Westville Race Treads Soggy Terrain

Joshua Van Hoesen got a preview of what he’d hear on the Upper Westville campaign trail when he moved into his new house — and saw all the lead paint on the porch and the sump pump at work in the basement.

Darryl Brackeen has heard a lot about sinking houses and water-caused damage in the six years he has represented the neighborhood.

So Van Hoesen and Brackeen have found themselves focused on water — as well as trees and speeding drivers — as they ask Ward 26’s voters to elect them to the Board of Alders in the Nov. 5 general election.

Racially diverse Ward 26 — a work of gerrymandered artistry that covers much of the Beverly Hills neighborhood and Upper Westville, then leaps above several other wards to encompass part of Norton Street and its environs — is one of only four in town where Republicans are fielding candidates this year (three of them endorsed at a convention, a fourth as a petition candidate).

In interviews on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program, Republican challenger Van Hoesen and Democratic incumbent Brackeen spoke at length about the nuts-and-bolts issues facing ​“an entire neighborhood built on lakes and ponds,” as Brackeen put it.

Mayor Rice Inspiration

New Haven’s Republicans, outnumbered 16 – 1 on the voting rolls, have no one serving on the 30-member Board of Alders. Van Hoesen said he’s running in part to add another perspective to a one-party board, where he said lack of democracy and transparency has ​“led to some poor decisions.” He said he’s also running to promote more efficiency and better project management in government. As a team-leading software designer for a company that equips nonprofits with financial accounting software, he praised IT improvements city government has made and welcomed the chance to participate in building on them.

Van Hoesen has run for office twice before, across town in Morris Cove. He moved into a new home on Ward 26’s West Prospect Street in March. The home was built in 1910.

“There was a pond where my house was” in the past, he noted. ​“I have water in my basement still.” (The upside: ​“Great soil” for gardening.)

And he has lead paint throughout the place. The bill to remediate it will come to between $15,000 and $20,000. That gave him a taste of the citywide challenge citywide as New Haven wrestles with how to do a better job enforcing the law. He said he’s not convinced that the answer lies in hiring more inspectors; better management may be at least equally important.

He has also noticed all the speeding on streets like Anthony, a cut-through from Fountain to Whalley. He spoke of promoting a ​“culture of accountability” where citizens play a role — by, for instance, enlisting schoolchildren to make yard signs in art class riffing on the ​“Drive like you live here” message.

Besides knocking on doors, Van Hoesen has been boning up on how New Haven has tackled issues for centuries, by reading Douglas W. Rae’s classic New Haven text City: Urbanism and Its End. He found inspiration in the work of Frank Rice, the four-term Republican ​“sidewalk mayor,” first elected in 1909, who focused more on street-level improvements and realizable ​“small changes” than on grand theories. Van Hoesen said he doesn’t subscribe to a libertarian ​“government’s not for anything” philosophy. He feels government plays a role as a ​“needed organizing force” to tackle collective challenges. But government isn’t there for everything” and doesn’t always provide the best vehicle for solving broader societal problems, he argued.

Paulishen Inspiration

Darryl Brackeen found his initial political inspiration at Hillhouse High School, in the civics class of the late teacher Jack Paulishen.

Both in the classroom and on a memorable D.C. trip, Paulishen imbued Brackeen with the conviction that government matters and a person can make a difference in his home town. He also taught him how to debate issues with respect.

“What we could use a little more [today] is a lesson from Jack Paulishen about how to stand on opposite sides of the aisle” with ​“ethics and decorum,” Brackeen argued.

Brackeen said he has sometimes called himself the ​“alder of the trees and the lakes and the ponds” during his three two-year terms based on the volume of related concerns he hears from constituents.

He pushed for resuscitating the Environmental Advisory Council, which now plays an active role developing green proposals. He has pushed proposals to deal with climate change, including the recently passed climate emergency resolution, which Brackeen introduced and championed. And, he said, he has helped constituents get old trees trimmed and removed trees replaced.

“These trees are hundreds of years old” and form a ​“beautiful canopy” in the neighborhood, he noted.

Brackeen has worked to have the city replace curbs (which erode due to the degrading soil), have gas lines reinstalled, and add traffic-calming measures like speed bumps. A number of streets in the ward have received improvements; Brackeen said overall ​“the responsiveness has not been great” downtown and needs improvement. With fellow Alder Richard Furlow, Brackeen also supported State Rep. Pat Dillon’s successful quest to get money for neighborhood ​“sinking homes.”

Brackeen led a charge to have the city examine regulating Airbnbs like one that was causing problems in Beverly Hills. He said he wants to see a government ​“conversation” about the broader issue of how to deal with the growing ​“sharing economy.” (Read more about that here.)

Brackeen, who serves as executive director of the YMCA’s youth center, backed some of the proposed, but failed, budget-transparency policy amendments in the latest budget-making season.

In this year’s Democratic mayoral primary, he supported Democratic challenger Justin Elicker. Van Hoesen said he too is at this point planning to vote Elicker; he said he’s ​“excited” about new faces and new ideas in New Haven government.