Mayoral Hopefuls Clash On Climate, Schools

Mayoral candidates sparred over the environment and education, in a debate that took place two weeks before New Haven’s general municipal election.

That debate played out Tuesday night in the Co-Op High School auditorium at the corner of Crown Street and College Street downtown.

Sponsored by the Democracy Fund, the New Haven Independent and La Voz Hispana, the debate saw roughly two dozen in-person attendees — and many more watching various video livestreams — turn out to watch Democratic incumbent and first-term Mayor Justin Elicker and Republican challenger John Carlson square off.

The two candidates, both of whom are participating in the city’s public-financing Democracy Fund, fielded a cavalcade of questions about everything from Covid mask mandates to civility and politics to affordable housing to the pros and cons of gas-powered leaf blowers.

Where the candidates diverged the most sharply were on questions of how best to protect the environment and bolster public education.

The mayoral election — along with general elections for city/town clerk, Board of Education District 1, and a handful of alder seats — will take place on Nov. 2.

Air Pollution, Climate Change, & An Expanded Tweed

The environmental section of the debate started with a question about whether or not New Haven should outlaw gas-powered leaf blowers. The alders are considering hosting a hearing on such a ban at the urging of the city’s Environmental Advisory Council.

Would Carlson outlaw those handheld, exhaust-spewing lawncare devices?

No, the Republican candidate replied. With a caveat. Carlson said he owns a battery-powered leaf blower himself. The public problem created by leaf blowers has less to do with the environment, or more to do with neighbors who blow their leaves onto other people’s property or into the street, he argued.

“I think we have much bigger problems in New Haven,” he said. ​“You might get run over. You might get shot. You’re not getting killed by a leaf blower.”

Elicker said he’s open to such a gas-powered leaf blower ban, though he hasn’t yet decided on — or proposed — any such action.

Significant disagreement from candidates on allowing ADUs by right: Carlson has been an outspoken opponent, citing difficulty of finding parking in his neighborhood. Elicker says ​“we cannot let parking dictate our housing policy” pic.twitter.com/RNxweFetxz

— DFA New Haven (@DFANewHaven) October 19, 2021

“I do think this is about air pollution,” he continued. ​“Air pollution impacts our communities,” and communities of color in particular.

“My administration has a strong record of pushing for environmental justice when it counts.”

He called back to his administration lobbying with local environmentalists against the expansion of a waste transfer station in the Annex.

“That trash plant in an environmental justice community” is not expanding ​“because we won.”

It’s rich hearing the mayor talk about air pollution and fighting on behalf of environmental justice, Carlson responded, given that ​“the man’s opened a dollar store in New Haven.”

A dollar store?

Carlson was critiquing Elicker for his administration supporting the sale of Kensington Park to an affordable housing developer for $1, eliminating a neighborhood playground. He criticized the mayor for supporting a 43-year lease between the city and the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority that has the airport authority pay the city $1 per year, and that endorses a longer runway, a new larger terminal, and much more commercial air service.

“All studies show that the increased [airplane] traffic from the airport will increase asthma among city residents,” Carlson said. ​“He talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk.”

Elicker pushed back on that critique of the Tweed deal, and of his administration as indifferent to the environment.

“The fact of the matter is that airplanes do pollute,” he conceded. ​“But it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have a viable airport that will dramatically improve the economy for all of New Haven.”

He argued that an airport freed of annual public subsidies, and attracting more jobs and businesses and economic activity in the area, will free up government money and attention paid to climate-sustainability efforts like electrifying municipal buildings and adding ​“living shorelines” to protect New Haven’s coasts.

Elicker also said that his administration plans to propose the creation of a new Department of Climate Sustainability ​“to make sure we can reach our long-term goals,” including bringing city government’s greenhouse gas emissions down to zero by 2030.

His administration has supported public transportation infrastructure projects, including reaching an agreement with the state about a long-term redevelopment of Union Station, which should ultimately lead to more people using trains and fewer using cars he said.

I’m a biker, Elicker said. I ran the New Haven Land Trust for five years. I restarted the Friends of East Rock Park. This is an issue I care about, he said.

Circling back to the Tweed deal, Elicker stressed that it will see $5 million in private funds dedicated to mitigating noise and traffic in the neighborhoods surrounding the East Shore airport. And he said there was a ​“line around the building” at a recent job fair held at Tweed, with many people interested in applying to work at the soon-to-expand airport.

“This is the right direction for the neighborhood and for the City of New Haven at large,” he argued.

Elected Ed Board? 4‑Year Mayoral Terms?

The candidates also disagreed over what role the mayor can and should play in improving the city’s public school system.

Elicker was asked if he would like the next City Charter revision to include making the entire Board of Education elected — as opposed to its current makeup of two elected voting members, four mayoral appointees, the mayor, and two elected non-voting student members. Elicker said he thinks it’s important ​“to keep as much of an appointed Board of Ed as possible.”

Why? ​“Because that removes the politics from the Board of Ed.” Most every other commission in the city consists of appointed members, not elected members, he said; that system works well for those other boards, and should be retained for the school board as well.

Carlson offered the exact opposite stance. He said he’d support a fully elected Board of Education.

Why? ​“Because it keeps the politics kind of out of it. When you have the mayor sitting on the Board [of Ed] and appointing people to the board, those people think they owe something to the mayor,” and feel compelled to vote in line with the mayor’s positions, he said.

Carlson criticizes Board of Education for hiring a ​“publicist” at $120k salary — if you have a position unfilled for 5 years, ​“you don’t really need it”https://t.co/rjnuLGlVmD https://t.co/VrxEmafqhS

— DFA New Haven (@DFANewHaven) October 19, 2021

Also on the charter revision front, Elicker said he would like to see mayoral terms last four years, rather than the current term of two years. ​“The two-year cycles just make it more challenging for us to get difficult business done in the city,” he said. The ​“overwhelming majority” of cities around the country have four-year mayoralties, he said. New Haven should do the same.

Carlson greeted that same question with a bit of a shrug. He said he’d advocate for keeping mayoral terms at two years. Why? ​“I can get it done in two.”

Asked about his priorities for public education in the city if elected mayor, Carlson said that, besides changing the Board of Ed to all elected officials, ​“we need to have a 25 percent increase in math and reading scores.”

How do you get there?

“We do that by teaching kids individually what they don’t know.”

Elicker countered that, while test scores are important, they’re not the only measure of a successful public education.

He said the city school system needs to continue investing in decreasing the teacher-to-student ratios, continue supporting an extended school day through more after school programs, and continue to bolster vocational and tech education for students who do not want to go to college after graduating from high school.

“Politically Prejudiced?”

Halfway through the debate, Michelle Turner of WSME radio and the Inner-City News asked Carlson about the political viability of any candidate running for citywide office as a Republican. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in New Haven 14 to 1, she said. How can a Republican for office compete in such an environment?

Carlson said that, with that voter registration reality, he’ll have to appeal to Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike.

“Don’t be politically prejudiced,” he urged New Haven voters. ​“Just like you wouldn’t judge someone by the color of their skin, don’t judge them by the name of their party.” He said that voting for a Republican means ​“voting for education, public safety, accountability. All things you don’t currently have” in New Haven.

“Your party is your choice,” Elicker responded. ​“The color of your skin is not your choice. So let’s not make that comparison.”

He also said that he struggles to understand how candidates for office — in New Haven, and around the country — can continue running on the Republican Party ticket after the Jan. 6 insurrection led by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

“How can people feel proud associating themselves with that party?” he asked.

Watch the full debate in the video below.