Five newcomers seeking open aldermanic seats picked up endorsements from the Democratic Town Committee at its convention Tuesday night, with the rest of the endorsements going to incumbents.
The newcomers: Aaron Greenberg in Wooster Square’s Ward 8, Anna Festa in East Rock’s Ward 10 (which also includes Cedar Hill and a slice of Fair Haven); Rose Santana in Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 13; Michael Stratton East Rock/Newhallville’s Ward 19; and Darryl Brackeen in upper Westville’s Ward 26.
The convention took place at Career High School.
Twenty-three of the incumbent aldermen receiving endorsements released a statement following the convention touting their collective records over the past two years. Most of them were elected two years ago with the support of Yale’s unions, on a platform promising a return to community policing, more local jobs for New Haveners, and more stuff for kids to do.
The statement reads as follows:
When we began our term on the Board of Aldermen 18 months ago, we each brought with us the concerns of our community and a commitment to serve our neighborhoods. And yet, it was clear that to improve the quality of life of our constituents would require a vision extending beyond the boundaries of our individual wards. The broader crises of unemployment, violence, lack of youth opportunities, and insufficient revenue facing the entire city required our collective efforts.
To address the unemployment crisis, we brought a diversity of stakeholders to the table and developed a plan with employers to get New Haven residents into jobs. The product of these efforts is New Haven Works, a non-profit agency that will connect our residents to good jobs. Even though it is not yet fully operational, New Haven Works has placed 45 New Haven residents in jobs and many employers have responded positively to becoming partners and committing to hire New Haven Works candidates.
To curb the violence crisis, we advocated for a return to real community policing to stem the crime and violence that plagues our communities. Recognizing the serious commitment of our Board on this issue, the Mayor swore in a new Chief of Police committed to the return of community policing before our inauguration. We now have walking beats back in many neighborhoods and the murder rate was cut in half last year.
To tackle the crisis facing young people in our city, we’re developing our network of youth spaces citywide that utilizes schools, adds capacity where needed to existing centers, and rehabs the “Q” House and the Goffe Street Armory to serve our communities. We’re creating a database to make information more accessible. We advocated for State resources and secured over $700,000 that we have put toward youth violence prevention.
To improve the current revenue crisis, we have worked to cut spending, reduce inefficiency, and identify additional revenue streams to keep the mill rate down and ease the burden on taxpayers. We established a Health Benefits Review Taskforce to find cost savings on healthcare, took on growing police overtime costs by requiring aldermanic oversight and approval of police overtime spending, and facilitated recruitment of a new fire academy class that will ease overtime spending. We combed the Mayor’s budget for possible cuts and reduced his proposed mill rate by 33%. Rather than raise taxes for the current fiscal year, we utilized the proceeds from Wall and High Streets to reduce this year’s deficit created primarily by storm expenses and overtime in public safety departments. Also faced with the possibility of Yale subtracting their roughly $2.8 million fire services payment from their overall voluntary contribution, we got a written commitment to secure that payment making the grand total of their contribution $8 million every year.
We have each taken on initiatives with leaders in our communities to strengthen our own neighborhoods. And together, we redesigned the allocation of resources for tree trimming and street and sidewalk repairs to make it more fair and transparent.
All of these efforts are ongoing. New Haven Works is off to a great start, but we need to make sure more businesses participate for it to reach its potential. Community policing is back, but we need walking beats in every neighborhood, facilitate stronger relationships between the police, community members and other City departments. Lots of projects are in motion for our youth, and we have more work to do to see them through. While important, our $8 million annual payment from Yale is not enough and will not cure the city’s financial woes. Our Board secured millions and we’re pushing for more. The Board and the next mayor will have to work with non-profit and for-profit employers to address the ongoing revenue crisis.
The challenges facing our city cannot be solved in 18 months. They were decades in the making and it will take all of us working together and some time to turn them around. But instead of hiding from the big issues, our Board has taken them head on. We have charted a course toward a New Haven with good jobs, safe streets, and youth opportunities, where every neighborhood is affordable and strong. We’re on our way, and we have more work to do.
Sarah Eidelson
Frank Douglass
Jacqueline James
Andrea Jackson-Brooks
Jorge Perez
Dolores Colon
Jessica Holmes
Barbara Constantinople
Mark Stopa
Santiago Berrios-Bones
Ernie Santiago
Migdalia Castro
Al Paolillo Jr.
Sal DeCola
Delphine Clyburn
Jeanette Morrison
Tyisha Walker
Evette Hamilton
Adam Marchand
Angela Russell
Claudette Robinson-Thorpe
Brian Wingate
Carlton Staggers