Allan Appel Photo
Lisa Hopkins & Gary Holder-Winfeld
Calling the incumbent an “absentee alderman” who is not giving Dixwell residents a seat at the city’s table,repeat challenger Lisa Hopkins held a meet-and-greet as part of her fifth attempt to win the Ward 22 seat. “The fifth time is the charm,” she said.
On Saturday New Haven state Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield joined an afternoon-long gathering of Hopkins boosters who enjoyed cookies and lemonade beneath shade trees at the parking lot of the McClam Funeral Home at the corner of Dixwell and Frances Hunter Drive.
Hopkins managed Holder-Winfield’s successful 2008 campaign in which he succeeded longtime state Rep. Bill Dyson.
Since then, Holder-Winfield has always been there to endorse Hopkins in her campaigns to win a seat on the Board of Alderman..
Hopkins and Morehead have run against each other repeatedly since a 2008 special election, with Morehead prevailing in each instance, sometimes by tight margin. That has left a certain amount of hard feeling between the two who live near each other around the handsome rows of houses along the streets of Monterey Place and Francis Hunter Drive. This year Ward 22 has two other candidates in the mix; in addition to Hopkins and incumbent Greg Morehead, union-backed candidate Jeanette Morrison is running, as is community activist Cordelia Thorpe. That means a four-way free-for-all in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary.
In an interview at her Saturday event, Hopkins called attention to Morehead’s attendance record, one of the poorest, at Board of Aldermen meetings. (Read about that in this article.
Hopkins’s supporters Byron Breland, big and little.
“Now we have an alderman who missed 45 meetings out of 52. How can we have a voice that advocates things we need at the city level if they’renot present?” she asked.
“There’s no way we could have a voice if our elected official is not present whatever the excuse. This is the second time he’s had poor attendance. The promise was made he wouldn’t do that. And he has.”
Reached by phone later Saturday, Morehead, who recently announced his reelection bid, responded: “First of all I didn’t make any promises. I can’t control what comes up. If you’re going to say you’re for community, be out there at times other than elections. I’ve been in community, been there for residents when they call. I’m there all the time, not just for elections. She [Lisa] can’t say that. We don’t need absentee candidates. If the residents need me I’m always there for them. And they know that.”
Hopkins has worked as a housing consultant both at the old Elm Haven projects (since replaced by Monterey Place) and currently. In 2010 she co-directed the local Democratic field office for the Malloy campaign and all the state-level candidates in New Haven.
Asked her priorities for Dixwell, Hopkins called for more and better partnerships between Dixwell and the New Haven and Yale police departments to address safety and crime issues.
She said if she had a magic wand on her first day in office she’d like to see the Wexler-Grant School become an “open school, ” that is, one that offers all kinds of new programming for kids and adults, from basketball and dance to job training.
Another big issue: jobs. “We need summer jobs for our kids and more jobs. Period.”
“I want to assure that longtime homeowners can access any type of relief to stay in their homes,” she added.
Asked whether she would have voted to approve a new stormwater authority (the proposal failed this year), Hopkins said she needs to study the issue more before committing to a position. Likewise, she said the controversy over renewal of the privatizing of High and Wall Streets for use by Yale deserves more attention.
“It’s a hot ticket item. We need to open a dialogue with Yale to do what works best for the city and Yale,” she said.
Hopkins said she’s not worried about the four-way crowd of candidates on the ballot. “On one side we have an absentee alderperson. Then we have another person heavily supported by the state unions. I’m standing on the premise of my community service to Dixwell. I’ve done it for years. I live here, I work here, I care, my legacy is here … She [Morrison] has been here 18 years. I’m knocking on doors, and they don’t know who she is.”
Morrison called Hopkins’ characterization of union people negative as well as inaccurate.
“I’ve worked for the state for over 18 years and been a union steward for the past four or five. Of course I’m going to be supported by unions. When you talk about unions, you talk about people. All kinds, every race, socioeconomic status, every creed, and gender. When I hear someone talk about unions I feel happy because I have all these people supporting my vision.”
Morrison added that in her view that range of people is exactly what Ward 22 looks like as well.
Before state Rep. Holder-Winfield had to rush off to another event, he described Hopkins as real community person, one who early on got behind his political bid, and he behind hers.
“I wouldn’t be a state rep. without Lisa,” he said.
Hopkins petitioned onto the ballot for both the Sept. 13 primary (that required 64 signatures of registered Democrats) and the Nov. 8 general election. (That required only five signatures.)