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?
The question came up as Democrats in two neighborhoods met Wednesday night to nominate candidates for alderman, during a which when party members across town are doing the same — and speaking up about crime.
The Democratic ward committee in Beaver Hills Ward 28 unanimously supported Alderwoman Claudette Robinson-Thorpe, who’s seeking a second term.
The party’s committee in East Rock’s Ward 9 nominated Alderman Matt Smith, who beat out contender Jessica Holmes by a vote of 32 to 6.
That means Smith and Robinson-Thorpe will be the party-endorsed candidates heading into the Sept. 13 Democratic primaries, which gives them support of the party committees and a likely spot on the ballot on the same line as Mayor John DeStefano. Though in some wards, like 28, ballot lines may mean less than vote-pulling alliances. Robinson-Thorpe, a target of City Hall and the party establishment and an ally of local union activists mounting campaigns this year, faces a primary challenge from Wayne A. McCloud.
Wednesday night’s nominating conventions brought dozens of neighbors into the cafeteria of James Hillhouse High School and the library of New Haven Academy. Sitting in student-sized chairs at both locations, Democrats asked their candidates about what they feel is a recent spike in crime.
Robinson-Thorpe.
“There’s been two murders in a month,” came the first question posed to Robinson-Thorpe when she opened the floor to questions. “What are we doing on my street” to make it safer?
The questioner said she has seen groups of teenagers roaming around on Colony and Bellevue roads. She said there seems to be more police presence on Ivy Street in Newhallville than in Beaver Hills.
Newhallville “has been hot,” Robinson-Thorpe responded.
“Did they have a murder this month?” the woman replied.
Robinson-Thorpe acknowledged the point.
“I don’t have all the answers,” Robinson-Thorpe said. But she suggested the police department add foot patrols in the neighborhood, or perhaps install crime cameras like the ones that just arrived in Newhallville and the Hill.
Beaver Hills also heard from candidates running for mayor.
Lee.
Former Alderman Robert Lee announced that if he becomes mayor, he will implement “24-hour community policing,” including lots of walking beats. Police may prefer otherwise, Lee said, but if he’s mayor, “they’re going to walk for me in New Haven.” (The Independent had to pedal away to East Rock’s meeting before the other mayoral candidates could address the topic.)
Over at New Haven Academy on Orange Street, lemonade and watermelon awaited the 50 East Rockers who piled into the school’s steamy library.
Jessica Holmes, a former union organizer making a second bid at alderman after losing in a close race last year, was the first to take the floor.
“The character of our neighborhood is under attack,” Holmes said. “Over the past two weeks we’ve seen two assaults.”
In one, a woman was attacked while taking her garbage out at 1 a.m. on Livingston Street; she was choked unconscious. In another, a victim was injured in the face during an attack on Nicoll and Eagle streets.
“These are assaults taking place inside our neighborhood,” Holmes said.
She made a conclusion that not everyone agreed with.
A “VIllage,” Not An Island
Holmes.
“To me, what that means is that these growing disparities in the city between the wealth of East Rock and the relative lack of wealth in these areas outside of East Rock, the areas that are struggling where we see these homicides, that this impacts us.
“Our village is not isolated,” Holmes continued. She said the recent crime shows “that East Rock plays a role in the rest of the city. That we are not an island. That we’re going to be impacted by what’s happening.”
“If we continue to let our wealth get more and more concentrated, and we act like Newhallville is miles and miles away, when really it’s just across the way, I think we’re doing ourselves a disservice.”
Crime resurfaced as one topic of concern in a question-and-answer period following two speeches.
Cristina Cruz-Uribe asked the candidates about neighborhood crime, which she called “increasingly alarming.” The victim injured on Nicoll and Eagle was a friend of hers, she said. And on June 10, a man was shot in the leg outside 41 Lawrence St.
Incumbent Alderman Matt Smith said police told him the shooting was a “semi-domestic dispute” that the person “brought with him” to Lawrence Street. He called it an “isolated incident.”
That said, he pledged to “push for more patrolling citywide,” and bring back community policing. He called for a revitalization of block watches, following the lead of SoHu.
Holmes also called for East Rock to strengthen its network of block watches. And she pitched a more long-term solution: to narrow the disparities between rich and poor.
“We need to invest in all our communities,” Holmes said.
East Rocker Anika Singh Lemar pressed for clarification.
“What does that mean as specifics?” she asked. How would that translate to an act of governance, a law the candidate would put forward in 2012? She asked for two or three specifics on how both candidates would “invest in the rest of New Haven.”
Smith.
Smith said he plans to support investment in education, in particular through the mayor’s new college scholarship program for city students, New Haven Promise. He said when Gateway Community College opens its new campus downtown, it will create “a pool of skilled workers.” in New Haven. And a third thing? “Let me get back to you on that one,” he said with a smile.
Holmes said she’d support programs like Youth@Work, which offers summer jobs to teens. She said as an alderman, she’d push for more internship programs at institutions like Yale and Yale-New Haven, whereby city residents can get trained for jobs.
Holmes said New Haven Promise is a nice start for kids who are already on the right track, but the city needs to do more for high school dropouts. She said aldermen need to step up oversight of the Board of Education, and “grow early education programs.”
Patrick Smith, one of Matt Smith’s brothers, spoke up toward the end of the hour-long discussion.
He objected to Holmes’ earlier statement that East Rockers think they’re “on an island.” A lifelong East Rocker, he said he’s seen two murders on Clark Street in his lifetime, and has been involved in neighborhood efforts to combat crime, such as a citizens foot and bike patrol.
To say that people think East Rock is an island is “naive,” Patrick Smith charged. He said the statement must come from someone who hasn’t been in the neighborhood for a long time.
Holmes, who’s been in New Haven a total of five and a half years, said she didn’t make up the sentiment that “East Rock is an island.” She said she heard it over and over as she knocked on hundreds of doors for her campaign last year.
She said newcomers to East Rock can be part of the solution, too — by forming block watches to build a stronger neighborhood.
After discussing a number of other issues, East Rockers cast secret ballots, given a choice between the two candidates.
Matt Smith, a lifelong East Rocker, won by a landslide, 32 to 6.
Holmes said she wasn’t surprised since the Democratic ward committee endorsed Smith just last year. But she noted that she fared worse in the nominating convention last year, yet snagged nearly half of the votes at the polls.
“It’s a big ward,” Holmes said. She plans to canvas that ward and solicit votes for the Democratic primary.
Both candidates have already started work on what should be another lively campaign in a ward that typically has one of the highest voter turnouts in the city.
Smith said Wednesday’s vote was a sign that East Rockers want him to continue representing them. He isn’t resting yet.
“I’m still going to continue to knock on doors for the rest of the summer,” he said.