Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, the Democratic incumbent, and his independent challenger, Dianne “Dee Dee” Witman, clashed over schools, crime, road repairs, the city’s employee pension liabilities, city finances and even the legacy of the late Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci, in a wide-ranging debate aired tonight by ABC6 and The Public’s Radio.
The forum was contentious from the outset, with Witman incessantly slamming the record Elorza has carved in his first term at City Hall. She asserted that Elorza “created chaos” in Rhode Island’s capital city by failing to have a contingency plan for getting children to schools during the recent 11-day school bus driver strike.
“Our short term finances are the best in at least a decade.”
Witman’s assault continued, as she skewered Elorza for failing schools, poor street and sidewalk conditions, and failing to get a labor contract successfully negotiated with the union representing teachers.
Elorza countered by defending his tenure at City Hall, saying he has forged the best financial solutions in years and underscored that his administration has ushered in a modest budget surplus without raising property taxes.
“Our credit rating is up, we have a rainy day fund,” said Elorza. “Our short term finances are the best in at least a decade.”
Elorza boasted that Providence’s economy is the best in recent memory, with “cranes in the air and workers on the ground.” He also said that tourism to the city is up and that violent crime is down. Witman attributed increased development in the city to policies advanced by Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo.
While Elorza took a sunny view –or at least a glass half-full approach—Witman portrayed the capital city as on the way down.
“Our schools are falling apart and our kids are falling behind,” said Witman.
Yet, during the one-hour debate at the ABC6 Providence studio, Witman delivered almost no specific plans for changes that need to be made to move the city ahead. The best example was the thrust-and-parry over the billion dollar time bomb that is the city’s unfunded worker pension system.
Elorza repeated his idea of leveraging the Providence Water Supply Board, the city-owned water system that supplies drinking water to more than 60 percent of the state, as a solution. He proposed legislation that would merge the system with the Narragansett Bay Commission, which runs the Providence metro sewer system, to free up several hundred million that could be applied to paying down the pension liability.
Witman said he was against Elorza’a plan, saying “we cannot sell the water.”
“Our schools are falling apart and our kids are falling behind.”
Time and again, Witman asserted that Elorza has failed to move the city forward. But when pressed, she had little in the way of serious proposals. Witman often regurgitated a familiar campaign theme –that she would work collaboratively and would consult experts and people with experience in business and law to bring about answers to long standing problems.
Elorza said that Witman was long on criticism but “not very good at offering solutions.” And Witman acknowledged that while she has been working with what she termed experts to find a pension fix, she won’t have any detailed proposal ready before next Tuesday’s vote.
The two jousted over the record of the late Cianci, the twice-convicted felon who was the longest-serving mayor in Providence’s history. Witman was close to Cianci and helped him raisie campaign money. Elorza depicted Cianci as the politician most responsible for the city’s pension fiasco.
When Elorza implied that Witman would turn the clock back to Cianci’s era, Witman said that couldn’t happen because Cianci and his team were interred “at St. Ann’s Cemetery.”
Elorza also said he was proud of his decision against ordering city police to cooperate with federal immigration agents, using the term “sanctuary city” as a boast.
On crime, Elorza, citing FBI statistics, said that violent crime is down and that homicides are near a modern low in Providence. But Witman asserted that the decrease in crime isn’t true for all neighborhoods and that victims of crime don’t see any solace in crime statistics.
Witman also said that cracked sidewalks are in such poor shape that strollers and wheelchairs can’t navigate them. Elorza’a counter—that his administration is spending millions in repairs after decades of neglect.
Elorza also made a pitch for voters to approve the $160 million bond issue that is designed to repair the district’s crumbling school buildings.
The debate was broadcast live by both ABC6 and The Public’s Radio. ABC6 anchor John DeLuca moderated and The Public’s Radio political reporter Ian Donnis asked questions.
