Thomas MacMillan Photo
When Gary Holder-Winfield announced his candidacy for mayor of New Haven Saturday, he was introduced by a state lawmaker from Stamford, who pointed out other lawmakers in the room from Hartford, Norwalk, and Middletown.
That was no coincidence. As he kicks off his campaign to become the next mayor, Holder-Winfield (pictured) highlighted the statewide connections he’s made as a state representative since 2009. He said his experience as a state legislator would help him as mayor with economic development in New Haven, as well as on other issues. New Haven relies heavily on the state for its schools budget and support for pretty much all major building projects.
Holder-Winfield is running to replace Mayor John DeStefano, who announced he will step down at the end of the year, ending a 20-year tenure as mayor. East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker has also declared his candidacy.
Holder-Winfield, who’s 38, made his case in campaign kick-off event at the Greek Olive on Sargent Drive on Saturday afternoon. About 75 people gathered in a back room at the restaurant, a favorite spot with New Haven pols.
No municipal elected officials were in attendance. Holder-Winfield was introduced by Stamford state Rep. Patricia Billie Miller, who pointed out state representatives from three other Connecticut towns who showed up to support Holder-Winfield.
In addition to his experience as a legislator, Holder-Winfield also touted his bonafides as a neighborhood activist in New Haven. He spoke about improvements he’d like to make to education, community policing, economic development, and transparency.
As people mingled and noshed before Holder-Winfield’s speech, they spoke about why they had shown up to the event.
Leslie Blatteau, a high school teacher who ran for mayor in 2005 on the Guilty Party line, said she likes the work Holder-Winfield has done on abolishing the death penalty, working for equality, and addressing the trauma from urban violence, affecting young people. In his rookie year, Holder-Winfield succeeded in convincing suburban legislators to vote to abolish the death penalty. The bill passed, was vetoed — then passed again and was signed into law once Gov. Dannel P. Malloy took office.
Elaine Peters (pictured speaking with Holder-Winfield), an activist with Mothers For Justice, said Holder-Winfield is a part of the Newhallville community. “He’s right there and he’s for the people.”
“Gary’s the best candidate who’s declared and the best candidate who’s likely to enter the race,” said Charlie Pillsbury, the co-chair of the New Haven Green Party. He said Holder-Winfield has “the savvy to run a city like New Haven.”
Pillsbury cited Holder-Winfield’s use of Twitter and Facebook: “Today’s mayor has to be comfortable using social media.” Holder-Winfield was cited as the legislator who communicated most often with constituents through social-media sites like Twitter.
Pillsbury also spoke highly of Holder-Winfield’s “guts” and “savvy” to work to organize his colleagues to overturn the death penalty.
Speaking from prepared remarks, Holder-Winfield described growing up in public housing in the Bronx as the child of a single mom. He said he was “surrounded by violence” and had to fight for an education. He knows “how it is to be on the outside,” he said.
“I don’t want anybody to have the starting place that I had,” he said.
Holder-Winfield moved to the city as an engineer, then became an activist. “This is a city moving forward because of activists,” he said.
Holder-Winfield said the city needs to do more to support early-childhood education. He also mentioned curriculum development, smaller classrooms, and parental involvement. He said later that he’s been working for years, on the issue of early-childhood education, taking the lead on a bill on kindergarten to third-grade readiness and working to develop a pilot program. Holder-Winfield has sponsored school-reform bills at the Capitol, including one law that gave parents more say in turning around failing schools (a law New Haven ignored).
Elicker also mentioned early childhood education during his campaign kick-off. Asked about that, Holder-Winfield said, “If you look at the record of people in this race, there’s only one person — me — who’s been working on this for years.”
On crime, Holder-Winfield said the city’s return to community policing could be strengthened. He later said that some of the new walking beat cops aren’t talking to the neighborhoods, aren’t introducing themselves and making connections.
He said later that the city needs to do more to address the mental health impact of urban violence, which creates trauma that can lead to more violence.
On economic development, Holder-Winfield said New Haven is poised to become “the jewel of Connecticut.” He said the city has the advantages of a port, and airport, and easy highway access. The city needs to do more to promote itself based on those assets, Holder-Winfield said.
“We’ve got to go out and sell this city,” he said later. “We haven’t done so good at that.”
To do that, his statewide connections and ties to state government would be useful, Holder-Winfield said. “People from all over the state are in this room,” he said. “The mayor of the city doesn’t’ just sit in the city.”
Elicker Responds
Contacted after Holder-Winfield’s announcement, Elicker said, “I’m not going to make a comment on Gary’s strengths or weaknesses.”
Eliicker said he’s “glad to hear Gary talking about early childhood development.”
He said he agrees that New Haven “has a lot of unique characteristics that give it great potential” for economic development. Elicker added that such development also depends on “tapping into innovation and entrepreneurship,” which is “a huge potential partnership with Yale.”
“Also, creation of a sense of place is what draws people back to urban centers,” Elicker said. “Particularly in that area I’ve shown a dedication to creating walkable and bikeable neighborhoods.”
Any improvements to the city will cost money and require “implementing a budget that’s within our means,” Elicker said. He said his experience as an alderman would allow him to tackle those challenges well. He said he’s “shown a commitment to long term planning for fiscal spending.”
“The fact that I’ve working with every department on solving neighborhood and citywide issues for the entire time that I’ve been an alderman on a day to day basis shows that I have an understanding of the operations of the city and the city budget,” he said.