Reelection Event Highlights Newhallville Oasis

One of the city’s best kept not-secret secrets was the stage for a fundraising event for Mayor Toni Harp’s reelection campaign.

Butterflies and birds shared their home at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Ivy Street with the more than 50 people who came to the habtitat to enjoy ​“Tapas with Toni.” The event was held during the late afternoon Sunday at the Ivy Narrow Bird Habitat in support of Harp’s quest for a third two-year term. Marcus Paca is collecting petitions to challenge Harp in a Democratic primary as well as in the general election.

For nearly two decades the habitat, which was created through the work of its caretaker Jeanette Thomas, her family, neighbors and the support of organizations like the Urban Resources Initiative and the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, has been an oasis in a neighborhood that often fights against blight and absentee landlords. (Read more about the habitat here and here.)

Fundraiser attendees who paid $125 and up to dine with the mayor at the habitat, many who said Sunday they’d either forgotten or never knew that the habitat existed, got a chance to get up close with the green space as they sipped cocktails and sampled the small plates provided by Baby J’s Catering. The habitat had been transformed into an outdoor garden cafe with lights strung throughout the sanctuary and tables and chairs placed throughout to create intimate seating areas for guests.

“It goes without saying that most of you are really surprised that such beauty exists right here in the middle of Newhallville and Dixwell,” Harp said as she thanked Thomas for investing her time and money into keeping the habitat alive.

Attendees took the event’s food offering from staffers dressed in colorful T‑shirts that featured assertions about Harp administration accomplishments, like balancing the budget and equipping police officers with cell phones and forthcoming body cameras.

Jackie Buster of Wow! Creative Design Group, who also happens to be caretaker Thomas’s daughter, seconded the campaign theme of stressing ​“facts” in an age of ​“alternative truths.”

“We felt it was important to put it in people’s faces so they will leave here knowing how Toni and her team have affected our youth, our city with safety, with finances and IT,” she said.

Sunday’s event was hosted by Buster, Karaine Smith-Holness of Hair’s Kay Salon and attorney Wendy Clarke.

Harp joked that the three women had been so busy planning the fundraiser that she was unable to get her hair done in time for the event. Smith-Holness is the stylist responsible for helping the mayor maintain her coiffure.

“If it doesn’t look right,” Harp joked of her hair, ​“it’s not my fault.”

On a more serious note, Harp told attendees that New Haven is a small city that can be an example to others on how to do better.

Harp is the president of the African American Mayors Association and under her leadership New Haven has shown support for immigration reform, including sanctuary houses of worship.

“I am someone who believes in the American dream and that it is a dream for everybody,” she said. ​“I think that’s something worth working for.”