New Haven Independent

Posted by: Taxed To Death | July 17, 2007 10:48 AM

Thank you Joyce for your thoughtful representation and for standing up for taxpayers. Gina Calder, unfortunately, believes in higher taxes, regurgitating DeStefano mantras of bigger city government and mindless spending. She'll be right in line with the other robots on the NH BOA. Calder's idea of reducing youth crime and violence is to have taxpayers foot the bill for open schools 24/7.

Posted by: The Trix Rabbit | July 17, 2007 3:27 PM

Thank you, Joyce, for suggesting youth curfews. It is certainly a better alternative to spending any of your precious tax dollars on kids. Why spend money on educating children and keeping them out of trouble when you could just fine them and keep them off the streets after 10 PM? That would surely do a better job at fixing crime!

I'm sure that there are many legitimate complaints about taxes, and having a balanced legislature that includes reasonable critics makes for a better government. Standing up for taxpayers is a good, honorable thing. However, there are reasons for taxes, and one of the best reasons is to help educate and protect children (yes, I am a Democrat).

A less valid outlet for city funds is subsidizing aldermanic cell phone bills. I, personally, am not entirely opposed to that idea, but if your real agenda is lowering taxes, why not start with less crucial expenditures, and try your hardest to take money away from educational programs later?

My point is that, while reasonable critics are a good thing, ridiculous ones are just that--ridiculous. An alderman who makes a point of opposing the administration at every turn is not serving her community, she is making a point of opposing the administration to cater to a group of people who hate the mayor regardless of whether or not his policies are beneficial.

Posted by: GINA | July 17, 2007 9:31 PM

Unfortunately, TAXED TO DEATH, is misinformed on my views and plans regarding taxes. I believe in expanding our tax base, effective city government and prudent spending. I also have innovative ideas on how to pull together funding sources, public, philanthropic, and private, to launch and sustain effective programs for young people. I will also work with others to address major issues such as poverty that are really at the root of the challenges we face as a community and city.

I would love to talk with you more or answer any questions that you or anyone else may have. Please feel free to contact me at
203-782-0832 or GinaForWard2@gmail.com. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Gina Calder
Ward 2 Aldermanic Candidate

Posted by: Ned | July 18, 2007 9:36 AM

"Thank you Joyce for your thoughtful representation and for standing up for [HETEROSEXUAL] taxpayers."
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/10875?badlink=1
Don't let the door hit you on the way out, and don't forget to give your "free" cell phone back to the city.

Posted by: WII Voter | July 19, 2007 4:57 AM

hahahahaha...here here..I wish Chen hadn't retired so we could watch Calder romp her in this upcoming election.

In contrast to the 'ridiculous' and absentee Chen to whom this article was far to kind, Calder is a rising star with a bright future. She is very impressive, keep your attention on this one.

Taxed to Death...seriously? I move that we vote that guy off the island.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 19, 2007 8:23 AM

Joyce
Brought a different way of thinking into those chambers. Some things she did we all may not have agreed with but as a whole she made it ok to go against the machine!! She was there to do what all alderman are suppose to do ...Represent the people in her area!!!! Not the mayor and his staff not there family and friends!! I say this is a lose! And of course I am truely glad with the work she did to save the storefronts along Upper Chapel Street. :)

Posted by: WII Voter | July 19, 2007 9:27 PM

Cedar Hill Resident...you post a lot too...you might get voted off next week.

You are also obviously weighing in on a ward in which you do not live for if you did live here, you'd probably know that Joyce didn't stop the school. The entire neighborhood stopped the school and Joyce was not the organizer of this, but rather was pretty much along for the ride. How could she really have had much of an impact by voicing an opinion - when you oppose EVERYTHING an administration does you are somewhere between Fidel Castro and the Boy Who Cried Wolf as far as the impact of your representation.

I challenge you to identify one thing that she did that helped her ward where she was truly causal - Cell phones? proposing someone else's youth curfew bill? Voting against the administration at every opportunity? I don't know if you can see a window from your armchair to tell me, but I don't see how that makes my street safer, or creates a new job, or gets rid of a slumlord landlord, or educates a child..that takes more than oppositionalism, more than uninformed opinions - it takes real work. I love democracy too, I really do, but we can have a cooperative democracy in this city that recognizes the reality that we live in a company town with a strong mayor system and simultaneously achieves real results without selling our souls. Chen wasn't the answer Cedar Hill Resident - the right alder should act with cooperative independence - watch Calder. I'm telling you. Good luck finding enlightenment before the vote next week.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 20, 2007 8:35 AM

WII Voter
I work 9 hours day in this ward!! I work in the building that was saved!! I am friends with all of the store owners that still have there buissness thanks to chan!! And they said she was a big part in get the community together to help save our building. So yes I do have a little to do with it. I post all yes and I am a VERY ACTIVE COMMUNITY MEMEBER IN THIS CITY!
And Paul set this sight so that people will post and talk about the issues. I just try to encourage it. Some people feel funny posting because they do not know as much about the in's and outs of this city and I would like to think that I represent the people that may not be as knowlegable but want there voice heard.
So don't be so mean. And guess what I will still keep posting sooooo :P

Posted by: WII Voter | July 20, 2007 8:53 PM

haha...I wouldn't speak so harshly if I wasn't in such a desperate state; about 4-5 of you are taking up all the oxygen on the independent and I'm choking to death...so...in the interest of maintaining a quality debate on the topic...:PPP...but seriously I'm trying to be as sensitive as possible to your right to post whatever the heck you like and your right to think whatever you want to about Chen, but I can't allow the "Chen's oppositionalism was productive" version of the story to stand uncontested, since it wasn't.

And that's about all I've got to say about that.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 22, 2007 9:55 AM

ok WII I do have a bit of compaction twords your plight because my alder does not represent my part of East Rock (the other side which we now call Cedar Hill) And what I am getting from you is that your area may be going through the same plight. My understanding is Gina may be what your area needs. That's what the polls are for.

ps Still gonna suck up the oxygen.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 22, 2007 11:18 AM

P.S. Loved the way you singled me out! :) I feel very special! I only post on stories that effect me directly and indirectly. I am a doer in New Haven, not just a complainer for the immediate cause. A lot of the items in articles do effect various things that I am working on.

I hate internet bullies.

Posted by: westvillecharlie | July 23, 2007 1:44 PM

i don't live in the mighty second, but i must go through it to go from downtown to my place on central ave. several occations i've had to walk through her territory at night, and i was not safe. granted, i'm a white guy, and may have looked out of place, but i was not buying crack or looking for prostitutes, i was walking home from los lonely boys and a few bars on chapel after my ride left me and i had no $$ left for cabs. i was offered crack (for $10 a pop - is that a reasonable price) three times, i was propositioned by a sex worker (i'm not sure but i think this person was a male to female crossdresser) and told at about chapel & boulevard "get the f*&k out of here", i explained that was my intention.
Ms. Chen has not made the city any safer for me, nor has she changed the ward's blight. i won't miss her. i look forward to someone who has a desire not to get shot or have a fellow elm city resident just trying to get home get hurt.
f.y.i. i've also tried edgewood ave, whalley ave adn elm st. -none are safe.

Posted by: Taxed To Death | July 23, 2007 1:48 PM

Gina Calder: If you have ideas for prudent spending and other non-taxpayer revenue streams to support your ideas -- please share. But the fact that you hitched your wagon to the DeStefano Administration says far more than claims of being creative on programs and financial support for those programs. Under this mayor, home ownership is down, poverty is up, job creation is anemic; we have armed patrols in Westville; city indebtedness that has mushroomed to more than $500 million and property taxes along with it -- up more than 30% since 2003. How will you reverse any of all of these things?

Posted by: WII Voter | July 23, 2007 8:20 PM

Okay. Okay. Taxed To Death. I'm pretty sure you and I know each other. You have a goatee and a practice that you conduct from home right? If I'm right about who you are, I consider you a very nice guy and you and I get along, but your approach to this is LUDICROUS.

First of all, Gina invited you to a one on one discussion with her about her views. I doubt you contacted her (although I hope I'm wrong) to discuss them. Instead you levied another attack. I care very much about the same things that you do, but I've chosen a different approach to dealing with the issues I consider priorities. I think I do pretty well. You have now made Calder, a person likely to win her race, a person who you consider an enemy. An alternative outcome could have been: You contacted Calder, learned about Calder's activities and perspectives. Shared your priorities and perspectives in an objective and friendly way. Now exchange has occurred, you have developed a friendly relationship that could bear fruit in the future, allow you access to information, allow you influence in the process. What did you do instead? Do you see what I'm saying? Approach matters if what you actually want is change, and its a lot harder than just levying mindless attacks.

I know you probably feel pretty strongly about the general state of affairs and when you're first getting involved and you don't really know anyone you can really feel like an outsider and when its tough to get inside you get frustrated and start lashing out and then you notice others lashing out and you feel vindicated because you're all nodding to each other about your opposition. Pretty soon you're blindly celebrating people who accomplish nothing and attack people that do. This is less than our potential - what do you think rewarding a lack of productivity will lead to? Is that likely to solve the problems to which you object?

Yeah..there are some problems in this city. Yeah..taxes suck. Yeah..a lot of the things that you are objecting to are reasonable things to object to, but the bottom line, what I am saying, is that through the manner in which you choose to bear witness to these truths, you marginalize yourself from the people and groups that would probably otherwise educate you and collaborate with you. What makes going from being an outsider to an influential person hard is that you have to prove to such people that you are able to collaborate in the solution of problems and that you won't attack them in the middle of said collaboration - this requires time and effort in the process of relationship building and every once in a while you have to decide not to fight a fight because its the right thing to do. Its called a 'multi-level game', meaning that each interaction is conducted in a way that presumes a future interaction for which you want to prepare through the maintenance of good will and compromise in working relationships. A fight on something small today might reduce your ability to have influence over an issue you consider much more important tomorrow. Once you reach end game, that's when you fight, when something is just completely inappropriate, such as the school proposed on Howe Street (hat tip Cedar Hill Resident..we agree about some things) which was asinine and deserved to be fought with all of the energy we could muster. I grant you that the administration is VERY BAD AT CUSTOMER SERVICE. I hope you guys are listening.

Anyways. There are plenty of examples of people that collaborate and compromise, but whenever they do ANYTHING that looks like City Hall wanted it, regardless of the context of their decision, they are usually painted by those who are frustrated as City Hall pawns. This simply exacerbates the problems and makes solutions LESS likely to occur. Also, when City Hall supports someone, perhaps simply because they are empirically a sensible choice for the job, they are painted as city hall pawns incapable of representing the people. Part of representing the people, particularly in a ward like II, is procuring and maintaining good city services. How do you propose that that can be accomplished without good relationships? As you paint up the mayor and anyone in the room with him (regardless of whether they entered the room or whether the mayor did) on every problem that you can think of, you must acknowledge that 1) the city is an organism with its own inertia and will over which the mayor presides, not a computer game that the mayor controls. The mayor didn't mug greer's son. The mayor didn't buy greer guns. The mayor didn't tell greer to continually hold press conferences in hopes of staying relevant. The mayor didn't do that. What do you want to reform. Overpaid fire dept? Costly schools? You are welcome to discuss these things, but these entities exist to address problems that must be addressed, so you can't, as part of your suggestion, declare that our children or the safety of our residents is a less important priority than...I don't know...tax breaks. What I'm saying is that you can't just pick random things and blame them on the mayor then blame anyone that is standing in the room with him and applaud those who aren't.

Let's talk about Joyce of whom you're a fan - she got herself re-elected over Calder two years ago by a narrow margin even though she was starting law school which EVERYONE knows is a huge commitment. What happened? She was a complete absentee for her entire term. She knew she was going to law school. After she started she knew she wasn't showing up. She didn't quit and let someone else do the job, she just allowed her term to go by, there might as well have been a vacant seat on the board. You explain to me how Calder, a participant in the community, well educated and very reasonable, is a city hall pawn and Joyce deserves beatification? Can not the Mayor like someone AND you like someone without there being a conflict based on what the mayor likes? Do some research. Interact with Gina. I'm so sure that if you approach it with an open mind you'll gain a potential future ally. I think that the mayor likes vanilla ice cream...do you still like vanilla ice cream?

Okay. 2) a purely antagonistic approach like the one that you're employing, and the one that Joyce employed, will pre-empt your ability to learn about what City Hall is doing to correct the problems and will pre-empt your ability to help direct the larger mechanism in a way consistent with your personal views. There is a time to fight and a time to compromise, but you can't just throw down with everyone all the time, its not a sensible way to spend your time.
I hope you consider the door that has opened to you to provide you some influence and an opportunity to come inside the process. I genuinely wish you the best of luck.

Cedar Hill Resident - I see what you're saying about Alfreda, but I didn't mean to insinuate that I felt Joyce represented the low-income side of the ward and not the Downtown side, I meant to suggest that she didn't do justice for either. Even if she'd been an amazing representative for the poorer side and not so much for the downtown side (where I live) I wouldn't really object because many of the problems we have are simply because we are downstream of the problems that exist in the poorer section - a rising tide raises all boats you know? You have been fun to 'debate' so I'll conclude with another :P

I know that some of this is a bit redundant, but I've been watching TV while writing this. I'm not going to revise it (too much of a rant) so I hope its coherent and interesting.

Okay, this has been fun, but this is really it. I'm retiring like Jay-Z, Hov, Jigga-Man - droppin the mic...peace.

Posted by: OH WELL | July 24, 2007 7:29 AM

Joyce we wish you the best of luck with what ever you do.

Posted by: Taxed To Death | July 24, 2007 11:25 AM

WWII Voter - I am not who you think I am. Second, this is a perfect venue for Ms. Calder to lay out her platform. Talk is cheap and words can be manipulated. This blog will chronicle what she says for a long time. It will be useful to refer back to it. And finally, the issues I've laid down are core issues facing this city; they are bedrock issues that affect every family whether homeowner or renter. There is too much rubber stamping going on at City Hall - a bastion of talk and manipulation that ends up with a tax bill in our mailboxes. On most issues that affect us most directly, there are too few thoughtful questions, reasoning and forcasting about how these decisions taken today, will affect the budget going forward. And there is far too little disclosure and transperancy -- because if you have that, there would be a real rebellion. So let Gina Calder respond - I'd like to hear how she will be an independent representative of the people.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 24, 2007 4:27 PM

WII Voter
First thank you for the ranting..it can make alot of sense as New Haveners are feeling a sense of despiration with the way this city is being runned. It was fun hope you keep posting.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 25, 2007 9:03 AM

And ps Ed Mattison is our Alderman