Children From Head Start Eye Mayor's Office

The Providence Journal
By Alisha A. Pina
June 7, 2011

Behind the first door lurks a meeting in progress.

A secret, but empty, safe hides behind the second.
On the other side of the third is Mayor Angel Taveras’ private bathroom, complete with a shower.
And the fourth in Taveras’ City Hall office opens into a side room where lunchtime strategy sessions take place.

Door number three, please, 5-year-old Kaidin-Jarone François asked the mayor Monday. The little boy had to go, and needed help with nature’s call.

Much to the mayor’s relief, a teacher took him.

“I was ready to help, but I was trying to be a good tour guide,” Taveras said afterward.
For many of the 22 Children’s Friend Head Start students at City Hall on Monday, it was their first time there, and the 3- to 5-year-olds had a behind-the-scenes exploration with the city’s two top-ranked politicians: Taveras and City Council President Michael Solomon.

“When I was like you, I went to Head Start,” Taveras said as the kids sat around the side room’s large meeting table.

More than a third said they would also like to be mayor someday.

“I have a boo-boo,” Joseph Diaz told Taveras. He pointed at his bicycling injury twice.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the mayor said, while also telling Joseph to always wear a helmet. “…You have to let it heal and get better.”

The adults had to coax the other children to speak. They asked Taveras what his favorite food (rice and beans), dessert (chocolate cake) and colors (blue and red) were.

They weren’t shy about singing, however. With a little direction, they loudly performed “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” on the steps in the middle of City Hall. Proud adults and the mayor’s staff snapped multiple pictures.

Taveras joined in when the children began the ABC song. No assistance needed on that one.
The mayor got down on one knee to get a hug from Luis Cooper and Jose Clausell as they presented him with drawings. Taveras promised to put them up in his office, the one with the multiple doors.

“You know how the mayor has his floor,” Solomon said as the children traveled with him from the second floor to the third. “Well this is my floor.”

In the Board of Aldermen’s Chamber, Solomon read a children’s book, “And the Winner Is …,” written by rapper LL Cool J. The tale tells the children to never give up, even after a loss, and to be a humble winner.
More pictures followed, along with a healthy treat of fruit, vegetables and water. Although it was nearly finished, Solomon rushed a committee meeting so the children could have some time in the council chambers.

They also visited Solomon’s City Hall office.
It has only one door.