Christopher Peak Photo
Mayor Harp.
Mayor Toni Harp vowed to combat domestic violence by helping not just the battered, but the batterers as well.
Harp and her new police chief, Anthony Campbell, have identified domestic violence as a top priority in the city’s next round of crime-fighting initiatives. A central element of the initiative is to create a Family Justice Center, a “one-stop-shopping” central facility of services to help victims of domestic violence.
Harp has also directed her staff to come up with a plan for linking those arrested for committing domestic violence to anger-management classes and other help with the problems that led to their abusive actions, she said on her latest appearance on WNHH radio’s “Mayor Monday” program. She has also asked ministers and behavior-health workers to weigh in on a plan.
In response to caller Bob McCormack, who asked Harp to name a top priority for her third term if she wins one this fall, the mayor identified the overall domestic violence initiative. She said she got the idea of including outreach efforts to arrestees from Sgt. Shafiq Abdussabur, who told her about the large number of people regularly appearing in the pre-trial lock-up at 1 Union Ave. Last year the city took over management of that facility from the state.
That transfer of control of the lock-up “creates an opportunity and a setting to intervene,” Harp said.
New Haven averages about six domestic violence arrests a day, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman.
“This population of angry largely men — although there are some women — are people that we have got to as a society address. We’re not going to be able to control the violence that occurs in our community” otherwise, Harp argued.
Also on the program, Harp weighed in on the state’s decision not to replace Dorsey Kendrick, who’s retiring after nearly 20 years as president of Gateway Community College, with a full-time on-site president. Instead, in a cost-cutting move, the state has assigned Housatonic Community Community College President Paul Broadie to run both campuses. (Click here for a CT Post story about Broadie and his new mission.)
Harp said she understands the state’s desire to consolidate services where it both saves money and conceivably improves services.
On the other hand, Kendrick made a difference in New Haven with an intense focus on addressing needs specific to the city — such as her pushing through the move to consolidate the college’s branches into a downtown campus, and the creation of a nursing program to meet a local nursing shortage. Similarly, Kendrick created a needed remedial education program for high-schoolers when the state cut the program for new collegians.
‘What made Gateway what it is today is leadership. I’m even more and more convinced that leadership is important,” Harp said. So in the end, what will determine Gateway’s prospects for continued success after Kendrick retires this month will not necessarily be whether the New Haven campus’s president is full-time or part-time, but whether he exhibits the same kind of visionary leadership and focus. Harp said she has met Broadie. She said he seems like a “nice guy.” The test is whether he proves not just nice, but Kendrickian.
Click on or download the above audio file to listen to the full episode of WNHH radio’s “Mayor Monday” program, which also dealt with the future of the Armory and of English Station.
The episode of was made possible with the support of Gateway Community College and Berchem, Moses & Devlin, P.C.