Michael Pinto has already achieved two milestones in his sudden run for office: becoming the last candidate to enter a race for alderman this year, and the hardest one to vote for.
Pinto sent out an email Sunday night to neighbors in Westville’s high-voting Ward 25 to announce he is running for alderman.
As a write-in candidate.
In the Nov. 5 general election.
As in: two Tuesdays from now.
Pinto, a 43-year-old attorney and former city development staffer, has been knocking on doors and rounding up voters for almost a year now — not for himself, but for petitioning mayoral candidate Justin Elicker. Elicker is running against Democrat Toni Harp. Pinto has helped oversee Elicker’s campaign efforts in neighborhoods on the west side of town.
During those rounds he has heard often from voters in his home ward, in the Westville flats, that they wish they had an alternative in the aldermanic race. First-term Democrat Adam Marchand has been running unopposed.
“So, with just over two weeks to go, Pinto decided to plunge in and offer that alternative. He said he does hope to win, while he conceded he faces an uphill battle.
“I’ve given Adam as big a head start as I possibly could,” Pinto said in an interview Tuesday. And his voters need to write his name at the ballot box rather than just fill in a bubble. (Pinto is also asking voters to write his address as well, 449 Central Ave., to avoid any potential confusion.)
Marchand is a strong supporter of the Harp mayoral campaign. In the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, Elicker collected 349 votes in Ward 25 compared to 294 for Harp. Another 319 ward voters chose Henry Fernandez, who has since dropped out of the race; many of his Ward 25 supporters have gravitated to Elicker.
Asked about Pinto’s candidacy, Elicker responded: “Mike is a hard worker and incredibly dedicated to the community. I don’t plan on getting involved in his race and he hasn’t asked for my endorsement, but I have a lot of respect for Mike and think he would be a great representative.”
Toni Harp endorsed Marchand’s candidacy back at his June reelection announcement event at Manjares coffee shop. Scroll down in this story to read about that. She still supports Marchand’s candidacy, according to her campaign manager, Jason Bartlett.
Constituent Service
Pinto grew up in New Haven, left for California, then returned in 1997. He and his wife moved to East Rock, then bought a home on Westville’s Central Avenue five years ago. As a city development staffer, Pinto worked on projects like the sale of the old Lovell School on Nash Street to a developer who converted it to housing. He now works as an attorney in the New Haven firm of Mulvey, Oliver, Gould and Crotta.
Asked the reason for his run, Pinto cited constituent service. He said neighbors don’t reach Marchand as easily about ward issues or hear from him as much as they did from his predecessors, Greg Dildine and Ina Silverman.
Pinto credited Marchand for pressing for “traffic-calming” at Yale Avenue and West Elm Street, but said more needs to be done, especially on Central Avenue. He said that when the Friends of Edgewood Park held a recent major event, it was the first time he’d ever seen Adam at one of the group’s functions.
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Marchand responded that he has continually knocked on doors and kept constituents informed. He said he has heard as much from constituents during this campaign season. He did say, though, that he takes a different approach from Dildine’s: He tries to “balance” ward issues with citywide concerns like jobs and youth services and community-policing — issues that end up tying in to quality of life at the Ward 25 level as well. During last winter’s massive snowfall, of course, he concentrated on ward-level concerns, he said; “visiting people buried under snow.” He said he has pressed hard for promised traffic-calming measures on Cleveland Road, which city officials have assured him will occur by year’s end.
Another difference between the two candidates: Their view on the role of labor. Marchand, who is 41,was among a slate of aldermen citywide who swept into office two years ago with the support of Yale’s UNITE HERE Locals 34 and 35. Marchand works as a union steward for Local 34 as well as a “health policy wonk” for a joint union-management committee at the university.
Pinto argued that that job presents a conflict.
“I don’t see how you can serve two masters,” Pinto said. “If you are an alderman, you take an oath to the city.” Meanwhile, Marchand bets paid by “a group that works at odds with the city.”
Marchand responded that most aldermen have day jobs. They work for other institutions. That’s not an inherent conflict, he argued.
“People understand when you have a career, you’re responsible to the organization that employs you. He’s an attorney. So he has to represent clients. I wouldn’t say that that disqualifies him from” serving as an alderman, Marchand said of Pinto.
Furthermore, he argued, he and other union supporters spent years knocking on doors citywide to craft an agenda based on community policing, job-creation and youth services. That agenda doesn’t conflict with the Board of Aldermen’s agenda, he said; in fact all 30 aldermen voted to support that agenda. If New Haven felt the agenda conflicted, he said, “we would see different people getting elected.”
Streets & Trolleys
Marchand, at left, at his June reelection announcement.
Pinto and Marchand agree on some citywide issues. They both support the proposed sale of the Shubert to the not-for-profit that currently manages the theater, for instance. They both frowned on the aborted “monetization” proposal floated two years ago to sell 25 years worth of parking-meters revenues to a private firm in return for an up-front cash infusion to plug budget holes.
They split on at least two citywide issues. One: The proposal to accept federal money to conduct a study to build a downtown trolley in New Haven.
Marchand voted against he idea. He said the city would ultimately be on the hook to spend money on a trolley that served the wrong route and represented the wrong priorities for the city He said he and others on the board sought to have the plan altered to have track laid down in polluted areas and other “economically devastated” districts. “It became clear that that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
Pinto argued that the proposal would have brought “free money” to New Haven to develop a transit system that ultimately would more than pay for itself in the new development it would spark along its route.
Pinto also criticized Marchand for voting in favor of permanently selling portions of Wall and High streets to Yale.
“He voted to sell them without assurances by Yale that there would always be a right of public access,” Pinto said. Otherwise, “I would have left the status quo.”
Marchand argued that the deal should be viewed in a broader context: a continuing improvement in town-gown relations. He said he’s confident that the public will retain access to the privatized streets. Furthermore, he said, the deal codified an improvement way of calculating Yale’s annual voluntary payments to New Haven, based not just on fire service, but also on student census. In addition, he said, Yale showed “leadership” by agreeing to give more preference to New Haveners when hiring university workers; and in supporting New Haven Works, the new not-for-profit agency that aims to steer unemployed and underemployed New Haveners to local jobs. That’s not just a citywide issue, Marchand said. “Ward 25 residents have gotten jobs through New Haven Works.”