Jorge Elorza delivers his plan to fix the city in front of the Asa Messer School in Providence. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
By Sam Wroblewski, reporting by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Days after major public employee unions in Providence endorsed independent Buddy Cianci’s bid for mayor, Democrat Jorge Elorza said he is not deterred by the endorsements of Cianci by unions representing police, firefighters and teachers.
“Simply because someone is in a union doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to take our message directly to them and earn their support,” said Elorza.
The Cianci campaign announced Saturday that the Providence Teachers Union had decided to back Cianci, after he had already won the support of both the police and firefighters unions.
Elorza was questioned about the union endorsements Monday after unveiling his own plan to fix Providence’s schools and to make the community safer.
“There are a number of endorsements that my opponent has received and I have received, and we will be rolling them out as the campaigns proceed; the most important endorsement is the endorsement of the community, the endorsement of the voters of the city, and we will continue making sure we reach out to them directly,” Elorza said.
Elorza said the city needs to be more aggressive in applying for federal grants to augment the ranks of the police department, which he said have fallen in recent years from 490 to 390 sworn officers.
“I don’t care if I have to fill out the grants myself,” said Elorza, who, in addition to being a law professor and former Housing Court judge said that he is a trained accountant.
“I don’t care if I have to deliver them myself. We’re going to apply much more aggressively for this federal money so that we can put more cops on the beat,” he said.
Elorza returned to his theme of “One Providence” as he vowed to change the attitude in City Hall.
“If you ran in the right circles, if you supported the right politician, then you lived in one city,” he said.
“Then, there were those of us who didn’t know the right people, who didn’t run in the right circles, who didn’t support the right politicians and certainly didn’t have the money to give to anyone. “We lived in another city altogether,” he said.
“The bottom line,” he said, “is that we can no longer afford to balance our budget on the backs of the hard working families that live in our city.”
Listen to Steve Klamkin’s report
