The Black and White

This is Part I of a three part series of interviews with the current mayoral candidates for the city of Warwick.

by Lexi Warburton

Frank Picozzi is known as our mayor by some, others call him the Christmas lights guy, no matter what you call him, everyone is aware of who you’re talking about. Mr. Picozzi visited Pilgrim High School last week for a conversation with the Black and White and said he started his journey in the Warwick system about twenty-five years ago when he was on the school committee, as well as the president of Apponaug girls softball. At the time there were 900 girls in the softball league.

After getting involved in the school committee, people once again asked Mr. Picozzi to get involved and run for mayor.  As mayor, Mr. Picozzi has made many improvements to the town of Warwick. From bettering our emergency response system, to influencing economic changes, Mr. Picozzi been busy.

When discussing the construction of Warwicks two new high schools, Mr. Picozzi stated that we are in “very good financial shape despite what you hear from the critics”. Mr. Picozzi also mentioned that we’ve had over 200 new businesses open up in recent years, meaning that Warwick is blossoming with regards to the finances and economic aspects of the city. As far as our fire trucks and emergency response system, all of our trucks are Warwick owned. Before, Warwick had to borrow trucks from other cities because ours were not in the best condition. Now that we have new trucks, we also have new crews to work on them. Mr. Picozzi has focused on hiring new firefighters and EMTs for the city, while also making sure all firefighters have their EMT cardiac license to perform necessary interventions and skills if needed. 

 “I’m not tied to any political parties” stated Mr. Picozzi in the interview. Mr. Picozzi runs as an independent and tends to stay away from politics. “There was a lot of politics in Warwick and that was why we were in the shape that we were in,” Picozzi also mentioned. It is very uncommon for a mayor to run as an independent, but Mr. Picozzi did just that and managed to power through all of the political opinions that don’t involve him. 

Additionally, Picozzi has been donating to the Tomorrow fund with the money made from the lights for twelve years, but previously donated to the Make A Wish foundation. “ We have thousands and thousands of people come each year” shared Picozzi and the lights have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to these charities. Mr. Picozzi also participates in the goodnight lights at Hasbro every Tuesday. The goodnight lights have been a tradition for a while and started when a man who made art with the kids at Hasbro, asked the kids if they could see him flashing his bike light. It has been a concept ever since. Mr. Picozzi shared that he loves this event and he and his wife go every Tuesday. Pilgrim’s hockey team participated a couple of weeks ago and many players said it was a good time and was for a good cause. 

Mr. Picozzi ran for mayor four years ago and is currently running for reelection. He has no great political aspirations beyond being the mayor and doesn’t know exactly when his journey as mayor will come to an end.

It was a pleasure to be able to talk to him, and also watch him interact with our school’s community during his visit. If given the opportunity, go visit his Christmas lights this winter, it’s a show you don’t want to miss.