US Rep. Gabe Amo delivers keynote at CIRI Spring Dinner.
Infrastructure-focused address set the tone at May 28 event.
The semi-annual CIRI dinner meetings are a valuable opportunity to review our industry’s recent progress, along with current challenges on the horizon. As is customary for the President of CIRI, Mike D’Ambra provided both introductory and followup remarks for the major segments of the program. The latter half of the program featured the 14th annual presentation of the CIRI Henry J. Sherlock Scholarships to six college-bound students.
Congressman Amo participating in the CIRI Scholarship Awards presentation.
RI Congressman Gabe Amo
Keynote Speaker
At the beginning of his address, Congressman Amo expressed his thanks to the CIRI board and membership — in addition to RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr. — for providing the leadership to keep Rhode Island moving ahead in its continual quest to improve our infrastructure. Amo then spoke to the intrinsic non-partisan nature of the challenges at hand.
“We might be from different states. We might have different ideological backgrounds. But I’ll tell you one thing. There’s no such thing as a Republican bridge or a Democratic road,” Amo said. “There are roads and bridges, and those things are essential to our economy, to our community, to our livelihoods, to our future. So that’s the spirit I bring to this.”
Speaking to the wider collaborative spirit among Rhode Island’s congressional delegation. Amo talked about the concerted effort being made in conjunction with US Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with his counterpart in the House, Representative Seth Magaziner.
“I happen to work on a great team,” Amo said. “A team of people who are committed to getting every last cent and dollar to the critical projects that we have here.”
Gabe Amo’s involvement with matters concerning RI infrastructure began as a member of the Governor Raimondo adminstration — with an assignment to organize and amplify support among various stakeholders for the effort that became the landmark RhodeWorks legislation.
“I do as I’m told, and we got to work,” Amo continued. “Because of the Director’s great leadership — and because of the great leadership that we have in the General Assembly — you saw historic investment. Bold activity to stimulate this important aspect of our state.”
Addressing both the CIRI membership and the scholarship recipients in attendance, Congressman Amo then spoke to the direct tangible benefits of transportation and infrastructure projects. This included the need to put forward a vision, that is beyond aspirational, to effectively streamline projects and bring them to completion.
“I thank you for all the work that you do,” Amo concluded. “Know that the travel back and forth to Washington — and the work that happens in those halls — means absolutely nothing if it doesn’t connect to you. So put that burden on us, and remind us every day that we work for you. It’s the greatest honor that I’ll ever have.”
