To the residents of Woonsocket:
I did not wake up one morning and decide that I wanted to be a politician.
I decided to run for mayor because I looked at the direction of the city I was born in, raised in, and still call home, and I could no longer convince myself that continuing to do things the same way was good enough.
I am running because Woonsocket deserves better than politics as usual.
I am not a Democrat running against a Republican. I am not a Republican running against a Democrat. I am not running to protect a political establishment, a particular administration, or a group of insiders.
I am running as a citizen of Woonsocket.
And I believe common sense belongs in the middle, where problems are solved instead of turned into political arguments.
My campaign is built around a Roadmap for a Better Woonsocket. (Found on my Facebook page)
Not a slogan.
Not a list of things that sound good during an election.
A roadmap.
Because we cannot fix Woonsocket by putting a Band-Aid on every problem and calling it progress.
Accountability has to come first.
Before we ask taxpayers for another dollar, government needs to be able to explain where the dollars we already provide are going.
I want real accountability throughout City Hall.
That means stronger financial oversight, meaningful department-by-department reviews, and an independent Department of Accountability whose job is to follow the money, examine government performance, identify waste, and make sure taxpayers are getting what they paid for.
My proposed OverWatch approach would give the city a mechanism to continually monitor departments, contracts, spending and performance—not just wait until a problem becomes a headline.
We should not be afraid of audits.
We should be afraid of governing without them.
If taxpayer money is being spent properly, prove it.
If a program works, show us the results.
If it does not work, fix it.
And if something is wasting money, stop funding it.
That is not partisan.
That is common sense.
We have to break the cycle of addiction and homelessness.
There is a growing temptation in government to confuse providing services with actually solving a problem.
Those are not the same thing.
When someone is trapped in addiction, we cannot simply keep moving that person from one temporary program to another and pretend we have solved anything.
The cycle has to end.
My approach is recovery first when addiction is the underlying problem.
That means expanding access to meaningful treatment and recovery—including the use of mandatory treatment when legally appropriate and necessary—while making sure people have a real opportunity to rebuild their lives afterward.
But addiction recovery and homelessness are not the same problem.
A person experiencing homelessness needs more than a bed.
They need mental-health services, employment assistance, stable housing, case management, life skills, and a real path toward independence.
That is what our homeless services should be designed around.
A shelter should be a bridge—not a destination.
We need a system that asks:
“What does this person need to get back on their feet?”
And then actually provides that path.
I believe Woonsocket should pursue the funding, grants, partnerships and resources necessary to build a comprehensive homelessness center capable of providing shelter and supportive services while connecting people with the tools they need to move forward.
We cannot solve homelessness by simply making homelessness more comfortable.
We need to help people escape it.
Public safety and civil liberties can exist together.
I support our police officers.
But supporting police does not mean giving government unlimited authority.
I believe we can have strong public safety while respecting the Fourth Amendment rights of every resident.
That is why I have questioned the expansion of technologies such as Flock cameras.
I am not anti-police.
I am anti-unnecessary surveillance.
I want our officers equipped with the resources they actually need to do their jobs, with an emphasis on effective policing, community presence, investigation and prevention—not turning Woonsocket into a city where residents are constantly tracked simply because technology makes it possible.
Public safety should make people feel safer—not make them feel like they are living under surveillance.
We need to build an economy that works for Pawtucket
Woonsocket cannot tax its way into prosperity.
We need to grow.
My Woonsocket Roadmap to a better woonsocket is about creating an environment where businesses want to invest, families can afford to remain here, properties are put back into productive use, and young people can build their future in the city they grew up in.
Economic development should not simply mean announcing another project.
It should mean asking:
How many jobs will this create? How much will it grow our tax base? What will it cost taxpayers? What does Woonsocket get in return?
We need to make better use of vacant and underutilized properties, encourage responsible development, support small businesses, improve our infrastructure, and create opportunities for investment.
And we need to protect homeowners from being treated like the easiest source of revenue whenever City Hall needs more money.
City government should work for the people.
I want a City Hall that listens.
A government that answers questions.
A government that publishes information.
A government that welcomes scrutiny instead of treating criticism as an attack.
Residents should not have to be politically connected to have their voices heard.
The mayor works for the people.
The City Council works for the people.
Every department exists because the taxpayers fund it.
That means government should be accountable to the public every single day—not just on Election Day or during an election cycle.
This is about more than the problems we see today.
I want to build a city where families feel safe.
Where children have opportunities.
Where schools and neighborhoods are treated as investments rather than afterthoughts.
Where parks are places for families—not places where residents have to worry about needles, trash or criminal activity.
Where we invest in recreation and community spaces.
Where young people have reasons to stay.
Where seniors can afford to remain in their homes.
Where businesses see opportunity.
Where taxpayers know their money is being handled responsibly.
Where government doesn’t simply manage decline.
Where we actually build something.
That requires leadership.
And leadership sometimes means saying things people do not want to hear.
It means admitting when something is not working.
It means being willing to change course.
It means looking at the facts before making accusations.
That is something I intend to do.
I am not going to tell residents something is true simply because it sounds good politically. If I have the facts, I will tell you the facts. If I do not know something, I will say I do not know.
That is what an honest, transparent, fact-based campaign should look like.
I am not promising a magic fix
I am promising something more important:
A plan.
A roadmap.
A willingness to challenge the systems that are not working.
A commitment to follow the money.
A commitment to measure results.
A commitment to recovery.
A commitment to public safety.
A commitment to constitutional rights.
A commitment to economic growth.
A commitment to housing and human dignity.
And a commitment to putting the residents of Woonsocket before political interests.
I know I am not the traditional candidate.
I did not spend years building a political machine.
I did not have a political career mapped out for myself.
I saw a problem.
I saw an opportunity to do something about it.
And I stepped forward.
Some people will tell you that one person cannot change City Hall.
I disagree.
Every movement starts with somebody deciding that enough is enough.
Woonsocket has spent too long accepting the idea that these problems are simply the way things are.
They are not.
We can demand better.
We can build better.
We can govern better.
But we have to stop expecting different results from the same system.
My campaign is about changing that.
I am not asking Woonsocket to vote for me because I claim to have all the answers.
I am asking Woonsocket to consider a different kind of leadership.
Leadership that listens.
Leadership that questions.
Leadership that verifies.
Leadership that holds people accountable.
Leadership that is willing to make difficult decisions.
And leadership that believes this city is capable of far more than we have been told.
I was born in Woonsocket.
I was raised in Woonsocket.
And I am running because I believe Woonsocket is worth fighting for.
This is bigger than one election.
It is about what kind of city we want to leave behind.
We can continue managing the problems.
Or we can finally start solving them.
That is the choice in front of us.
I choose the roadmap.
I choose accountability.
I choose recovery.
I choose opportunity.
I choose public safety with constitutional rights.
I choose economic growth.
I choose the people of Woonsocket.
Now I am asking Woonsocket to choose whether it is ready to move forward with me.
Joseph Jabotte
Write-in candidate for mayor of Woonsocket
