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Board of Alders President Walker-Myers at WNHH: "I don't instill fear. I instill hope."
Don’t panic. Let’s see what happens and what doesn’t happen. Then we’ll make sound decisions the way we always do.
Tyisha Walker-Myers offered that strategy as she and New Haven walk into what may prove a stormy 2025.
Emphasis on “may.”
Walker-Myers is entering her 11th year as president of the Board of Alders. Like counterparts across the country, she has heard from people worried about tough choices her city will face from policies promised by incoming President Donald Trump. Especially when it comes to immigration: Trump has promised to carry out mass deportations of non-citizens across the country. He has promised to punish “sanctuary cities” like New Haven that refuse to help or stand in the way.
If so, that could mean legislators in cities like New Haven facing potential cuts in needed federal policing or education funding. Would they stick by immigrant-protection policies in that case?
Walker-Myers was asked that question Thursday during a 2025-forward conversation on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
“In New Haven, we are a city that ensures that everyone is safe,” she replied. She said that will continue.
Beyond that, she declined to get into hypothetical specifics. “I’m hearing a lot of talk about what might happen” on many issues, she said: It’s unclear which predictions will come true, and even then what decisions need to be made at different levels of government before they land in New Haven’s municipal lap.
So it makes sense to wait to see what happens rather than overreacting to hypotheticals or “beating” our “chests,” Walker-Myers argued.
“I don’t instill fear. I instill hope.”
After 10 years leading the board, she said, she is confident that New Haven comes to the right decisions based on its values, from policing that has grown closer to community to construction of affordable housing.
Even if that can sometimes take time.
Her biggest surprise in 13 years as an alder has been the time it takes to craft legislation and get projects going, Walker-Myers said. “I didn’t know government was so slow,” she said. “Government isn’t always as fast as we want. It’s worth it in the end.” Sometimes it may be too slow, but often it needs to take more time to tackle complex issues and hear from different constituencies; it takes longer to get policy right.
She pointed to the years it took to get the Curtis Cofield II Estates housing complex moving along MLK Boulevard and Legion Avenue in West River. But now the project is coming together; she predicted that families would start moving in there in 2025. She pointed to that project along with the rebuilding of Day Street’s Antillean Manor and the fast-rising Yale neuroscience center in her ward as examples of how persistent, hard work over years can produce real results.
Also in 2025, Walker-Myers predicted that new tenants unions will continue forming. The anti-blight Livable City Initiative (LCI) will continue upping housing inspections. She will speak out for more regional cooperation in dealing with the growing homeless population. Alders will continue working on a fix for the ADU (accessory dwelling unit) law to make it practical; she isn’t sure if it will or won’t get over the finish line by year’s end. She’s excited to tackle the work this year with her 29 colleagues, and she’s hopeful about what they’ll accomplish, she said.
This is a municipal election year. Walker-Myers said the current “plan” is to run for reelection this fall. That could change if — as sometimes happens — life changes.
“I am not one of those people that look for the next political office. I just want to be a really good person,” she said. “I want my children to be proud of me, and I want to do everything that I can to represent New Haven.”
Click on the video below to watch the interview with Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of “Dateline New Haven.”