NYC mayor praises Marino's 'courage'

(ANSA) - Rome, July 22 - 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".