With just a few weeks remaining until Rhode Island’s primary elections, the Democratic candidates for mayor of Providence are trying to win over voters. In a city where Democrats dominate, winning the primary is tantamount to winning election.
As he seeks a second term in office, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is facing a stiff challenge from his primary opponent, State Rep. David Morales. Making matters more difficult is the fact that former Providence mayor Jorge Elorza, whom Smiley endorsed after dropping out of the city’s mayoral race in 2014, is endorsing Morales.
Both candidates sat down with Ocean State Media political reporter Ian Donnis to discuss their priorities for the state.
Interview highlights
On what’s at stake in the Providence mayoral election
Brett Smiley: Over the last four years, the city has made tremendous progress in becoming a safer city; lowest violent crime in 35 years. We're building thousands of new housing units, and we're preparing to take back control of the Providence Public Schools. In this election, we need to make sure we don't go backward in public safety. We need to keep the progress on housing construction, and we need a leader who's ready and prepared to take over a half-a-billion dollar budget with 2,000 employees and 20,000 kids who deserve better. That's what's at stake in this election.
On whether he’s surprised by the popularity of his primary opponent, State Rep. David Morales
Smiley: No, I've always respected him. He's a smart legislator who's represented the city for a couple years, but I do think the choice is quite clear. The experience gap between the two of us is massive. And some of his policies would clearly take us back to the way things used to be. I think voters in Providence want to see us continuing to make positive forward changes in our city.
On his efforts to make Providence a more affordable place to live
Smiley: I hear from my constituents – families in Providence – all the time about how difficult choices have become because the cost of everything from groceries to gas has gone up. We've made meaningful progress on increasing the discount that we provide to homeowners who are older (and) for our veterans. We've made pre-K “universal,” which means it's free for families who can't afford it. That helps families save on the cost of childcare. We provide $5-a-week summer camp. And I have a plan for emergency rental assistance that is being held up for political reasons by my opponent and his allies on the city council. But we've got a strong track record of showing the many different ways in which we've tried to help Providence families save a little bit of money, acknowledging that many of these other cost pressures and affordability challenges are outside of the city's control, but are still very real for families in the city.
On improving Providence Public Schools
Smiley: About two weeks ago, I released my Cradle-to-Career Strategy, which outlines how I'm going to focus my work at PPSD over the next four years. It starts with continuing our progress in early childhood and showing a plan for 3K, which is three-year-old preschool. It includes expanding our Eat, Play, Learn initiative and creating community campuses, which is a networked campus model of schools, libraries, and rec centers, and then more career and private sector and industry partnerships for the career pathways that have been created for our high school students. The whole plan is online and I would encourage voters and residents in Providence to read about it. That provides the framework for the way in which I think I can help most improve educational outcomes across the spectrum from early childhood education all the way through high school graduation.
