Though the year ahead may be difficult for Providence residents, Mayor David Cicilline '83 is "optimistic," he said in his annual State of the City address Tuesday night.
Providence is "vibrant, revitalized and safe," the second-term mayor told the crowd at the Rhode Island Convention Center.
"Each year, I have put forward bold challenges for us to reach and then looked ahead toward the next bright horizon in this unfolding story."
Cicilline, whose term expires in 2011, repeatedly told the audience, "We have to do everything we can to protect Providence families in these increasingly tough times."
"We have courageously shined a light into our city's dark shadows," Cicilline said. "While other cities across America are facing all-out emergencies ... we in Providence are experiencing our lowest crime rate in 30 years."
Providence's $112 million economy backs up the "investments both in our city's passion and in our city's economy," Cicilline said.
"But even with all of this progress, we still have old business left unfinished."
The mayor focused much of his speech on the financial conditions of the city, the state and the country.
"Clearly, the largest and most obvious challenge is posed by the state budget crisis," he said. "The other major challenge is posed by the national economic slowdown and possible recession."
Rhode Island has recently been plagued with financial trouble, Cicilline said. The state is facing an estimated $384 million deficit this year, prompting Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 to call for a $12.7 million reduction in funds to local governments, according to a Feb. 1 Providence Journal article.
"The Rhode Island budget crisis casts a dark shadow over the financial well-being of every city and town," Cicilline said. "If the Governor's proposal to cut aid to cities and towns in the middle of the budget year is enacted, we will have to cut services," Cicilline said.
To combat the state's shaky economic future, Providence needs to protect its "hard-won momentum," Cicilline said. "We know in our bones that our best days are ahead of us."
To maintain its upward swing, the city must focus on education, Cicilline said.
"Investing in our children's education is the single best way to ensure future economic health," Cicilline told The Herald.
"Nothing is more important to use than the healthy development and education of our children," he said. He cited Pathways to Opportunity - a job-finding program - and Stepping Up, a program that aims "to train residents in critical health jobs," as successful ventures in this area.
The city has already invested $35,000 in the latter program, according to a Nov. 2, 2007 Providence Journal article.
"Our worker training and summer jobs programs in Providence are more robust than ever before," Cicilline said. These programs help with job placement, sometimes sending participants to the Community College of Rhode Island for job training.
The state budget crisis is "shifting a greater share of education cost to cities and towns," Cicilline told The Herald. "(The) whole system is broken."
Despite Cicilline's enthusiasm for Providence's future, not everyone in the room was as optimistic. Dave Talan, chairman of the Providence Republican Party, said the mayor "needs to look for other ways for the city to balance the budget," such as lowering how much education costs the city.
As the mayor entered and left the room, president of the Providence firefighters union Paul Doughty held up a sign reading, "CicillineLies.com." The Web site is a fact-finding effort by the union to shed light on what Doughty calls the mayor's "irresponsible spending," he told The Herald.
Doughty called Cicilline's speech "long on form (and) short on substance."
