When a political candidate knocked on Shatarra Williams’ door, she convinced her to do something she never did before: vote.
Carrying her baby, Williams (pictured), who’s 26, made the promise to Claudette Robinson-Thorpe on a recent Saturday (in photo). Robinson-Thorpe was knocking on doors for another day of campaigning for alderwoman.
Robinson-Thorpe is challenging incumbent 28th Ward Alderman Moti Sandman in a Sept. 15 Democratic Party primary. (Click here for a previous story on the race and the candidates’ backgrounds.) Both candidates have been busy knocking on doors in Beaver Hills. In the process, they’ve promoted not just their candidacies, but the notion of people getting more involved in their neighborhood and their city.
The two candidates emphasize different approaches to citizen involvement, as well as to other city issues.
Robinson-Thorpe’s message: change begins with voting.
As she set off to canvass the neighborhood one recent Saturday, she bumped into 20 year-old Terrence Broxton as soon as she stepped off her Norton Street porch. She lectured Broxton about about the importance of voting. Then her campaign manager, Hugh Baran, registered Broxton to vote.
“Only because it’s you,” said Broxton, who said he is a friend of Robinson-Thorpe’s son. He said he doesn’t normally vote because he didn’t think his vote counted.
“A lot of them don’t realize that in order for you to be counted you’ve got to vote,” said Robinson-Thorpe. “And until you educate them on that, they’re not going to know.”
On her rounds she encountered men working an automobile in front of a Sherman Avenue home.
“Hello, hello, hello,” she said. “You know I’m running for alderperson.”
“This is my first time voting,” said Shatarra Williams. She said she attended Hillhouse High School and has lived in New Haven all her life. The mother of two said she’s excited to see a change in her community.
“I go into the community, people are hungry for change,” said Robinson-Thorpe. “People are sick and tired of what’s going on in the city of New Haven, and it’s going to show on Sept. 15.”
In an interview in his Colony Road home, incumbent Sandman (pictured), who won the party ward committee’s endorsement in this race, stressed the need for people to come out, too. He emphasized community meetings, like those of the Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills (WEB) management team and a Saturday morning reading club.
“If you’re not at the management team meetings, you’re not engaged. You’ve got to be there. That’s the first step,” said Sandman in an interview at his Colony Road home. “If you want to get involved, that’s definitely the place to start.”
More Cops? More Active Citizens?
Those different approaches reflect the candidates’ differing takes on policing. Robinson-Thorpe emphasized the need to have more cops in the community. Sandman emphasized the need for more citizens to get involved in block watches and WEB.
“We have a lot of drug activity going on in the ward, and break-ins,” said Robinson-Thorpe. “I believe the police should be out there, and they should be more user-friendly also.”
“When I look at community policing, it’s not about the police. It’s about interacting with the police. It’s about attending management teams,” Sandman said. “If you want to talk about community policing, and you’re not at the Whalley Avenue management team meetings, you’re not talking about community policing.”
While Sandman strongly supports the emerging school reform plan, Robinson-Thorpe said it’s unclear to her exactly what the plan does and she needs to learn more about it before she can give her approval.
The two offered different views about a current loophole that allows Board of Education employees (but not most city government workers) to serve as aldermen. Three aldermen work for the Board of Ed. Robinson-Thorpe said the practice should stop “It’s a conflict of interest any way you look at it,” she said. Sandman argued that the roles don’t have to conflict. “They’re really two different entities,” he said of the two boards. “Everybody, at one point in time will have a conflict on some issue coming up in front of the board. It’s a small town and everybody knows everybody.”
Robinson-Thorpe said people should be able to vote for members of the Board of Ed. That would make it better represent the community, she argued. Sandman supported the current system, under which the mayor appoints board members. He said he’s seen lots of corruption on elected boards of education.
The candidates also gave different answers when asked how to avoid future property tax increases.
Robinson-Thorpe said she would support a commuter tax. “A lot of people come in the city of New Haven and work,” she said. “Then they take their paychecks and all the money they make and bring it right back out to the suburbs.”
Sandman proposed full state funding of the PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) program for municipalities, and controlling personnel costs.