New Haven Independent

The incumbent alderwoman in Ward 30, which includes the West Rock and West Hills neighborhoods on either side of West Rock itself, is first-termer Michelle Edmonds-Sepulveda (shown in top photo), a truancy officer for the New Haven Board of Education. Her voting record falls in step with City Hall, and in turn she receives support for her campaign from the Democratic Town Committee.

Her challenger, Tilda Morrison (pictured at left), describes herself as the matriarch of the Westville Manor project — and “not a politician.” She has the support and guidance of a grassroots organization known as the West Rock Concerned Citizens, a handful of community activists who have been a loud voice in negotiations between residents and the housing authority over the Brookside and Rockview redevelopment plans.

Ward 30 is home to more public housing units than anywhere else in the city, even with two large developments left vacant for redevelopment. Both campaigns said dealing with Housing Authority New Haven (HANH) management is a major part of the alderwoman’s job.

Although the housing authority sometimes frustrates Edmonds-Sepulveda, she said it is important to have a good relationship with the agency because she needs it.

Morrison’s main support base, the West Rock Concerned Citizens, has members on the Implementation Committee overseeing the rebuilding of West Rock. The committee set out to award 30 per cent of the contracts to rebuild the projects to local, minority-owned businesses.

Both candidates said they see abandoned houses on Brookside Avenue as a public safety hazard for the senior citizens who live at the end of road in Abraham Ribicoff Cottages.

“I am really nervous about the seniors there,” Edmonds-Sepulveda said. “You can drive through Brookside and it’s a ghost town, and they’re at the end like sitting ducks.”

Edmonds-Sepulveda said she worked with John Prokop when he was HANH’s director of public safety to get bulletproof lights installed on the street. Since he has left, she said, “it’s like you have to start all over again from scratch.”

Morrison also said she is concerned for seniors’ safety, but said that bullet-proof lights will not make a difference. She said the problem is that Brookside is a dead-end street in the middle of nowhere, so she would try to get a road paved that led out to a main street.

Whither Community Policing?

Two police officers are assigned to the ward, down from four a few years ago. Concerned about the decline, Edmonds-Sepulveda said she has worked with a neighborhood block watch and invited Street Outreach Workers to talk to young people. On Saturday, she attended a cookout held by the Brotherhood Leadership Summit at Valley Townhouses.

Morrison said she isn’t too concerned about how few police there are in her neighborhood. Real community policing, she said, comes from a strong community. In that respect, she said there is still not enough for people to do in West Rock. She said she wants to bring jobs for young people, day care centers for mothers to work and volunteer at, and rec centers for young people and seniors.

Edmonds-Sepulveda said she has opened up doors, most recently an after-school program at the on Valley Street.

Shartenberg and Taxes

Edmonds-Sepulveda missed the recent Board of Aldermen voted to approve the Shartenberg development at State and Chapel streets. She was present at the meeting, but in the lavatory at the time of the vote. News reports said she abstained; she said she was planning on voting for the development. While in the bathroom, however, she was approached by a CORD organizer. Not wanting to be rude, she listened to the organizer present her case while the vote was going on.

Morrison said she would not have voted for the Shartenberg development, because she said it won’t do anything for the community. Instead of upscale housing, Morrison said she would like to see economic development downtown that also provides a place for kids to go, like a bowling alley, roller skating rink, or department store.

“You can’t even go shopping downtown anymore,” Morrison said.

Both candidates took issue with the $1 sale price of the land for the project.

“But other than that,” Edmonds-Sepulveda said, “we need to do anything and everything we can to keep taxes from going up that much again.”

Although she voted in favor a new $443 million city budget that raised taxes, Edmonds-Sepulveda said she fought in the board’s Democratic caucus to lower taxes where she thought she could. She said she looks forward to hearing from a new group of citizens who have started a group to scrutinize “extra fat” in the budget.

Morrison said she would not have voted to raise taxes, and said it was hypocritical for the city to tow people’s cars for owing money when the city gives away buildings to developers. When asked about which services she would have cut, she thought for a moment, consulted a supporter, then said she would have voted with Alderman Jorge Perez to hold off on hiring more police officers and firefighters.

“It’s not a matter of how many police they have,” Morrison said. “It’s their commitment to the community.”

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