Paul Bass Photo
Wendy Hamilton protesting outside the office of U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
On the first week of her tenure as New Haven’s mayor, Wendy Hamilton promised, taxpayers would save more than $200,000.
“No [city] car. No bodyguard. No credit card. No trip to China,” Hamilton said of some of the expenses she would cut if elected.
Not to mention the mayor’s salary: Hamilton, an activist, philanthropist, and retired nurse, promised to live on her social security check.
“And if I croak in office? I’ve already donated my body to Yale-New Haven Hospital.” So no need for a “state funeral.”
As for how to cut other expenses — how to, say, pay cops and teachers and firefighters more and provide more housing for the homeless, without raising taxes — Hamilton said she needs to do more research before offering details. “Give me time,” she said. “I’m not an accountant. I’m a nurse.”
Hamilton, who said she is filling out paperwork for a 2019 mayoral run, offered those previews during an appearance Thursday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
“Everybody is pissed off and poor. It’s a broke city,” Hamilton said.
She spoke in broad terms about why she’s running: To address New Haven’s “Grand Canyon of a wealth gap,” to fire top officials who live out of town, to avoid tax increases, to create housing for the homeless on empty lots and in vacant buildings. And to get a lot more money out of Yale in return for its tax exemptions, a quest on which numerous mayors have embarked.
“I’ve got ammunition. I’m not going to blab it on the radio,” Hamilton said. “Anybody can be leveraged. …
“They’re surrounded by such poverty. Parents notice. It’s time for them to be shamed and embarrassed.”
Although she has “little respect for Democrats and no respect for Republicans,” Hamilton said, she plans to petition her way onto the Democratic primary ballot so she can participate in debates. She said she takes her inspiration from the 2013 mayoral quest of Sundiata Keitazulu, for which she worked.
Incumbent Mayor Toni Harp has signaled that she intends to run for a fourth two-year term. Former candidate Jusin Elicker and legal aid attorney Liam Brennan are also weighing runs. (Click here to read about that.)
Click on the play arrow for the full interview with Wendy Hamilton on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven,” including discussion of her one-night stint as a stand-up comic.