Tweed Expands Into Cove Alder Race

Tweed New Haven’s Airport’s expansion is on the ballot this coming Tuesday, as a five-term incumbent Morris Cove Democrat squares off against a Republican challenger for the Board of Alders seat in Ward 18.

Incumbent Democrat Sal DeCola, a retired postal carrier, has held the Morris Cove aldermanic seat since 2011. He currently serves in Board of Alders leadership as the local legislature’s ​“Third Officer.”

In Nov. 2’s general election, he faces a challenge from Republican Steve Orosco, a former Wall Street trader and professional mixed-martial arts fighter.

Ward 18 covers parts of the east side of town, from the top of East Shore Park to the north to Lighthouse Point to the south, and from the New Haven Harbor to the west to Tweed New Haven Airport and the East Haven town line to the east.

In some ways the outcome of Tuesday’s race will signal how deeply opposed Morris Cove voters remain to Tweed’s expansion, or whether the vocal opposition represents a minority.

DeCola: Speaking Up For Cove Residents ​“That Want The Airport”

DeCola did not respond to multiple phone call, text message, and email requests for comment for this article.

He did speak at length on the record at a recent Board of Alders meeting about the issue that Orosco is working to keep front and center in the Ward 18 alder race: the pending expansion of Tweed New Haven Airport.

On Sept. 23, the Board of Alders unanimously approved a 43-year lease and operating agreement between the city and Tweed’s airport authority.

DeCola played a key role in winning aldermanic approval for that agreement, by introducing an amendment that sought to take into consideration some of the environmental and quality-of-life concerns raised by Morris Cove neighbors and other airport critics.

City officials, the head of the airport authority, and the head of the airport management company Avports framed the city-airport authority deal as a necessary precondition for a separate but parallel 43-year agreement between the airport authority and the Goldman Sachs-owned Avports.

Avports has promised to invest $70 million into building a new terminal on the East Haven side of the property and lengthening the airport’s runway in a bid to attract new passenger air service. They’ve also promised to spend $5 million on traffic and noise mitigation efforts in the surrounding communities.

DeCola’s amendment removed a section on eminent domain, made it more difficult for the airport to bring in freight and cargo service, required the city and the airport authority to conduct in-depth check-ins in every 10 years and meetings with the surrounding neighborhoods every year, and created a new Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee for the airport.

The amendment also required the airport authority to obtain ​“adequate flood insurance” for the airport, work with the city to revise FEMA flood maps for the area, and study — and potentially implement — a passenger carbon offset program.

Click here to read more about the details of that amendment.

During the Sept. 23 full board meeting, DeCola spoke up from the floor of the Aldermanic Chambers in support of the 43-year Tweed deal before it passed.

“Many residents are in favor of the airport that live in Morris Cove,” he said that night. ​“I am speaking for the ones that want the airport. They do not show up at meetings because a lot of times they are yelled at or embarrassed. They choose not to come.” But plenty of residents in the Cove support a larger airport, and he sought to give voice to them, he said.

DeCola said during that meeting that the 43-year deal marked a key step in the ​“working relationship [among the city], the authority, and Avports. This is something that I will be working with them on a regular basis going forward many years.

“It’s important they’re saying they want to be a good neighbor. Well, we’re going to make sure they’re good neighbors.”

He also said that, in his experience, the airport authority and Avports ​“have just been truthful to me. … This is true dialogue.”

“I commend the residents that constantly called and pushed for many of the issues that are in front of us,” DeCola said that night. ​“I commend my colleagues who helped me push their issues. I commend the authority for their constantly listening to me.” He commended Avports, too, for being in constant phone and email contact with him during the month preceding the September vote.

DeCola ultimately called the 43-year deal, and the airport expansion that it will help enable, ​“very positive” for ​“the community and for New Haven.”

Orosco: Tweed Deal Hurts Neighborhood

During a recent phone interview with the Independent, Orosco put forth nearly the exact opposite take on the Tweed deal than DeCola’s.

Orosco said a majority of his neighbors are opposed to, not in support of, a larger airport as currently envisioned.

He said that Goldman Sachs, the financial company that owns Avports, cannot be trusted to pursue any goals other than profit — and that the city is naive to think that that company would prioritize neighborhood wellbeing.

He said the larger airport will have deleterious impacts on traffic, noise, and the environment in the surrounding neighborhood. The $5 million ​“community benefits” package isn’t specific enough or comprehensive enough to mitigate those harms, he argued.

And he said that the city should never have agreed to a 43-year term for the deal, essentially locking neighbors and the city into this current plan for the airport expansion for two generations to come.

“Probably my biggest issue is, ​‘Why a 43-year lease?’” Orosco asked. ​“That’s a long time to be committed.”

Orosco said he would have been more comfortable with a 10-year lease. The mandatory 10-year check-ins included in DeCola’s amendment don’t go far enough, he said. Because the 43-year overall term of the agreement remains.

“You’re locked in forever,” he said.

Orosco expressed skepticism that Avelo, the new budget airline that plans to kick off six new direct routes to Florida in early November, will operate only up to eight flights a day over the next few years before the East Haven terminal is built.

“I really feel like Tweed right now, they’re opening up the floodgates,” he said. ​“Once it’s fully approved , then they’re going to do massive commercial flights. Our district will be hit with the brunt of it.” From a ​“climate standpoint, an environmental standpoint, just quality of life,” this is bad news.

As a former Wall Street trader for Charles Schwab and Barnum Financial Group, Orosco added, he knows all too well about Goldman Sachs’ reputation for putting profit over people.

“When I see Goldman Sachs’ name attached to anything, that’s always a red flag,” he said. ​“They don’t care about people. They just care about making money. … At some point, they’re doing what’s in the best interest for them.”

Orosco conceded that many of his Morris Cove neighbors are not categorically opposed to Tweed’s expansion.

“I do think a lot of residents would be OK with the expansion of Tweed if it was on a shorter time period,” he said. ​“Forty-three years just doesn’t sit well with people.” The city should have seen how much revenue was generated and how much of a neighborhood-level impact the larger airport had after 10 years, he said. And then take it from there.

Orosco: Not Vaxed, Against Mandates

Like his fellow local Republican candidates for local office this year, Orosco said he wants New Haveners to decide whom to vote for based on where they stand on neighborhood and city issues, not based on party affiliation.

Democrats currently hold all contested, elected local offices in the city. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in town by nearly 14 – 1 (36,515 – 2,649, with 16,497 registered unaffiliated and 615 with other parties).

Orosco said he had been a lifelong Democrat — - until he changed to the Republican Party for the 2020 national elections.

He said he’s not a ​“Trumper,” he said: Rather, he changed party affiliations because he has grown more conservative as he’s aged.

In what ways? I believe in ​“limited government, number one,” he said. He also said ​“I’m a small business owner,” and that encouraged him to vote Republican. ​“I’m a centrist,” he added. ​“I lean left and right depending on the issue.”

Also like several of his fellow local Republican candidates for office, Orosco said is not vaccinated against Covid-19. He said he has no plans to get vaccinated anytime soon.

“I’m extremely healthy,” he said. ​“I don’t even get the flu shot. I haven’t had a cold in years. Personally, Covid doesn’t strike me as a [personal] threat.” (Public health experts recommend that even young and healthy people get vaccinated against Covid because of the protections vaccines provide against severe illness, and because vaccinated people are less likely to transmit the virus to others.)

He said he’s also worried about potential long-term unintended consequences associated with the vaccine.

Therefore, Orosco said, he is not in favor of any government vaccination mandates. ​“It should be your choice,” he said. ​“If you want to get a vaccine to protect yourself and those around you, please do it. If you don’t want it because Covid is not a threat [to you], you shouldn’t be mandated to do it.”

Orosco said he is more ambivalent about mask mandates. He has no problem with wearing a mask out to the grocery store, mostly to make other people feel comfortable. He is not in support of mask mandates for kids at school, he said.

The Independent was not able to find out if DeCola is vaccinated, or how he feels about vaccination or mask mandates, because he did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.