Alders Tyisha Walker-Myers, Sarah Miller, and Kim Edwards hear public testimony...
...as Unidad Latina en Acción activists like Nayeli Garcia protest stringent meeting rules.
Alders dropped an effort to amend the city charter to allow non-citizens to serve on city boards and commissions at the advice of legal counsel — after 20 activists filled the local legislative chambers with chants of “no justice” and held up posters of local immigrants with blacked-out eyes and mouths.
Brennan, Goldenberg, and Mayor Elicker on the debate stage Thursday.
Abddusabur: "If we're not prioritizing taking care of our own community, how the hell are we going to have housing for somebody else that just got here?"
A hypothetical “bus of immigrants” rolled up to a Newhallville school auditorium Thursday night — revealing a divide among the city’s four Democratic mayoral candidates over just how much of a haven New Haven should be for new arrivals in need.
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Thomas Breen |
Jun 28, 2023 2:56 pm
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Justin Farmer and Liam Brennan on Edgewood Avenue Wednesday.
Justin Farmer traveled out of the town where he serves as an elected politician and into the city where he’s long labored as a police accountability and affordable housing organizer to back the New Haven mayoral campaign of progressive activist ally Liam Brennan.
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Mia Cortés Castro |
Jun 27, 2023 3:17 pm
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Rallying for "Justice For Roya!" in West Haven.
Over two dozen New Haveners decamped to West Haven City Hall to celebrate the tragically short life of Roya Mohammadi — and to amp up pressure on police and public officials to take action around the sudden death of the 29-year-old Afghan immigrant and translator, whom advocates fear was a victim of domestic violence.
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Lisa Reisman |
Jun 26, 2023 2:08 pm
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Ward 21 Alder Troy Streater with Madgalene Campbell and granddaughter Makayla on the campaign trail.
Maceo “Troy” Streater was on a mission.
To win his first full term in aldermanic office. And to gather enough support to rename a stretch of Thompson Street in Newhallville for a long-time former neighborhood English teacher.
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Mia Cortés Castro |
Jun 26, 2023 9:14 am
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At Saturday's "PRIDE"-making party ...
Mia Cortés Castro Photo
... the finished art-project letters, and contributors.
East Rock neighbors decorated rainbow-colored cardstock letters spelling out the word “PRIDE” — and spoke about how that word means love, acceptance, authenticity, and support — at a LGBTQ+ community-celebrating event that doubled as a campaign stop for an aspiring first-time alder.
Hilaria Ogando joins calls for Board of Ed parent representation, more elected members, and mayor's removal.
Hilaria Ogando wants someone on the Board of Education who knows what she knows: what it’s like to have so many substitute teachers in her child’s school, to hear about persistent bullying, to lose the lottery for a coveted magnet school seat.
“Parents, we see what’s happening in the schools every day, and we see what our children need,” Ogando said through a translator.
Carolina Sánchez at City Hall: "I want to continue."
Committee Chair Jeanette Morrison (center): "I just want to make sure we're staying germane."
Two dozen immigrant rights advocates walked out of a City Hall meeting in protest after an alder insisted that a testifier stay on topic — as a stream of advocacy for non-citizen voices in local government morphed into a debate over what residents are entitled to talk about at public hearings.
256 Shelton: Potential candidate for eminent domain?
A mayoral challenger embraced the idea of claiming blighted properties for city ownership by way of eminent domain, as part of a campaign push to use local government’s powers to support new housing and deter dangerous building decay.
A veteran campaign manager and top aide to former Mayor Toni Harp has signed on to help Tom Goldenberg’s campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination.
Abdussabur (right) passing Dope N Delicious lunch ...
... as campaign supporters pass Black-business-boosting business cards.
As takeout containers filled with fried rice, mac and cheese, chicken wings, and salad changed hands — along with business cards promoting the work of New Haven-raised Black entrepreneurs — Shafiq Abdussabur detailed his vision for bringing back the small-business glory days of the Dixwell Avenue of his youth.
Key ingredients to the revival he pitched include collaboration, public safety, local hiring, and making sure City Hall supports locally sourced ventures as soon as they get off the ground.
Micromobile mayoral candidate Liam Brennan, who led the pack with an 88 score on his "safe streets" report card.
NHV Safe Streets
If the latest round of mayoral competition is any guide, New Haven has come quite a distance from the days when the mayor’s aides talked him into ditching a Lincoln Navigator SUV for a Prius and photo-op bike rides.
Elicker (right) catches up with nico w. okoro and family before forum's start ...
... as Abdussabur (right) greets Frank Cochran and Stephanie FitzGerald.
More emergency beds. A zoning overhaul. A freeze on taxes. A move away from being the “methadone capital of Connecticut.”
The four Democrats seeking New Haven’s top elected office pitched those proposals when pressed during a mayoral candidate forum on what to do about the city’s lack of affordable housing and rising tide of homelessness.
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Shafiq Abdussabur |
Jun 1, 2023 12:14 pm
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Abdussabur with Beaver Hills neighbor Rivka Fenton in November 2020 acting in response to a string of attacks on Jews in Beaver Hills.
I applaud President Biden and Vice President Harris on making an important first step to addressing the crisis of growing antisemitism our nation is facing. As someone who has spent weekends patrolling to keep my friends and neighbors safe while they worshiped, I appreciate President Biden for saying what has been evident for years in America: this is a severe problem, and it’s getting worse.
Clockwise from top left: Mayoral candidates Shafiq Abdussabur, Liam Brennan, Wendy Hamilton, and Tom Goldenberg at Tuesday's debate.
A network of green spaces linking every public park in New Haven. A larger role for people of color and women in building the city’s physical landscape. A pedestrian walkway connecting Union Station to Downtown. A ban on new parking lots and garages in favor of playgrounds.
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Paul Bass and Thomas Breen |
May 30, 2023 8:35 pm
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Ward 26 candidates Joshua Van Hoesen and Amy Marx outside the polls Tuesday.
Legal aid lawyer and Democratic ward co-chair Amy Marx will be the next alder for Upper Westville’s Ward 26, after winning a special election to fill the seat left empty by Darryl Brackeen.
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Thomas Breen |
May 30, 2023 7:00 pm
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Elicker: "We do things as fast as we can." Goldenberg: "I think three months is more than enough time" to respond.
What’s a reasonable amount of time for the city to take to respond to a public-records request?
A mayoral challenger has raised that question as he continues to seek a decade’s worth of methadone-clinic-mentioning government emails that he first asked for nearly three months ago.
The mayor, meanwhile, stressed how time-consuming it can be to appropriately answer asks that cover such large topics and periods of time — especially in a city where roughly 10,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests are submitted each year.
Ward 8 alder challenger Andrea Zola and incumbent Ellen Cupo.
A bridal business owner with local political history roots has filed to run against Wooster Square’s two-term, union-affiliated incumbent alder in a Democratic race that sheds light on a neighborhood in flux.
Frank Redente Jr. files for alder run on Friday with City Clerk staffer Michelle Lee Rodriguez; Ward 15 incumbent Ernie Santiago.
A Fair Haven street outreach worker has made official his bid to unseat a six-term incumbent neighborhood alder — putting quality of life, youth violence prevention, and local legislator accessibility on the table for debate in this year’s intra-Democratic Party contest.
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Nora Grace-Flood |
May 19, 2023 3:30 pm
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Abdussabur and Fernandez shake hands before the ambulance heads out.
Shafiq Abdussabur pulled up to Union Station to make his latest campaign pitch — and found himself calling an ambulance for a man seeking shelter inside the train stop rather than crusading for votes.
