to voters in his campaign.
Talk to Democrat David Cicilline, a state representative from the East Side and a criminal defense attorney, and you get the sense that he feels genuinely blessed.
With ease the 41-year-old Cicilline rattles off examples of his good fortune. There is a loving family, a good job and excellent health.
And so it only makes sense that he give something back. That something, he has decided, is improving the lives of others. And the best way to accomplish that, he has further concluded, is to become mayor of Rhode Island’s capital city.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
Learn More
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Cicilline appears on the citywide ballot for mayor along with Republican David Talan, Greg Gerritt, of the Green Party, and Christopher Young, an Independent.
“In terms of having an ability to effect change, to improve people’s lives…there probably isn’t another office that gives you a greater opportunity to do that than the mayor’s office,” he said. “The things that most affect people’s lives are their neighborhoods, reducing crime, schools. All those issues are really the responsibility of city government. The mayor has an enormous ability to impact and improve people’s lives.”
Cicilline’s political heroes are Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is their “unwavering commitment to ideals” that he most admires.
“They stood for something,” he said.
But the idea of giving something back, that sense of responsibility, he said, comes from a more traditional place.
“It comes from my parents,” said Cicilline. “From having such a supportive and loving family. They taught me to understand that you have a responsibility to leave the world a better place than when you arrived.”
Cicilline toyed with the idea of running for mayor a couple of times in the past, and finally decided to do so last February. While other potential successors to the Cianci Era idled on the sidelines, Cicilline forged ahead.
He announced his candidacy that February. And while Cianci sat under the cloud of Plunder Dome, he remained a viable candidate for re-election.
Things played out in Cicilline’s favor. Plunder Dome proceeded. Cianci dropped out of the race. Former Mayor Joseph Paolino eventually joined the race, along with fellow Democrats Sen. David Igliozzi and Keven McKenna.
Cicilline didn’t just beat them in the Democratic primary, he clobbered them, garnering more than 50 percent of the vote in a four-way race.
Cicilline believes the Democratic primary signaled a rallying cry for change in the city and that is what he is promising if elected on Nov. 5.
“When you are going into a bureaucracy that has a very old culture and a way of doing business that people have practiced for a long time, I think the mandate of the voters is an important tool when moving the city forward,” he said.
Cicilline acknowledges that the city has many problems. Its schools and neighborhoods are badly in need of attention. Addressing those problems, he said, will ultimately spur further downtown development.
“One of the things that will become important for people to understand is that part of the mayor’s responsibility is to promote the city – to be the showman,” said Cicilline. “It’s a wonderful part of the job. But it’s not the whole job. The other part of the job is to hunker down and do the tough work of figuring out how we improve our schools and what do we do to create real economic development in the city. How can we expand our housing stock? It’s not about going to events all day. People have to expect that if we are going to develop solutions and initiatives to respond to these issues, that is going to require work.”
Republican David Talan has billed himself during the campaign as the other “nice Jewish boy named David.” Talan is a computer systems analyst and Army veteran who has been active in numerous neighborhood associations. He has edited and authored community newsletters and information books and coached in the Elmwood Little League for nearly three decades.
Talan’s primary focus in recent weeks has been the city’s much maligned public school system.
“I am unhappy with the education system in Providence,” he said. “It needs a major overhaul.”
It is that underachieving system, said Talan, that is driving middle class residents out of the city and into the suburbs.
“When the oldest child is five and is ready for kindergarten…or when they turn 11 and they’re ready for middle school – that’s when the ‘For Sale’ sign goes up,” said Talan. “You can’t keep driving the middle class out of the city and expect it to be a thriving city.”
Talan acknowledges that he has been dramatically out-spent by Cicilline and that support for the Republican Party in Providence is limited. But neither factor has deterred him.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and now, by running for mayor, people are listening to what I have to say,” he said. “It’s been fun.”
Gerritt and Young round out the field of candidates for mayor.
Gerritt is an activist who has often been out front in his support of social causes. But his message has been slow to gather support from the mainstream, a fact illustrated by a recent Brown University poll that found him receiving about 2 percent of the vote. During a debate in September, held at Sayles Hall on the Campus Green at Brown, Gerritt made some good points.
For example, he called for city children who grow up in violent families to be provided mental health counseling. But Gerritt also peppered the debate with some suggestions that seemed far afield from the city’s domain.
In one instance, Gerritt suggested that if the federal government would simply stop spending money on a confrontation with Iraq, Providence might get more federal money to spend on its public schools.
Young finished behind Gerritt in that same Brown University poll.
But while he may be the longest of long shots to occupy the mayor’s office come January, Young showed no lack of confidence during the campaign season.
At the Brown debate he called for private schools like Brown and RISD to be stripped of their tax-exempt status so that more tax dollars could be used on elementary schools, middle schools and high schools.
For the complete current issue, visit our subscription Web site, or call (401) 273-2201, ext. 227 or 234.
