New Haven Independent

Debate Summation Speech


When I walk ward 10, I hear 3 issues expressed overwhelmingly: Taxes, Towing, and Crime. Here are some specific proposals that I would bring to the Board of Alderman:

TAXES:

1. The Board of Alderman should be brought into the budget process at the very beginning. A completed budget should not simply be dropped on the board within a month or two of when it must be approved to avoid interrupting city services.

2. Financial Impact Statements should be required of all major expenditures. Each expenditure should also be evaluated as to its effectiveness in achieving the expressed mission.

3. Tweed airport should not be subsidized by New Haven property owners. For 25 years this facility has been trying to find its niche, to use the Mayor’s terms, at up to a million dollars per year of taxpayer subsidy.

4. We need accountability of how our Education dollars are being spent. This is unlikely to happen as long as the Board of Ed is appointed by, and serves at the discretion of, the Mayor. We need an Elected Board.

5. Development plans need to be shifted away from large block-buster developments containing promises which may or may not materialize, towards smaller incremental plans with less costly up-front subsidies.

6. I would propose a program of encouraging micro loans to local entrepreneurs as a means of doing meaningful Economic Development. Perhaps the Yale School of Management could help design such a program.

CRIME To fight crime we must restore the public confidence in the police, especially that of the citizens of high crime neighborhoods. You can’t fight crime effectively without the confidence of the community and you can’t have that confidence when officers are being caught allegedly planting evidence, taking bribes, cheating on over time, etc.

To restore the confidence:
1. We must get to the bottom of the corruption in the force. The Feds are investigating, having made major arrests with more likely to come. The City must get more aggressive in fighting this corruption.I need to acknowledge, however, that there are many wonderful conscientious men and women on the force. The problems are with some administrative figures and with some cops, not the force as a whole.

2. We must bring back Community Policing. We need to get cops out of cars and onto the street.

TOWING We need to stop the outrageous towing practices. Street are often poorly marked, the signs often obscured by City trees. No attempt is made to give residents a reasonable warning. Cars are towed unreasonably far away from ward 10. I would propose:

1. Marking the street better and trimming the trees.
2. Including a warning before a car can be towed.
3. Setting up towing stations on the east side of town. There is no reason why a ward 10 resident should have to go to the Boulevard to retrieve a car.

I ask for your vote this Tuesday. I promise that I will serve you as an alderman dedicated to addressing the core needs of our community.