Mayor David N. Cicilline shakes hands with well-wishers after giving his annual State of the City address last night at the Rhode Island Convention Center. He unveiled Operation Opportunity, an 18-month economic plan.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE — In his annual State of the City speech, Mayor David N. Cicilline outlined 30 specific goals for his administration to accomplish in the next 18 months that he said would expand economic opportunity in the city.

His rhetoric, at times grim and punctuated by a sense of urgency, was a reflection of the times. “We have to mobilize as if we’re in the economic equivalent of wartime, because that’s exactly what this is,” Cicilline said.

He delivered his sixth-annual address last night at the Rhode Island Convention Center before a crowd of nearly 200 city officials, community leaders and political supporters.

Business leaders praised the mayor’s speech. “It was absolutely the correct plan with the right emphasis on building the framework for bringing economic development,” said Daniel Baudouin, executive director of the Providence Foundation, an organization focused on reviving the downtown business district.

City Council Majority Leader Terrence M. Hassett, however, said that the glaring omission from the mayor’s speech was how he will address the current-year deficit and whether he will increase taxes.

“I hope that with all this money coming down from the federal government that that does not happen,” Hassett said. “A tax increase would cost an awful lot to citizens.” Cicilline said in the coming weeks he will present an emergency budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in June.

Cicilline, who has faced recent controversies that have diminished his popularity, also called on the city to renew its trust in elected leaders.

“When we stop believing that government is working in everybody’s interest, we stop believing that we can come together to achieve big things,” he said. “And that is exactly what we need to do right now. Working together, we must continue to build and strengthen our trust in each other.”

The mayor’s address comes as his approval rating continues to fall statewide. A Brown University poll released yesterday before his speech found that the two-term mayor’s approval rating has dropped to 38 percent, which is 13 percentage points below his rating last year. The Brown poll marks the lowest approval rating for Cicilline in his six years in office.

The focus of Cicilline’s 40-minute speech was an action plan he is calling Operation Opportunity.

It is divided into seven sets of goals, from stimulating economic development to restoring upward mobility for city residents. Each goal comes with its own list of specific tasks, and the city will establish a Web site where the public can track the progress on each one of the tasks, said Cicilline.

“Our city government will place an unprecedented focus on the economy in the next 18 months,” Cicilline said. “We are going to do everything we can –– within the scope of city government –– to enhance and leverage the federal economic recovery plan and to expand economic opportunity for the residents of Providence.”

Cicilline’s plan is a combination of some old proposals, initiatives already in the works and some that are completely new.

Objectives to bring the city into the so-called green economy were outlined in Greenprint Providence, the mayor’s plan to develop environmental and alternative energy-related industries that was released last year.

Education goals, such as moving forward with the new Career and Technical Academy and introducing afterschool programs for high school-age students, have also been discussed or are under way.

The mayor acknowledged that some parts of his plan are not fully developed. Cicilline intends, for example, to bring greater city investment in the Port of Providence, but has not determined how. “It will be substantial,” he said. “It will be an investment that brings jobs.”

The only proposal to garner applause was a promise to consolidate city services in a single building with ample parking.

The leaders of a number of city-based Latino organizations said that the mayor’s address acknowledged the importance of the city’s sizable Latino population by incorporating initiatives to better prepare city residents for jobs in public safety, something that their organizations have lobbied for. “He recognized that we have the power now,” said Julio Ramos, of the Hispanic United Development Organization, or HUDO.

Cicilline began his speech touting how his administration has strengthened public education and city finances, improved public safety and fostered a “knowledge-based” economy of high paying jobs in academia and technology. “By every fundamental measure, Providence is in a far stronger position that the last time the national economy took this kind of turn,” he said.

But Cicilline ended on a more sober note. “At this moment, the good and prosperous times feel very far away,” he said. “It’s difficult right now. It’s going to be hard for a while and it may get worse before it gets better.”

Operation Opportunity

Operation Opportunity is divided into seven sets of goals, each with its own specific tasks. The city will establish a Web site ( www.providenceri.com/opportunity) where the public can track the progress of each of the tasks:

Stimulating Entrepreneurship and Investment

1 — Reduce by 50 percent the average time of plan review for building permits

2 — Develop an incubator for biotech entrepreneurs in the Jewelry District

3 — Launch Web-based service center to attract new business to the city

4 — Create new City Hall position to work with small and new businesses. Cicilline is calling the position a business “expediter.”

5 — Infusion of $5 million into the Providence Economic Development Partnership Loan Fund, which provides capital funds for new and small businesses

6 — Establish a business-to-business mentorship program

Developing a Green Economy

7 — Creation of Providence Green Jobs Training Corps

8 — Finalize site plans for wind turbines on city property

9 — Double city’s recycling rate

10 — Executive order mandating that all new city buildings be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) certified

Education

11 — Creation of an online system for parents to track their children’s school progress

12 — New district-wide curriculum for science and math

13 — New city summer program

14 — Extend Providence After School Alliance programs to high school-age students (they are currently offered only to middle school students)

Infrastructure Improvements

15 — Invest a minimum of $10 million to improve city roads

16 — Invest in modernization efforts at the Port of Providence that will create jobs

17 — Open the new Career and Technology Academy

18 — Break ground on next school renovation project as part of Building a Legacy, the city’s plan to refurbish every public school in the city

Public Safety and Security

19 — Establish a “teaching police department” known as the Center of Excellence in Police Training

20 — Establish an afterschool program and test preparation site run by the Fire Department

21 — Joint effort by Fire Department and School Department to create “family home fire safety” program for educating children from kindergarten through second grade on unsafe home heating practices

22 — Attain national accreditation for the city’s Emergency Management Agency

Restoring Upward Mobility

23 — Devote more city resources to Pathways to Opportunity Office, the city office that works to develop job-training and apprenticeship programs

24 — Launch Bank on Providence, a joint partnership between the city and local banks that will provide financial literacy training and affordable financial services. It would be an alternative to check cashers and payday loan shops that charge exorbitant interest rates and fees.

25 — Place a minimum of 30 city residents into construction jobs and another 50 residents into health-care jobs through a partnership with local job-training programs Building Futures and Stepping Up

26 — Create 500 summer employment opportunities for youths by leveraging federal funds

Improving Customer Service in City Government

27 — Double the number of online government services

28 — Streamline licensing and permitting processes

29 — Implement “performance-based” budgeting

30 — Secure office space to put city departments under one roof with ample parking

––Philip Marcelo

pmarcelo@projo.com