Candidate Commits To Community, Communication

Shauna Williams-Smith had never been visited by a local politician before this week. She also didn’t know about the Board of Alders, let alone the special election to replace former Ward 3 Alder Ron Hurt later this month. 

But on Wednesday, Miguel Pittman showed up at her Stevens Street door to pitch his run for the neighborhood legislative role — and won a pledge of support from a Hill resident newly engaged with local politics.

Williams-Smith was one of many people Pittman and his team of canvassers — which included his wife and restaurant co-owner Sandra, his son Miguel Pittman, Jr., and his neighbor Melvin Counsel — visited Wednesday afternoon. 

Pittman undertook that neighborhood canvassing effort in the runup to the Sept. 16 special election, where he is running against Ward 3 Democratic Town Committee Ward Co-Chair and home healthcare provider Angel Hubbard to replace Hurt following the latter’s resignation this summer.

The team rode around the Hill in golf carts to leave signs at houses and inform neighbors of his candidacy. As Pittman drove from street to street, cars would pass and beep, with drivers nodding in recognition.

Throughout the afternoon, Pittman spoke again and again about his commitment to the community he’s long called home — and to keeping open lines of communication between himself and the neighborhood he hopes to serve at City Hall.

He also noted that he was ​“fortunate” enough to self-fund his campaign. He made clear his independence from Yale’s UNITE HERE unions, which have been closely involved in local politics over the past decade. (UNITE HERE has not endorsed either candidate in this Ward 3 special election.)

Pittman first thought of running for alder around five to six months ago, when he was thinking of ways for the neighborhood to be better represented in the city. When the vacancy appeared on the board, he knew he had to throw his hat in the ring.

Pittman rented out two golf carts for the campaign, which began three weeks ago. As he drove from street to street on Wednesday, he noted: ​“Wouldn’t it be so much harder if we didn’t have these?”

At the doors on Stevens Street, he heard from Williams-Smith about one of her top concerns in the neighborhood: parking.

“That’s a safety concern for me and my kids. With autistic kids, their awareness of safety and a lot of things, it’s not there,” Williams-Smith said. ​“We’ve been ticketed for parking here, which is just absurd.”

Over the course of Wednesday’s canvassing, Pittman acknowledged the problems of the Hill’s past and present — with drug use and housing coming up as recurring issues — but emphasized that the neighborhood is a community he believes in, a community that ​“is not getting the respect that is deserved.” Opening up soul food restaurant Sandra’s Next Generation with his wife Sandra on Congress Avenue (in the Hill, but just outside of Ward 3) was proof of this belief, according to Pittman.

“We felt that the neighborhood was going to change and we were willing to invest,” Pittman said of opening up the restaurant several decades ago. ​“We contribute to our neighbors because we look at our neighbors as family.”

The problems of the Hill that came up at the doors on Wednesday ranged from parking frustrations to drug usage. Hill resident Maxine Harris-Branham mentioned this to Pittman, noting that people are using a ​“new crack.” Harris-Branham felt as if a new wave of drug usage was hitting the Hill, and that it would take someone of the community to tackle these issues.

“We have to tackle that together, as a community. We can’t just keep on putting it on the police,” Harris-Branham said.

And for Hill resident Ernest Willis, the streets could be cleaner. He pointed to some shrubbery next to a house. Then, he pointed to his porch, next to where Pittman stood, saying that the porch needs to be reconstructed. Within a second, Pittman offered the number of his carpenter.

Pittman has lived in the Hill since 1989. His father worked as a real estate developer in the area, with Pittman responsible for helping repair homes and collecting rent as a young child. Now, he serves as the chair of the city’s Development Commission, 

If elected alder, Pittman said, he would appoint informal neighborhood leaders on every block, to meet with them and understand the ​“intimate” issues of every resident. Pittman said he’s used this type of community communication before; he and his wife have thrown numerous community events, from Fourth of July celebrations to Thanksgiving meal giveaways, all advertised through his restaurant or word of mouth. 

Pittman pointed to this organizing as a key tenet of his campaign and his hopeful election as an alder — open communication.

“In terms of commitment, I’m fully committed. Not only with my time, but also my resources,” Pittman said. ​“I know what it takes to be a leader.”