Harp Hits Division Street With Holder-Winfield

When mayoral candidate Toni Harp visited two nearby homes on Division Street, she glimpsed two sides of Newhallville’s struggle to provide opportunities for young people.

In one home, a mother who works at Yale-New Haven Hospital was gathering her family to go to the beach. As children streamed out of the house and into the car, she told Harp about the challenges of raising her kids amidst the neighborhood’s problems.

At the other house, two small children played in a front yard of dirt. When Harp struck up a conversation with a woman there, several young men came out of the house and took up perches on the front stoop. They eyed the visitor without conversation or welcome.

Harp started to walk away. ​“Bye!” the toddlers called after her with a wave. ​“Bye!” Harp called back.

Harp, a 10-term state senator and one of five Democratic candidates for mayor, opened a campaign office in Newhallville this week. Canvassers spread throughout the neighborhood. Harp herself canvassed Newhallville on Sunday afternoon with former mayoral candidate Gary Holder-Winfield, who lives nearby, and his former campaign manager, Chris Campbell.

Holder-Winfield, the neighborhood’s state rep, has thrown his support behind Harp since withdrawing from the race. Sunday’s canvassing provided an opportunity to bring his neighbors and former supporters over to Harp’s side. ​“These voters were very torn between [Holder-Winfield and Harp],” Campbell said. ​“Some were Gary’s supporters. Today, [Holder-Winfield and Harp are] showing that they’re completely united.”

People already knew Holder-Winfield on Division Street. The test Sunday was whether he could transfer their support to Harp.

Harp’s campaign has canvassed all of New Haven’s neighborhoods and aims to talk to each voter three times: twice before the election, and once on Election Day to get out the vote, said Harp campaign staffer Michael Harris. Two youth groups, YAY for Harp and Move for Harp, are designed to build support among New Haveners aged 17 to 30.

To some on Division Street, word of Holder-Winfield’s withdrawal came as a surprise. ​“Aren’t you running?” a woman asked him from her front-porch chair. Not anymore, he said. Now he backs Senator Harp.

Next door, Juanita Byrd-Pemberton (pictured with Harp at her door) still had Holder-Winfield’s campaign literature in her home. When Holder-Winfield handed her information from Harp’s campaign – a flyer declaring, ​“Together, we can move New Haven forward” – he pointed out his cell phone number and invited her to call. The number was already in the house from Holder-Winfield’s own canvassing weeks earlier, Byrd-Pemberton said. ​“My husband put it on our billboard. It’s where we pay our bills.”

While voters remembered Holder-Winfield, Harp made a positive impression of her own. Taking the lead at each house as Holder-Winfield stood behind her, Harp asked residents what changes they wanted to see. What concerns them? What vision do they have for the neighborhood?

At the top of neighbors’ lists was the need to deal with the challenges facing — and created by — young people. Young people make Newhallville’s citizens feel unsafe, said Byrd-Pemberton. ​“They make the neighborhood feel like they’re hostages.” Just to get to the corner store to buy milk, she said, she has to push through a barrage of people. ​“Why aren’t you in school?” she wonders. ​“Why are you on porches from 6 a.m. to 10 o’clock at night?”

Byrd-Pemberton has lived in Newhallville her entire life. ​“I love it,” she said. For many years, her family has owned the land beneath her house. But, she told Harp, ​“something’s gotta be done.”

A few doors down, Gemma Beamon (pictured) offered the candidate some ideas: The city needs youth programs; parents need to be involved in their children’s’ lives. Her 19-year-old son just graduated from high school but spends much of his time at home, she said, because the community lacks positive activities for people his age. Between working long hours and living in Newhallville, raising her children has been tough, she said. Harp seems to understand. ​“I raised three kids,” she said. ​“It’s hard.”

Fred Wright (pictured speaking to Harp and Holder-Winfield) suggested finding jobs for young people. Number two on his list? Cleaning the streets. Trash sometimes sits for two to three months, he said. He asked Harp to take care of one street in particular — ​“It smells like a farm,” he complained — then headed to the grocery store to get out of the heat.

At Moe’s Market on the corner of Division and Dixwell, Bob Jangali was angry. Conditions have gotten worse in the eight years the store’s been open. The biggest problem, he said, is substance abuse. ​“The family, the mother, the father, they smoke and do drugs,” he said. The store has an incident with ​“crazy people” every other week, he added.

Harp agreed with what she heard. “[Talking to people] helps solidify what I thought were the problems anyways,” she said.

She vowed to bring back the Dixwell Community ​“Q” House, which shuttered in 2003 after serving the community for 75 years, to provide youth programs. Creating activities for adolescents aged 13 to 19 is especially important, Harp said, as most projects stop at age 12. After age 12, she noted, many kids end up in loosely formed gangs. Slut Wave, the Playboys, and the Goodyear Street Boys are just a few of the gangs located in Newhallville alone.

Harp suggested a program to find jobs for older students while they’re still in high school. ​“That way when they leave school, they’re going to a job that pays,” she said. ​“We’re working to get that done, one way or the other.” Using schools for youth programs, starting an evening feeding program for kids, and providing more resources for adult education are also on the table.

As she knocked on doors, Harp focused more on what people had to say than on her own proposals. She picked up personal details from neighbors. A woman’s daughter had earned scholarships and now studied psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University. The same woman’s son, who was killed last October in West Haven, was gunned down in an attempted robbery. Harp asked about a Betty Boop tattoo, an homage to the bearer’s mother.

Another woman wished Harp well. ​“I’ll be praying for you!” she said.

The Aftermath

After Harp left each house, the Independent checked back with some of the voters she’d just met.

Byrd-Pemberton, the woman who had had Holder-Winfield’s cell number pinned to a bulletin board in her house, said that even though she’d known Harp’s name, she hadn’t known her personally before. Now she intended to stop by Harp’s new satellite office a few blocks away, the second of three planned campaign offices. The office in Edgewood has already opened; the third is planned for Fair Haven.

For some, Harp’s presence did the trick. Wright initially said he was deciding between Harp and another candidate. Because of Harp’s visit, he said, he had changed his mind. ​“I’m going to vote for you,” he told her. ​“You came to the door, so you get the vote.”

After Harp left, he said he felt comfortable with her because he knew her name — and because her late husband had been his landlord. (Now Harp’s son is his landlord.) He also said he liked being able to tell her his views face to face. ​“I’m 63 years old. I’m old-fashioned. I like her approach,” he said.

Others were unmoved. One neighbor shook Harp’s hand but brushed by her without stopping to talk. Jangali is registered to vote but said he doesn’t plan on heading to the polls. ​“I have no time. I’m too lazy, actually.”

At several houses, Harp’s knocks went unanswered. She left fliers.

“You know that person?” Holder-Winfield’s former campaign manager asked him at one such location, a tan house with brown trim.

“Yeah,” Holder-Winfield replied. ​“I’ll get him later.”