly registered and eligible to vote is disenfranchised.  We expect very long waits in voter lines in some swing states and preparations are well underway to respond to this.

Now the task is to protect our democracy by ensuring that everyone who is entitled to, gets to vote.  Don’t forget - - vote November 4th!

Last week, Mayor David N. Cicilline submitted a proposal to the Providence City Council that would amend the existing pension ordinance to ensure that City employees who serve time for public corruption do not receive a taxpayer-subsidized pension. The amendment is in direct response to a recent decision by the City of Providence Retirement Board to award a pension to convicted felon Frank Corrente, who served time in federal prison for racketeering, conspiracy and attempted extortion.

This past week, I attended the Leadership Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors where we finalized our agenda to present to the new President from America’s Mayors. We have specific proposals on Public Safety, Energy and the Environment, Infrastructure, Poverty, Work, and Opportunity, Arts, Culture and Tourism. I suggested that these five forums be put together in a frame of “A Plan for National Prosperity by America’s Mayors” because they all relate to investments that will ultimately strengthen our cities, our economy and our country. I will do a follow-up post as this develops more.

After our leadership meeting, I hosted a meeting of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors with Patrick Gaspard, the National Political Director of the Obama campaign and Michael Robertson, the Director of Congressional Affairs for the Obama Campaign. They provided a review of where we are in the campaign and an electoral analysis of the race. The purpose of the meeting was to be sure that we are doing everything we can in the final weeks of the campaign to elect our Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. Democratic Mayors from around the country are coordinating voter registration efforts, surrogate work, receiving daily talking points, raising money, and much more. We are anticipating that the McCain campaign intends to get even more negative and we are working with the Obama Campaign directly to combat these attacks. I have designated one Mayor in each of the key swing states to coordinate the Truth Squad to work with the Obama Campaign and National Conference of Democratic Mayors to respond quickly and forcefully to attacks. It was a great meeting and lots of good information was exchanged.

Mayor David N. Cicilline was the only U.S. mayor invited to testify before the Joint Economic Committee at a hearing on Thursday entitled Leave No Family Behind: How Can We Reduce the Rising Number of American Families Living in Poverty.  The Mayor went to Washington, DC at the invitation of Committee Chair, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer to highlight efforts underway in Providence to help rebuild the economic ladder for struggling families in tangible, measurable ways.

“During these difficult economic times - as the nation grapples with a recession, a foreclosure crisis and high unemployment rates - cities are not the problem, they are the solution,” said Mayor Cicilline.  “The City of Providence, like many other municipalities across America, is focused on developing strategies, in collaboration with our community partners, to provide real economic opportunity for our residents.