Politics

Artists, Alder Hopeful Spell Out "PRIDE"

by | Jun 26, 2023 9:14 am | Comments (1)

Mia Cortés Castro Photos

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.

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Ed Board Overhaul Seeks 2 Spots For Parents

by | Jun 23, 2023 12:03 pm | Comments (16)

Laura Glesby photo

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. 

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Immigrants Cut Short, Walk Out

by | Jun 21, 2023 2:20 pm | Comments (32)

Laura Glesby photos

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.

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Hamden Mayoral Candidates Differ On Chief Process -- But Not The Chief

by | Jun 20, 2023 9:06 am | Comments (10)

Paul Bass Photos

Hamden mayoral candidates Walter Morton IV, Lauren Garrett at WNHH FM.

As Hamden’s search for a police chief enters its second year, two mayoral candidates agree the acting one is doing a good job.

They won’t say if that means he should get the permanent slot.

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Abdussabur Dreams Of A Dope Dixwell

by | Jun 12, 2023 9:10 am | Comments (19)

Thomas Breen photos

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.

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Biking Brennan Breaks From Micromobile Pack

by | Jun 8, 2023 1:53 pm | Comments (17)

Paul Bass Photo

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.

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Debate Portrays Housing As Politics Problem

by | Jun 5, 2023 9:18 am | Comments (13)

Thomas Breen photos

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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Opinion: Call It Out

by | Jun 1, 2023 12:14 pm | Comments (12)

Paul Bass file photo

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.

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Debate Pitch: Here's How I'd Fix The Parks

by | May 31, 2023 6:09 pm | Comments (22)

Zoom images

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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Goldenberg Presses Mayor On FOIA

by | May 30, 2023 7:00 pm | Comments (7)

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.

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Alder Challenger Files For Fair Haven Run

by | May 26, 2023 4:24 pm | Comments (15)

Thomas Breen photos

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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Swifties, Senator Step Up On Antitrust

by | May 15, 2023 3:35 pm | Comments (9)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

McDonald, Blumenthal, Le and Grayson boosting antitrust bill Monday.

Richmond Le stood outside the Shubert Theater in support of his favorite superstar and her worldwide fans who have both been affected by the bungled concert sales of an under-fire concert-broker — and spoke out in favor of legislation that would break ticket services’ stranglehold over music venues, artists and audiences.

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