Brackeen (left) with Maachah Elouafai.
With a few clicks on his Dell laptop Tuesday afternoon, Darryl Brackeen Jr. uploaded a YouTube video announcing his candidacy for upper Westville alderman. Moments later, as his offline campaigning began, a neighbor voiced a warning about taking on Alderman Sergio Rodriguez: “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”
Those words came from William Ayers Jr., who lives at 4 Fountain Terrace. His was the first door that 22-year-old Brackeen knocked on Tuesday as he kicked off his quest to become the next Ward 26 alderman.
Brackeen, who’s lived in the ward for 14 years, seeks to unseat Alderman Rodriguez, who’s running for his fifth term. They’ll face off in a Sept. 13 Democratic primary.
As he launched his challenge, Brackeen accused incumbent Rodriguez of being out of touch with the ward. He encountered one constituent who said she sees Rodriguez only at election time. Rodriguez, however, denied the claim. And at least one constituent, Ayers, said he sees the alderman all the time.
Brackeen is vying to represent a panhandle ward comprising a warren of quiet, almost suburban-feeling, residential streets.
Brackeen is the latest in an ever-growing group of aldermanic challengers, including a significant number of union-affiliated candidates. In Dixwell, a state employees union steward is running. In East Rock, a former labor organizer has declared. In Dwight, a Yale union veteran plans a run. A Yale union leader is running in Beaver Hills, and a steward in the same union is running in West River.
In upper Westville, challenger Brackeen does not have a union affiliation. A youth organizer at his church, Brackeen has never held elected office.
He can, however, say that he’s won an election against Rodriguez once before. He was campaign manager for state Rep. Pat Dillon when she fended off a challenge from Rodriguez last year.
Brackeen said that he plans to win his first aldermanic race the same way he won Dillon’s campaign, by knocking on a lot of doors. On Tuesday afternoon, he set about doing just that.
But first he fired up his Dell Inspiron laptop and uploaded his videotaped candidacy announcement to his campaign website. The 9‑minute video clip opens with a flourish of trumpets and an image of the Statue of Liberty in front of the stars and stripes. In a suit and tie, and backed by more flags, Brackeen then speaks about his bid for the aldermanic seat. Click the play arrow to watch.
Ayers.
Still in a tie, but without the jacket, Brackeen appeared just before 4 p.m. at Ayers’ doorstep, the first on his door-knocking tour Tuesday afternoon. Despite his warning, Ayers said he is pleased to see a young man like Brackeen running. “I’m impressed.”
The uphill battle, he said, is that “Sergio is popular with a lot of people around here,” he said. “Sergio stops by and chats with me.”
From Ayers’ house, Brackeen proceeded uphill on Fountain Terrace. As he walked and knocked, he was trailed by his 19-year-old sister Karen, who filmed him with her cellphone camera.
Between doors, Brackeen spoke about his background and why he’s running for office.
Brackeen said he grew up in housing projects on Day Street, until his mom moved him and his two younger sisters to Ray Road 14 years ago. He went to Hillhouse High and Fairfield University, where he studied political science and history. After graduating in 2010, he worked as a substitute teacher at Hillhouse and was then named dean of students at the MicroSociety School, where he was an assistant social studies teacher. He said he’s currently working for his church, Church On The Rock, developing a “community outreach program” for young people between 18 and 24.
Brackeen said he was asked to run by neighbors in the ward who were impressed by his community participation. He said he’s been writing and delivering a monthly neighborhood newsletter for the past year and a half. He organized a food drive recently, and has been active in informing his neighbors about the shift to single-stream recycling, he said. He’s also a member of the local community management team, he said.
Brackeen said he feels like he’s been doing the work of an alderman already, by spreading information about city services to his neighbors. “That’s my thing, communication.”
His candidacy is about three main issues, Brackeen said. People are struggling with property taxes; despite the relative safety of upper Westville, public safety is still a concern; and much more could be done to promote “green neighborhood initiatives,” he said.
He said he’d like to form a task force to look into ways to save energy and money in the ward through environmental efforts. That could include education about home insulation or solar panel options, he said. Even City Hall could be a candidate for solar panels, he said.
The main issue, to which Brackeen returned again and again, was communication. If elected, he’d post weekly video addresses to inform the ward of the latest aldermanic developments, and hold monthly or biweekly community meetings at the Davis Street Magnet School.
His communication theme found a receptive ear at the top of Fountain Terrace, where Maachah Elouafai — in contrast with Ayers at the bottom of the hill — said she never sees Alderman Rodriguez except during election season.
“Usually on voting day he’s right there,” she said. “Then nothing happens.”
Brackeen promised Elouafai would see him frequently, if he’s elected. “You will. You definitely will.”
“It’s the biggest complaint,” Brackeen said later. Rodriguez is “very personable and very nice, but he’s only around for a month or two before elections.”
“24/7”
Later Tuesday afternoon, over a Diet Coke at the Athenian Diner on Whalley Avenue, Rodriguez denied the charge that he’s not engaged in the ward year-round.
He said he has a standing alderman night at the Barnard and Mauro-Sheridan magnet schools on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Those meetings are scheduled every month a year in advance, he said. Click here to see the schedule. Sergio said he goes to block watch meetings; he gets emails and phone calls all the time; he regularly rides through the neighborhood and stops to talk with people.
“I help people all the time,” he said. “365 days a year, 24/7, I’m available.”
Rodriguez acknowledged that he’s not been able to go to the Westville/West Hills Community Management Team meetings as often as he’d like. But those meetings aren’t just about his ward, he said.
Alderman Rodriguez.
Recently, a group has been forming to discuss what to do with a piece of open land at the corner of Ray Road and Conrad Drive. Rodriguez said he has been involved in those meetings and say he hopes it will turn into a community group more focused on upper Westville.
Rodriguez, who’s 61, works in Bridgeport as an employment specialist with a prison re-entry program. He’s lived for 16 years in upper Westville, where he and his wife have been foster parents for over 10 years to 55 foster kids, two of whom they’ve adopted.
From his perspective, the top campaign issues are taxes and infrastructure, Rodriguez said. While taxes did not go up this year, street quality is a perennial issue, he said.
Informed that Elouafai, on Fountain Terrace, had asked for curbing, Rodriguez said the street is scheduled for a makeover this year. Elouafai also asked for speedbumps, like Vista Terrace has. Rodriguez said he worked for years with neighbors to have those put in. He mentioned several other nearby streets where he’d like to see traffic-calming measures installed.
Rodriguez said he’s also proud of the work he’s been able to do on the national level. He’s in his second term as president of the Hispanic Elected Local Officials, a constituent group of the National League of Cities. As such, he’s headed to Washington, D.C., soon to talk to presidential staff about immigration reform, he said.
As for his future as an alderman, Rodriguez said he’d like to focus more on the budget, to prevent holes that force the one-time sale of assets, “like we had to do last night.” He was talking about a controversial plan to effectively sell a city-owned lot on Broadway to Yale, to help tame the city’s budget deficit.
Rodriquez said he’s not concerned about facing the campaign manager of the candidate who beat him in the state representative race last year. Dillon didn’t win in his ward, he said. “The 26-year incumbent beat me. I don’t think Darryl beat me.”
“He’s a good kid,” Rodriguez said. “A good young man.”