Pastor Kelcy Steele and Elicker pound pavement of Newhallville.
Thomas Breen photos
Elicker takes notes as Alonzo Pugh relays concerns.
“Are they ever gonna do something about that house?” Alonzo Pugh asked the mayor and Dixwell pastor who had come to his doorstep. “It’s been like that for 27 years.”
Pugh posed that question Saturday afternoon while standing on the screened-in front porch of his Dorman Street home, just feet away from the first-term Mayor Justin Elicker and Varick AME Zion Church Pastor Kelcy Steele.
The house across the street from Alonzo Pugh’s house.
Pugh pointed across the street at a vacant, boarded-up house after Elicker — campaigning for mayor for the first time as an incumbent — asked if the Newhallville resident had any questions for the city’s top elected official.
His was the third stop that Elicker and Steele made during a two-person door-knocking canvass of Newhallville on behalf of the mayor’s reelection campaign.
Elicker faces a likely Democratic primary challenge this year from Karen DuBois-Walton, the city’s public housing authority chief, who is officially exploring a run for the city’s top office and has already raised nearly $70,000.
The Dorman Street interaction on Saturday exemplified the challenge and opportunity that Elicker has this campaign season as he tries for the third time in less than a decade to convince city voters to pick him as the best fit for running City Hall.
Unlike during his unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 2013 and his successful mayoral run in 2019, this time around, Elicker is already mayor.
And so with voters like Pugh, he’ll have to not only listen to residents’ concerns and promise to respond—but also demonstrate what he’s already accomplished. He’ll also need to show that he knows how to use his office to address neighborhood concerns.
Elicker and Pugh.
“That doesn’t look too good, does it?” Elicker responded when Pugh asked about the boarded-up house across the way. The mayor took out his phone to digitally scribble down some notes.
“I’m going to send an email to LCI,” the mayor said, referring to the city’s neighborhood-improvement agency, the Livable City Initiative. “The city has some tools we can use with the anti-blight ordinance.”
Namely, the city can start fining the owner of the long-vacant property if he doesn’t follow city laws around maintenance and upkeep.
With a home like that that has been empty and boarded up for years, Elicker said, “It’s time for them to address the problem.”
Pugh said that, based on conversations with his alder about the issue, the owner of the house seems to be up to date on his taxes.
“I’d like to see him sell it or fix it up or do something,” Pugh said with exasperation.
The mayor gave Pugh his phone number and asked Pugh to call him in five days to provide an update.
“I want to know that something’s being done.”
Elicker then asked if he could count on the Dorman Street resident’s vote in the Democratic primary this September.
“You’re doing pretty good so far,” Pugh said. He nodded in agreement that he’d cast his vote for the incumbent.
Heading back to the sidewalk on his way to the next house over, Elicker reflected on the value of door-to-door canvassing. Saturday marked the first time he was hitting the streets in such a fashion for his reelection campaign this year.
“This is a great way to engage with people face to face,” Elicker said. “It’s helpful for me to hear about issues first hand.”
A review of the city’s online land record database, meanwhile, shows that LCI has in fact used the city’s anti-blight ordinance for years against the owner of the vacant house at 58 Dorman St.
In November 2011, LCI put a $956.40 lien on the house for the cost of “cutting grass and cleaning up property.” The city released the landlord, Wilbert Hill, from that lien in 2014.
In May 2016, LCI filed another lien, this time worth $29,300, for the cost of unpaid $100-per-day fines associated with an anti-blight ordinance related to keeping the property clean and secure.
And in August 2019, the city filed a notice of a lis pendens against the property owner, warning of a foreclosure action against the property for the unpaid anti-blight fines.
Vaccine Access. Summer Camp. Stolen Cars
The mayor and Pastor Steele were asked about much more than blight on the block during their Newhallville neighborhood canvassing on Saturday.
The first half-dozen residents who opened their respective doors on Dorman Street and Pond Street all said that, for the most part, life is going pretty well. Each had at least one question for the mayor about something that could be better.
“Have you been vaccinated yet?” the mayor asked when Quashea Johnson came outside to find out why the mayor was knocking on her Dorman Street door.
Not yet, she replied. She had wanted to, but had missed an earlier appointment.
“Do you want to sign up for one now?” the mayor asked. He gave her the state’s vaccination appointment hotline number, 877 – 918-2224, to call if and when she was ready to make an appointment.
“It’s easy, and it’s a great way to keep yourself and the community safe,” he said.
Any other questions for the mayor? he asked.
In fact, yes, Johnson replied. As the mother of five children, she said, she wanted to know, “Are they gonna have summer camp this year?”
“We’re going to announce an expansion on Tuesday” of city summer camp offerings, Elicker replied. “We’ve had so many kids who have been out of school” and are hungry for in-person activities. The city will have summer camp this year, and there will be plenty of options for local families to pick from.
Farther down Dorman Street, looking out on King Robinson School and, in the distance, West Rock Park, Elicker and Steele were greeted by resident who was already fully vaccinated.
Her request for the mayor at the door? “We need a speed bump on this street,” she said.
“I’ll make a note,” Elicker replied, pulling out his phone to type himself a reminder. He promised to check in with the relevant city staffers.
“Do you think I can count on your vote?” he asked before leaving.
My husband and I voted for you last time, the resident replied, and intend to again.
And up on Pond Street, Elicker and Steele walked up to the front porch of Maurice Little’s house.
Opening the door in a red baseball cap and red-sleeved coat, Little, who works for the bridge division of the city’s public works department, told the mayor that he and his wife are also already vaccinated.
Any problems or questions you want me to know about? the mayor asked.
Little pointed to an L‑shaped turn at Pond and Fournier Streets.
“A lot of kids are stealing cars and putting them over there,” Little said. Typically when that happens, he calls Newhallville top cop Lt. Manmeet Colon, who always responds promptly.
Elicker made a note of the issue, and promised to look into it and touch base with city police.
Before leaving, the mayor asked Little if he could count on his support in the primary. Little agreed, and Elicker and Steele walked on towards their next door to knock.
Vereen: “This Neighborhood Will Speak”
One Pond Street residence where Elicker did not win a definitive show of support or opposition to his reelection bid was at the home of Barbara Vereen.
That’s in part because the mayor did not ask the Newhallville Ward 20 Democratic Ward Committee co-chair point blank whom she plans on supporting.
“I don’t want to put you on the spot,” he said with a smile amidst small talk on Vereen’s front porch.
Elicker failed to win the endorsement of Ward 20’s co-chairs in the 2019 race, just as he failed to win the local Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement overall, thus resulting in his having to petition his way onto the September primary ballot before handily winning the nomination — and then the general election in November.
Vereen promised to invite Elicker and any other mayoral candidates to come before the Ward 20 committee and make their respective cases to the committee members and co-chairs as to why they should win their support. Committee members are eager to hear from the mayor and from any potential challengers, she said.
When this reporter asked Vereen if she plans on supporting the mayor this time around, and about what she makes of the likely-contested mayoral race so far, she diplomatically demurred.
“This neighborhood is not quiet,” she said about Newhallville. “This neighborhood will speak,” and whomever Newhallville Democrats choose as their preferred candidate, she’ll support at the town convention this summer and beyond.
The title should have read: The Pastor Holds Elicker's Hand in Newhallville.
The residents were quite surprised to see both the pastor and Elicker on their porch seeking votes I'm sure.
Walking through one of the most challenged areas in the city, Elicker and the pastor were in unfamiliar territory. Elicker appoints the pastor to a State Commission, and now the pastor's in his pocket for the duration of his tenure as mayor.
A homeowner points out a dilapidated eyesore that according to him, has been sitting idle for 27 years. Elicker makes a note of it, and then tells the gentleman to contact him in five days. Hey Elicker, he's your boss, why don't you call him in five days?
Since the good pastor has such a close relationship with Elicker, where's the renewal program for the Newhallville community? Pastor Steele, if your involvement in Elicker's campaign isn't addressing that serious need, then your involvement isn't about the people in Newhallville at all, quite the contrary, your involvement is about you.