New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio,
on a working visit to Rome and the Vatican, praised under-fire
Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino on Wednesday for "the change" his work
against corruption has brought to Rome, thanking him for his
"courage and leadership".
Following his meeting with de Blasio, Marino tweeted, "The
morning of work at Campidoglio begins with a productive meeting
with colleague and friend Bill de Blasio," along with four
photos from the meeting.
Marino said the meeting included talk on the difficulties
and challenges of their two cities, "different in size but with
similar problems," including public housing projects and
organized crime.
Marino has been criticised for not managing the city's many
problems effectively and not being aware of a mafia-style
organisation that had muscled into municipal contracts.
The two also discussed immigration and the homeless
population, linking Rome's challenges with the former to New
York's challenges with the latter.
"There are tens of thousands of homeless in New York. De
Blasio explained to me that these numbers didn't appear
spontaneously, they've always been there, but no one ever dealt
with them, so once the mayor of New York started to deal with
them it seemed as if the problem had increased," Marino said.
Rome's mayor announced Wednesday that he will visit
Philadelphia on September 23 for Pope Francis's visit to that
city, and will meet with de Blasio in the two days prior.
Both mayors attended a workshop in Vatican City on
Wednesday organized by Pope Francis for mayors from around the
world, titled "Modern Slavery and Climate Change".
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