“How are you going to get our voices heard?” asked one Cedar Hill neighbor, as a block watch grilled two aldermanic candidates on how they would bring more resources to a neglected corner of East Rock.
Members of the Cedar Hill Block Watch fired questions at Democratic incumbent Ed Mattison and Green Party challenger Allan Brison at a Ward 10 aldermanic debate on State Street Thursday night. The tone of the meeting was frustration as neighbors complained about the high crime rate, low police presence, and lack of basic city services in their area.
During the debate, held at the regular monthly meeting of the block watch, candidates took questions from a crowd of roughly 30 people. Discussion got so heated that Ted Gardner (pictured below, center), Block Watch coordinator and debate moderator, was forced to call for order several times.
Mattison, who has served as an alderman for seven years, used the debate to position himself as the candidate with the greater City Hall experience and knowledge of the community. Brison, a retired computer programmer and stay-at-home father, presented himself as the candidate for change, the “anti-political-machine candidate.”
While both candidates agreed that there is a need for more attention to Cedar Hill, including community policing, they differed on how to attain that goal.
Brison (pictured at left), portraying himself as a “citizen activist,” made a pledge to lead a group of Cedar Hill residents down to City Hall to confront the mayor and demand action on the neighborhood’s problems. The crowd applauded at Brison’s promise, which he said was not contingent on being elected alderman.
Mattison (pictured above, at right) instead tried to provoke the residents of Cedar Hill to become more politically active. “I’m not a miracle worker,” he replied several times. “I am one of 30 alderman. We [the alderman] are not people who can solve the problems of this neighborhood.”
Mattison said he was “troubled” by the perception that he has been an inactive alderman. “I don’t like it when people act like I don’t care,” he said, “I do care.” Mattison said he was one of the founders of Cedar Hill Block Watch and that he had attended “better than two-thirds of these meetings.” (Gardner later stated that, while Mattison has attended many of the meetings, he was not one of the founders of the block watch.)
The Squeaky Wheel
Rebecca Turcio (pictured in top photo, at right), a member of the block watch, wanted to know why Cedar Hill was not receiving “basic services,” like street sweeping. She said that Mattison had previously told her that Cedar Hill has been ignored because the people in the neighborhood don’t vote. Mattison acknowledged that he had made statements to that effect, but added that he was speaking not just about voting but about all kinds of political action. Brison responded that this reasoning “smacks of an excuse.” “Whether you vote or not, you are a taxpayer,” he said.
Another resident, whose daughter was lying in her lap, spoke up, “I’m frustrated. I pay taxes. Why don’t we have anything for our children?” She contrasted the situation in Cedar Hill with “the other side of town” which has after-school programs. Mattison responded, “The reality is the politically active people get what they want and the people who sit on their butts don’t get it.” This statement provoked some muttering in the audience.
In response to the question about after-school programs, Brison said, “We need to get people down to City Hall. I don’t see Ed as leading a group down to city hall.”
In his closing remarks Brison said that as an alderman Mattison has been “working for the status quo” and has shown that “he will not embarrass the mayor.”
After the debate, Mattison said that he thought that it had gone very well. When asked about his comments about people “sitting on their butts,” Mattison responded that he is actively trying to stir things up. “I yell at them and they get mad at me. But that’s okay,” he said. Mattison said that this is the way to provoke action.