Looking for a new kind of mayor

Published Feb. 24, 2010 at 6:23 p.m.
Recruitment
...Perhaps you've seen the ads...

Perhaps you've seen the ads:

Wanted: Mayor. Start Date: January 1, 2011...must inspire intelligent and transparent decision-making across all arms of city government and deliver services that support the well being of all residents.

A local group calling itself "Uncaucus" has posted them on Craigslist pages all across the country. But no, enticing as it may seem, they aren't really looking to recruit a far-away hero to come rescue Providence. The real point, says co-founder Melissa Withers, is to "broaden our horizons" about the qualities that make a good mayor.

"We're all rooting for a hometown hero," she says. "The best-case scenario is for a candidate to come from the community who can do a great job and represent all of the citizens. But I think what it does is, it challenges the usual suspects to...think a little differently about how they represent themselves to the citizens."

It's about civic engagement, Withers says, and about sending a signal to say, "We don't just have to sit passively and consume the candidates that are brought to us. We actually have an ability to go out and stimulate interest in the position and try to attract better candidates."

The Uncaucus sprang up on February 13, shortly after Mayor David N. Cicilline announced that he'd be running for retiring Representative Patrick J. Kennedy's seat. Withers and several friends, all active in the community, decided it was time to do to elections what "unconferences" have done to formal gatherings: turn them inside out.

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