Sophie Sonnenfeld Photos
Elicker gives senior citizens high fives at meeting.
Dixwell seniors don’t want to have to climb down a perilously steep, concrete stairwell every time they want to use the back entrance to their weekly meeting room.
On Wednesday afternoon, elderly prospective voters from a group associated with the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center quizzed mayoral challenger Justin Elicker on what exactly he would do, if elected, to help improve safe access to their communal gathering space.
The stairs leading to the senior center’s meeting room.
Eighty seniors leveled that question to Elicker, a former East Rock/Cedar Hill alder and 2013 mayoral candidate, during a 45-minute campaign stop he made to the a basement meeting room beneath the Bethel AME Church at 255 Goffe St., which the senior club uses for Wednesday afternoon meetings.
Elicker is slated to face off against incumbent Mayor Toni Harp during the Sept. 10 Democratic Party primary.
Seniors at the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center said on Wednesday that they have waited years to use a senior-specific portion of the ill-fated and interminably delayed Escape youth center and homeless shelter, which had been planned for Bethel’s former community outreach center right next door to the current city-run senior center.
The Escape project as initially envisioned included renovations to the adjacent senior center as well as a shared communal gathering space for seniors and youth alike. Now, with the Escape stalled and the site left in disrepair from unfinished demolition and maintenance work, the seniors have been left waiting to relocate to new digs at the planned Q House on Dixwell Avenue.
“The vision of the Escape center was great,” Elicker said during Wednesday’s campaign stop, “but [Youth Services Director Jason Bartlett] gave the project to a contractor who was his friend.”
“Now,” he continued, “not one young person has benefited from the hundreds of thousands of dollars that went into the center.”
Crowd gathered at the senior center.
One of the seniors in attendance commented on how hard it is for the seniors to get down the stairs into the basement meeting room adjacent to the senior center and beneath the church. That’s only the back entrance; there is a front entrance through the church that includes an elevator, but many seniors, she said, continue to use the back entrance. She asked Elicker if he would hire a contractor to go in and fix the half-finished Escape space.
“I can’t make a promise on that,” Elicker said, “because I don’t know the details of the cost.” Mayor Toni Harp has said that the project is still several hundred thousand dollars away from completion, which money the Board of Alders has sequestered until further discussions are had.
“It’s people in the community that get sacrificed when the city is run by an unethical government,” Elicker said.
While he can’t promise to fix the Escape center, he said, he does plan to create an “accessible place for seniors to congregate.” He offered no further details on what that might mean.
“It seems like many people have lost respect for our seniors who have put energy into helping our communities,” he added.
Elicker was also asked about speed bumps for neighborhood safety. He said it can be hard to bring in speed bumps, especially on busy roads that emergency vehicles use, so instead he wants to make traffic enforcement “fair.”
“If someone is going to drive like crazy, they need to expect to get a ticket.” Though Elicker pushed for more ticketed traffic violations to combat speeding, he said the state needs to change some rules. For every traffic violation ticket in Connecticut, he said, the city only receives $10 while the state takes the rest.
Many seniors the Independent spoke to on Wednesday declined to comment, or even to identify themselves on the record for this article, saying they are still torn between Harp and Elicker.
Others in the crowd thumbed through Elicker pamphlets, trying to decide if they recognized him from campaign ads. Once Elicker mentioned the Escape center, electric enthusiasm jolted through the crowd. Seniors laughed at some of the Democratic candidate’s jokes, and cheered as he promised to support the newly created Civilian Review Board. After Elicker left, the seniors kicked this reporter out before deliberating any further on Elicker’s pitch.
FBI Conspiracy? “Ridiculous” And “Political Lies”
Elicker also responded to a question about his wife’s involvement in the FBI investigation into Harp.
He called his wife his “ethical compass” and said, “The claims are ridiculous. It’s time to stop these kinds of political lies because New Haven deserves better than this.”
Others asked Elicker about his stance on the Civilian Review Board, a residency requirement for teachers, and fines for negligent landlords. Elicker spoke in support of the Civilian Review Board’s subpoena power, making sure more teachers are “invested in the community,” and enforcing a process to fine problematic landlords.
Elicker plays You Are My Sunshine for the crowd.
To close out his pitch, Elicker sat down at a piano facing the back wall, and played “You Are My Sunshine.”
The moment was reminiscent of when Elicker juggled fruit for another group of seniors at the Prescott Bush Apartments senior public-housing complex on Dixwell.
The spirited group was hesitant to sing with him at first, but decided to help him out by the second chorus when he hit an especially high note.
