New Haven Independent

Ten Democratic primaries in all take place across the city. Polls open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Although key issues vary per neighborhood, in five of the ten races an activist who began showing up public meetings to question a single issue or two has decided to dive into electoral politics — and challenge incumbents or party-endorsed candidates they consider too much in lockstep with the DeStefano administration. The candidates are calling for more independent voices on the Board of Aldermen to keep City Hall in check and give neighborhood-level people more of a voice in city government.

The challenges come after two years in which a pliant majority has handed the DeStefano administration repeated victories or free passes on controversial issues ranging from the budget and downtown development to community policing and problems at the corporation counsel’s office.

(The Advocate ran a cover story featuring answers by candidates in all 10 races to a questionnaire on issues. Links to each race’s results are featured below.)

• That’s what Frank Douglass says about party-endorsed candidate Gina Calder in the Dwight neighborhood’s Ward 2, for instance. Douglass comes to politics via working with Yale’s unions; the central issue in that race is the ongoing fight over unionizing Yale-New Haven Hospital’s blue-collar workers. Voting takes place at Dwight School, 100 Edgewood Ave. Click here and here for Independent stories on the race; here and here for candidate profiles in the Yale Daily News; and here for candidates’ answers to the Advocate’s issues questions.

• Problems with a government-subsidized developer prompted Lisa Hopkins to start organizing her neighbors. Now she’s taking on City Hall-backed Greg Morehead in Dixwell’s Ward 22, which also includes four Yale residential colleges. Click here for our story on the race and here for the candidates’ responses to the Advocate. Ward committee veteran Cordelia Thorpe is on the ballot, too. Balloting takes place at Wexler-Grant School, 55 Foote St.

• The state’s criminal “in”-justice system and the war on drugs set Barbara Fair on an activism career. Now she’s seeking political office against City Hall-favored Alderman Yusuf Shah in West River’s Ward 23. Voting takes place at the Berger Apartments, 135 Derby Ave. Click here for our story on the race, here for the Advocate survey.

• New Haven’s embrace of immigrants has Alan Felder livid, and in a race to topple Sergio Rodriguez in Upper Westville’s Ward 26. Taxes and Rodriguez’s job with the housing authority are also key issues in the race. Click here and here for our stories, here for the Advocate survey. Voting takes place at Davis St. School, 35 Davis St.

• Tilda Morrison is taking on City Hall-backed Michele Edmonds-Sepulveda in West Hills/ West Rock’s Ward 30 with the backing of West Rock Concerned Citizens, a group of tenants frustrated with the housing authority (the neighborhood’s dominant landlord, and slumlord). Click here for our story, here for the Advocate survey. Voting takes place at Clarence Rogers School (199 Wilmot Rd.) and the former West Hills School (311 Valley St.).

Across town in Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 11 can be found a race with the reverse dynamic: a critic of City Hall, incumbent Alderman Robert Lee, faces a challenge by a City Hall-backed challenger, Virginia Ginger McHugh. The Bella Vista senior complex dominates the ward; Lee’s vote for a tax-cutting amendment that would have delayed hiring cops may return to haunt him. (Click here for the Advo survey.) Polling stations: Bella Vista (343 Eastern St.) and the school system’s central kitchen (75 Barnes Ave.)

Other races, with links to the Advocate survey:

• Incumbent Jackie James, who’s been fiercely independent of City Hall, faces a challenge by gadfly Ira Johnson in the Hill’s 3rd Ward. Polling place: Career High School, 140 Legion Ave.

• Incumbent Gerald Antunes faces a challenge by Bernadette Barbour in Foxon/Bishop Woods’ Ward 12. Polling place: Ross/Woodward School, 189 Barnes Ave.

• Incumbent Alfreda Edwards faces two challengers, Cleaven Johnson and Lamont O. Moye, in Ward 19 (the upstairs-downstairs hybrid of Newhallville and East Rock) in part because of her opposition to the Taurus Cafe. Polling place: Celentano School, 400 Canner St.

• Newhallvile’s Katrina Jones faces a low-visibility challenge by Patricia L. Brooks in Ward 21. Polling place: Primary Learning Academy, 580 Dixwell Ave.