Kids, Not Planes, Anchor Annex Alder Race

Good schools, clean parks, safe streets — and, now that you mention it, a responsible neighborhood airport — top the priority lists of two local educators who are running to fill an open Board of Alders seat in the Annex.

Those issues are at the center of the race for Ward 17 alder.

Retired former New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) teacher and principal Salvatore Punzo, a Democrat, will face off against special education teacher and neighborhood parks advocate AnneMarie Rivera-Berrios, a Republican, during the general election on Nov. 2.

Both are vying to replace outgoing Annex Alder Jody Ortiz, a Democrat, who is not running for a third two-year term. Ortiz has thrown her support behind Punzo to replace her.

The ward straddles either side of Forbes Avenue on the East Shore, stretching from the New Haven Harbor to the west, the East Haven town line to the east, Burwell Street to the north, and Townsend Terrace to the south.

Ward 17’s legislative contest is one of six contested aldermanic races citywide, in a municipal election year that has seen local Republicans focus much of their bid for regained political relevance on a handful of aldermanic challenges on the far east side of town. (They’re also running candidates for mayor, city clerk, and one of the elected school board seats, which covers half of the city.)

“A Sleepy Airport That Wakes Up A Little”

During interviews in the Annex, Punzo, Rivera-Berrios, and prospective voters at the doors raised the same issues again and again when asked about the most pressing concerns facing Ward 17.

They spoke of finding a way to help local students recover from educational, social, emotional, and mental health disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and virtual schooling.

They spoke of keeping neighborhood parks like Peat Meadow clean, safe, attractive, and well-maintained.

They spoke of curbing loud noises from speeding cars and dirt bikes on Townsend Avenue.

They spoke of building trust between neighbors and police to address neighborhood drug-dealing hotspots.

They also spoke about charting a responsible and transparent path forward for Tweed New Haven Airport, which sits next door in Morris Cove’s Ward 18.

Neither of the candidates nor anyone at the doors told the Independent they were adamantly opposed to the expansion of the airport, even though everyone mentioned hearing planes flying over their homes multiple times a day.

Everyone with whom the Independent spoke had questions about the 43-year term of the airport authority-city deal that was recently approved by the alders, about the $5 million in ​“community benefits” to be spent on noise and traffic mitigation, and about just how busy a larger Tweed might get.

But, contrary to some of the most vocal critiques raised by some Morris Cove residents during the spate of Tweed-related public hearings this year, no one said they are adamantly opposed to a larger and busier airport.

“Maybe I hear a loud jet five times a day for 15 seconds,” longtime Townsend Avenue resident Tony Franco said when asked during one of Punzo’s campaign stops about the airport’s pending expansion. He’s not too worried about the airport’s plans to add more flights, he said.

He even looks forward to being able to hop on a plane down the block and fly directly to Florida, as a new budget airline plans to do starting next week

“We’re just gonna be a sleepy airport that wakes up a little,” Franco said.

Upson Terrace resident and fellow Punzo supporter Marianne Apuzzo agreed. ​“You can hear the planes, but it’s not that big of a deal,” she said.

Punzo promised to ask questions at upcoming annual meetings among the neighborhood alders, the airport authority, the airport management company, and community members about noise and traffic and ensuring that people who live around the airport are not adversely impacted by a larger airport. But he is not running for office with a deep-seated commitment against, or in support of, a larger Tweed.

“We have to listen” to what the concerns of neighborhood residents are and then act accordingly, Punzo said.

While wary of the 43-year term of the recently OK’d agreement, he said, he supports Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola’s amendment — which was ultimately approved — that requires the alders to take a fresh look at the airport authority-city deal every 10 years.

Rivera-Berrios offered a similar response when asked about how she would approach Tweed’s expansion if she gained local legislative office.

Before the pandemic, she and her family loved to travel. They considered it a ​“luxury” having the airport just a few blocks away from their home.

Now she hears planes more frequently over her Chester Street home. She said she is concerned about even louder noises and more traffic to come as more flights start coming in and out of the airport. She wouldn’t have supported the 43-year deal, but she’s not categorically opposed to a larger airport, she said.

“I’m pretty open to having conversations” about an expanded Tweed, she said, ​“as long as there are parameters. There must be a middle ground.”

Punzo: ​“Always Fighting For Kids”

So if fighting over Tweed isn’t at the top of the list for Punzo or Rivera-Berrios … what neighborhood and citywide concerns are driving their respective runs?

In separate interviews, both candidates stressed just how difficult the past year and a half of the pandemic has been for local kids. They cited the online-only schooling, the pause of after-school programs and sports, the lack of in-person contact with teachers and counselors and friends, being cooped up with family members at home, all layered on top of the broader mass health and economic Covid-caused calamities.

Both candidates promised to use whatever sway they have as an alder to helping students recover.

“Somehow we have to hug our kids more, hug our community more,” current Alder Ortiz, who chairs the Board of Alders Education Committee works as a paraprofessional at Nathan Hale School. Ortiz’s committee recently co-hosted a public hearing all about student mental health during Covid. Click here to watch that hearing.

Punzo agreed with Ortiz’s assessment. Punzo worked as a teacher and a principal for the city’s public school system for 49 years, including 17 years as the principal of East Rock School, and who also spent 11 years as president of the Annex Little League baseball program.

If elected alder, he promised to advocate for more arts, music, sports, and mental health resources for local students. Reflecting on his long career as a local educator, he spoke of how important it is for kids — especially during a crisis moment like that of the ongoing pandemic — to feel they have adults in school who care about them, and who they can talk to honestly about how they’re feeling.

He said one of his top goals upon arriving at school every day as a teacher and a principal was ​“to have my kids feel comfortable talking to me if they needed help.” By being visible and present at arrivals and dismissals and lunch times, by being up for talking with students whenever they needed an adult to lean on, he said, he was able to foster those open lines of communication.

Falco and Apuzzo, who are both retired city teachers, as well as fellow Upson Terrace residents Damien Thomas and Laila Ali, said they’re supporting Punzo for alder because he’ll bring to the Aldermanic Chambers the same work ethic, empathy, communication skills, and commitment to the wellbeing of kids that he demonstrated during his time working for NHPS and leading the Annex Little League.

“He’s just a good guy, always present, always helping everyone,” Ali said. She said Punzo coached her children in the Annex Little League, and she has long been impressed by his ability to mentor young people and mediate disputes. ​“He’s very calm,” regardless of what’s going on, Ali said.

Apuzzo, a former student of Punzo as well as a former NHPS educator, agreed. ​“Mr. Punzo has a reputation in our city: The first one in, the last one to leave, and always fighting for kids,” she said.

Rivera-Berrios: Focused On Parks, Trash, Speeding

During a walk around Chester Street, Peat Meadow Park, and the section of the Annex where she lives north of Forbes Avenue, Rivera-Berrios too promised to support kids affected by the pandemic.

Rivera-Berrios said her commitment to public service derives in part from watching her mom, Maryann Rivera, hosting block cleanups and regularly checking in with seemingly every kid in the neighborhood while she was growing up on Frank Street in the Hill.

Rivera-Berrios works as a special education high school teacher. She teaches remotely in the Maryland public schools. (The company she works for contracts with that state’s public school system.)

What’s the biggest lesson she has taken away from her time as a teacher, and that she would apply to her advocacy for New Haven kids if elected alder?

“You never know everybody’s situation,” she said. ​“Treat everyone like a human. Be sympathetic to their needs. Someone might look OK” on the outside, but they could be suffering on the inside.

That care for kids motivated one of her more significant engagements in Annex public life to date: advocating for clean-up and repairs to Peat Meadow Park, which is just a few blocks away from her Chester Street home.

Rivera-Berrios noted how, working with the East Shore Community Management Team, she helped dedicate $1,100 in Neighborhood Public Improvement Program (NPIP) money to park infrastructure. She hopes to invest that money in buying new handicapped-accessible playground equipment for the playground that sits on the eastern end of the park, she said.

She pointed to cracked asphalt on the walkway that encircles the park, and pledged to advocate for repaving that to make for a smoother ride for kids in strollers and people in wheelchairs.

Describing frequent speeding cars racing up and down nearby Burwell Street, she promised to push for speed humps on that block and surrounding streets to slow down traffic.

And she spoke of how her current work as a member of the city’s Civilian Review Board (CRB) has only deepened her commitment to bringing back ​“community policing” to the Annex, and New Haven more broadly.

What does that mean to her? Having a police officer be able show up at a neighbor’s home to address a noise or drug-dealing or violence complaint, she said, and having that neighbor and other people on the block trust that the police officer is there to help, not hurt.

Rivera-Berrios pointed to current piles of trash on Peat Meadow Road, as well as nearby sites that formerly housed discarded plastic barrels, as informing her push for the city to clean up trash in and around the park.

(Punzo also stressed his commitment to building better relationships between the Annex community and the police during his interview with the Independent. He comes from a family dedicated to public safety, he said. One of his sons is a retired city police officer, another a retired city firefighter. Punzo also praised the city’s recent efforts to crack down on loud noises that besiege the East Shore, including by making arrests.)

Asked about the uphill battle that any Republican running in New Haven faces because of local Democrats’ registration advantage, Rivera-Berrios said that she has worked well with Democrats and Republicans alike in the Annex. She said she hopes her neighbors judge candidates by their commitment to the community, and not by national political debates.

Rivera-Berrios said she used to be a Democrat, and then changed her party affiliation to Republican after becoming disillusioned with ​“a lot of things at the polls.” She cited pressure techniques used by Democrats to ensure that rank-and-file members fall in line with party leaders. She declined to say specifically what those ​“things at the polls” included.

The many ​“Elect Sal Punzo” lawn signs across the Annex, including on the Chester Street block where Rivera-Berrios lives, pointed to the challenges ahead for a Republican looking to win local office in the neighborhood.

“Stop always looking” at whether someone is a Republican or Democrat, she said when asked what her pitch would be to neighbors who are wary of Republicans. Ask instead, ​“What are you going to do for our community?”

What About Masks, Vax?

Given how politically polarized vaccine and mask mandates have become across the nation, where do these two candidates for hyperlocal public office stand on those foundational pandemic-era protections?

Punzo said that he supports vaccination mandates and mask mandates in general. He approves of the Elicker Administration’s current vax-or-test mandate for city workers, as well as the citywide mask mandate for all indoor public gatherings.

Punzo, who is 76, said it was a no-brainer for him to get fully vaccinated as soon as he was able to. Why? ​“Because of my age,” he said.

Also, he said, ​“If you can prevent other people from getting sick,” you should get the shot.

Rivera-Berrios declined to say whether or not she has been vaccinated. ​“For personal health reasons, I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

She also said she generally opposes vaccination mandates ​“I believe everyone should have a decision. They should be able to decide what they do with their own bodies,” she said.

Rivera-Berrios said she generally opposes mask mandates, even though she is a firm believer that masks work to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Her criticism of the city’s mask mandate, she said, stems for the conviction that it is limited to New Haven only. A mask mandate simply isn’t effective if people who have to cover the mouths and noses in New Haven are not required to over the town line in North Haven or East Haven, she argued.

“I wear a mask everywhere,” she added.