Markeshia Ricks photo
Finishing what they started: That is the reason three alders gave the people gathered in a field behind Augusta Lewis Troup School to support them for another term.
Democratic west side Alders Tyisha Walker, Evette Hamilton and Frank Douglass Jr. made that case Thursday afternoon before more than 40 supporters over pizza and hotdogs.
“We want to finish what we started,” said West River Alder Walker, the new board president. “When we were elected we set a very ambitious legislative agenda and we want to finish it.”
The three candidates were elected two terms ago as part of a labor-backed majority that promised to bring community policing back to New Haven to cut crime, build new youth centers, and help more New Haveners land good jobs. (The trio made a similar joint reelection announcement two years ago.)
Walker (pictured) said the board also has worked to hold developers accountable to neighborhoods when it comes to projects like Route 34/Downtown Crossing in her ward, and the development of a hotel that would impact both the Dwight and Edgewood neighborhoods represented by Douglass and Hamilton, respectively. (That was a reference to neighborhood opposition to the expansion plans by the Courtyard Marriott.)
Walker said there is more to do, particularly on the jobs front.
“The Black and Hispanic Caucus has taken on the issue of jobs,” she said. “The communities that we represent are hurting, and the unemployment rate is unacceptable. We want to tackle that.”
Edgewood Alder Hamilton (pictured in the photo at right) reminded the crowd that the current crop of alders passed a budget that “didn’t raise taxes, didn’t cut services and added more school nurses.
“We’re going to do more, and we want to continue to work on these issues but without your support we can’t do what we do,” she said.
Douglass, who represents Dwight, talked about the requiring Marriott’s planners to meet with neighbors, and to make Whalley Avenue a thriving commercial district.
“It could be better,” he said. “And we are working to make it better by bringing businesses that want to employ people from New Haven and from our neighborhood.”
“We can’t do this without you,” Walker told the group. “We are counting on you to be out there knocking on doors.”
Other candidates who have filed papers so far to run for alder include (with asterisks noting incumbents): Sarah Eidelson*, Ugonna Eze, and Fortney Stark, Ward 1; Latrice James*, Ward 3; David Reyes and Kampton Singh, Ward 5; Dolores Colon*, Ward 6; Aaron Greenberg*, Ward 8; Gerald Antunes* and Richard Spears*, Ward 12; Rosa Santana*, Ward 13; Santiago Berrios-Bones* and Thomas Burwell, Ward 14; Sal DeCola*, Ward 18; Brenda Foskey-Cyrus*, Ward 21; Adam Marchand*, Ward 25; Darryl J. Brackeen*, Ward 26.