Contributed photo
Ward 12 Democratic alder candidate Theresa Morant.
A New Haven native and Yale New Haven Hospital secretary is running unopposed to become the next alder for Ward 12 — with a focus on finding some way to calm traffic on the neighborhood’s car-crazy stretch of Rt. 80.
Theresa Morant is the Democratic nominee for Ward 12 alder in this year’s Nov. 7 general election.
She is running unopposed for the seat as the neighborhood’s current alder, Gerald Antunes, plans to step down after serving for 14 years as the local legislative representative for Quinnipiac Meadows and Bishop Woods.
Morant, who lives on Weybossett Street, grew up near I‑91’s Exit 8 in the very ward she’s now looking to represent.
She has worked as a unit associate at Yale New Haven Health’s St. Raphael campus for the past 15 years, greeting and registering patients and helping them get situated upon their arrival. “It becomes challenging at times. But I like people,” she said in a recent phone interview.
This is Morant’s first time running for alder, though she did serve for two years as Ward 21 Democratic Ward Committee co-chair when Brenda Foskey-Cyrus was the alder for that Newhallville/Prospect Hill/Dixwell ward.
The redstricted bounds of Ward 12.
“Gerry has some giant shoes to fill,” Morant said about stepping into the Ward 12 alder role. “I’m going to do my best to pick up where he’s leaving off. My slogan is to help build, and build together.”
What does she see as the top challenge facing the ward today?
“Definitely traffic,” she said. “Route 80 is a monster. It gets very congested. I definitely plan on jumping in and trying to tackle ways to calm that down.” Morant suggested the area — including the busy, drag-race-prone state-owned road that is Rt. 80/Foxon –needs more speed bumps and stop signs and traffic lights. She also said that the Walmart on Rt. 80 needs to have a better, safer, sheltered, paved bus stop.
And she declined to comment on the city’s plans to convert the 56-room Days Inn hotel at 270 Foxon Blvd. into a non-congregate homeless shelter, a move that her soon-to-be predecessor opposed.
Thomas Breen file photo
Current Alder Gerald Antunes, stepping down after 14 years.
Antunes, a retired police captain, is one of the two longest serving members on the board, along with Fair Haven Heights’ Rosa Ferraro-Santana, who has represented Ward 13 for nearly 16 years.
As with Ferraro-Santana, Antunes’ tenure on the board has been discontinuous: he was first elected in 2005, and served three two-year terms between 2006 and 2011. He then stepped down and chose not to run for reelection — only to throw his hat back in the ring in 2015, when he won back his previous alder seat. He has served four consecutive two-year terms since 2016 and, again, has decided to step down and not run for a fifth straight term.
“You’ve got to know your limitations,” Antunes told the Independent in a recent phone interview. “Too many politicians stay in their jobs way too long. I think it’s time to move over and let somebody bring in some new ideas.”
Asked about how Ward 12 has changed during his time representing the neighborhood on the board, Antunes also pointed to traffic, traffic, traffic.
“Traffic has increased on Rt. 80,” he said. “I never really thought about how much traffic there is” — but it’s only grown and grown. He said that over 39,000 cars a day travel on that state-owned road.
Overall, he said, he feels like Ward 12 has become a safer, cleaner place to live over the years — and he’s proud of the role he’s played in helping make that happen, through advocating for newly paved streets to new houses and blight cleanup on Quinnipiac Avenue.
He’d like to see a return to neighborhood schools, where students can walk to class instead of taking the bus across town. He’d also like to see “more involvement from the city” in a far-flung part of New Haven that he said is all too often overlooked. “The city puts a lot of money into many other districts in town, but when it comes to the five wards on the east side of the Quinnipiac River, we don’t seem to get a lot.”
“I’m surrounded by state roads,” he added. “We’re kind of stuck with our hands out … except when they want to dump homeless shelters and dispensaries on us.”
His advice for Morant: “Always keep in mind, it’s the people in your district that elect you. Accommodate their needs. They elect you to represent them.”