As Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made the final lap of a walking tour through Newhallville designed to promote a gang-fighting initiative, a man in a wheelchair interrupted his path — and offered his own approach to solving crime.
Malloy “walked the beat” with police through Newhallville Monday morning, making the eighth stop on a “tour” of urban crime. The tour aimed to highlight Malloy’s commitment to Project Longevity, an anti-gang initiative that started in New Haven and is soon spreading to Bridgeport and Hartford. The tour also aimed to illustrate a point: That Malloy cares not just about mass shootings like Newtown, but about the everyday gun violence that plagues communities like Newhallville.
Malloy and Lt. Kenneth Blanchard, Newhallville’s top cop.
Malloy’s tour began at 10 a.m. at Winchester Avenue and Read Street, where the feds swept the streets of alleged members of the R2 gang. The neighborhood has been hit hard by slumlords and foreclosure; neighbors have been working to revive it. Trailed by a black Ford Taurus with tinted windows, Malloy walked the streets with a large group including Mayor John DeStefano, Assistant Police Chief Luiz Casanova, top Newhallville cop Lt. Kenneth Blanchard, several patrol officers, and Malloy’s top point-person on criminal justice, Mike Lawlor. The tour passed relatively uneventfully; neighbors called out greetings and a child asked for his autograph.
Then Malloy met “Brother Born.” The governor was just hitting home stretch of the tour, behind Lincoln/Bassett School, when Brother Born swung his wheelchair into his path holding a video camera. Brother Born said he had a question for the governor.
Born told the governor he’s tired of hearing gunshots every day from the city’s outdoor firing range on Sherman Parkway.
“I just want to know, do y’all know of any other city in the United States that has an outdoor gun range in the middle of an urban neighborhood with more than three schools surrounding it?” Born asked.
“That’s why I’m here,” Malloy cut in.
DeStefano gave a more detailed answer: The city has bought the former Army reserve center on Wintergreen Avenue and plans to move the firing range into the basement of the reserve center after another year.
The politicians walked toward the school, where a group of TV reporters intercepted the governor for a quick news conference.
Born, who’s 36, told reporters someone in shot him eight years ago in New Haven. Now he focuses his efforts on organizing “positive” activities in his neighborhood.
Born followed down the sidewalk — then pulled an abrupt U‑turn. He hollored to a friend, who was doing a daily workout on the Lincoln-Bassett pull-up bars. He urged him to run and make a copy of a flyer for a block party on Read Street.
Inside Lincoln/Bassett, Malloy held an hour-long discussion with community leaders and elected officials about public safety. Malloy touted Project Longevity, where state and local officials “call in” gang members and warn them that if any one member shoots someone, law enforcement will crack down on the whole gang. “If you’re going to war with anybody, we’re going to war with you,” said Malloy, a former prosecutor.
During a question and answer period, Born quietly wove his way to the front of the room. Then he held up a green flyer for the TV camera to see. He caught the governor’s eye.
So Malloy swung into action. He picked up the flyer and read the announcement aloud: Read Street is throwing an annual block party on Sunday, Aug. 25 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. (The flyer said 1 a.m., Malloy noted: If Brother Born is keeping kids up at 1 a.m., “we’re going to come after you,” he joked.) The Read Street kids need monetary donations, Malloy dutifully added.
The meeting broke up at 11:30 a.m. after a range of comments, several of which called for more funding for the Street Outreach Workers program.
Born swung his wheelchair around to face the crowd of over 100 people gathered in the school cafeteria.
“Don’t leave!” he urged. He said the problem is politicians always leave instead of staying to help improve the neighborhood. He put out another call for donations from the crowd. He noted he saw many people dressed in suits, which means they can afford to spare a couple of dollars.
The plea worked: Police Chief Dean Esserman gave him ten bucks. Lawlor gave him a twenty. Born, who’s making a documentary, captured the donations on video.
Then he offered his own take on how to solve crime in the neighborhood.
Sweeping up gang members, as the feds did in Operation Bloodline, doesn’t work, he argued: As soon as you remove some R2 members, new ones pop up.
He also said he doesn’t think the threats associated with Project Longevity will work.
He said he and some friends have started working out on the jungle gym at Lincoln/Bassett five days a week, to set a positive example.
“That’s not how we get better,” he said — through positive neighborhood activities, “not by Operation Grab Every Gang Member.”
He also objected to the name “Project Longevity,” which he interpreted to indicate that the war against gangs would last a long time. “It should be ‘Operation Over,’ not ‘Operation Longevity,’” he said.
In remarks to reporters after the discussion, Malloy defended Project Longevity. He credited the program with helping to dramatically reduce shootings and homicides in the city. And he said it must be done alongside community policing, where neighbors are a key part of the solution, and work together with cops.
Just a block away, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (at center in photo) held a separate forum on crime Monday morning. He met with juvenile justice activists and faith leaders at the Newhallville Community Center at 681 Dixwell Ave.
His visit came on the heels of a key speech by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in which the U.S. Department of Justice pledged to put an end to mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders.
“Our judicial system and our sentencing laws are killing communities like New Haven” because too many people are locked up for too long, Murphy said.
Murphy said though Obama has endorsed sentencing reform, the changes still need new legislation from Congress. He said his visit Monday aimed to build community support around passing such laws. (Click here for Hugh McQuaid’s full report on the discussion.)
Capria Marks (pictured), 17, agreed with Murphy. She said she’s seen too many people go to jail for possession of drugs.
“Watching your friends leave you is so hard,” she said. She mentioned one friend who came out into a halfway house after serving time. “You see life sucked out of him when he go to jail,” she said.