Mayoral Primary Q: How Do You 2 Differ?

Mayor Justin Elicker’s four years of experience leading the city through Covid and a nationwide rise in gun violence earned him the vote of at least one new-to-New Haven Yale undergraduate — as mayoral challenger Liam Brennan sought to distinguish himself from his incumbent opponent by arguing that he has the vision to make local government work more quickly and with a clearer purpose.

Elicker and Brennan talked through their political and professional experiences and goals for the city during a candidate forum Thursday evening at the Yale Law School on Wall Street that was hosted by the Yale Law School Democrats.

Before a crowd of roughly 75 people, a vast majority of whom were Yale undergraduate and law school students, Elicker and Brennan answered questions from this reporter, Yale professors Anika Singh Lemar and Jacob Hacker, and a host of student attendees about topics ranging from reforming the city’s housing code inspection agency to town-gown relations to Tweed’s expansion to e‑bikes and ​“micromobility.”

The event was closed to the public and open to members of the Yale community only, except for this reporter and a few campaign staffers and other New Haveners invited by the candidates. It was billed as a ​“conversation” between the two candidates, as opposed to a ​“campaign debate.” A representative from the Yale Law Democrats who introduced the event to the students stressed that it was not a political campaign event, but rather an opportunity for the students to get to know who is running in Tuesday’s upcoming Democratic primary election.

Nevertheless, one of the students who asked a question at Thursday’s forum, an 18-year-old Washington D.C. native and Yale first-year named Zachary (who declined to share his last name for this story), left the forum confident that he’ll be voting for Elicker on Tuesday. Assuming that he changes his voter registration from D.C. to New Haven in time to participate in Tuesday’s primary.

During his time at the mic during Thursday’s forum, Zachary asked the two Democratic mayoral candidates to help him and other politically minded New Haven newcomers distinguish distinguish between the two. 

As someone who is ​“very new to this city” and ​“doesn’t know much about this race,” Zachary asked Elicker and Brennan, ​“I was wondering if you could share the biggest philosophical difference you have with your opponent in this race.”

The answer to that question of how exactly these two candidates differ from one another came both before and after Zachary stood up to speak.

"Collaboration. Education. Engagement"

Immediately before Zachary popped his question, Elicker and Brennan showed how they differed in governing approach, experience, and ideas during their responses to a separate question about how best to reform the city’s zoning code to promote the creation of more new housing.

Elicker said that his administration has submitted to the Board of Alders a mixed-use zone proposal for Long Wharf, which includes for the first time a ​“cap on parking and density minimum.” He noted that his administration worked with the alders to pass an inclusionary zoning ordinance that sets aside a certain percentage of apartments in new buildings at below-market rents, as well as an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) law that started out with an owner occupancy-restriction and that his administration plans to propose to make more expansive.

“It’s easy for us to say on the sidelines: We should change our zoning. We should increase density. But the actual work of engaging with the community and pushing these policies through that are beneficial for housing … the actual work is really hard to do,” he said. ​“It takes a lot of collaboration, engagement, education with people. We’ve made a lot of progress, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

Brennan countered that the city needs to be working faster and more directly on even more zoning reforms. ​“I think we should be ending parking requirements. We know that those drive up the cost of housing. They are forced housing for cars when we could have more housing for people.” Same goes for reducing minimum lot size and sideyard requirements, he said.

That may be controversial with some residents, he said, but ​“we need leaders who are willing to lose elections over that, because the need for housing for people is more important.”

These are big issues, he continued. ​“I think we can do them a lot faster.” 

Brennan pointed to the climate emergency that the alders declared back in 2019 as providing the necessary ​“emergency powers” for local government to do what’s needed to reduce local carbon emissions. Creating more infill housing will work toward that goal, he said. ​“This is a crisis, and we need to treat it like a crisis.”

“Declaring a climate emergency doesn’t mean we have emergency powers,” Elicker replied. ​“We had emergency powers in Covid, but we do not have emergency powers to just have the mayor be a dictator and do a bunch of things.”

“This is not about me losing an election or him losing an election,” Elicker continued. ​“This is about actually getting something across the finish line, something that other legislators will support.”

You can say all you want that the city should eliminate parking requirements, the mayor said. And some in the audience may nod along. ​“But we cannot get that done immediately. We have to go incrementally because otherwise, nothing will get approved by the legislature. … We share the long-term goal here, but there’s a difference between academics and practicalit. We’re making progress. We’re chipping away. But let’s be real.”

"That's The Risk We Need To Take"

That’s when Zachary took the mic and asked the two candidates to explain to him and others new to New Haven the biggest philosophical difference they see between themself and their opponent.

Answering that question first, Brennan returned to the topic of the climate emergency and concomitant emergency powers.

“There are emergency powers when we declare an emergency,” he said. ​“That is not being a dictator. That is being clear about what you’re elected for and what we are doing with our government powers.”

He said the problem he has with how local government has approached the 2019 declaration is that ​“government in general is treating this idea that there is a climate emergency as a nice thing, that they’re saying to the youth: the youth have demanded a climate emergency, let’s say it but not take emergency steps to address it.”

“Is there an emergency? Yes,” Brennan said. ​“Should we do something about it? Yes. Are there emergency powers? Yes. There is the legal basis for that. It is completely legal.”

Brennan said this reluctance to act has a serious negative effect ​“if we don’t have effective local government, people will lose faith in it. You know what, they already have. I think we need leadership that really thinks about how government hits people’s lives … We have the power to do it. We should do it.”

In his response to Zachary’s question, Elicker doubled down on his belief that government is most effective when it works incrementally and via consensus.

“There’s a formal declaration of an emergency,” the mayor said. ​“If I sign that document, the Board of Alders, two-thirds of it, can override it. The second we eliminate parking requirements, the Board of Alders will override it. This is not as easy as someone says it is.”

The main difference between him and his opponent, Elicker continued, is ​“experience.” He said he’s led the city and it’s roughly 1,200-plus employees — not including Board of Education employees — for four years. ​“We have worked through some of the most challenging times our city has ever faced.” That includes Covid, a nationwide increase in gun violence and homicides, ​“redefining what public safety means” through programs like the non-cop crisis response crew, COMPASS.

“We have struggled through very, very challenging times,” he continued. ​“We have managed crisis after crisis. And actually, New Haven is a better place now than it was four years ago. … We have more work to do, [but] we can’t solve these problems overnight.”

Brennan sought to rebut Elicker’s response by questioning his assumption that the alders would definitely reject, say, an emergency-power-implemented elimination of parking requirements. ​“I don’t know that they’d overrule it,” he said. ​“That’s the risk we need to take.”

Brennan said that experience is indeed important in this election. He said he’s been the director of a public corruption task force, ran a statewide legal aid agency for veterans, and launched an inspector general office in Hartford. Before becoming mayor, Elicker was the head of a local land trust ​“that ran community gardens in the city. I would hold up my experience before his experience in becoming mayor in front of anyone.” He also noted how he’s been ​“deeply engaged in the community” through his work with the Room for All Coalition and on the boards for such organizations as Junta and Neighborhood Housing Services.

“We need to be more forward leaning in making these changes to make government more effective,” he said.

After the forum, this reporter asked Zachary — the Yale first-year who had questioned the two candidates about how they differ — about what he thought of their responses, and how he was leaning in this primary election.

“The experience answer was compelling,” Zachary said. He said he agrees with the mayor that the experience that comes with the responsibilities of elected office is key to running a city effectively. He said he plans to vote for Elicker in the coming primary. 

But first he has to change his voter registration to his new home town. Which he said he intends to do.