Mayor, Cops Gauge Dixwell’s Pulse

The mayor walked out of the cold wintry night with four police officers and into B*Wak Comfort’s Dixwell studio — not to make an arrest, or to ask for votes.

They came to listen. They heard about rooted artists worried about whether they will have a place in a fast-changing neighborhood.

That was one of the messages Mayor Justin Elicker, Dixwell top cop Lt. Manmeet Colon, and three neighborhood officers heard on an hour-long looping walk Wednesday evening around Dixwell Avenue, Munson Street, Orchard Street, and Goffe Street.

Elicker said he had a message of his own to convey to Dixwell residents and business owners: The new crew in City Hall promises to canvass for public input even when there’s not an election around the corner.

The mayor and city spokesperson Gage Frank said they hoped on the walk to better understand a regular night’s work for a small cross-section of the police department: those staffing the B Squad shift (2:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.) for District 6 (the Dixwell neighborhood, bounded by Goffe Street, Mansfield Street, Munson Street, and Sherman Parkway.)

“I have so consistently heard in every neighborhood that the mayor should be connected to the community and shouldn’t be distant,” Elicker said while facing down blustering winds alongside Arctic Trooper Cap-wearing officers.

The walk seemed to conform with at least two of the community outreach and public safety recommendations included in the 52-page transition team report published earlier this week.

That report called on the new administration to ​“continue ongoing community canvasses by the Mayor and senior staff,” even when no one’s name is on a ballot, and to ​“commit to reimagine community policing,” to demonstrate that City Hall and city police are invested in building relationships with residents — and not just clamping down when shots are fired.

“What You Guys Do Everyday”

The walk began at the District 6 police substation at 26 Charles St., a concrete block of a building tucked around the corner from Stetson Library and Varick Memorial AME Zion Church.

“I just want to get an idea of what you guys do everyday,” Elicker said to Colon, who was accompanied Sgt. Martin Feliciano, Officer Justin Harpe, and Officer Trent Dillon. ​“I think it’s just helpful to talk with you all” and see your beat.

He said he went on a similar cop walk while an alder for East Rock and Cedar Hill, and that he did plenty of doorknocking in the Dixwell neighborhood in the run-up to mayoral primary. Now was a chance to hear directly from officers and neighbors while in the top municipal elected office.

Walking up Dixwell Avenue past Admiral Street, Colon pointed out a handful of abandoned properties on the eastern side of the street

“This Is A Hotspot”

“This is called a hotspot,” Colon said, pointing at the Dixwell Mini Mart (pictured) near the southwestern corner of Dixwell and Henry.

A bright illumination on an otherwise dark stretch of the commercial corridor, the mini mart is a ​“hotspot” for robberies and drug dealing, Colon said.

Just around the corner on Henry Street is the spot where Capt. Anthony Duff was shot and injured and Troy Clark was shot and killed last summer, she said.

In the aftermath of that fatal shooting, Colon said, she spoke with the owners of the mini mart and told them to clear the areas behind the front-facing windows so that passerby, including officers, can more easily see into the store from the sidewalk and the street.

“He listened and did what he’s supposed to do,” Colon said.

As Elicker and the police team crossed the intersection of Henry and Dixwell (at right angles, not diagonally), a driver parked at the red stoplight rolled down his window and shouted to the mayor, ​“Happy New Year!” and wished him the best for the two-year term ahead.

Inside the Shop N Save Grocery & Deli, Elicker and the police team met up with the corner store’s owner, Fawaz Ahmed (pictured).

Ahmed is a model neighborhood business owner in terms of how safe and clean he keeps his property, Colon said. And, she said, he makes some of the best fried chicken in town.

“The next time you want chicken,” Ahmed told the mayor, come back to this shop.

Ahmed said he and his wife have run the Dixwell Avenue deli for the past five years.

“Has the front been looking OK?” Colon asked. ​“I saw a couple heads out there.”

All’s good, Ahmed replied.

After the mayor and the police left, Ahmed admitted that he doesn’t have much hope for change on this stretch of Dixwell Avenue.

“The street’s always been like that,” he said. While grateful for the mayoral stop, he said, he expects that not much will change anytime soon.

“Can’t Do It All On Your Own”

Walking up Dixwell towards Munson Street, Colon noted vacant properties —several of which the city already owns or is in the process of acquiring as part of a larger Dixwell commercial redevelopment plan.

Colon pointed out the dividing line between Dixwell’s District 6 and Newhallville’s District 7 at Munson Street and Shelton Avenue. Colon is the top cop for both, and regularly attends three monthly community management teams: for Dixwell, Newhallville, and East Rock.

How do you handle covering such a large swath of the city? Elicker asked. ​“That doesn’t sound easy at all.”

“You can’t do it all on your own,” Colon said. ​“I do a lot of delegating” and relying on supervising sergeants like Feliciano and Brendan Borer.

“What can we do to make you more successful in your jobs?” Elicker asked the beat officers.

Dillon, the group’s newest member, said that he has found most valuable the times he has been paired up with a veteran officer on a patrol shift.

“Working as a team helps,” particularly for younger officers who have a lot to learn about their neighborhoods and about the department from more seasoned colleagues, he said.

The district doesn’t always have enough officers available to have them go out in pairs, Colon said, especially around the holidays when many are on vacation. Sometimes officers simply have to walk the beat alone, which also allows the limited squad to cover more territory during any given shift.

“Is That Your Car?”

Walking down Orchard Street to the corner of Henry Street, Colon pointed out one of her bigger pet peeves outside A To Z Deli & Groceries (pictured).

The owner had parked his car on the sidewalk.

Inside the brightly lit mini mart, she found the owner, Loai Habib (pictured) working behind the counter and the grill.

“Is that your car?” she asked.

It is, he replied sheepishly.

“You know you can’t do that,” Colon said.

I know, Habib replied. He promised to move the car right away.

How are things otherwise? Colon asked. Any problems at the store? Are the security cameras working alright?

They are, Habib said with a smile. ​“We’re very happy,” he said. ​“It’s been almost two years here in this store, and I’ve never faced any problems.”

He said he drives down to New Haven from Wappinger Falls, N.Y., every other day to run the store. When he’s not here, his brother is in charge.

Colon reached into her pocket and pulled out a notepad — not to write a ticket, but to write down her phone number.

Call us any time you’d like, she told Habib. He waved as they left, and urged them to return the favor by visiting when they’re in the neighborhood.

Back out in the cold, Elicker, Colon, and the officers walked down Orchard Street, along Orchard Place through the Florence Virtue senior affordable apartment complex, and past St. Martin Townhouses on Goffe Street. Large boxy pods filled with relocated tenants’ furniture and other belongings stood parked like headless-trucks alongside the residences, which are still being gut-rehabbed.

Outside of the Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School, another driver pulled up and rolled down her car’s passenger side window.

“I just wanted to say hello!” the driver said.

“Thank you for your service,” she added to both the mayor and the police officers.

What About Us?

Turning up Dixwell Avenue, Elicker and the officers made their next stop at B*Wak Comfort’s photography and print studio in Dixwell Plaza.

Inside, they found Comfort (pictured) and four friends and fellow artists surrounded by bright-red posters and airbrushed T‑shirts and a laser printer busy chugging out a label that Comfort had recently designed for a record company.

“We were just having a small debate about what the future is going to look like,” said Jerome Perkins.

In particular, he said, the group was discussing ConnCORP’s imminent transformation of Dixwell Plaza — and how they hope that that future includes room for neighborhood stalwarts like themselves who have little money and less political influence, but have lived in and worked in and around the neighborhood their whole lives.

Perkins (pictured) noted that Dixwell Plaza isn’t the only major development coming to the neighborhood. There’s also the new Q House across the street, whatever will be replacing the recently sold Elks Club just a block away, the NXTHVN artist studio complex expanding on Henry Street, and the nearly 400-unit apartment complex coming to 201 Munson.

“Are we, the people that live here, gonna be a part of the redevelopment?” Perkins asked. ​“Right now, I don’t see that.”

Comfort expressed similar anxiety about being overlooked or left behind.

“We’ve just got to pull together and keep our work sacred” and keep showing neighborhood kids that you don’t need money and power and connections to succeed, he said: You just need a little bit of talent and a lot of hard work and passion.

Perkins commended Elicker for making the stop at Comfort’s studio and hearing out residents even when his name isn’t on a ballot.

After the mayor and the police had left, one of Comfort’s friends asked this reporter where the mayor’s office is.

At City Hall downtown?

“Good,” he said, ​“I forgot to ask him a question.”

He said he plans on swinging by City Hall to talk with the mayor again in person.

Back out in the cold, local construction contractor Rodney Williams (pictured) made sure to grab the mayor’s ear before he left Dixwell Plaza and finished his night’s walking tour with the police.

He reminded Elicker to make sure that neighborhood residents and business owners benefit from the construction boom taking place in Dixwell and the city more broadly.

“It’s a new year,” he said; ​“2020 is about perfect vision.” Let’s make sure that the mayor’s office and local business work together during this development frenzy to make sure everyone benefits, Williams stated.

The Takeaway

As they arrived back at the police substation at 26 Charles St., Elicker said Wednesday night’s walk reinforced what he has heard time and again from residents and officers alike: Officers want to feel supported and adequately resourced to patrol their communities. Residents and business owners want to feel safe in their neighborhoods, connected to city government, and empowered to thrive and be included when large changes are underway.

Elicker said his job entails letting cops and neighbors and business owners know that City Hall is interested in hearing their voices — and inspiring confidence that he will lead the city based not just on what he thinks, but on what his constituents have to say.