Politics

Mayoral Primary Q: How Do You 2 Differ?

by | Sep 11, 2023 3:09 pm | Comments (18)

Thomas Breen photo

Yale first-year Zachary: Leaning Elicker because "the experience answer was compelling."

Mayor Justin Elicker’s four years of experience leading the city through Covid and a nationwide rise in gun violence earned him the vote of at least one new-to-New Haven Yale undergraduate — as mayoral challenger Liam Brennan sought to distinguish himself from his incumbent opponent by arguing that he has the vision to make local government work more quickly and with a clearer purpose.

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Candidates Hit Streets For Final Pre-Primary Push

by and | Sep 11, 2023 8:50 am | Comments (0)

Yash Roy photo

Mayor Justin Elicker (center) surrounded by top Connecticut elected officials at Saturday's rally.

Thomas Breen photo

Liam Brennan at the doors on Sunday with West Rock Ave resident Tim Dagradi.

Elected officials from across Connecticut descended on Whalley Avenue to rally behind Mayor Justin Elicker, while Liam Brennan hit the doors in Westville to get out the vote for his mayoral challenger campaign — in a rush of political organizing in the final weekend before Tuesday’s Democratic primary elections.

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Candidates Differ On Tax-Fairness Challenge

by | Sep 8, 2023 9:59 am | Comments (26)

Thomas Breen photo

A view inside the Church of Scientology-owned 949 Whalley.

A rundown, tax-exempt former department store that has been owned by the Church of Scientology for 20 years crept across ward lines to inspire a debate among Lower Westville Democratic alder candidates about eminent domain, lawsuit PTSD,” and what on earth the city should do with recalcitrant land-banking property owners.

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Alder Fled Crash Scene

by | Sep 7, 2023 5:06 pm | Comments (56)

NextDoor photos of car that got hit.

(Updated with further comments from Alder Sal DeCola) One evening in late February, Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola crashed his car into a neighbor’s parked vehicle on Hervey Street — and then drove away. 

Now, less than a week before DeCola faces a political challenger in the Democratic primary, the incident has resurfaced on social media and police are investigating a new anonymous Internal Affairs complaint alleging that the alder received favorable treatment from neighborhood cops at the time.

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Public Works Union Endorses Elicker

by | Sep 7, 2023 3:31 pm | Comments (11)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Elicker with Public Works Union members Wednesday night.

Elicker listens to both praise and concerns from public works employees following the public endorsement.

Public works union members gathered in the shade of Dover Beach Park to take a break from sweeping streets in sweltering heat — and to endorse two-term incumbent Mayor Justin Elicker as the best candidate to keep the city clean and safe and its employees paid and protected.

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Tents Pop Up In 2 Candidate Debates

by | Sep 7, 2023 10:34 am | Comments (35)

Thomas Breen file photo

A tent on the Green in late August: On which public lands, if any, should homeless people be allowed to camp?

Two candidates for mayor and two candidates for Westville alder waded into an ongoing homelessness crisis as they sought to answer the same question posed on different nights by different debate moderators to different candidates running for different local elected offices.

The question: What should the city do when people who are living outdoors refuse to go to homeless shelters and choose instead to camp on public land?

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Parks, Schools Anchor Annex Alder Primary

by | Sep 6, 2023 10:28 am | Comments (18)

Contributed photo; Maya McFadden file photo

Camille Ansley and Alder Sal Punzo, ready for Ward 17 Democratic primary.

A first-term Annex alder and retired longtime local educator is seeking another two years in office to focus on cleaner parks, slower traffic, and better schools — while his Democratic primary challenger wants to give a voice to the Annex” after her years of advocacy for her former home neighborhood of Cedar Hill.

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It's Official: Elections Will Follow New Ward Lines

by | Sep 1, 2023 1:00 pm | Comments (8)

Board of Alders map

These redistricted ward boundaries will govern the upcoming elections.

The office of the state’s top election official has decided not to challenge New Haven’s plans to conduct the upcoming primary and general elections according to newly-redistricted ward maps — despite maintaining that alders should have put the new maps into effect at least 90 days before the primary.

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Ex-Philly Mayor Stumps For Goldenberg

by | Sep 1, 2023 12:27 pm | Comments (6)

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Michael Nutter: Goldenberg has "the capacity, he has the intellect, the drive, the focus, the commitment that I look for in folks looking to run for office."

Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter took a 5:15 a.m. Amtrak to New Haven to grab a cup of orange juice and talk politics at East Rock Market, survey the transit hub-adjacent desolation of Church Street South, and throw his support behind his former student’s run for mayor.

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Alder To State: Don't Let Trump Run

by | Sep 1, 2023 10:50 am | Comments (37)

Laura Glesby photo

Streater, with letter for the Secretary of the State seeking a ruling that "Mr. Trump is ineligible to run for the office of United States President and should not be permitted on any ballot in the State of Connecticut."

A Dixwell/Newhallville alder and a local civil rights lawyer have teamed up to formally ask Connecticut’s top election official to bar Donald Trump from appearing on next year’s presidential primary and general election ballots, given the former president’s role in stoking the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

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Abdussabur Presses For Petition Rejection Answers

by | Aug 31, 2023 5:32 pm | Comments (28)

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Abdussabur, Lee, and a table full of campaign-annotated petition pages.

Mayoral challenger Shafiq Abdussabur doubled down on his critique of the registrar of voters office for gross inconsistencies” in its review, and subsequent rejection, of hundreds of his campaign’s Democratic primary petition signatures — even as he said he won’t appeal a state judge’s dismissal of his ballot-access lawsuit.

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Judge Throws Out Ballot-Access Case

by | Aug 30, 2023 12:06 pm | Comments (21)

Thomas Breen file photo

Judge Doyle: "With voting already having begun and election day approaching, the Purcell principle is applicable to the present case."

A state judge has dismissed mayoral challenger Shafiq Abdussabur’s lawsuit trying to press his way onto the Sept. 12 Democratic primary ballot — on the grounds that the first absentee ballots have already been cast, the election is therefore underway, and changing which candidates are participating now would run the risk of voter confusion.”

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Ballot-Access Case Puts Purcell To The Test

by | Aug 28, 2023 12:13 pm | Comments (8)

Thomas Breen file photo

City attorney Rod Williams and city-hired attorney Proloy Das: "Trying to change the ballots now would result in voter disenfranchisement."

What would be a greater affront to the public trust: the court’s intervention in an election already underway, or its adoption of a pernicious” judicial doctrine allegedly geared towards voter suppression?

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2 Franks Reconnect On Campaign Trail

by | Aug 25, 2023 11:28 am | Comments (9)

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Frank Ayala and Frank Redente, catching up in Lombard St.'s TBLR.

Frank Redente, Jr. walked into ThinkBrokeLookRich on Lombard Street and, amid the store’s custom-designed hats and shirts and other apparel, immediately recognized someone he knew: another Frank, last name Ayala, who lives around the corner — and who Redente used to coach on the New Haven Legion youth baseball team.

I love what you’re doing here,” Redente said to Ayala and his clothing-store business partner, and cousin and fellow Fair Haven native, Justin Compres. We need more of this in the community. Life!”

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Ballot-Access Lawsuit Lands In Court

by | Aug 23, 2023 5:46 pm | Comments (15)

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City lawyer Rod Williams and defense attorney Proloy Kumar Das: "The court has no jurisdiction to act in the middle of an election."

Thomas Breen file photo

Shafiq Abdussabur: "The people have the jurisdiction."

Voters have begun casting their absentee ballots in September’s Democratic primary for mayor — and a state court shouldn’t intervene in an election already underway.

So argued the lawyer representing New Haven’s registrar of voters, as he urged a state judge to throw out a ballot-access lawsuit filed by mayoral challenger Shafiq Abdussabur.

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Alder Santiago Steps Up To The Reelection Plate

by | Aug 23, 2023 11:28 am | Comments (27)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Alder Santiago (right), with Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez: Keep me in, coach!

A new dugout at Clinton Avenue park, fairer playing fields across the city, and municipal teamwork.

That was the pitch Fair Haven Alder and softball enthusiast Ernie Santiago practiced on fans Tuesday night during a fundraiser for the incumbent’s run to remain the neighborhood’s local legislative representative.

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