Paul Bass Photo
In a visit to a struggling senior complex suddenly in the mayoral campaign spotlight, candidate Toni Harp promised Catherine Canady air — so she can breathe.
Harp (at right in photo), one of four Democratic mayoral candidates, ran into Canady (at left) Thursday afternoon as she departed the Constance Baker Motley senior public-housing complex on Sherman Parkway in Newhallville.
Harp was the second candidate to visit the complex this week following a Monday story in the Independent about how the tenants there, many with breathing problems, have been coping with leaks and rampant mold and other problems at their home. (Click here to read about that.) Candidate Henry Fernandez stood outside the complex on Tuesday promising to crack down on the housing authority and other problem landlords if elected. (Read about that in this story.)
Harp held her event — an upbeat “meet-and-greet” — inside the complex Thursday afternoon. Tenants were invited to speak with her in a first-floor community room. Campaign workers brought refreshments, along with absentee ballot applications for the 15 or so tenants present to fill out, while Harp successfully coaxed the seniors to open up about how they’d imagine a better Newhallville and a better New Haven.
Clyburn, flanked by Harp and campaign aide Chris Campbell, led an opening prayer.
The seniors’ alderwoman, Delphine Clyburn, had already filled Harp in on the problems seniors have faced there. Clyburn has championed their cause to the housing authority, which owns and manages the building. Harp praised the seniors for speaking up and praised Clyburn for pressing their case.“I know you’ve been going through a lot at this building,” she told them. “I’m glad they’ve been activated by your advocacy to make things better. Sometimes if you’re quiet and you don’t say anything, things don’t get better.
“When I am mayor, all of the housing — whether it be public housing or [subsidized by the federal] Section 8 [program] — will be held to a higher standard … You won’t have to wait years” for results.
Canady spoke up when she encountered Harp in the lobby as Harp departed the building. Wheelchair-bound, carrying an oxygen tank, Canady told her how she has had trouble breathing because of mold in her apartment. She spoke about peeling paint and only “one trickle in my shower.” She said she has complained to management. (Click here to read a 2010 story about other reasons Canady had trouble breathing in her apartment.)
“We’ve got to get her out of” that apartment, Harp said to an aide. To Canady she said, “We’re going to do something.”
The landlord of the Constance Baker Motley Apartments is New Haven’s housing authority. The authority’s executive director, Karen DuBois-Walton, also serves as a co-chair of Toni Harp’s mayoral campaign.
Asked later in the day about the situation at the complex, DuBois-Walton (who didn’t attend the event) praised Clyburn for alerting the authority to conditions there. “Cleanliness was not up to the standard I would have liked,” she said, so the authority in recent months has stepped up maintenance.
She said the authority did not have any records of tenant complaints about conditions dating back more than two months. “We just don’t have records of people complaining,” she said. After reading Monday’s Independent report, she said, the authority swept into action to help an elderly man whose moldy apartment was featured. The authority put him up in a motel while cleaning up his apartment, DuBois-Walton said. It has conducted an air-quality test to make sure it’s safe for him to return. He’ll also be given the option of moving into a different apartment, she said.
Harp said she plans to hold the housing authority to a “high standard” if elected mayor. “I think they’re doing an excellent job” overall under DuBois-Walton’s leadership with the resources they have, Harp said. “It’s not easy. She has thousands of units.” She said she’ll “work with Karen to make sure there’s rapid response” to problems like those uncovered at Constance Baker Motley.
Inside the community room, seniors gave Harp a friendly welcome. She urged them to speak up about ways they can imagine a better life in New Haven. Shirley Douglas (pictured) spoke of wanting to see walking-beat cops near her block so she can feel safe walking to the store. Alderwoman Clyburn told her the police have stationed walking patrols in some parts of the neighborhood and plan to add new beats when officers graduate from the police academy. Harp, who as an alderwoman in 1990 helped design New Haven’s original community-policing plan, spoke of arranging to have the neighborhood’s top cop, Lt. Kenneth Blanchard, come meet the seniors and establish a relationship.
Rosemary Stanley spoke of wishing to be able to ride her wheelchair on the sidewalk without having the wheelchair break. She just had it repaired, she said; insurance doesn’t cover the cost. “It’s up! Down! Holes in the sidewalk! It tears this thing apart,” she said. “I promise you we will have a better system for doing sidewalks,” Harp said. “It’s gotten better” but can improve more.
Verna Wells, who is also wheelchair-bound, told Harp she’d like to see the complex’s neighbors shovel their driveways during storms so she could use the sidewalks more in the winter. “We have to wait for the bus on the street. We can’t even get to the sidewalk.” Harp responded that she would instruct city government’s Livable City Initiative (LCI) to make sure to enforce laws requiring people to shovel their sidewalks. She also spoke of how LCI staff should visit the senior complex so tenants can get to know them and know whom to call for help.
After Harp left, her staff lingered to serve the seniors a Dunkin’ Donuts snack — or, if they preferred, sliced cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, and strawberries, along with crackers and cheese. “We do have donuts,” Harp said before leaving, “but we do have alternatives” as well.