During the 2014 gubernatorial race, Gina Raimondo made a campaign promise to the Immigrants in Action Committee that she would sign an executive order within her first year, issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants within Rhode Island. Raimondo further made her support clear in an ACLU questionnaire, that asked: “Do you support providing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants?”, to which Raimondo responded: “YES. I was the first candidate in the gubernatorial race to explicitly call for driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. This is an issue of fairness and public safety.” However, January 6 has gone by, marking the end of Raimondo’s first year as Governor, and instead of issuing an executive order, Raimondo has responded with inaction.
Speaker Mattiello encouraged the Governor to bring up the issue “legislatively,” so that public comment could be heard, and that legislators could then form a position on the issue. However, it is very unlikely that the General Assembly will act on this issue. In 2014, for instance, H 7262 was referred to the House Judiciary, and the hearing on it was postponed at the request of the bill sponsor. In the Senate, a similar fate befell its version of the bill: S 2241 was sent to the Judiciary Committee, and was simply not heard. In 2013, S 422 was referred to the Judiciary Committee, and sent to “further study” – effectively killing the bill. Thus, judging by these prior attempts, Raimondo’s choice to pursue the legislative route to address this “issue of fairness and public safety” is unlikely to result in meaningful legislative action, especially when the Judiciary Committees and Speaker Nicholas Mattiello remain determined to obstruct any opportunity of passing legislation to correct this longstanding wrong in the State of Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats continues to urge Governor Raimondo to issue an executive order, as she promised Rhode Island’s voters and the immigrant community during her campaign.
[From an RIPDA press release]
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As a candidate, Jorge Elorza promised that tax deals would not be given out unless Providence could profit from the deal in some way. Mayor Elorza, however, seems intent on perpetuating the kinds of bad practices that lead inevitably to higher tax rates for home owners.
When the RI Progressive Democrats of America (RIPDA) were in the process of interviewing candidates for Mayor of Providence in search of the group’s endorsement, they took the liberty of recording the interviews. One of the questions that the group posed to then candidate Elorza was about Tax Stabilization Agreements (TSAs) which are essentially massive tax breaks given by the city to what it considers to be worthy investments. The idea behind TSAs is that a company might want to build in Providence, and in order to lure the company here, a tax break is given. This might spur building and development, and if used properly, is arguably a good idea.
However, in practice, these tax breaks are not doled out in ways that might spur growth or development, but are given out to developers who have back room connections to City Hall. It’s cronyism at its worst, and it costs Providence home owners directly, as their taxes are raised to cover the breaks given to insiders.
According to the Progressive Democrats, “The deals pending before the city right now are even more egregious than usual. That’s because the development has already happened. There’s no question of encouraging development–the developers want their special tax deals to continue. This is just giving the city’s limited tax dollars to big developers. Pure and simple.”
Sam Bell, executive director of the RIPDA, said, “One of the things that really inspired us about Elorza when he was running was his commitment to crack down on the abusive culture of corporate welfare. It’s very sad to see him change his tune now that he’s won.”
You can watch Elorza answer the question about TSAs below.
See more here: Details on Elorza’s tax breaks for existing properties
Community groups lead a march through Olneyville to remind Governor Gina Raimondo of her election year promise to sign an executive order giving undocumented residents of RI access to driver’s licenses. The groups carried the written promise with them as they marched, signed by the then candidate for governor when she met with them. The pledge originally said that as Governor she would issue the executive order within thirty days of being elected, but Raimondo crossed out thirty days and wrote in “one year.”
Community member Victoria Ruiz, who worked on the Community Safety Act, put the issue in terms of the criminalization of people of color. Not having a license, says Ruiz, is a path to criminalization, and is seen as “somehow not as bad or severe as other paths… but it’s all coming from the same system policing that wants to see all people of color criminalized…” Driver’s Licenses are a form of documentation, and a part of a “longer and bigger struggle for racial justice.”
The march was organized by the Comite en Accion, part of English for Action and a member of the We Are All Arizona coalition.About a dozen other states, including neighboring Connecticut, have a way for undocumented residents to obtained legal driver’s licenses.
The march started at the Price Rite on Valley St and continued through Olneyville Square.
I have previously written about PawSox owner Larry Lucchino’s public/private partnerships’ in building PetCo Park for the San Diego Padres and Camden Yards for the Baltimore Orioles. These are the two major projects that Lucchino’s spokesman Dr. Charles Steinberg boasts about on the so-called ‘Listening Tour’ the team has been holding across the state. I will now conclude this series with a brief discussion of several different stadiums, their funding schemes, and the resulting impacts on the surrounding communities.
Let’s begin with Fenway Park. According to the City of Boston Tax Assessor’s online portal, team owner John W. Henry owns four parcels of land that are affiliated with the Red Sox organization, properties he pays very substantial taxes to the city on, as seen below.
- Fenway Park, Parcel ID 0504203000, FY2015 Total Assessed Value of $81,413,223.00, FY2016 Preliminary (Estimated) Total Tax Due $1,201,659.17 based on First Half of FY16 (Q1 + Q2), or predicted total FY16 Taxes of $2,403,318.34
- 2 Yawkey Way, Parcel ID 0504199000, FY2015 Total Assessed Value of $5,526,206.00, FY2016 Preliminary (Estimated) Total Tax Due $81,566.80 based on First Half of FY16 (Q1 + Q2), or predicted total FY16 Taxes of $163,133.60
- 12 Lansdowne Street, Parcel ID 0504200010, FY2015 Total Assessed Value of $16,557,920.00, FY2016 Preliminary (Estimated) Total Tax Due $244,394.90 based on First Half of FY16 (Q1 + Q2), or predicted total FY16 Taxes of $488,789.80
- Brookline Avenue, Parcel ID 2100066000, FY2015 Total Assessed Value of $5,992,000.00, FY2016 Preliminary (Estimated) Total Tax Due $88,441.92 based on First Half of FY16 (Q1 + Q2), or predicted total FY16 Taxes of $176,883.84
- Subtotal FY16 Predicted Taxes Due: $3,232,125.58
At the time of the original PawSox stadium proposal, the ownership claimed that their bid for a tax-free property was a reasonable and standard arrangement. This and other matters detailed below will demonstrate just how blatantly untrue that claim was and remains.
Consider the funding of the New England Patriots. When Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, it was a project that team owner Robert Kraft had asked for no public aid in commissioning or constructing. For an article surveying the costs of various venues in the Massachusetts, Bruce Mohl and Jack Sullivan wrote for CommonWealth Magazine:
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough also pays about $2 million, but not in the form of property taxes. Randy Scollins, Foxborough’s finance director, says the town owns the land underneath the stadium under an arrangement set up in the early 1970s to help lure the NFL team to the area… Under the arrangement, the Patriots make in-lieu-of-tax payments to the town funded by ticket fees paid by fans. Foxborough receives $1.42 for every ticket sold to soccer and football games and $2.46 for every ticket sold to concerts and other special events.
Scollins says the ticket fees are likely less than what the town would receive if the stadium paid property taxes, but he says it’s an arrangement that has worked well, particularly since the Kraft family has opened Patriot Place near the stadium, adding significantly to the town’s tax base.
The Patriots are not a tax-exempt organization and this past March, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the NFL would be giving up its 501 (c) 3 status entirely.
But there is one interesting exception to that rule, the Green Bay Packers. The team is the only not-for-profit, publicly-owned major sports franchise in America, as laid out in a New Yorker Magazine article several years ago. According to this 1999 report from the Wisconsin legislature, the team has an interesting ownership and management diagram:
Approximately 109,700 individuals own shares of Packers common stock but do not receive dividends or profits as a result of stock ownership. The shareholders elect the Packers’ 45-member board of directors, whose members serve staggered three-year terms. The board appoints seven of its members to an executive committee that is responsible for monitoring operations, which includes hiring and evaluating the performance of the president and chief executive officer.
The New Yorker article by Dave Zirin is impressive and worth reading in full, but this quote especially stunned me:
Volunteers work concessions, with sixty per cent of the proceeds going to local charities. Even the beer is cheaper than at a typical N.F.L. stadium. Not only has home field been sold out for two decades, but during snowstorms, the team routinely puts out calls for volunteers to help shovel and is never disappointed by the response.
If one examines the Articles of Incorporation of the team itself, they state clearly that the actual act of playing football is merely incidental to its true mission, “a community project intended to promote community welfare and that its purposes shall be exclusively charitable“. In this 2012 paper for the Oregon State Bar Nonprofit Organizations Law Section, Bay Toft-Dupuy writes:
Guided by the nonprofit nature of its organizational articles and community ownership structure, the Packers operate in an arguably nonprofit fashion. All profits are either invested back in the team or donated to local charities with a six million dollar impact reported in 2012 for one fiscal year alone.
Staying in Wisconsin for a moment, there is a recent article by Michael Powell at the New York Times regarding the Milwaukee Bucks that shows what happens when a sports team talking like Lucchino gets its way:
We’ll keep the Bucks in Milwaukee, the owners said, if the public foots half the cost of a $500 million arena. (The owners spoke of their “moral obligation” to the city and pledged $100 million toward their arena, with the remainder coming from other private funds.) N.B.A. officials acted as muscle for the owners and warned that if Wisconsin did not cough up this money within a year’s time, the league would move the team to Las Vegas or Seattle… Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Wednesday to subsidize the arena, which could cost the public twice as much as originally projected… Milwaukee County’s portion of arena debt amounts to $4 million annually for 20 years; if the county fails to come up with its payments, the state could deduct the money from annual aid to the county. Abele has spoken of scrounging up the county’s payment by allowing the state to crack down on the county’s many debtors. That sounds fine in theory. In practice, it could mean hounding working-class homeowners for property taxes or pursuing residents who have delinquent ambulance bills. No county can afford to let taxes go uncollected, but that strategy registers as a touch repellent. [Emphasis added]
As the discussion of stadium building has become a national conversation, thanks in part to a recent piece featured on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the conversation has now evolved to the point where Gigi Douban of Marketplace Business asked in an August 13 piece whether funding a sports complex is an investment or a subsidy.
When a government pours money into a sports venue, sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it’s a subsidy or an investment, Mark Rosentraub, sport management professor at the University of Michigan, says.
“It becomes an investment when there’s a clearly defined set of returns that are worth the risk of any investment,” he says.
Rosentraub says if the arena anchors a bigger redevelopment plan, that’s when it tends to make a city money. But arenas alone don’t equal jobs and new businesses, especially in a quiet city like Milwaukee, according to Andrew Zimbalist, economics professor at Smith College.
“If you’re hoping to promote the local economy by attracting or keeping a basketball team,” he says, “it’s not something that happens.”
Jason Notte over at MarketWatch wrote a piece on July 21 I encourage you to read in full but which I will summarize. Titled 5 CITIES GETTING THE WORST DEALS FROM SPORTS TEAMS, he tells the tale of woe for Milwaukee and four other municipalities that are getting the raw deal from major sports. Minneapolis was promised they would only pay $500 million but are now on the hook for $678 million for a new arena for the Minnesota Vikings. Cobb County, Georgia is borrowing $397 million from the funds for infrastructure and education so to give the Braves baseball team a new home. Glendale, Arizona, a sports mecca, is forking over $308 million for the Arizona Cardinals football team, $225 million for the Arizona Coyotes hockey team, they paid millions more for spring training sites used by the White Sox and Dodgers, and lost money hosting the 2008 Super Bowl, with more losses predicted for this year’s big game. Finally in the District of Columbia, residents are paying $150 million to keep the DC United soccer club from heading to the suburbs, funds that are coming out of badly-needed school renovation line items.
Beth Comery of Providence Daily Dose posted a story on July 29 called ATTENTION JORGE: MAYORS EVERYWHERE SAYING NO TO STADIUMS where, taking off from the recent move by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh in effectively canceling the Boston Olympics, she strongly hints that approving a stadium might be political poison if the Mayor Elorza hops on the bandwagon. It’s a pretty well-duh statement to say that Nicholas Mattiello has reached the highest point in his career, his anti-choice, pro-austerity, and anti-gun control stances would never fly with the DNC, who help fund national House and Senate races. But Gina Raimondo and Jorge Elorza do not strike me as anywhere near finished with their ascendancies. If they wish to hold onto votes with the ever-valuable East Side of Providence, folks who are also known for their wonderful campaign fundraisers, and the fiscally-cautious hinterlands of Cranston, Warwick, Johnston, and South County, they need to show some real strategy and weigh their options. Do they obey the wishes of the PawSox owners and fold, potentially stamping a noticeable black mark on their records, or do they follow the great unwashed masses who will one day be deciding if they keep their jobs?
The People’s Agenda is comprised of three parts:
1. The Community Safety Act, “a proposed ordinance currently being looked at by the Providence City Council which is aimed at curbing racial profiling by police,”
2. Public Money for Public Good, “a set of requirements local community and labor organizations want to see included as requirements for all companies seeking tax stabilization agreements” in Providence, and
3. Community Solutions to Violence, “a set of proposals by local residents aimed at curbing violence at its root.”
The coalition behind The People’s Agenda and the action at the inauguration includes the Providence Youth Student Movement, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Rhode Island Jobs With Justice, the Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association, the American Friends Service Committee and the Olneyville Neighborhood Association.
Elorza agreed to use his power as mayor to advocate strongly for almost all the items on The People’s Agenda during the The People’s Forum, a mayoral debate held in October. You can see the responses of all the mayoral candidates, and get a fuller understanding of the ideas Elorza committed to, here.
Many politicians will say whatever they have to to get elected, or, after being elected, find that their priorities have shifted. It’s important for citizens and community groups to hold elected officials accountable.
In Jorge Elorza’s inauguration speech, (video and full text below) which ran for the last half of an hour’s worth of prayers, singing, speeches and a hip hop performance, he outlined his vision for a “New Providence.” When all was said and done, the new Mayor of Providence mentioned five actions he personally would undertake to realize this vision.
1. “…my administration will audit the organizational structure of the Providence School Department to make sure that crucial resources are not tied up in bureaucracy or central administration but are making their way to the schools and classrooms where they belong.”
2. “I will lead the effort to double Providence’s imports and exports and create good-paying, blue-collar jobs that offer a real path to the middle class for all of our residents.”
3. “I will tap into this creative energy and lay the foundation for an arts and culture festival that draws visitors from across the nation and showcases all the great talent we have in Providence. And this festival will begin this summer and it will be a wonderful weekend to be in our city.”
4. “I will take bold action and lay the foundation for Providence to become the first city of its size without a single abandoned and boarded home.”
5. “I will restore and strengthen community policing and continue to build the relationships between the community and law enforcement.”
Mayor Elorza promised a lot more than this of course, but these commitments were made with the less forceful wording, “We will build…” or “Let us create…”; phrases that indicate a willingness to work with citizens, community groups and businesses to accomplish good things for the city if there exists a public will to do so.
The new mayor made a lot of promises during his campaign, of course, and I know there are groups out there eager to hold him to his word.
Friends, family and guests – good afternoon, and welcome to Providence! I want to begin by thanking some very special people in my life. I want to recognize my mother and father. All I can say is thank you for everything you have done. You are my heroes and everything I do is to make sure that all your efforts were not in vain. Los quiero mucho y me siento tan orgulloso de ustedes. Thank you to my sister, my brother-in-law and my nephew and niece. I love you so much and thank you for always being by my side. Thank you, Stephanie, for being with me every step of the way and for inspiring me with your courage and your strength. I love you, baby.
A PROUD HERITAGE
My parents came to this country to work in our factories and to strive for a better life. They chose Providence because this city offered the promise of steady work and it was a tolerant community that would embrace and welcome them. They came to work hard, and they made sacrifice upon sacrifice to build a life of even greater opportunity for my sister and me.
My family’s story is also Providence’s story. From its founding, Providence has been a city that offers the promise of a new beginning. And generations of families just like my mine have come here in search of that same promise, ready to make the same sacrifices.
Exactly four decades after my family arrived in this country in 1975 with little more than the shirts on their backs, we stand proudly as a family on the steps of City Hall as an example of what dedication, sacrifice, humility and industry can help us achieve. Ladies and gentlemen, the American Dream is still alive, and it is our responsibility to see to it that it endures for generations to come.
Most of the factory jobs that once existed slowly yet surely left our city, changing who we are in the process. We are no longer the industrial city we used to be; but that’s alright. We have to build the New Providence, along with a new economy, a new identity, and a new purpose. I stand before you with great optimism that by coming together and capitalizing on the many wonderful opportunities that our city offers, we will build this New Providence.
WAKE OF THE STORM
Now, doing so will not be easy. Providence is still regaining its footing in the wake of some of the most challenging financial times we’ve seen. My predecessor, Mayor Angel Taveras, led our city with great distinction during these times. I thank you – and Providence thanks you – Mayor, for making the important decisions our city needed to move forward.
Your leadership over the past four years, along with the leadership of Council President Solomon and the entire City Council, has been steady and inspiring, and Providence is a better place as a result of the work you have done.
As I take office, we still face difficult times, with projected deficits in the coming years. Council President Aponte, honorable members of the City Council, as we work to pass our first budget together, we will do so knowing that tough decisions and fiscal restraint will continue to be necessary to ensure that we remain on firm ground.
And as we work with a steady hand, let us remember that no city has ever cut its way to greatness. Now more than ever, we must be creative, we must be resourceful, and we must work together to launch our city forward. Providence’s prosperity depends on us. I am confident that, together, we will seize this moment and provide the leadership our great city deserves.
And as City leaders, we know we can’t do it alone. I thank our state and federal leaders for their presence and for their support. Governor-elect Raimondo, Speaker Mattiello, President Paiva-Weed, Majority Leaders DeSimone and Ruggerio, the esteemed members of Providence’s state delegation, and our esteemed federal delegation – I look forward to aligning our City, State and Federal priorities and reclaim Providence’s standing as a city of opportunity.
BUILD A CITY THAT WORKS
Just as with our State, I believe the City of Providence is on the cusp of a remarkable season; a spring of renewal and reinvention. It is said that the secret of change and progress is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new. We are going to “build the new” here in Providence. And we are going to do it so that every one of our residents benefits.
Together, we will make Providence the city that works!
The people who live, work and visit Providence deserve a government that is transparent, ethical, accountable and easy to navigate. Too often, when faced with red tape and outmoded ways of doing business, people shrug their shoulders and say that’s just the way it’s always been done. In my administration, “that’s the way it’s always been done” will never be an acceptable answer and we will always seek new ways of doing things.
We have to start from the bottom up and engage every one of our public employees. We will ask them for their ideas, no matter how small or how big, and give them a chance to change and improve the workplace. I believe we have it within us to bring the change that we deserve. We must do a better job of listening, and create new opportunities for me, my staff and department directors to spend time in our neighborhoods listening to residents’ concerns.
This will allow us to provide city services in a way that almost goes without notice. It will be a priority that we build the New Providence by building a City Hall that just works. I want potholes to be filled even before they are reported; I want our building permits to be ready for pick up even before the date they’re due; I want a parent to plan her morning knowing fully that the school bus will arrive on time. All of this is within our grasp. These nuts and bolts are precursors to having a strong city, and in my administration they will be a priority.
It is vital that we bring these kinds of changes to our School Department as well. Over the past few years, the Providence Schools have begun to show some important signs of progress. But I’ve become convinced that what’s holding us back from becoming a truly excellent school district is not a shortage of great ideas or great people. What’s holding us back is our ability to execute on those great ideas and support our great people. We also need a School Department that just works.
Beginning immediately, my administration will audit the organizational structure of the Providence School Department to make sure that crucial resources are not tied up in bureaucracy or central administration but are making their way to the schools and classrooms where they belong.
Our future depends on it, and our children deserve nothing less than a city and a School Department that just works. And frankly, given the tax burden our residents bear, we deserve first-class city services and schools that we can feel proud to send our children to.
BUILD ON OUR STRENGTHS
A friend of mine often says that “we can do anything, but we cannot do everything.” That means that we have to be strategic and intelligent and build on our strengths. Luckily for us, we have many assets and resources to build upon here in Providence. Everything we need to become a successful city is already here. We will build the New Providence from the raw material at hand.
There is no better place to start than on our working waterfront. With a deep-water channel, the port is significantly underutilized and ready for renewed investment and attention. As Mayor, I will lead the effort to double Providence’s imports and exports and create good-paying, blue-collar jobs that offer a real path to the middle class for all of our residents.
We will link local businesses with international firms; we will take part in trade missions; we will work to foster lasting business relationships; and we will connect Providence’s economy to the rest of the world. Our waterfront, our highways, our rail lines, and our international airport are our gateway to vast global markets. The New Providence, with its diversity and its homegrown entrepreneurship, will lead the way. Aside from our waterfront, we are so fortunate to have world-class universities and research hospitals here in our city. We have the human capital and the talent base that are the envy of the world – whether it’s all of the gifted young artists and designers at RISD, the master chefs of tomorrow studying at Johnson & Wales, or the many talented and idealistic people studying at RIC to be teachers and Brown to be doctors – we have world-class talent right before us.
But after graduation, too many of our college graduates cannot find a job and sadly leave our city and our state. As Mayor, I will lead the effort to reverse this “brain drain,” so that more and more of our talented graduates can choose to stay here in Providence. We will create new internship opportunities to connect them to our local economy; we will bolster our startup community and invest in innovation; and we will engage the Greater Providence business community, along with our great institutions, to be partners as we create and mold our new economy.
Governor-elect, Mr. Council President: my administration stands ready to work with you and our leaders at the State House to develop the 195 land and beyond. In the next four years, we have the chance to lay the foundation that will sustain our city and state for the next four decades. Let us seize our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reimagine our cityscape, to leverage our strategic strengths, and develop our new economy.
Providence is also blessed to be widely admired as one of America’s finest cities for arts, culture and cuisine. We must remember that creativity is the currency of our times. Our small city punches far above its weight when it comes to arts and culture and it is part of who we are. We are the Creative Capital. It’s in our DNA and it’s what makes us special. In my administration, the arts will be integrated into every aspect of what we do – from the economy, to our schools, to the vibrancy of our neighborhoods – the arts will be at the heart.
Let’s be sure to support our local and organic arts scene because when it fully blossoms, it will return the favor ten-fold. Artists not only help us challenge convention but they enrich and enliven our souls. As Mayor, I will tap into this creative energy and lay the foundation for an arts and culture festival that draws visitors from across the nation and showcases all the great talent we have in Providence. And this festival will begin this summer and it will be a wonderful weekend to be in our city.
And we have so many other strengths here in Providence – our diversity, our historic architecture, our beautiful parks, our quality of life and much, much more. We have all the ingredients for success right here in our backyard.
PROVIDENCE PROUD
In order to build the New Providence, we must recognize what a charming and fantastic city this is. We must have concrete plans but that alone will not make us great; I firmly believe the future of our city depends, not just on bricks and mortar, but on the intangible element of building pride in Providence. We all want to belong to something bigger than ourselves – a city, a team, a tribe – something that inspires us to be greater than what we thought we were capable of. I believe the New Providence depends on a shared sense of community, responsibility and potential. And, here is how we achieve it.
We will instill new hope and pride in our neighborhoods by preserving our historic properties and by rehabbing our abandoned and blighted homes. Providence was hit hard by the nation’s foreclosure crisis – no neighborhood was spared and we still have between 500 and 600 abandoned homes. That’s 500 to 600 homes too many. As Mayor, I will take bold action and lay the foundation for Providence to become the first city of its size without a single abandoned and boarded home. We can do it, and we will do it!
Let’s rid ourselves of this blight; let’s breathe new life into these houses; let’s put contractors to work and families into homes; and let’s bring pride back to our gorgeous neighborhoods.
Those who know me know how important sports and recreation are for me. As Mayor, I will lead my team with the vision of making Providence the fittest, healthiest and most active city in all of New England.
We will reap all the benefits, because sports and recreation touch so many of the things we care about. Let us address childhood obesity by encouraging recreation and physical fitness with our kids; let us showcase our beautiful parks by drawing families to walk, run, or do Zumba in our public spaces; let us create camaraderie by starting a City Hall softball league and a chess club; let us enhance summer learning by connecting our Recreation Centers with our School Department; and let us reduce violence by supporting midnight basketball leagues and other activities for young adults. In short, let’s create an active and adventurous culture and bring people together from every walk of life, to instill pride in literally being part of a bigger team.
And all of our goals will only be possible if people feel safe and secure to live and work in our city. In fact, it’s impossible to have pride in our city if we don’t feel safe. I believe that every family should have a family doctor, a family dentist, and a family police officer. As Mayor, I will restore and strengthen community policing and continue to build the relationships between the community and law enforcement.
And as we do so, we must recognize that the stubborn persistence of crime will only abate once we truly address the very conditions that give rise to it. We must work with all of the tools in the toolkit because we know that stopping violence requires a full community effort – from our teachers to our legislators, from our employers to our coaches, and from our parents to our priests. We all have a role to play.
To truly address these issues, we must invest in real economic development that benefits everyone – from the corner office to the corner store. And we must support our small businesses and in particular those that hire within our city, such as our many women and minority owned businesses.
And, we need neighborhood schools that engage parents and bring together entire communities. We need a culture of excellence at every school and we need to invest in school infrastructure so that every child sits in a classroom that inspires her to learn.
We need to prepare our students for life after high school. And one thing I am convinced of is that we cannot quit on each other. We need mentorship and workforce development whether you have a clean record or you’re trying to get your life back together.
And we need a public transit system that meets the needs of our diverse communities. We want a city that’s on the move, with people on the move; a city where you can commute without owning a car, where you can bike to your favorite park, and walk to your local farmer’s market.
We need a clean city, and a sustainable city. From composting to community gardens, from solar panels to bike share programs, we want to think globally but act locally to be good stewards of our land.
This is my vision for a New Providence that we can all be proud to call home. We will achieve this vision and we will rise and succeed – but only if we rise and succeed together.
We’ve faced our fair share of challenges in Providence, yes. But the proud people of Providence have risen to every one of these challenges. We live in a city that is 140 years older than the United States. Providence has persevered through everything from the American Revolution to the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression to the Great Recession, the Hurricane of ’38 to the Blizzard of ’78. And we have risen through every challenge that history has brought upon us.
As we rise yet again to meet the challenges of today, let all of us in Providence keep our heads held proud and high, and with our arms locked together and ready for the new challenges that will come our way.
As I take the oath of office as Providence’s 38th Mayor, I feel truly humbled by the confidence placed in me to lead our capital city. I take great comfort in having so many genuine well-wishers and supporters; and I pledge to work with every person, at every moment and take every opportunity to make this city great and to make you all proud.
We stand at a crucial moment; I will not shrink because I know you will not shrink. We will build the New Providence – a city that works, a city of great strengths, a city of great pride. And we will build this city together! We will rise and succeed, the only way we know how, as One Providence.
Thank you everyone and God bless.
Will focuses on General Assembly and Town Council races, but his post made me wonder how different towns around Rhode Island voted compared to the state averages. So I dug into the numbers for statewide races. Here’s what I came up with:
Democratic Lean by Town Population
Democratic Lean by Town Density
This is a little confusing; here’s what I did:
- I looked up what percentage of the votes in each town the Democrats and Republicans for each statewide office received.
- I subtracted the GOP candidate’s percentage from the Democrat’s for each town, giving the percentage margin the Democrats won (or didn’t) by.
- I then averaged together the margins for each statewide race, roughly giving each town’s Democratic lean.
- I then subtracted the average statewide Democratic lean from each of those town leans, giving us an idea of how each town compares to Rhode Island as a whole.
Those are the numbers you see above. Here’s my spreadsheet. A few observations:
- Hardly anyone lives in New Shoreham. But we already knew Block Island isn’t a population hub. (These population numbers are from Wikipedia and could be wrong.)
- There’s a clear trend of the denser and more populous cities voting more for Democrats than less populous towns. I ran the correlations and it’s 0.55 for population and 0.82 for density. Both are reasonably strong.
- Imagine the vaguely logarithmic trendline that would best fit these points. For the density graph the formula for that trendline would be
y = 0.084*ln(x) - 0.6147. It’s in relation to that trendline that I’ve made the map at right. Gray towns are those that voted about how you’d expect based on their density, blue towns voted more Democratic than density would suggest while red towns voted less Democratic. - Remember this is one point in time, November 4, 2014. It can’t tell us a lot about how things are changing or how all those people who didn’t turn out would vote if they did.
So at the end of the day, what does this tell us? Municipalities with higher population & density tend to vote for Democrats more than towns with lower populations. This isn’t just true in Rhode Island, it’s true across the country. But what is interesting here is how different areas of the state deviate from that implied trendline.
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While there was jubilation in the Rhode Island Democratic Party election night party because of the biggest sweep since 1960, that mood was not shared by Democrats in South County.
From Exeter to Westerly, Democrats, and especially progressive Democrats, took an awful beating in General Assembly and Town Council races. Majorities in several South County towns also shifted from blue to red in their votes for state offices.
Since I started living in South County in 2002 and covering local politics at Progressive Charlestown, I had enjoyed watching what seemed to be a steady shift from the region’s historic Swamp Yankee conservatism to more progressive politics. South County sent a high proportion of solid blue Democrats to the State House and voted mostly Blue in state and national races.
But that changed on November 4.
Of the 11 South County communities, only four voted for Gina Raimondo over Allan Fung.
In addition to going GOP for governor, South County lost three terrific progressives – my own state Representative Donna Walsh, Sen. Cathie Cool Rumsey and Rep. Larry Valencia. Each of them faced appallingly unqualified opponents. Donna Walsh lost to a radical “Tenther” who doesn’t even seem to live in the District. Cathie Cool Rumsey lost to Hopkinton’s honorific Town Sheriff who was caught using her uniform to impersonate a police officer.
Larry Valencia lost to a guy whose only previous experience was running as a delegate to the Republican National Convention as a delegate for Ron Paul – and who came in fifth out of five.
In Charlestown, we were totally crushed, losing every single elected office in the town to a group called the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party), an off-shoot of the RI Statewide Coalition. If you mixed the Tea Party with the Nature Conservancy and the worst rich people’s homeowners association you can imagine, you’d get something that looks like the CCA.
The CCA Party gets more than 60% of its funding from out of state donors. They provide vacation property owners with the ability to vote with their checkbooks in local elections. The CCA Party has increasingly put Charlestown on a “pay to play” basis where the attention you get from town government is in proportion to the amount you donate to the CCA Party.
But those of us in Charlestown were not alone in our misery. Exeter Democrats also took a terrible beating. Exeter rejected all five state general office winners and provided winning margins for Tea Party Rep. Doreen Costa (R) to be re-elected and for progressive Sen. Cathie Cool Rumsey (D) to be ousted.
It was only 11 months ago that Exeter Democrats rallied to crush a gun lobby-sponsored recall of their Democratic Town Council majority. The “Exeter Four” won a huge victory last December 14 only to see two of the four defeated on November 4, costing them the Town Council majority. The level and sophistication of campaigning in Exeter for the general election bore little resemblance to the way Exeter Democrats won last year’s recall.
Larry Valencia’s home base in Richmond also went very bad. Voters rejected the state slate except for Seth Magaziner and also flipped their Town Council from a Democratic majority to Republican control.
Even in Westerly, a Democratic stronghold, Democrats lost control of the Town Council. So it went in North Kingstown, Narragansett and Hopkinton. When the dust settled, the only solidly Democratic town left in South County is South Kingstown.
South Kingstown was the only municipality not swept up in the red tide. South Kingstown was one of only three South County towns to vote for all five Democratic state office candidates. They also re-elected progressive Democrat Rep. Teresa Tanzi by six points despite a $100,000+ campaign mounted against her by mortgage banker Steve Tetzner.
In another closely watched race, South Kingstown also elected Democrat Kathy Fogarty over her Republican opponent, Lacey McGreevey. Fogarty defeated incumbent Rep. Spencer Dickinson in the primary to get her shot at the seat. She won the general election by 16 points.
On top of all that, South Kingstown voters also elected three Democrats and two independents to their Town Council. One of those independents is RI Sierra Club lobbyist Abel Collins.
So what happened?
Like elsewhere in the country, 2014 voter turn-out in South County was low. It was lower than expected even considering the normal drop-off in non-presidential election years.
In Charlestown, we expected turn-out to drop by 900 from the 2012 count for the presidential race. But the drop-off ended up being more than 1,100. With a total voter registration of just over 6,000, that drop-off had a huge impact on the results.
Challengers to incumbents trumpeted the state GOP’s lead issue – 38 Studios – 24/7. Forget that it was unlamented ex-Governor Donald Carcieri’s (R) idea. However, 38 Studios did not affect the state office races or act as much more than buzzkill in most races. Even Republican Attorney General candidate Dawson Hodgson, who probably banged the 38 Studios drum the loudest, admitted after the election that maybe the issue wasn’t so potent after all.
However, 38 Studios may have had a disproportional effect among our South County Swamp Yankees as it was in just about every one of the many mailers, ads and flyers attacking Democrats.
In many South County races, the conservatives out-spent and out-hustled Democrats. In the House District 36 race, Rep. Donna Walsh’s “Tenther” opponent out-spent her 13-to-1 going into the final month.
But money doesn’t always make the difference, as re-elected Rep. Teresa Tanzi can attest. Tetzner went into the final stretch of the campaign having raised three times as much money than Tanzi, mostly through loans he made to his campaign. Tetzner outspent Tanzi by six to one, but she still won.
By contrast, progressive incumbents Larry Valencia and Cathie Cool Rumsey both out-raised and out-spent their Republican opponents, Justin Price and Elaine Morgan respectively, by wide margins, but still lost.
After reviewing Price’s and Morgan’s campaign finance reports, it looks to me that there was a lot more money in their campaigns than they reported. Morgan, for example, reports having spent only $322 on her campaign up to the last week, but she had campaign signs plastered all over Richmond, Exeter and Hopkinton as well as campaign mailers. She only reported $444 in in-kind donations.
There are still unresolved pieces of the puzzle. At some point, Rep. Donna Walsh will get a hearing in front of the state Board of Elections on her charge that her opponent lied about where he lives and is not really a resident of the 36th District. There may be charges filed in other campaigns for misreporting, ethics violations or campaign sabotage. There are a few recounts to be done of some races for town office.
But in the end, there is a new political reality in South County.
Perhaps with more time and perspective, we’ll be able to figure out what went wrong, but we now live with the reality that on November 4, South County flipped from blue to red. We have to figure out how to flip it back.
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Providence Mayor-elect Jorge Elorza walked back his promise to join with advocates and demand that the General Assembly repeal the state ban on municipal minimum wage rates.
Inspired by ALEC, the General Assembly inserted a line in its budget preventing cities and towns from setting their own minimum wage floors without bringing the measure before the public for discussion. This was to prevent the Providence hotel workers from placing such a measure on the ballot so that voters might democratically decide on the issue. In doing so, the General Assembly trapped thousands of Rhode Islanders in poverty wages with no political recourse.
Readers might recall Elorza’s performance at the People’s Forum on October 22 when he told a cheering crowd that he opposed the state’s overreach and, if elected Mayor of Providence, would actively seek to overturn it. At the same forum, Mayoral Candidate Buddy Cianci agreed with Elorza that a $15 minimum wage was “fair.”
But Elorza sang a different tune on 10 News Conference. When asked by reporter Bill Rappleye if he would work to repeal the law now that he’s been elected Mayor, Elorza said, dismissively, “We’ll see,” before diverting the question to his usual rhetoric of growing the economy through tax breaks and regulation reform.
Note: A copy of the video below was sent to the Elorza campaign for comment over the weekend. We will update in the event of a response.
And here’s a link to the entire People’s Forum, for context.
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