Paul Bass Photos
DeCola (left) and Proto.
Bob Proto sees terrorists possibly slipping into New Haven if Tweed-New Haven Airport gets a longer runway. Sal DeCola sees an issue that spawns a wider range of neighborhood views than people commonly think.
The two Morris Covers — candidates for Ward 18 alder in a Democratic primary — have surprisingly different views about a plan to extend the runway at Tweed. Ward 18’s is one of eight alder primaries across town this coming Wednesday.
The Tweed difference is surprising because of one of the traditional laws candidates for elected office have historically followed on the East Shore: Thou shalt oppose all efforts to fly more planes into Tweed.
In interviews with the Independent, Proto indeed opposed the proposed runway expansion, which backers hope will enable larger commercial jets to fly into town (assuming any agree to) and theoretically boost the local economy.
But DeCola, the incumbent alder and the party-endorsed candidate in the race, offered a neutral stance. He argued that about half of his constituents don’t mind an airport expansion, or perhaps welcome it. But the public rarely hears those voices, he said. Instead it hears the voices of ardent opponents.
Those voices dominated the two most recent public meetings about the proposal to pave another 1,500 feet of Tweed’s current 4,600-foot runway. Click here to read about that.
“I know there’s a group advocating against it. But as an elected official I’m hearing both sides,” DeCola said. “I have people that want it. I’ll be honest about it. I’m trying to be fair about it.”
Ultimately the state will decide the fate of Tweed’s runway, DeCola said. He said he is working on improving quality of life for the airport’s neighbors no matter what happens with the runway. He said he has asked city transit czar Doug Hauslden to explore adding bump-outs or other traffic-calming measures to the airport’s nearby streets, where drivers speed. That problem could grow worse if the current number of 119 cars a day drawn to Tweed grows to an estimated 330 with increased air service.
DeCola said he’s also pushing for the airport to expand the area in which it offers buyouts to homeowners who’d rather not live near the plane traffic.
Proto offered several reasons for opposing the expansion.
One is that neighbors have reason to distrust any future moves by officials if the towns violate a nonbinding 2009 agreement signed by East Haven’s and New Haven’s then-mayors not to pursue the expansion.
“Let’s face it,” Proto said. “They’re talking now — I want to say, and I hope my figures are correct — four additional round-trip flights a day. To start off. That is going to increase traffic. That is going to increase wear and tear on your streets. That is going to increase noise.”
Given that the city wants to undo the 2009 agreement on runway paving, Proto said, neighbors worry that “it’s not going to stop there.”
“Keep Tweed the way it is. And Bradley is 45, 50 minutes up the highway,” he said.
He also argued that Tweed could become a “terrorism target” if it expands.
“You know what I think a lot of people don’t look at? And this may seem like it’s way out in left field: We have to look at terrorism as being a local problem. And we have to start looking at the so-called soft targets. Because all of the security is at the hard targets,” he said.
“I’m not talking a sleeper cell embedded in the city of New Haven. I’m talking about the self-radicalized lone-wolf terrorist. That is what we have to start taking very seriously now. With increased flights at Tweed, you can’t deny that you have an increased risk of an incident there.”
Cop
Proto, who is 54, has more than a passing interest in public safety and security. He has spent his career — 28 years and counting — as a West Haven cop. he is currently a lieutenant.
He said that experience positions him to tackle issues important to Morris Cove, where he moved this May after a lifetime living in West Haven.
After working patrol, Proto was assigned to the statewide drug task force, then the federal gang task force, in New Haven from 1993 through 2004. He participated in takedowns of New Haven’s deadliest gangs of that era: The Jungle Boys, the Dogs, KSI. He watched how such operations brought relief to crime-plagued neighborhoods. He also observed the need to “weed and seed” — keep patrols going and put community policing in place after gang leaders go to jail — to prevent a new generation from returning to the same deadly game, the way Church Street South reverted to chaos after the Jungle Boys’ leaders’ imprisonment.
Proto said he never had an illusion that cops can “win” a “drug war.” But he has seen how important it is to concentrate on the “violence associated” with gangs, he said.
He also saw the need to address smaller problems in a community before they become big problems — following the “broken windows” theory of community policing. He focused on that work when he went from the gang task force to overseeing West Haven police’s quality of life unit.
“I saw to it that blighted neighborhoods are cleaned up, bad elements in neighborhoods are eradicated, that we maintain the aesthetic of neighborhoods,” he said. “Not only did I gain police experience, but I gained experience in working with various agencies and various utilities. You address a lot of things that people look at being minor.”
He hopes to do the same in Morris Cove if elected alder, he said. He said to start he would “canvass and calculate every street. I would analyze all the problems on every street in my ward. I would keep a file of it. I would start addressing it by priority.”
He’d also push for a 24-hour walking-beat cop dedicated just to Morris Cove, he said.
“One of the biggest complaints is a lack of police presence in the Cove. With the problems they have in other areas of the city, the police have to know where to deploy their resources. When you’re talking about data-driven policing, which I believe that [Chief] Dean Esserman does, we’re not seeing a lot of crime in Morris Cove. That doesn’t mean it’s not important to the constituent.”
As a newcomer to the ward Proto often is asked: Are you that Bob Proto? He’s not. (Nor is he a relation, he said.) That Bob Proto is the president of both the New Haven Central Labor Council and Yale’s UNITE HERE Local 35. Not only is he not that Bob Proto; the unions are not endorsing his candidacy.
Proto discussed his candidacy and his personal background at length this week on an episode of WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven.” Click on the above sound file to listen to the interview. (DeCola originally agreed to appear on the program as well, then had to cancel because of a family emergency.)
Ex-Postman
DeCola, second from left, chairing a snow-removal hearing.
DeCola, 58, is a retired postal carrier. He has worked hard since winning his first term four years ago, concentrating on ward-level concerns as well as long-range storm planning and energy efficiency.
As chair of the Board of Alders’ Community Services & Environmental Policy (CS&EP) Committee, DeCola has held hearings on improving snow removal, investing in more green technology, and planning for handling superstorms in the age of global warming. Those storms are occurring more frequently — hitting the Cove the hardest but debilitating the entire city. DeCola has worked with officials to look at, for instance, whether utilities need to raise electrical vaults and otherwise upgrade infrastructure to prepare.
A category 4 or 5 storm would submerge a third of the city, he said. New Haven hasn’t had a category 3 storm since 1938, but changing weather patterns are increasing the likelihood of more punishing storms.
Through CS&EP he also succeeded in changing the makeup of the city’s Environmental Advisory Committee. Only city department heads have sat on it in the past. Now six residents, one alder, and two city department heads will. DeCola argued that will encourage longer-range planning.
“When we talk global warming, we’re talking 25 – 50 years from now,” DeCola said. “Department heads [often] focus on the next budget, not 2 years from now.” The new committee “can be a vehicle to get us to be more green, more efficient,” he said.
In the ward, DeCola has organized clean-ups at Fort Nathan Hale Park. “I’m all about green and the environment and engaging people,” he said. He has also concentrated on getting roads and sidewalks repaired. Those long-overdue repairs have begun. DeCola also takes a lead in organizing an annual talent show at the Shubert that raises money for scholarship and programming at Music Haven, the Neighborhood Music School, and Co-Op Arts and Humanities High School.
He first won his seat in 2011, defeating a Democratic primary opponent who was backed by Yale’s UNITE HERE Locals 34 & 35. It was the one race in town that UNITE HERE-backed candidates lost that year. This time around, Local 34 has endorsed DeCola. “He turned out to do a great job,” said Local 34 President Laurie Kennington.
Previous coverage of the Sept. 16 Democratic alder primaries:
• Former 34/35-Backed Alder Swings Back
• Primary Issue: Showing Up
• A Yale Alder? Or An Alder From Yale?
• Lee Throws Down An Anti-Union Gauntlet
• Hines To Ward 20: Your Voice Matters
• Marks Promises New Leadership
• Local 34 Endorses 6 For Alder
• Berrios-Bones: Stay The Course
• Burwell Confronts Language Barrier
• Robinson-Thorpe Ready For Primary Fight
• 8 Primaries On Tap
• Newhallville Gets A Primary
• Clyburn: “A Voice At The Table”