Issues

I will be the Mayor who transforms the Providence school district into the highest performing urban district in Rhode Island.  When it comes to ensuring the highest educational achievement for our students, failure is not an option.  Currently, seventy percent of children in Providence schools perform below grade-level in math and more than half are below grade-level in reading.  To ensure student success, I will implement and expand the Providence Children’s Initiative, a unique school model that focuses on wrap-around services, early childhood development and lifelong learning. 

Improving student achievement, reducing drop-out rates and making all of our schools first class learning communities will be top priorities for my administration.

As Mayor, I will:

• Work with our local and federal legislators, the Providence school department and our neighborhood community centers to expand early childhood education opportunities like Head Start.

• Develop a wide variety of school options to support a broad range of student interests and needs, including alternative school schedules with more learning time, smaller learning communities, strong charter schools, and partnerships with our arts, health, and technology sectors.
  

• Work with teachers and administrators to ensure professional development throughout a teacher’s career and to develop a fair and rigorous teacher evaluation system that rewards effective teachers in innovative ways, provides additional supports to those who are struggling and removes those who are ineffective.

• Promote parental, community, and industry involvement in our schools by developing channels of communication between neighborhood schools, parents and community organizations and opportunities for robust business partnerships.
  

• Build upon the outstanding work of the Providence After School Alliance (PASA) by identifying and forming high-impact relationships between neighborhood schools and local community organizations to engage students afterschool.

• Work with our colleges and universities to encourage mentoring by college students and to establish meaningful opportunities for Providence school children for summer learning modeled on Harvard University’s Philips Brooks House Association.

I am steadfastly opposed to the City’s recent tax hike.  As Mayor, I will veto any increase in the residential or commercial property tax rate that comes across my desk until we have exhausted every other option - zero-based budgeting, cuts of 10% and more in the discretionary spending of each City department, pension reform, labor givebacks, renegotiated PILOT agreements and more -  to save taxpayers money.

Restoring our City’s finances will require growing our tax-base and addressing the City’s structural budget deficit.  For too long, we have relied on short-term, one-time fixes that do little more than delay facing the tough choices our City has to make. 

As Mayor, I will make the bold changes necessary to put our City on sound long-term financial footing.

As Mayor, I will:

• Implement across the board reductions in every department by implementing zero-based budgeting and directing each department director to submit cuts in discretionary spending.

• Lead a coalition of Mayors and town managers to identify opportunities for regionalization and consolidation of services.

• Explore new sources of revenue by continuing to green city buildings, investing in recycling, utilizing the opportunity associated with the relocation of I-195 and analyzing all other nonperforming city assets.

• Bring union representatives to the table to negotiate concessions necessary to save money in City departments - including reform of our pension system.  We have an accrued liability of $1.2 billion.  We are 70% unfunded - one of the lowest funded pension plans in the entire country. We must rethink our retirement plan for future employees and find ways to reduce healthcare expenses for all retirees. City workers also need to make concessions on cost-driving expenses.
  

• Impose the same cuts on the Mayor’s office and my non-union personnel as I do on city workers.

• Reinstate five-year budget forecasting.

• Convene our city’s tax-exempt institutions - our hospitals, colleges, private secondary schools and others - to revisit the existing PILOT program to ensure that it is fair to local institutions and, most importantly, to Providence taxpayers.  Tax-exempt property owners contribute less than one percent of the City’s revenue, yet own nearly 40% of our property.  The 2003 agreement was a step in the right direction, but time and circumstances have changed and it is now imperative for us to forge a new path forward.

Whether you are a small business applying for a permit or a resident paying your taxes, your interaction with the city should be efficient and courteous.  Unfortunately, however, City Hall can be a confusing place for residents and businesses alike. 

As Mayor, I will make sure that City Hall works for its clients - our small businesses and residents.

Moreover, technology has changed the way the world functions in business, in communication, in education and more.  In the year 2010, it is past time that we bring technology to bear on the way government functions. 

As Mayor, I will embrace the use of new technologies to make City government work more efficiently, more transparently and more effectively for our businesses and our residents.

 As Mayor, I will:

• Establish a citywide permit parking system for year-long residents.

• Double the Mayor’s reward - and the associated fines and penalties - for information leading to the detection, apprehension and conviction of individuals involved in graffiti vandalism.

• Bring the Office of Neighborhood Services into the communities they serve by establishing local offices in libraries, community centers and other local organizations.

• Create a state-of-the-art website – a citizen dashboard – so that residents can engage city government in a variety of ways without having to enter City Hall.

• Develop innovative ways for residents to interact with City Government, such as reporting potholes on smart phones, paying taxes online and connecting electronically with neighbors about important citywide issues.

• Streamline city interaction by creating a one-stop 3-1-1 hotline to report broken street lights, lost pets, noise violations and the like.

• Place important city meetings including the School Board, the City Council, and more online on live streaming video.

Our city has made great strides in ending the ‘pay to play’ corruption that damaged public trust in government and imposed enormous costs on taxpayers for decades.  As the only candidate in this race who is not a career politician and does not accept campaign contributions from city workers and city vendors, my administration will pride itself on its honesty, openness and transparency.

As Mayor I will fiercely protect the integrity of the Mayor’s office and City Hall.

As Mayor, I will:

• Return any and all political contributions from full-time city employees throughout my campaign and term as Mayor.

• Refuse political contributions from brokers or financial advisors who manage Providence funds.

• Require lobbyists who lobby the Mayor or the City Council to register in a publicly accessible database.

• Move to deny a City pension to any former employee or elected official who renders dishonorable service to the City of Providence.

• Establish an anonymous hotline for residents and city workers to report fraud and abuse in city government.

• Require mandatory ethics training of all department directors and city employees responsible for zoning, procurement and permitting as well as private vendors with significant amounts of business with the city.

For many families, homeownership is more than an important financial investment; it is the embodiment of the American Dream.  As a former Housing Court Judge, I am all too familiar with the struggles Providence residents go through in order to hold onto their homes. 

As Mayor, I will work hard to end the foreclosure crisis, move families back into homes and restore hope and opportunity to our neighborhoods.

 As Mayor, I will maximize options for affordable housing in Providence by:

• Moving to put abandoned houses into receivership and have our local housing non-profit organizations rehabilitate and offer them as affordable housing in the neighborhood.

• Aggressively pursue the irresponsible lenders who gave out the toxic loans that got us into this crisis as well as the growing number of rescue scam operators.
• Directing my Office of Neighborhood Services to work with Rhode Island Housing in maximizing foreclosure prevention outreach efforts in Providence.

• Connecting eligible applicants on the Providence Housing Authority waitlist for emergency interim housing opportunities.

• Strictly enforcing the City’s foreclosure mediation requirement.

• Leveraging federal and state dollars to help the Providence Housing Authority obtain additional housing units for eligible applicants.

• Invest in lead hazard and other environmental toxin removal programs, as well as programs that assist in weatherization and other energy conservation measures.

• Directing the Providence Housing Authority, in partnership with the Office of Neighborhood Services and nonprofit community organizations to offer financial literacy education to homeowners and prospective homebuyers.  These literacy programs will assist low-income borrowers in accessing low-cost credit, avoiding risky financial instruments like subprime loans, taking advantage of refinancing options and improving their credit histories.

Whether sitting at home, walking to school, strolling through WaterFire or going to work, our city’s residents have the right to feel safe.  I am outraged by the recent arrests of officers in the Providence Police Department.  These actions have violated the public’s trust and tarnished the reputation of the honorable men and women who work in our police force. 

As Mayor, I will not allow the actions of a few to turn back the years of progress our city has made in reducing crime and rebuilding the relationship between the Police Department and the community.

As Mayor, I will:

• Conduct a comprehensive top-to-bottom review of the police department, including the record of the senior leadership and the department’s hiring, promotion and internal affairs policies.

• Appoint a Public Safety Commissioner to coordinate a citywide public safety plan that includes the police department, the fire department and emergency responders.

• Pursue national accreditation for all public safety departments.

• Redouble our commitment to community policing by requiring the Public Safety Commissioner to hold public forums in rotating neighborhoods throughout the city with participation of local community organizations, city councilors and city service personnel.

• Develop and implement a strategy to strengthen civilian oversight of the Providence Police Department that is effective in rebuilding trust with the community.

• Require the Public Safety Commissioner to develop a gang violence intervention strategy working with community groups, clergy, youth organizations, Police Athletic Leagues, local high school police academies and other stakeholders.      
  

• Review and revise the recruitment policies of our public safety departments to ensure that our public safety workforce represents a diverse group of individuals from different backgrounds.

A twenty-first century public transportation system will make Providence both a more livable and a more economically competitive city.  High quality public transit improves environmental quality, reduces traffic congestion, protects open spaces and connects residents with businesses and other city institutions.  Simply put, public transit is a capital investment that we cannot afford not to make.

As Mayor, I will work with the members of the Transit2020 coalition to implement their recommendations, including:

• Leveraging federal dollars to invest in an energy efficient, environmentally friendly streetcar system to connect College Hill with the emerging Knowledge District and other neighborhoods.

• Increasing transit connectivity from Providence to other locations like T. F. Greene Airport.

• Making Kennedy Plaza a more effective intermodal transportation hub.

• Working with regional partners, including the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, to develop a unified fare system.

• Developing a bicycle superhighway, including a dedicated bike lane on every major thoroughfare, to support bicycle riding as a feasible alternative to driving.

Our natural environment is an invaluable asset to the City, a precious resource that must be protected.  As Mayor I will make Providence an international leader in environmental stewardship. 

As Mayor, Providence will reduce our carbon footprint, invest in renewable and energy efficient technology and become a world leader in the green economy.

As Mayor, I will implement this 5-point plan:

• Create citywide composting programs.


• Fill the vacant position of city energy manager tasked with identifying concrete ways to reduce the city’s energy spending, boost our energy efficiency and significantly decrease our carbon footprint.

• Ensure that all City owned property and vehicles are as environmentally friendly as possible.

• Work with property owners and community leaders to identify abandoned lots that could be developed into community gardens.

• Establish a green energy renewable revolving fund so that our small businesses can join the city in investing in green technology.

Our City’s unique arts and cultural institutions are among our most highly valuable community assets.  Arts and culture account for more than $115 million annually in economic activity and thousands of jobs in Providence. 

As Mayor of the Creative Capital, I will be a vocal and tireless advocate for the arts and culture.

As Mayor, I will:

• Build upon the recommendations of the Providence Cultural Plan and expand our “brand” from Rhode Island’s Creative Capital to the Creative Capital of the United States.

• Make permanent the Department of Arts, Culture + Tourism.

• Establish a United Arts Fund and use City Hall to provide back-office support to arts and culture nonprofit organizations.

• Reform our local zoning and tax codes to support growth in the arts and culture.

• Seek creative community collaborations to restore arts education in our public schools.