01:07 PM EDT on Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Frank the moderator: Welcome. The Web site of The Providence Journal – projo.com - will host a series of 6 Internet “chats” beginning Tuesday, Oct. 11, on topics of interest to Rhode Island’s burgeoning Hispanic population.
Today at noon our guest will be Mayor David N. Cicilline of Providence, a lawyer and former state legislator, answering questions about “The Changing Face of Providence.”
Go here for more information: http://www.projo.com/hispanicchatsinfo
The Mayor is here and will begin answering your questions shortly.

provresident: Mayor -- The Elmwood neighborhood is experiencing (for the last 20 years) a bit of a revival, I hope more city funding and action can attract small businesses and families to move in. Thoughts?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: The work we are doing to raise the quality of life in our city, improving public education, reducing crime, creating great public spaces and good parks, enhancing the arts and culture in the neighborhoods, will all contribute to our efforts to attract families. The work of the Providence Economic Parternship, that I chair, has created loan programs, commercial revitalization programs, techincal assistance, and other tools to assist new businesses coming into the city. This is already happening. Lots of new families and new businesses are locating in the Elmwood neigborhood of our city, a fact confirmed by the housing market and economic vitality there.

Frank the moderator: A question submitted by email
According to the Census, 38% of Spanish-speaking households in Providence do not have at least one person (14 years or older) who can speak English “very well”. This is significantly higher than the national rate (23%) and just slightly higher than Los Angeles (36%). While the city should embrace and support the Latino culture that exists in the city, steps must be taken so that more households speak English. It is critical to the performance of our schools and the vitality of our workforce. How can the city support this activity?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: Expanding the opportunities for individuals to learn to read and apeak English is a very important responsibility of government. The City is supporting excellent exisiting programs at places like Dorcas Place and International Institute that are critical and we always looking for ways to expand these opportunities.

Ibis: Hola Alcalde. Que cree usted pueden hacer los negociantes hispanos para atraer al mercado anglosajon a nuestros negocios?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: Actualmente hemos presentado la primera etapa de nuestro programa NEIGHBORHOOD MARKETS, cuyo proposito es mejorar los distritos comerciales en nuestros vecindarios mediante ayuda economica y tecnica para que las asociaciones de comerciantes de estos distritos puedan lucir mejorias como arboles y zafacones nuevos, letreros y fachadas nuevas y tambien programas de micro prestamos y prestamos corrientes para comerciantes individuales.

Frank the moderator: The real estate market has made it difficult to afford housing and commercial space in Providence. What are your plans for addressing this issue.
Providence Mayor David Cicilline : As Providence continues to be a great place to live, work and raise a family, demand will continue to raise the cost of housing and commercial space. The way to respond to this is to continue to do the work we have been doing to increase production of both housing and commercial space. We have worked very closely with our Community Development Corporations and provided milllions of dollars to create affordable housing. In fact , from 2003 to 2004, we have more than doubled the production of affordable housing units. We have been very successful in creating housing particularly in the Olneyville, Upper South Providence and Elmwood neighborhoods.

Tom : How do you see the growing Hispanic population reshaping the city's economic, political and cultural landscape?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: Providence is an extraordinarily diverse city. Much of our strength comes from the diversity of this city. The city is already being reshaped by the gowing Hispanic population. Currently approximately 1/3 of our population is Latino and this inevitably is having an impact on the economy, the cultural landscape and the politics of our city. Each new set of immigrants to our city, throughout our history has brought its own traditions, foods, commercial expertise, language, culture, and political influence.

Ibis: Eso definitivamente ayuda, cree usted que como negociantes hispanos enterdemos como "cater" al cliente anglosajon? Yo creo que no, debemos educar a los comerciantes a como mercadear y proveer el servicio que espera ese cliente que viene de otra cultura. Esta de acuerdo?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: Los negocios hispanos estan creciendo y a la vez se hacen mas sofisticados. Parte de nuestro programa NEIGHBORHOOD MARKETS encierra ofrecerle a las asociaciones de comerciantes que participan la asesoria de un profesional en mercadeo para que los pequeños negocios puedan aumentar su clientela mas alla de su area inmediata, lo cual no es solo un problema para negocios hispanos sino para todos los pequeños negocios que funccionan en nuestra ciudad.

talk: Mayor -- What issues do the hispanic communities face that previous immigrant communities did not face.
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: The immigrants of the 21st Century face many of the same challenges that faced earlier immigrants, language difficulties, econimic hardship, family separations, etc. One thing that is different, however, is that in the past immigrants to the city effectively broke physical ties with their homeland and no longer maintained responsiblities or even contact with the homeland, mostly due to the lack of technology. Today, many of our new immigrants maintain contact and relationships with family members, loved ones, or businesses in their homeland and the responsiblities attached to that.

Frank the moderator: The question on many peoples mind is: What about the potholes and the condition of the Providence streets in general. What are you working on to fix the streets?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: For many, many years, Providence had no system for resurfacing and maintaining roads and only filled potholes and prayed for a mild winter. We have developed a pavement management system that will allow us to, each year, re-pave roads. Recently we secured, for the first time in the city's history, 5 Million dollars from the federal Government to assist us with road improvements. This work has already begun and will continue throughout the spring and summer of next year.

Frank the moderator: Issues facing cities like Providence are different from what suburban communities are dealing with. How do you work to improve your city and talk about issues facing Providence (which effect the whole state), while not upsetting the surrounding communities?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: The best way to do this is to demonstrate to people that the success and prosperity of Providence is important to everyone in Rhode Island. As the state capital, the largest city in the state, the educational, cultural, and economic center of the State, the success of Rhode Island is inextricably linked to the success of Providence. In addition, it is always helpful to remind people that in a state the size of Rhode Island, our communities are closely linked to each other. You can walk to Pawtucket and Cranston easily from our city.

Kathy: Did you know that many of the pedestrian walk/don't walk signs downtown either don't work at all, or give signals that don't seem to correlate at all to the traffic flow? This has been the case for a long time and causes a lot of confusion for pedestrians.
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: For many, many years, the City of Providence had a person serving as the City Traffic Engineer that was not an engineer, nor did the city have a traffic engineering system in place. After taking office, I began the work of correcting that and we now have a qualified, experienced Traffic Engineer who is reviewing and updating all of the signage, signal systems, and road patterns in the city.

Tom : What affirmative steps are being taken by the city to bring more Hispanics onto the municipal payroll?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: My administration is the most diverse in the history of our city and undoubtedly one of the most diverse in the region. More than half of the people I have hired are minorities and many of those indiviudals are Latino. I have many Latinos in important leadership positions in city government, Director of Environmental Services, Deputy Chief of Operations, Director of Vital Statistics, Director of Community Relations, the School Board, the Licensing Board, the Board of Canvassers, the Board of the Providence Economic Development Partnership, the Human Relations Commission, and practically every single department in city government has Latino employees now. In fact in my office, there are many Latinos also working directly for me in my office.

Tom : Is Providence becoming a "destination" city for Hispanics? Are they staying here to raise families and work, or are they moving on? What are the implications for the city?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: Yes. Providence has been a destination city for Hispanics for thirty years. Latinos have been attracted here for the same reasons that anyone else would find Providence an attractive city, namely quality of life, a tradition of diversity, a rich arts and cultural scene, improving schools, enhanced public safety, and great public park system to name a few.

Tom : In public life, who do you see as the new Hispanic leaders - the people who will play a significant leadership role in the future of Rhode Island?
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: There are too many leaders playing a significant role in the future of Rhode Island to name, but some of the key organizations are Progesso Latino, Chispa, and Rilpac, among others. Not to mention all of the other smaller community based organizations that are doing grassroots level work.

tims: even though im not a residence of the city of providence, i feel that you are doing a great job keep up the good work
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: thank you so much. It is not me alone, I have a great team working very hard on behalf of the residents of our city.

Frank the moderator: Thank you Mayor for answering some questions for our users.
Providence Mayor David Cicilline: It was my pleasure. Thank you for providng me with this forum to chat with my constituents and those we serve.