Jorge O. Elorza (born November 24, 1976)
is an American law professor who served as the mayor of
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
from 2015 until 2023. He defeated former mayor
Buddy Cianci
Vincent Albert "Buddy" Cianci Jr. (, ; ; April 30, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American politician, attorney, radio talk show host, and political commentator who served as the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island from 1975 to 1984 and again f ...
in the
2014 mayoral election and on January 5, 2015, was sworn in as mayor of the city.
Early life and education
Elorza's parents immigrated from
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
in 1975.
Jorge Elorza was born and raised in the
West End of
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
.
He attended local public schools, including Asa Messer Elementary School, Bridgham Middle School, and
Classical High School.
[ The first of his family to attend college, he enrolled at the Community College of Rhode Island before transferring to the ]University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...
. He worked as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom.
It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...
in New York, and then attended Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
.[
After the death of a hometown friend, Elorza left ]Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
and returned to Rhode Island.
Elorza teaches law at the Roger Williams University School of Law
Roger Williams University School of Law is the law school of Roger Williams University, a private university in Bristol, Rhode Island. It is the only law school in Rhode Island. It was established in 1993 as the first graduate degree program of R ...
.[ Roger Williams University School of Law.] In 2010 he was appointed to the Providence Housing Court, where he replaced Angel Taveras.[
]
Mayor of Providence
The Providence mayoral race in 2014 was Elorza's first try at elective office. He was sworn in as mayor on January 5, 2015, on the steps of Providence City Hall. In his inaugural speech, Elorza promised to deliver "a city that works".
Early in his first term, Elorza was credited for working closely with the City Council and Governor's office. Within his first 100 days he appointed an "innovation officer" to streamline operations and coordinate city activities. He appointed a representative to the city ethics commission for the first time in nine years. He also reached out to constituents with a "Twitter Town Hall."
During his first year in office, Elorza implemented a complaint response system which generated responses to a backlog of thousands of unanswered complaints to the city. City Hall employees have been required to take customer-service training. New contracts were reached with the City Hall and Public Works and Parks Department unions. A program was set up to take control of abandoned houses, and turn them over to buyers who will fix them. Elorza also created an anti-prostitution effort known as "Operation Backpage", which has arrested several dozen men for solicitation.
On September 12, 2018, Elorza won renomination to the Mayor's office over challengers Kobi Dennis and Robert DeRobbio. He subsequently won the general election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
.
Budget
Elorza's government faced a budget shortfall during his first year. However, in October 2016, Elorza announced a $9.5 million budget surplus for the 2015–2016 budget year. This was Providence's largest surplus in at least 20 years. Critics claimed the surplus was partly due to not hiring needed police and firefighters.
Firefighters union
Elorza faced a long fight with the city's firefighters union over schedule changes. In September 2016, after 13 months of lawsuits, arbitration, and sometimes nasty public exchanges, Elorza and the president of the union finally came to an agreement.
Parking meters
Elorza presided over an expansion of new, high-tech parking meters in Providence. Between January 2015 and September 2016, Elorza's administration increased the number of metered parking spaces by 50 percent, from 1,400 to 2,100. Critics of the plan say that the meters hurt local business, and that the reduced tax revenue from businesses hurt by the meters is greater than the increased revenue from the parking fees.
"One Providence" initiative
Following the November 2016 Presidential election, Elorza established the "One Providence" initiative to respond to reports of increased hate crimes against Muslims, LGBTQ people, and minorities in Providence. The initiative includes a new "hotline" to report crime, and the establishment of a Muslim-American advisory board. The initiative was established to "protect and serve every resident of the city" without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religion or disability. While the mayor vowed to protect undocumented immigrants from attempts at unfair deportation by the Trump administration, he said he has no plans to establish Providence as a "sanctuary city
A sanctuary city is a municipality that limits or denies its cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law.
Proponents of sanctuary cities cite motives such as reducing the fear of persons which illegally immigrated fr ...
."
Environmental initiatives
In 2016, Elorza set a goal of reaching carbon neutrality
Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...
by 2050. Elorza is a supporter of improving the city's biking infrastructure, and in 2017 a new greenway opened in Roger Williams Park
Roger Williams Park is an elaborately landscaped city park in Providence, Rhode Island and a historic district (United States), historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is named after Roger Williams, the ...
. Elorza leads a quarterly bicycle ride through Providence called "Bike the Night" to highlight the city's cycling infrastructure
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of bicycle pedal, pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the ...
.
In 2017, the city signed a $400,000 contract with a private Silicon Valley company to introduce the first bicycle sharing program to the city, supported by local hospitals and RIPTA. Despite the system being popular enough to expand in April 2019, in summer 2019 a new model of bike was introduced with a less secure lock and the price of a ride increased 450%. This led to the bicycles becoming associated with a "wave of vandalism and criminal activity" including widespread thefts of bicycles, bikes tossed into the Providence river, and even a company tech held at gunpoint. The company paused the program in August 2019 and suspended service indefinitely in June 2020.
In January 2020, Elorza unveiled a "Great Streets" initiative to create a framework of public space improvements to encourage walking, riding bicycles, and public transit. The plan includes establishing an "Urban Trail Network" which includes 60 miles of bicycle paths, bike lanes, and greenways within Providence.
Unified Vision plan
Elorza's Providence Unified Vision public space project was introduced in July 2021. The plan includes redesigns of Kennedy Plaza
Kennedy Plaza, formerly Exchange Place, Exchange Terrace, or City Hall Park, is a rectangular public square that occupies a central portion of Downtown, Providence, Rhode Island, Downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Since the mid 19th century, the ...
and the riverfront. Included in the plan are public rest rooms, walkways, riverfront improvements, green landscaping, a cafe, and performance space.
Reparations
In July 2020, in response to the Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
protests following the murder of George Floyd
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...
, Mayor Elorza signed an executive order meant to start a city truth commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...
, intending to atone for Providence's role in Black slavery, institutional racism
Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...
, and the mistreatment of Native Americans. In June 2021, Elorza was one of 11 U.S. mayors who formed Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity (MORE), a coalition of municipal leaders dedicated to starting pilot reparations programs in their cities.["11 U.S. Mayors Commit To Developing Pilot Projects For Reparations,"]
''Associated Press'' (June 18, 2021) In March 2022, Elorza signed an executive order creating the 13-member Providence Municipal Reparations Commission. In August 2022, after receiving the commission's report and recommendations, Mayor Elorza proposed a $10 million reparations spending plan for the city.
Personal life
Elorza is an avid cyclist and fitness enthusiast. He frequently commutes by bicycle from his home in Olneyville to City Hall.
In August 2019, Elorza married Stephanie Gonzalez, a former Central Falls city council member. The pair had a son in June 2018.
After finishing his term as mayor, Elorza was appointed, in 2023, to lead Democrats for Education Reform, a political advocacy organization which focuses on encouraging the Democratic Party to support public education reform and charter schools.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elorza, Jorge
1976 births
21st-century mayors of places in Rhode Island
American politicians of Guatemalan descent
Classical High School alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Hispanic and Latino American mayors
Living people
Mayors of Providence, Rhode Island
PwC people
Rhode Island Democrats
Roger Williams University faculty
University of Rhode Island alumni