In State Of City, Harp Shouts Out Civil Servants

Mayor Toni Harp said the city’s got a lot going on, and a lot going for it — in large part thanks to many unsung heroes.

That was the upshot of the annual State of the City address the mayor delivered at City Hall in the aldermanic chambers Monday night.

She spoke of how New Haven has grown jobs, attracted new investments, and pulled together to serve its residents, particularly the most vulnerable. She took time to praise city staff and residents for making sure those things got done when people needed it most.

“There is an important distinction to make in the public service New Haven provides, not just to residents, property owners, business operators, students, and visitors, but to the people who have these roles,” Harp said. ​“Those of us engaged in the public sector serve the people who live here, own property, run businesses, study, and visit.”

Harp made the case for city government as a service organization ​“dedicated to the best interest of the people it serves: one person after another, one person at a time.”

She pointed to the city’s response to last year’s mass overdoses on the Green as one of the best example of that ethos.

“I remain so proud to be mayor of a city where first responders worked tirelessly throughout this mass-casualty circumstance to effectively treat — and save — every single one of those victims,” she said. ​“It didn’t matter that many victims had to be treated repeatedly that week; it didn’t matter that many victims seemed to be on the fringe of polite society.”

Harp said the city responded ​“with compassionate care, one person to another,” when people needed help.

The city continues to exhibit that care through an overdose response task force that coordinates efforts with state and federal partners on the ongoing national opioid epidemic, she said.

As another example of a city’s people-focused approach. Harp cited the last ice storm, whene thousands of people lost power because of downed tree limbs and utility lines. She said city departments worked tirelessly to get out hundreds of electronic messages to residents, tree crews coordinated their efforts with utility companies, and neighborhood specialists for her anti-blight agency, the Livable City Initiative, delivered portable heaters to residents without heat.

“The people behind these relief efforts were doing so much more than what their jobs required of them: they were safeguarding the best interests of other people,” she said. ​“Once again, it was New Haven, the public service organization, caring for New Haven, the community.”

Harp shouted out not just her own staffers but community leaders like those of the Newhallville Community Management Team, Kim Harris and Nina Fawcett, for their efforts spearheading the inaugural One City Initiative. The effort brought all 12 management teams together to organize free and low-cost summer events opportunities for families and their children all over the city. She said plans are underway for One City 2019.

She praised the school system and the city’s youth department for its efforts to engage students from kindergarten up through the adult continuing education program.

“I’m also working with the superintendent and other Board of Education members toward a pilot program to reward the district’s team of committed school principals, who have much more longevity in our schools than comparable districts can boast,” Harp said. ​“I’d like to see them granted greater autonomy over budget, staff, and curriculum decisions so they can be more responsive to the needs of students in their schools.”

Harp said that the city’s most vulnerable — ​“the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, the marginalized, the homeless, and the drug-addicted” — need individualized city’s services most. To that end the city has improved senior center facilities, restored the hot meal program at the East Shore Center, provided more than 4,000 farmer’s market vouchers and made sure seniors received more than 1,000 turkeys or turkey dinners.

She also noted that a city Homeless Outreach Taskforce worked to monitor encampments throughout the city to try to match people in them with services. The city also has launched a Rental Readiness pilot program aimed at reducing homelessness and is partnering with Yale University, New Haven Public Schools, and JP Morgan Chase to fight food insecurity.

“In each of these city departments and policy areas, delivery of city services is the responsibility New Haven has,” Harp said. ​“Effective delivery of these services where, when, and as needed by individual residents, property owners, and business is the way we strive to make it happen.

“To overlook or deny any of these personal services is to act on the judgment of an individual none of us are qualified to make,” she went on. ​“Who among us can say, ​‘That child can’t learn,’ or ​‘That person can’t ever hold a job,’ or ​‘That person won’t ever get off drugs?’

“As a city services organization, New Haven was incorporated specifically to address the needs of residents,” Harp added. ​“And as trusted servants who work on behalf of the people of New Haven, I believe we have a moral obligation to try.”

Click the play button below to watch Mayor Harp deliver her address.

Read Mayor Harp’s full address below:
Good evening, everybody. It’s my distinct pleasure to be among you again tonight in this respected setting. I’m grateful for this opportunity to join you in the city’s Aldermanic Chamber.
Madam President, Madame President Pro Tempore, Mister Majority Leader, esteemed members of the Board of Alders, city officials, city residents, friends, guests, and neighbors: thank you for this chance to honor the city Charter with tonight’s State of the City assessment.
Each of us in this room is well-versed in the exquisite physical attributes of New Haven: its shoreline perch, rugged outcroppings, and other natural wonders, as well as an historic commitment in this city to preserve these celebrated features and their accessibility.
Each of us in this room is well-acquainted with the resourceful, diverse, creative, and resilient community of New Haven: its talented people, its venerable institutions, and its notable legacy of innovative, outspoken, and thoughtful expression.
Tonight, I’d like to share some thoughts with you about the service organization called ​‘New Haven:’ its government, the assistance it provides, the routine work it does, and the people who make it possible, the people who make it all happen.
It is this benevolent incarnation of New Haven I want to celebrate with you tonight. It is the state of this New Haven, as a city services delivery vehicle, I would describe as personified, to the benefit of those it serves.
In a word, New Haven is moving beyond providing services and opportunity for all its residents; New Haven has started providing services and opportunity for each of its residents.
There is an important distinction to make in the public service New Haven provides, not just to residents, property owners, business operators, students, and visitors, but to the people who have these roles.
Those of us engaged in the public sector serve the people who live here, own property, run businesses, study, and visit.
The New Haven I’ll describe to you tonight is a service organization dedicated to the best interests of the people it serves: one person after another, one person at a time.
There might be no better example of this than in the city’s response to a three-day, large-scale, drug overdose outbreak last summer.
I remain so proud to be mayor of a city where first responders worked tirelessly throughout this mass-casualty circumstance to effectively treat – and save – every single one of those victims.
It didn’t matter that many victims had to be treated repeatedly that week; it didn’t matter that many victims seemed to be on the fringe of polite society.
What mattered to all those responding on behalf of the City of New Haven was that these were individuals who needed help, and they responded with compassionate care, one person to another.
In the wake of that incident, the overdose response task force I created continues its work to coordinate efforts among the city and its local, state, and federal partners to address a troubling, national addiction epidemic.
The people who serve on that task force are set to meet again later this week to help the people so afflicted.
I’d like to personally recognize Rick Fontana, the director of emergency operations, and all the first responders among the city’s police and fire departments, and its AMR partners, for their person-to-person reaction to last summer’s emergency.
I would underscore another, much more recent example of how city services are delivered in 2019 with a personal touch – with care and concern for each person on the receiving end of those services.
Just two weeks ago New Haven residents suffered as a result of a serious ice storm – at one point some 8,000 people were without power after limbs and trees came down on utility lines and interrupted service.
May I remind you how imperative it was to restore those services as soon as possible? The forecast was for several days of sub-zero temperatures and wind to make it feel even colder.
Without overstating it: those conditions can be deadly for those without power and heat.
Once again, city responders provided individual attention to those impacted: literally hundreds of VEOCI messages logged, tracked, and updated special, storm-related circumstances – most of them with a specific street address to underscore the exact spot where people were at risk.
Tree crews worked with utility companies to repair the grid – one downed wire at a time – and LCI neighborhood specialists delivered portable heaters and other emergency services to those in crisis at the time.
The people behind these relief efforts were doing so much more than what their jobs required of them: they were safeguarding the best interests of other people. Once again, it was New Haven, the public service organization, caring for New Haven, the community.
I’d like to personally recognize parks ​‘n’ rec director Becky Bombero, LCI director Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, and public works director Jeff Pescosolido – and members of their respective staffs – for their extra efforts that weekend to assist individuals during those harsh winter conditions.
Another highlight of this past year, to showcase the personification of New Haven, is last summer’s inaugural, One City Initiative, during which the full scope of all New Haven has to offer, share, and celebrate was made available – by a small group of activists – to each and every other city resident.
Intended to bring city residents closer through shared, community building experiences, the organization of the One City line-up involved members of the city’s 12 management teams, working to connect people, neighborhoods, and leisure time pursuits through special events in every corner of the city, with an invitation for all residents to attend and enjoy.
New Haven is rich with individuals who have talent, enthusiasm, and ambition: last summer’s One City initiative helped showcase the unique characteristics of many of them, gave them the opportunity to shine, and did so to please thousands of others citywide.
Plans for the 2019 edition of One City are already well underway. Each of the planners, from management teams across the city, is building on the idea that each of them can be like that lone pebble tossed into a pond: creating a ripple effect that expands to include so many other individuals.
I’d like to personally recognize Kim Harris, Nina Fawcett, and all the management team partners who have been working so hard on the One City Initiative to make the richness of New Haven available to every single resident citywide.
The New Haven Board of Alders has recently earned high praise in its efforts to personalize the city’s response to individual needs.
The board’s recent move to revitalize a Civilian Review Board speaks to the 2013 citywide vote for another layer of culpability, over and above existing scrutiny of the police department.
The police department itself now personifies its job performance. After a trial program and with cooperation from the police officers’ union, the widespread use of body cameras documents virtually each individual law enforcement action, for accountability, liability, and training purposes.
And this year the police department celebrated the completion of another long-term project to address concerns of individual residents of the Beaver Hills neighborhood: a new, indoor, state-of-the-art firing range is the heart of a new training center on Wintergreen Avenue.
Not to be outdone, the New Haven Fire Department has proven responsive: not only to individual emergencies, but to an undeniable trend in those emergency calls. Last year, more than 80 percent of these calls were for medical services – the highest percentage ever.
With that in mind, and to better serve the people who need help, the fire department applied for – and received – a federal grant to cover three-quarters of the cost of a new heavy rescue truck.
Its deployment will allow lighter and more nimble equipment to roll – with trained, certified firefighter/EMTs aboard – to assist the people who need immediate medical care.
Throughout New Haven Public Schools, the value of personification cannot be overstated. In recent years, team teaching, wraparound services, and Restorative Practices have been engaged to great effect, assessing and addressing the personal abilities – and needs – of individual students.
I would further point out the great lengths to which the city’s public education system goes to embrace each student throughout his and her engagement with the system.
Each summer a door-to-door kindergarten canvass works to ensure each age-appropriate child is enrolled to start the process.
Just this year, special programming was developed and launched to ease what can often be a challenging transition of middle school students to high school.
The school district – in partnership with the city’s Department of Youth Services – is working to ensure none of these adolescents is lost in that adjustment to secondary school, and early results of this initiative suggest it’s an instant success.
Beyond that, the district’s adult and continuing education programs serve older students with their individual needs, acquiring technology skills, a diploma, English proficiency, or citizenship, for example.
I’m also working with the superintendent and other board of education members toward a pilot program to reward the district’s team of committed school principals, who have much more longevity in our schools than comparable districts can boast.
I’d like to see them granted greater autonomy over budget, staff, and curriculum decisions so they can be more responsive to the needs of students in their schools.
​‘No single student left behind’ might well be the mantra of New Haven Public Schools, and it’s not just for us in New Haven to celebrate each of its success stories.
Two of the district’s magnet schools, ESUMS and the Mauro-Sheridan School – each received awards of excellence and distinction from Magnet Schools of America just this month.
(Dr. Birks, district administrators, school administrators, faculty, paraprofessionals, and staff)
In its ongoing effort to get New Haven’s young people – and the rest of us – outdoors, the city’s parks ​‘n rec department tailors its work to individuals through leadership training, volunteer coordination, specialized programming, and productive partnerships to advance its agenda.
As examples of this: young people at the Fair Haven School – in David Weinreb’s class – were recognized by the National Park Trust ​‘Kids to Parks’ program for their stewardship of Chatham Square, and renovations at Criscuolo Park leveraged neighborhood improvement donations from the Skye Fund and Winslow Augustine Park.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of a partnership with Yale’s Urban Resources Initiative to beautify individual Greenspace parcels across the city. I visited many of these ​‘pocket parks’ one evening last summer and marveled at the efforts of individual residents to carve out, preserve, and protect so many urban oases.
In other examples, parks ​‘n’ rec worked with health department experts to develop special summer camp programming for kids with asthma; its partnerships with federal, state, and local environmental groups help protect habitat for birds and pollinators, and just as importantly, help connect people with nature.
Parks ​‘n’ rec participation in a United Way ​‘Day of Caring,’ the Quinnipiac Day of Service, and the ​‘Rock to Rock’ Day of Service enhance the spirit of volunteerism in New Haven, and the outdoor experience of each participant.
Ten years of the Rock to Rock bicycle event itself, and now five years of summertime ​‘movies in the park’ underscore the extent to which people in New Haven are engaged with the city’s glorious natural features.
When individuals across New Haven look for indoor inspiration, they need look no further than the New Haven Free Public Library system: its branches, its online services, and its innovative outreach efforts to engage the cultural pursuits of city residents.
As evidence of its effective efforts, more than 860 thousand separate, in-person and online library visits were logged last year for access to information ranging from how to manage one’s digital footprint, to how to plant a tree; and from parenting workshops to lessons about healthy dietary choices.
New Haven’s library system has evolved to where its progressive agenda to advance the city as an innovative, creative place is on equal footing with its historic role as a repository for literature, periodicals, and reference materials.
There are two specific library initiatives about which I’m most proud – about which I think you should be, too.
The first is aimed at personal development, through the ​‘Show Me How’ workshops at the Mitchell Library, Maker Space labs at the Stetson branch, a ​‘Talk with Docs’ series at the Fair Haven Library, and the comprehensive ​‘Ives Squared’ renovation at the main branch.
As a result of these efforts, individual patrons advance their own innovation and entrepreneurship ambitions, with access to 3D printers, laser cutters, and Virtual Reality technology.
Nearly 200 residents are now certified in the use of Tinker Lab equipment at the Ives Main Branch, while mentoring and multi-generational workshops effectively ​‘share the wealth’ of knowledge.
The other informational frontier met by library staff is helping shrink a digital divide in the city. Its free internet access prompted more than 220,000 log-ins last year, while 171 separate computer classes and a standing offer of one-on-one computer assistance help individual residents day-after-day.
One more thing about the library: one day next week it’ll host an all-day, ​‘Grow with Google’ series of workshops to advance the cause of career, business, and entrepreneur advancement. I understand Governor Lamont is planning to be in town to help mark that special day in New Haven.
The city’s finance department is also contributing mightily to bridge the digital divide – and help individual residents through the enhanced use of technology.
First, as part of the city’s arrangement with Microsoft, so-called ​‘digi-camps’ provide lessons in coding, G.I.S., robotics, and other computer skills.
What’s more, the software provider now sponsors a permanent Microsoft Academy in Westville to expand these offerings year ​‘round.
The city’s G.I.S. technology – built into its Information Technology department – has already made a significant contribution to the distribution of city services: about a half-dozen ​‘clean and safe’ neighborhood tours to date have been built around digital mapping of criminal activity, code violations, traffic accidents, and other quality-of-life indicators, assisting in the delivery of remediation efforts.
In a larger sense, the advance of technology across the spectrum of city services allows the city to do business remotely with individuals on an ever-increasing basis: the city’s interactive Website offers more and more personalized access for a growing number of city business transactions.
Among all segments of New Haven’s population there is one in which the need for personalized services is paramount: the city’s vulnerable residents.
The elderly, the infirm, the disabled, the marginalized, the homeless, and the drug-addicted – these people are perhaps the most in need of city services.
It is my firm belief – and core-level commitment – that these people are equally deserving of our devoted attention. The city’s Community Services Administration and its Public Health Department are on the front lines of providing necessary services and are on call to do so 24/7 – the same as emergency first responders.
For elderly residents in New Haven, in addition to considerable facilities improvements at each senior center, the fresh, hot meal program has been restored to the East Shore Center, more than 4,000 farmer’s market vouchers were distributed, and nearly 1,000 seniors received Thanksgiving turkeys or Thanksgiving dinners last fall.
In terms of homeless services, members of the Homeless Outreach Taskforce worked to monitor encampment sites throughout the city and engage residents at 20 of them, to try and match people with services. The homeless services staff also launched a Rental Readiness pilot program, meant to reduce family homelessness and create a clearinghouse of affordable apartments for homeless families.
In one, most-telling story about the lengths to which city staff goes to help, I recently heard how Elderly Services Director Migdalia Castro helped a walk-in, elderly client, who happened to be homeless, by packing the person’s personal belongings into her own car, for safe-keeping, until the person could be matched with shelter.
The city is working through its Food System and Policy department to match hungry residents with food, as well. Partnerships with Yale University, its School of Medicine, New Haven Public Schools, and JP Morgan Chase, among other groups will advance the effort to mitigate food insecurity in city residents.
I don’t imagine any of us in this room has often been hungry enough to know the vital importance of matching individuals with hot, nutritious meals.
Other work by CSA employees, to provide financial literacy and empowerment, incarceration mitigation, re-entry services, substance abuse counseling, employment, and mental health screening, is meant to improve the standing of vulnerable residents, one-by-one.
On a larger scale, in terms of the public well-being, efforts by staff members of city’s health department address infectious disease control, food-borne illness mitigation through restaurant and food service inspections, medical compliance in public schools, and lead poisoning prevention inspections and mitigation oversight, all on a case-by-case basis to ensure better health among city residents.
A quick aside about the city’s ongoing lead poisoning prevention efforts: in 2002, 494 children in New Haven were reported at or above 10 micrograms per deciliter. In 2017, the number of children reported at that level or above had shrunk to 90. Efforts to continue that precipitous decline – one housing unit at a time – continue.
On the economic development front, detailed monitoring of business development, economic trends, and construction projects, along with comprehensive outreach and marketing efforts, combine to safeguard the prospects for a vibrant New Haven going forward, to the benefit of each resident, property owner, and business operator.
And we’re tracking positive trends in this policy area, as a result. The Connecticut Department of Labor confirms that since 2013, the number of jobs in New Haven has steadily climbed, while the average unemployment rate has dropped dramatically. In 2013, the average unemployment rate was 10.4 percent; it currently stands at 4.8 percent.
New Haven is putting people to work, one job placement at a time.
Much of this growth is visible within walking distance of City Hall: the new Spinnaker apartments at Audubon Square, the new Blake Hotel on High Street, and approval for a new hotel just around the corner here on Orange Street are just a few examples.
But the excitement about New Haven is citywide. The District tech campus, just across the State Street bridge, has quickly evolved to attract a West Coast coding school among other tenants. An arts production and educational center called NXTHVN is coming to Newhallville, new, family-style apartments by Eclipse Development are coming to Dixwell, and The Learning Experience now provides innovative daycare in the West River section.
The Whitney Modern, mixed-use development in East Rock, the Clock Factory Building along the Mill River, the Torrington Supply Company site in Wooster Square, and traffic calming upgrades and improvements along a long stretch of Whalley Avenue in Westville are other examples of a comprehensive, citywide effort – by people in both the public and private sectors – to ensure New Haven is putting its best foot forward for everybody to see.
Beyond that, the city’s Small Business Academy served more than 200 aspiring small business owners this past year, 22 in its very popular entrepreneurship program! The spirit of innovation combines with the excitement of a start-up in this program, available to people from each city neighborhood.
In another major milestone, the Small Business Resource Center established a relationship with the Goldman Sachs ​“10,000 Small Business Program” for elite-level training, now available to New Haven’s fledgling small business owners and operators.
And to be sure, we’re tracking those who are doing this work – and receiving public funds for their efforts – to ensure local businesses and minority-owned businesses are fairly represented among that workforce.
The city’s Small Contractor Development Program cites gleaming statistics along these lines: in 2018 New Haven-based construction businesses received 66.4 percent of the year’s construction spend, minority businesses received 30 percent of it, and women-owned construction businesses received 15 percent.
The city’s revitalized Commission on Equal Opportunities, which tracks contract compliance on some $136.7 million worth of public and private investment, reports equally impressive progress. While New Haven’s Ordinance 12 ½ requires general contractors to ​‘exert maximum effort’ to have a workforce comprised of at least 25 percent minority workers, in 2018 the 51 projects tracked had a combined minority workforce of more than 49 percent.
In this area, too, the implementation of improved service systems and data management software makes contractor accountability and payroll reporting both user-friendly and more accurate.
The ability of individuals to travel – safely and efficiently – from each part of New Haven to another is the focus of the city’s department of Transportation, Traffic, and Parking.
City officials continue working with the state DOT and CT Transit toward a more effective bus system. In the meanwhile, Bike New Haven – this city’s exciting bike share system – is up and running and growing. The plan is to expand its network to include mopeds later this year.
And New Haven’s place as a statewide and regional transportation hub is secure – and growing. CT Rail now provides New Haven commuters with train service to Hartford and Springfield, with stops in between. And we’ve already had productive discussions with the new administration at the Capitol – and its transit-oriented DOT commissioner – to maximize the city’s gem that is Union Station.
New, non-stop air service from Tweed to Charlotte, North Carolina suggests we’re trending in a positive direction in a continuing effort to improve convenience and business connectivity for countless area residents at the local, hometown airport that has so much untapped potential.
In each of these city departments and policy areas, delivery of city services is the responsibility New Haven has. Effective delivery of those services where, when, and as needed by individual residents, property owners, and businesses is the way we strive to make it happen.
To overlook or deny any of these personal services is to act on the judgement of an individual none of us is qualified to make. Who among us can say, ​‘that child can’t learn,’ or, ​‘that person can’t ever hold a job,’ or, ​‘that person won’t ever get off drugs?’
As a city services organization, New Haven was incorporated specifically to address the needs of residents. And as trusted servants who work on behalf of the people of New Haven, I believe we have a moral obligation to try.
Those of us working in this direction in New Haven are not alone in our thinking.
Michael Bloomberg’s ​‘What Works Cities’ initiative refers to tailored programs and services like New Haven’s as ​‘human-centered design’ and describes the objective to be, ​‘making it as easy for residents to get a dog license online… as it is to buy something from Amazon.’
That’s the goal here in New Haven, too.
And Michelle Obama, in her recently published book, Becoming, describes the role of providing public-sector services as a process – a road to travel in pursuit of optimizing the potential built into every single person served.
​‘Kids wake up each day believing in the goodness of things, in the magic of what might be,’ the former First Lady writes. ​‘They’re uncynical, believers at their core.’
​‘We owe it to them to stay strong and keep working to create a more fair and humane world. For them, we need to remain both tough and hopeful, to acknowledge that there’s more growing to be done.’
The progress New Haven is making toward ​‘personification’ described tonight is the byproduct of a sincere, effective, and in many cases extraordinary effort by the people behind it: I couldn’t be more proud to be mayor of a city where this is the case.
With all credit and great thanks to all the people I mentioned and countless other individuals who make this city all it is, every single day, I look forward to the continuing advancement of these efforts to the benefit of every single person we serve.
Thank you again for this chance to speak with you tonight. God bless each of you, and God bless the great City of New Haven. Thank you very much.