These include proposals to create a position for a municipal integrity officer and to establish a municipal revolving-door prohibition to preclude city councilors from seeking city jobs in Providence. Although the City Council blocked both measures, the state Ethics Commission is slated to consider the latter proposal in August, West says. Cicilline is also credited with professionalizing the functioning of various city departments through the use of results-based analysis.
A police department that serves the community
Not that long ago, the Providence Police Department was caught in a dysfunctional cycle that ill-served residents, particularly in poor parts of town, and reflected badly on the department itself. Cicilline moved quickly to make a firm break with the past by choosing Dean Esserman, the kind of outsider needed to bring long-overdue change, as the department’s new chief.
Activists credit Esserman and his emphasis on community policing with dramatically improving how the city and the police are perceived on Providence’s South Side. There remains room for improvement in getting more officers to embrace the spirit of community policing. But one observer goes so far as to say that Esserman’s lack of tolerance for abuse, as well as a number of retirements within the department, have transformed what had been one of the bigger scars in the city into a badge of honor.
The providence political renaissance
While City Council president John J. Lombardi and other council critics fault Cicilline for what they call a lack of communication, the way in which all 15 council seats are being contested in elections this year speaks to a vivid new sense of openness in Providence’s body politic.
A number of these candidates are said to be running with the mayor’s tacit support (see “Power play,” News, February 9). Many others, though, have jumped in just because of an enhanced perception of opportunity and an inchoate sense that individuals — as citizens — have a better chance of helping to create change. As Laurence K. Flynn, executive secretary of the Board of Canvassers, recently told the ProJo, referring to the almost 50 declared candidates for 15 council seats, “This is the most candidates I’ve seen since I’ve been here and I’ve been here 24 years.” Hell, there’s even a Republican primary for mayor.
This is very good for a lot of reasons, and not least because democracy is meant to be a participatory sport. With the heightened interest partially propelled by the continuing political maturation of Providence’s Latino community, it holds out the possibility that the city’s elected leaders will better resemble the residents of this majority-minority community.
Although the GOP is returning to normalcy on a statewide level, essentially ceding the General Assembly to the Democrats, Providence is offering the state a glimpse of what real political competition can look like.
The capital city’s development boom
Cicilline has reason to be proud of the more than $3 billion in development unfolding across Providence, from downtown luxury condos to heightened economic activity in long-neglected parts of the city. This growth presents its own challenges, of course (more about this later), but the mayor is right to trumpet how the city’s tax base will grow for the second consecutive year, reversing a decade-long trend.
