Reed tours Central Falls, Cumberland

CENTRAL FALLS — U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) stopped by the Dexter Street area on Thursday afternoon to visit with and garner opinions from local politicians, business owners and residents, much of which he said pointed to a single overriding concern: The economy.

"I just think the economy has become such a central issue," Reed said while in Central Falls. "It’s primarily the economy, as it should be. These are some very difficult circumstances for some people. It’s harder and harder to provide for your family."

Reed visited with Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau, Planning Director Art Hanson and other prominent locals, as part of a visit he said he tries to make to the area on a regular basis to gauge the concerns of the public and local officials. Later in the afternoon, he moved on to Cumberland, where he did much the same, accompanied by that town’s mayor, Daniel McKee.

In speaking to Reed, each mayor had concerns he wished to voice to the long-serving senator. Moreau said he was concerned about disappearing federal funding for cities and towns, including Community Development Block Grants (CDBG’s). He said his concerns were primarily issues affecting veterans, senior citizens and children. He expressed concern that funding was drying up for such federal assistance, noting that Reed had been a big help to the city in this regard in the past.

"Those funds are diminishing," Moreau said. "Obviously, I lean on Jack for a lot of stuff, and Jack’s always been producing for me and for the Blackstone Valley."

Regarding the controversial "bailout" package for financially troubled Wall Street firms that was recently passed by Congress, Reed said he initially had concerns about the proposal put forth by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. He said that while he felt something had to be done about the financial crisis, he wanted to ensure that any bailout proposal involving

taxpayer money include limits on executive compensation at companies benefiting from the bailout.

"My first reaction was, ‘we have to do a lot of work,’" on the bailout, Reed said. "And I think what we emerged with was a much (better) financial plan."

In Cumberland, meanwhile, McKee said he took Reed on a tour of a facility operated by the town’s Office of Children, Youth and Learning (OCYL), an educational initiative the mayor has been touting for some time. The mayor said their visit also entailed a stop at a local business doing work for the Department of Defense, and that he had expressed a desire to have the business placed on a list of companies to be referred to by the government for future work.

Like Moreau, McKee said that economic concerns figured into his discussions with Reed, but not as heavily in his case. He said he had wanted to update Reed on progress made by the OCYL- for which Reed had helped procure grant funding- and other educational initiatives the mayor had been working on, including the Mayoral Academy concept. Still, he acknowledged that financial concerns were bound to come up no matter the discussion topic.

"I don’t think you could talk to anybody about any issue at all that doesn’t eventually lead to the banking issue and how that’s impacted us," McKee said. "Clearly the economy and the credit issue and the bailout issue were in the conversation. What are we going to do? Are there any more options that we have?"

As it turns out, McKee said, there was an option for dealing with the economic crisis on the local level that Reed may be able to help him with. The mayor said he had been receiving numerous phone calls from parties involved in foreclosures or potential foreclosures, and had been attempting to advise them as best as he knew how. However, he said that Reed had indicated that he might soon be able to provide town officials with some information that- while McKee did not specify its nature- may help them in dealing with foreclosures locally. McKee added that he was hopeful that economic conditions would improve eventually, but that until then, times would likely be hard.

"You know that there’s going to be growth, and there’s going to be a better economy," McKee said. "But right now, you’ve got to get through this mess."