by | Jul 22, 2011 8:14 am | Comments (8)
Laurel Leff Photo
Ald. Arlene DePino says yes.
As a security guard stood in a deserted hallway at 200 Orange St. unlocking the public hearing room, he was asked where the GOP convention was.
“GOP,” he replied. “GOP. What’s that?”
by | Jul 21, 2011 4:37 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
In an upset victory over a longtime incumbent, Yale union steward won her local party’s blessing in a challenge against Alderman Yusuf I. Shah.
by | Jul 21, 2011 10:51 am | Comments (12)
Allan Appel Photo
Vega, Rhodeen, Baker, Barnes
Three political newcomers tossed their hats in the ring as Fair Haven Heights Alderman Alex Rhodeen decided not to seek a fourth term. His preferred successor, music composer David Baker, received the unanimous backing by voice vote of Ward 13 Democratic Ward Committee members at an al fresco meeting Wednesday night in front of Jepson School.
by | Jul 21, 2011 8:04 am | Comments (65)
Melissa Bailey Photo
East Rock aldermanic candidates Jessica Holmes and Matt Smith.
One neighborhood saw two homicides in the last month. The other saw two assaults. So when neighbors gathered to vet political candidates Wednesday night, a common question emerged: What will you do about the violence?
by | Jul 20, 2011 8:11 am | Comments (23)
Thomas MacMillan Photos
Adam Marchand (left) and Michael Slattery.
One said his experience as a tech entrepreneur will help him cut the fat from the city budget and put more city services online. The other said his experience as a union negotiator will help him crack the worker-benefits budget problem and work effectively with Yale on town-gown issues.
by | Jul 19, 2011 11:28 am | Comments (13)
Laurel Leff Photo
This lot on Birch Drive is one of the reasons that Sergio Rodriguez says he deserves a fifth term as alderman.
by | Jul 18, 2011 3:34 pm | Comments (5)
Mayoral candidate Clifton Graves called Monday for City Hall to put the kibosh on Wednesday’s planned $44.5 million bond sale — and on any other planned borrowing efforts to pay for rebuilding schools.
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‘After Moody's Hit, Graves
Calls For Bond Moratorium’
by | Jul 15, 2011 9:29 am | Comments (11)
Allan Appel Photo
They lost children to the streets, to prison, some forever. They gathered in a mayoral candidate’s headquarters to share those stories in the hope of coming up with solutions to the street violence plaguing New Haven’s black community.
Continue reading ‘Lives Lost To Street Prompt Soul-Searching’
by | Jul 13, 2011 7:56 am | Comments (42)
Paul Bass Photo
Robert Lee files mayoral campaign papers; no $ raised yet, he said.
Campaign treasurer, HANH chief DuBois-Walton: Her employees ponied up.
A new 109-page directory came out this week listing mayoral appointees, other city employees, and contractors who depend on city government for business.
Oh wait. That was the latest list of donors to the DeStefano for mayor reelection campaign.
by | Jul 12, 2011 8:09 am | Comments (23)
Melissa Bailey Photo
As a Yale union launched a political action committee to support aldermanic candidates, three of them talked for the first time about their common goal of creating “a better New Haven.”
by | Jul 8, 2011 8:23 am | Comments (9)
Melissa Bailey Photo
As two simultaneous contests to fill a power gap commenced in Dwight, the race focused on who will bring a strong, independent voice to a neighborhood hit hard by violence.
by | Jul 7, 2011 8:21 am | Comments (28)
Thomas MacMillan Photos
DeStefano, Graves, Dawson, Kerekes (clockwise from top left).
Venturing into historically unfriendly territory, incumbent John DeStefano won the first Iowa-like straw poll in this year’s mayoral race. An opponent offered a different spin on the results: The real winner was anyone-but-DeStefano.
by | Jul 4, 2011 9:12 am | Comments (10)
Allan Appel Photo
Morehead (center) dances with Curtis Edwards & Alice Pritchard.
At a block party turned dance party where Greg Morehead announced he’s running for a third term, the Dixwell alderman cut a rug with a constituent, released a hip-hop anthem denouncing “haters” — and said he has helped his constituents land jobs at the new Stop & Shop.
by | Jul 1, 2011 11:24 am | Comments (6)
Jacob Cohn Photo
Morris Cove has been the Republicans’ last New Haven redoubt for decades. Sarah Saiano declared her “very strong commitment to working people” and her experience as a union executive board member will help her break the trend.
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‘Challengers Emerge In
GOP'S Final Redoubt’
by | Jun 30, 2011 12:05 pm | Comments (8)
Gwyneth K. Shaw Photo
Mayoral candidate Clifton Graves showed up to the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center ready to parry with voters. William Vaughn, president of the seniors association there, told him — politely — to come back when the group entertains all four challengers to Mayor John DeStefano, so members can pick the best bet. Graves is hoping the candidates do the picking first.
by | Jun 28, 2011 1:09 pm | Comments (38)
The race is on — to see which mayoral candidate would pay himself the least if elected.
by | Jun 24, 2011 1:09 pm | Comments (12)
Paul Bass Photo
Stan Kontogiannis.
The latest idea to emerge from the campaign trail: Require New Haven restaurants to post signs in their windows with letter grades based on their health code inspections.
by | Jun 22, 2011 3:08 pm | Comments (55)
Mayoral candidate Jeffrey Kerekes urged city government employees to buy homes in New Haven — and promised to have a 50 percent tax break waiting for them.
Continue reading ‘Kerekes Tells City Workers, “Come Back Home”’
by | Jun 20, 2011 1:28 pm | Comments (7)
Barnes with Rodolfo Lopez.
Quinnipiac Avenue in Fair Haven Heights is under construction, forcing faster through traffic to detour and cause safety hazards on residential side streets. Brenda Jones Barnes sees the problem. What she doesn’t see is an adequate response from the city to her neighborhood’s concerns.
by | Jun 20, 2011 8:16 am | Comments (53)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Laying out a “blueprint” for his mayoral run, Clifton Graves took aim at a central plank of Mayor John DeStefano’s reelection platform — education. Graves called the city’s public schools a “failure” that have served as a “employment agency for the mayor’s political cronies.”
Continue reading ‘Graves Calls Public Schools “Patronage” Dumps’
by | Jun 17, 2011 7:43 am | Comments (7)
Melinda Tuhus Photo
A Fair Haven schools and neighborhood activist has signed on to the Dawson for Mayor campaign as a candidate for city/town clerk.
by | Jun 14, 2011 2:11 pm | Comments (71)
(Updated) Jeffrey Kerekes Tuesday asked voters to make him New Haven’s next mayor so he can serve less time in office, have less power, allow more citizens to tell him what to do, and give fewer friends and contributors jobs or contracts than the guy who has the job now.
by | Jun 9, 2011 2:30 pm | Comments (21)
Brackeen (left) with Maachah Elouafai.
With a few clicks on his Dell laptop Tuesday afternoon, Darryl Brackeen Jr. uploaded a YouTube video announcing his candidacy for upper Westville alderman. Moments later, as his offline campaigning began, a neighbor voiced a warning about taking on Alderman Sergio Rodriguez: “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”
Continue reading ‘Challenger Launches Bid in Upper Westville’
by | Jun 8, 2011 11:02 am | Comments (15)
Paul Bass Photo
Beaver Hills. West Hills. The Village. Beverly Hills. Amity.
To Angela Russell, those neighborhoods are all part of “Westville” — in spirit, but not enough in reality.
by | Jun 7, 2011 7:38 am | Comments (14)
Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Outgoing Dwight Alderwoman Gina Calder is sticking to her plan to wait until July 1 to retire — and in her first extensive comments on the subject, described allowing the mayor to pick her replacement as more democratic than having an election.
Continue reading ‘Calder: Avoiding Election Boosts Democracy’