Paul Bass Photo
Harp & Rodriguez greet college students lunching at Orangeside.
Small-business issues were on the menu during lunch hour at Orangeside Luncheonette Friday, as two notable figures threw their support to the mayoral campaign of Democrat Toni Harp.
One of the endorsers was Sergio Rodriguez, who ran a spirited grassroots campaign for city/town clerk in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, barely losing to Harp running mate Michael Smart.
The other endorser was Tony Poleshek, Jr., owner of the popular Temple Street restaurant and the man behind New Haven’s most distinctive doughnut.
The endorsements took place at noon as diners began filling the booths and freestanding tables in the restaurant across the street from the Criterion Cinemas. Poleshek moved his four-and-a-half year-old restaurant there (in a space formerly occupied by the late vegetarian restaurant Red Lentil) from Orange Street earlier this year.
Harp’s crew has taken to eating breakfast at Orangeside while discussing campaign business.
“I do not support many politicians. I think a lot of people talk and don’t walk,” Poleshek said at a lectern set up amid the tables.
He said he “listened to the discussions” taking place at the Harp campaign tables. And he was impressed when Harp asked him “what I thought about small business in this community.” So he decided to throw his support behind her campaign. “I was really impressed that she wanted to learn more about what we need.”
He spoke Friday about what he believes New Haven small businesses need from government: The city should help lure more tourists to the city, including finding a way to revive the convention business lost when the old Coliseum came down. The city should also maintain the “residential base” of customers by keeping people happy.
Poleshek (pictured with his wife and co-restaurateur Michelle Poleshek) draws on a family tradition to make his signature square powdered and creme-filled doughnuts. Click here for a full story on how he does it.
After Poleshek spoke Rodriguez took the lectern. If it weren’t for the Harp mayoral campaign — which formed a ticket with clerk candidate Michael Smart for petitioning and vote-pulling purposes in the Sept. 10 primary — Rodriguez might very well be the Democratic candidate running for clerk right now. Backed by hundreds of Harp vote-pullers, Smart defeated Rodriguez 6,395 to 5,696.
That was all forgotten Friday, as Rodriguez enthusiastically endorsed Harp’s candidacy.
He, too, spoke about the needs of small business. In his clerk campaign, he reminded people, he called for creating a direct “pipeline” between the mayor’s office and the city’s 1,421 small businesses.
Rodriguez also spoke of Harp’s record as a state senator and alderwoman advocating for “the most vulnerable”: “the homeless, the immigrants, the mentally ill, and those suffering from addiction.”
“We need strong, seasoned leadership” in the mayor’s office, he argued. Echoing arguments made by the Harp campaign, he said her experience and contacts best position her to obtain state and federal money for the city.
Harp has promised to direct more city attention to small-business neighborhood corridors like Kimberly Avenue, Dixwell Avenue, and Grand Avenue.
Her campaign had lunch at Orangeside Friday. Their order included doughnuts.