Tweed Subsidy Revisited

Budget-strapped New Haven’s support for Tweed-New Haven Airport again took center stage as government department heads appeared before aldermen to testify about their portion of the mayor’s proposed $476.3 million budget.

Thursday night’s meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee was one of several budget workshops, at which all city departments must defend their portion of the annual city budget. Read about the last one, on Tuesday, here.

The meeting offered a detailed look at how New Haven spends taxpayer money, from job creation and public health to neighborhood-level building code enforcement.

During the meeting, I filed live updates from the Aldermanic Chambers as representatives of 11 city departments lay out their cases for city dollars. Scroll down to read the play-by-play description.

There were few fireworks during the nearly three-and-a-half hour meeting, as aldermen were bombarded with glowing reports about the extensive accomplishments of the departments that came before them.

As in previous years, the subject of Tweed Airport drew some pointed questioning about the airport’s viability. Tim Larson, the director of the airport authority, said Tweed is ​“bound and determined” to get to the point where it can stop taking a subsidy from the city. But it’s not there yet. Tweed got $550,000 from the city last year, or 20 percent of its total budget.

Despite distributing several pages of graphs, Larson did not have a copy of Tweed’s overall budget to share with aldermen. That disappointed Alderman Jorge Perez.

Westville Aldermen Greg Dildine, who’s not on the Finance Committee, sought specific details about what type of aircraft the airport could accommodate, and how many customers it serves every year.

Other topics that drew questions were parking meter revenue, elderly services, and youth outreach.

The city departments up for questions on Thursday night were: Registrar of Voters, Community Services Administration, Public Health, Elderly Services, Youth Services, Commission on Equal Opportunity, Economic Development Administration, Developing Operating Contributions (Shubert Theater, Tweed/New Haven Airport), Transportation, Traffic & Parking, Office of Building Inspection & Enforcement, Livable City Initiative

Live blog begins below. (Note: direct quotes are in quotation marks. Everything else is either paraphrasing or observations.)

6:58 p.m. - Meeting’s about to start. Aldermen are filtering in.

7:04 -Committee Chairman Alderman Yusuf Shah is calling the meeting to order. He’s joined by Aldermen Roland Lemar, Justin Elicker, Bitsie Clark, Jorge Perez, Carl Goldfield, Andrea Jackson-Brooks, Stephanie Bauer, Maureen O’Sullivan-Best, and Migdalia Castro. Aldermen Al Paolillo, Arlene DePino, and Greg Dildine are also in the chamber. They’re not on the committee.

7:08And we’re off! Andy Rizzo of the Building Department is up first.

7:11 -And he’s done. Short and sweet. Lemar questioned the increase in building permit fees. Rizzo said the new fee is still lower than the cost to his department. Rizzo said he’s looking for no increase in his budget next year.

7:12 -On to the Registrar of Voters. Department heads say their budget is ​“cut and dry.” New technology is helping them.

7:16 — Another short one. Next up is Community Services Administration. Chisara Asomugha, director, is joined by public health, youth services, and elderly services.

7:22 — Pat Wallace, director of elderly services, says her department’s most visible program is senior centers, but the department’s rent rebate program is very important as well. Her department has seen staff cuts. She’s enumerating all the things the department does for seniors: arts and crafts classes, trips, health and wellness assistance, and ​“daily nutritious meals.”

7:29 — Question from Goldfield: ​“We reduced senior centers from five to three.” Last year. It was a very controversial move. ​“How is that working out? Was it very disruptive?”

7:30 — Wallace answers: Her department is now entering data to see where the seniors who access centers live. People at Bella Vista do not understand that there is free transportation to senior centers. In Westville a ​“little cluster of people” has a self-funded yoga class at library… The short answer: We’ll know more about who’s been affected when we crunch the numbers.

7:33 — Budget watchdog Jeffrey Kerekes is commenting from his laptop 20 feet to my right.

7:37 — Wallace corrects Goldfield. The city went from six centers to three, not five to three.

7:39 — Wallace lists more things the department does for seniors: tai chi, plays, trips to the Big E. … Some aldermanic eyes are glazing over.

7:40 — O’Sullivan-Best brings up Innovation Based Budgeting, the new budgeting system planned. IBB would combine elderly and disabled services, O’Sullivan-Best says. Would Wallace care to comment on that? Wallace says not yet.

7:42 — Che Dawson from the Youth Department is up. The youth department’s general fund request will stay the same as it has for the past two years, he says. The money supports the street outreach program, which has helped to curb violence, he says. Next year wants to focus on measuring impact of programs. … Asset map was launched last year. … Youth At Work program ​“facilitated employment” for over 1,200 youth last year.

7:46 — Clark asks: recent spate of violence, were the youth involved known by the youth department? Chairman Shah interrupts to say violence is a sensitive issue… Clark clarifies: Do street outreach workers need more financial support ​“Do you feel we’ve been able to hold our own .. and stem some of the violence?”

Dawson responds: we have 8 street outreach workers; each deals with 40 to 50 young people. They are effective, particularly in emergency mediation. ​“Could we use more? Definitely.”

Alderman Marcus Paca, just arrived, speaks up from the gallery. He says he was down in DC last month lobbying Sen. Dodd about putting money into job creation for young people. Their parents are taking jobs that have traditionally been theirs, he says. Is Dawson looking for any federal money to help with youth summer employment? And how many youth jobs are available now?

Dawson: There are still some stimulus dollars left from state. The conservative number is 800 jobs available for Youth At Work this summer. Have received 1,500 applications to the program.

7:53 — Elicker asks: CSA budget has $500,000 for Mayor’s Youth Initiative. Why isn’t that in the Youth Services budget?

Che says he doesn’t know why it’s set up that way. The majority of that funding goes to Youth at Work.

7:55 — On to the Health Department. Asomugha says the Health Department generates $1 million per year. The department is still looking for a permanent director.

7:57 — Asomugha: The health department budget includes an addition of one full-time processing clerk, to ​“increase capacity” for the office of vital statistics.

Castro says she would like more health department events in various communities.

“Will that cost more money?” says Shah.

“Everything does,” Paul Kowalski, health department staffer responds. An annual health event at Lighthouse Point will continue.

Castro wants specific numbers on who has benefited from health dept activities — by ward.

Kowalski promises to email it to her tomorrow.

Elicker: There are 50 to 60 positions here in health department. How does that compare to other cities?

Asomugha: NYC has 6,000. Hartford has slightly more than New Haven. Here, chronic disease is an issue. We need to inspect restaurants and have nurses in school. Other towns have different needs.

Elicker: Are the positions mandated or elective?

Kowalski: Health Dept. has an ​“unbelievable amount” of mandated services. We’re doing the best we can with what we have. We do not have a nurse in every school. With only three restaurant inspectors, we can’t reach our mandate on inspections. Four-fifths of positions are providing mandated services.

Alderman Jorge Perez: Can you compare to other cities in CT?

Asomugha: I can look that up.

8:12 — The whole CSA gang is done. That was a big chunk of the agenda. Maybe this meeting won’t go all night? Next up is Department of Traffic and Parking.

8:13 — Mike Piscitelli (pictured), director of traffic and parking, presents the annual report for 2009, to show ​“what we accomplished last year.” The department has four operating divisions: traffic safety and control (traffic lights, signs, street lines, crosswalks), parking management and operations (meters, tickets), safety guard positions (crossing guards), system planning and safety (the Street Smarts program, urban planning work).

Proposed budget has three categories: A $2.3 million operating budget, a $910,000 capital budget, and $10.4 million in revenue programs (combined with other departments, that’s money the department will generate)

The operating budget is essentially level funded, with the exception of a new crew of four part-time parking enforcement officers. That would increase meter enforcement on evenings and weekends. Cost: $80,000 to $90,000 per year. That will be covered by meter revenue.

The capital budget request of $910,000 is down from $1.4 million last year.

Lots of traffic light triggers in the city are damaged. The budget would fix 10 of those. They cause driver frustration and red-light-running.

The budget for meter repair would double. That will pave the way for things like ​“dynamic parking.” Flexible prices at different times of day will ensure that parking meters are filling up with coins.

The last thing: ​“We desperately need a new platform truck,” Piscitelli says. The current one is from 1998. ​“It looks like something out of the Flintstones.” It’s a significant cost: $80,000.

Clark has a question: We get parking ticket revenue but not speeding ticket revenue?

Piscitelli has the answer: We get a small percentage; the state gets the rest.

Clark: Red light cameras—who would get money from those tickets?

Piscitelli: the municipality would get a significant percentage.

8:27 —  Goldfield says he’s ​“still” looking for bike racks in front of City Hall, in part to demonstrate that the city encourages biking. Piscitelli says they will be installed shortly.

Piscitelli on pay stations and parking meter improvements: ​“This will not be a linear exercise. … There will be rolling initiatives.” Pay stations will be put in as a pilot on Prospect Street as part of a Yale project. 

Dildine, from the gallery, wants to know how projected parking revenue is calculated.

Piscitelli: Last year the budget projected $4 million from meters, $5 million from tickets. ​“This budget is a much more honest approach.” People will want to pay for parking if you give them a good system. This year’s budget projects $5.2 million in tickets and 5.2 in meter revenue.

Dildine: What’s the philosophy behind fining people to raise money?

Piscitelli: If the parking system is more efficient you don’t need to write as many tickets. Dealing with contested tickets takes a lot of staff resources.

Dildine: ​“I’m not getting the complete answer I was looking for….. Are you trying to raise revenue?”

Piscitelli: This year we’re trying to raise revenue ​“at the meter.”

Dildine: But we’re not trying to raise any targeted amount of money?

Piscitelli: The budget includes only what we anticipate getting.

8:39 —  Piscitelli is dismissed. Next: Economic Development Administration. Kelly Murphy, administrator, and Barbara Lamb, director of cultural affairs, take their seats.

Murphy’s overview: New Haven is ​“bucking the trend.” Despite the recession, New Haven has seen a 2.8 percent grand list increase plus new investments (hotel expansions, Science Park). It’s one of the biggest grand list upticks in decades. Colony Hardware is coming to River Street: 100 jobs, plus more in coming years. Gelato Giuliana relocated to New Haven: more jobs. 100 new business opened in the last year: Manjares, Elaine’s Healthy Choice, and more. 20 facade improvements last year, 15-plus in the works. … 360 State … Green Contracting Initiative (partnering with LCI on deconstructions) … Cultural Affairs: Percent for Art … Coming up: storefronts for artists program (art in empty storefronts), modeled on a program in NYC and London. … 400,000 square foot Downtown Crossing project: 900 permanent jobs and millions of dollars of revenue per year … Winchester factory: office for HigherOne in the first phase, then residential development there too. … (Whew! Murphy’s covering a lot of ground)

8:50 — Elicker asks one question about job positions in the department… and that’s it for Economic Development. Next up is ​“Developing Operating Contributions” (Shubert, Tweed, Pilot Pen). Murphy stays on, is joined by reps from the above.

Tim Larson, the executive director of the airport authority, is up first

8:54 — Larson: state promised $1.425 million this last year. Tweed had asked for $2 million, has seen only $1 million so far.

Kereke, still on his laptop here in the aldermanic chambers, is commenting on Tweed. See below.

Larson says a noise study is planned to look into the impact of noise on the neighborhood. Airport improvements: new chairs, new baggage inspection equipment, new coffee area … they’re working on the Tweed website.

Charts and graphs are handed out. New Haven’s subsidy of the airport has decreased over the years.

“We are bound and determined to get off the city’s subsidy,” Larson says.

Legislative liaison Adam Joseph gets a shout out for $5 million in promised state bonds for Tweed. Governor made a slight cut to that. It’s still in front of the State Bond Commission for approval.

Larson mentions East Haven court battle. It had been costly, but airport is recovering.

9:06 — The aldermanic meeting table started off pretty bare, but it’s been filling with stacks of paper as each department head hands out more charts, graphs, reports, and pamphlets. Aldermen have a huge amount of data to sift through.

“We are a fishing boat with 15 lines in the water, doing everything we can to attract certain air carriers,” Larson says. ​“Our goal is to reestablish DC service.” It was lost after 9/11.

“We do market the heck out of the city of New Haven,” he says. The White Plains airport is the main competition. It has a longer runway. The ultimate goal: ​“Very good, very reasonable, convenient, air service.”

Perez: ​“Where’s your budget in all this?”

Tweed rep: We didn’t bring it tonight.

Perez: We’d like to see it.

Dildine, from the gallery: The $550,000 subsidy from the city, what percentage of your budget is that?

Answer: About 20 percent.

Dildine asks a number of pointed questions about the size of planes the airport can accommodate and how many ​“enplanements” it has per year.

9:21 — My laptop battery is running low. Service may be interrupted while I find an outlet…

9:24 — About a dozen members of the public are here.

9:25 — Tweed’s done. John Fisher of Shubert Theater takes his turn.

9:27 — Found an outlet!

9:28 — Shubert presents some interesting statistics: 200 stagehands work 3,000 shifts annually at The Shubert. Over 500,000 emails are sent annually to market the theater. 80 percent of revenue comes from ticket sales. Every dollar the city invests is matched 20 times over. Visitors to the theater spend an average of over $80 in restaurants and over $60 in retail businesses while in New Haven.

Fisher lists Shubert programs that benefit public school students through dance, performing arts, etc.

Aldermen have no questions. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission is next.

9:35 — Nichole Jefferson (pictured at the top of the story), executive director of the Commission on Equal Opportunity (CEO), takes her seat.

Jefferson says CEO was just honored by the federal Department of Labor in this region. … Site inspections are down this year, due to staffing.

CEO has the fanciest handout yet: a dozen full color photos on two glossy sheets. Jefferson is pointing out specific people in other glossy photos that CEO has helped, telling aldermen about them by name and how much their wages have increased through participation in CEO job programs. One of the women is a Hurricane Katrina victim who moved here after the storm. Jefferson is making it personal.

“We’re all about transfer of wealth for our residents,” Jefferson says. ​“We’re all about money.” Resident workers on New Haven job sites are spending their wages in the city.

9:44 — Jefferson continues to show big photos of individuals CEO has helped. She’s telling quick stories about them and about the success of CEO’s many job training and equal employment programs.

There’s more to CEO than equal employment and sex discrimination; it’s about creating a strong prepared workforce, Jefferson says. She warns aldermen she’s going to get choked up, says one of the Easter weekend murder victims was a CEO program participant.

If you don’t have training programs to get people jobs, ​“you’re going to have nothing but violence,” Jefferson says. Her son, 23, was jumped at a bar. ​“If we don’t get those people a job,” then the city won’t be safe, Jefferson says.

9:54 — Perez: You said you had to lay off staff? We didn’t cut your budget.

Jefferson: We get money from housing authority. It hasn’t been cut; it’s slow moving. ​“It’s just not in my pocket.”

Perez: So it’s likely those funds will be restored soon?

Jefferson says she’s not sure.

Clark says, ​“It’s always extraordinary to hear you.” Are other towns’ agencies as proactive as yours?

Jefferson: ​“We are the oldest municipal civil rights agency in the country.” Other agencies come to visit us to see what we do.

Clark: ​“Fascinating.”

10:01- Castro’s asking for details about training programs. Jefferson says trainees don’t necessarily stay in New Haven. Trainees are 90 to 95 percent ex-offenders.

Elicker asks about inspectors. Jefferson says, CEO has only one this year. It had more inspectors previously, but they were paid through special funds that have run out.

10:05 — CEO’s through. Time for the Livable City Initiative. The recently appointed director, Erik Johnson, take his place in front of the committee. He hands out the obligatory packet of info.

Johnson says LCI has ​“10 baskets of services it provides,” including emergency repairs, emergency tenant relocation, neighborhood specialists that coordinate other city services, property management, and property acquisition and distribution.

One goal is to increase visibility in neighborhoods, another is to take a more aggressive approach to bad landlords. There are more than 900 vacant properties in New Haven.

Questions?

Dildine asks about inspection services.

Johnson: Four inspectors are dedicated to residential licensing, three are dedicated to Section 8 housing, and three are dedicated to housing code violations. Inspectors do between six and nine inspections per day.

10:15 —  Only two or three members of the public are left here. Aldermen are starting to rub their eyes occasionally. No snacks have yet emerged, only drinking water.

10:20 — Johnson has been giving some details about LCI capital projects and response times. Castro had asked a question about slow reactions to calls to LCI. Chairman Shah interjects that that’s not pertinent to a budget hearing.

Alderwoman Jackson-Brooks appears to have nodded off.

10:24 —  Johnson is dismissed. Kerekes has a question: How much money does the residential licensing program generate? Shah promises to get that information. Dildine also has a question about LCI revenue. Shah promises answers on that too.

Kerekes objects that Johnson is still in the room and could easily answer his question. Shah says it’s late and time to wrap up the meeting.

10:25 —  Meeting adjourns! What a night. The hearing weighed in at just under three and a half hours. Aldermen are gathering their stacks of reports and heading out.

The final Finance Committee budget workshop is Tuesday. Then public hearings and deliberations will follow.