Though many Brown students worked to make it otherwise, Providence and so many other cities are bracing for four more years of George W. Bush's relentless attacks on our livelihoods.
There were myriad reasons to vote Bush out of office. But as an urban city, and a particularly poor one at that - with a 40 percent child poverty rate at last check - the harms that we expect Bush to perpetrate will be felt especially profoundly here in Providence.
I sit on the City Council's Committee on Urban Renewal, Redevelopment, and Planning, which is in charge of allocating federal Community Development Block Grant funds. The federal CDBG is an important source of funding for urban renewal programs, used to back up micro-loans for local small businesses, maintain parks, support local nonprofits and more. CDBG allocations have fallen since Bush took office - the Council was recently briefed on Bush's proposed 50 percent cut in CDBG, a reduction of $3.5 million for Providence. Additionally, HOME funds, used to build affordable housing, are slated to be cut by 25 percent this year.
Cities in Rhode Island and all over the country rely on state aid for large portions of their budgets. Yet state aid to cities in Rhode Island is dreadfully low, ranking 43rd in the nation. Wages have fallen, and with them state income tax returns. Right-wing Republicans have won governorships throughout the Northeast, including Rhode Island, yet they have refused to provide municipalities with the funding needed to get by.
But cities still must educate our children. They still must fund police and firefighters and public-works departments. The cost of living is not going down; the cost of health care is skyrocketing. And in Providence, the population is rising. When we don't get the money we need from the State House, property taxes increase, as they are the only significant taxes we are allowed to levy. They are also regressive - and even within a poor city like Providence, they tend to hurt the poor more than the rich.
Sen. John Kerry promised $50 billion in new federal aid to state governments, which would have meant perhaps $200 million to Rhode Island. Kerry also promised to fully fund Bush's No Child Left Behind mandates, to the tune of $30 billion to cities and states over the next several years. Tens of millions of extra dollars would have trickled into Providence's coffers, yielding lower property taxes, less urban poverty, better schools, and better services.
As of 2000, Providence's median household income stood at $27,000, with the median income in poorer neighborhoods like Olneyville and parts of South Providence well under $20,000. Kerry backed a $7.00 minimum wage that would have put upward pressure on wages in an economy that is increasingly based on low- paying, non-union service jobs. He also supported the now-doomed Employee Free Choice Act, which would have diminished employer intimidation of workers trying to form unions - a big problem, for instance, in the hotels of our new tourism economy.
Most of Providence's residents are members of ethnic minority groups. A more conservative Congress working with a lame-duck Bush administration that thinks racism is a thing of the past will continue attacks on affirmative action, both through legislation and judicial appointments. If such attacks are successful, Providence's neediest residents will have an even harder time securing good jobs and placements at high-quality universities.
Increased health care accessibility under Kerry and a "premium rebate" for employers providing health care could have meant several million dollars less in pressure on Providence's finances. Thousands more Providence residents would have had access to health care, an issue of particular concern in urban environments where disease transmission is easiest, and where AIDS, syphilis, tuberculosis and other diseases can reach epidemic levels.
The list of Bush's betrayals of our cities is long and dense. We won't be able to solve all of the problems they create, but there's hope. If you'd like to work on important local affordable housing or anti-poverty initiatives, email Direct Action for Rights and Equality, at dare@daretowin.org.
David Segal represents College Hill and Fox Point on the Providence City Council.
