New Haven Independent

Posted by: Go Claudette Go!!! | July 17, 2009 12:41 PM

What a breath of fresh air, to see someone running for office who is so honest about the struggles they've had. Go Claudette!!!!

Posted by: BeaverHills Resident | July 17, 2009 12:42 PM

You go Girl! I'm excited to see someone go for the seat! I hope she pushes through. In Beaver Hills, only a pocket of the community gets represented. She came to my door the other day and she was straight up, asked me if I knew my alderman, I said I see him in the paper sometimes but he's never knocked on my door. She's real, I told her I'd help out cause I also care alot about the community. I dont know what this reporter asked but she told me about the issues that motivate her, jobs for people in the community, community policing, programs for our children. i really liked her

Posted by: ClearResults | July 17, 2009 1:01 PM

Seems like all you need to know about this race is that Claudette woke up one morning and wanted to run because she thinks it would be a good gig whereas Alderman Sandman has a record of making changes in the ward. Electing someone because they are "new" wont make change. Working with an alderman with a proven record of getting results will.

Posted by: ANON | July 17, 2009 1:02 PM

Few key points here:

One missed call as justification to run? Guess it wasn't that important to call one time. I call BS. Went to his house when? After sundown on Friday?

She vowed that if elected, she would focus on navigating the bureaucracy -- something she had practice doing as a welfare client. Riiiight . . . . . so she knows how the system works . . .

Taxes are too high but lets add more youth programs.

The answer here is if it ain't broke don't fix it. Sandman is a good alder and fights hard for his neighborhood. Im sure that Thorpe (sister of cordelia thorpe?) is a nice lady, but sandman is the safer choice.

Posted by: Eva M | July 17, 2009 1:05 PM

To say that Moti isn't concerned about the whole ward is ridiculous given his work on Whalley Ave. He clearly has done some great things, and while Claudette's story seems nice, I think the experience Moti has makes him the best candidate for the ward.

Posted by: Keep Sandman | July 17, 2009 1:08 PM

Moti Sandman is an amazing alderman. I'm glad that this article speaks so strongly to his commitment to the ward and all of its people. The list of accomplishments above names only a few of the incredible things he has done to make this a great neighborhood for all of us.

Posted by: @ home on winthrop | July 17, 2009 1:21 PM

Sandman has been very responsible and proactive in addressing all the concerns that my friends and I have brought before him. I was particularly impressed with his efforts in acquiring a catch basin for the park. He has made real progress towards beautifying our neighborhood. I'm excited for an election in this ward and can't wait to help Sandman continue to do all the good work he's been doing.

Posted by: Nan Bartow | July 17, 2009 1:22 PM

Alderman Moti Sandman has worked hard to improve conditions in Ward 28. He has acted to improve Whalley Avenue,to decrease the noise coming from the Police Academy Firing Range, and to improve our streets and sidewalks. He is a strong supporter of Beaver Pond Park. Moti regularly attends the Aldermanic Meetings where he has forged many important alliances and has worked tirelessly to keep our taxes down. In addition, he regularly attends the WEB (Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hill Management Team) where he plays a very positive role. I hope that Alderman Sandman wins the support of the residents of Ward 28.

Posted by: demwatch | July 17, 2009 1:35 PM

Moti's record speaks for itself. He is an active alder and should not have one missed call define him.

Posted by: Moti Sandman - Alderman Ward28 | July 17, 2009 1:37 PM

Hi All:

I believe that I have served you - my constituents faithfully and honorable and hope that I can count on your support in this race.

If you are interested in helping the campaign - either by helping canvas the ward or with a donation please contact me at ward28@snet 'dot' net.

Yours in Service,

Moti Sandman
Alderman Ward28

Posted by: City Hall Watch | July 17, 2009 1:39 PM

This newcomer deserves a strong look and quite possibly a vote for alder. Those of you who support Sandman, may find comfort in the handful of things he says he's done or supported. But know this, he also supports higher taxes, supports pay raises for the well heeled and well connected on the city payroll and a dishonest budget process that hides funds in the department budgets for the mayor to tap at will even if it means violating the months long budget process and public hearings. When there was an opportunity to make a stand on the mayor's attack on democracy, Sandman hid. Like Goldfield, Sandman sometimes makes noises about the budget and accountability and taxpayers even. During the budget hearings, he asks some of the best questions. He just never follows through with any changes or gets complete answers to those questions. In the end, the vote is reliable and unquestionable. Out of more than $450 million city budget, Sandman managed to get a few bucks for the catch basin which affects all of 20 people who are interested in the polluted pond in Beaver Hills.

If this is what you support, fine. But please don't look at the track record through rose colored glasses.

One final note on the property tax freeze - the reval included a two mil at least tax increase. Freezing a huge increase is not hard to do nor is it done out of concern for taxpayers.

Posted by: City Hall | July 17, 2009 3:32 PM

Maybe the temple on Norton will finally get cleaned up, folks have complained for years about the houses on Norton Street. Thank You Claudete.

Posted by: @ home on winthrop | July 17, 2009 3:41 PM

City Hall Watch:
I think your arguments are disingenuous, skewed and uninformed. Sandman made a concrete effort to amend the budget in ways that benefit his constituents and decrease the amount of unnecessary spending on frivolous projects. You may disagree with the installation of a catch basin for some reason, but I promise you that the residents of Ward 28 are very grateful for this improvement on the pollution in and around our ward. I find it hard to believe you would be against cleaning up our environment for such a reasonable sum. Sandman stands up for the taxpayers elect him and makes sure that the City Budget is reasonable and well-structured. Contrary to your erroneous claim, Moti supported freezing the property tax phase in and supported the senior tax freeze. You yourself admit that "he asks some of the best questions," but you give no examples of where he failed to follow through. Even his opponent claims that "she doesn't know of any citywide legislative issues on which she disagrees with Sandman." Finally, your claim that Sandman "hid" from confronting the "mayor's attack on democracy" has absolutely no basis in fact. Please refrain from blatant and libelous character assassination and stick to honestly discussing the issues in a positive manner--everybody else here is.

Posted by: Noelle | July 17, 2009 4:43 PM

I teach summer school, and when I told my students about this article, one replied, "What are they trying to say? That's a highway that goes nowhere."

Posted by: Jennifer | July 17, 2009 5:01 PM

I'll be happy to support Moti come election time. In my opinion, he's smart, savvy about politics, completely dedicated to our neighborhood, and most importantly, honest.

Posted by: Norton Street | July 17, 2009 5:39 PM

City Hall,
Surely you jest. Norton Street is one of the nicest streets in the city. It has a mix of high density apartments around Derby and Chapel Streets, which gracefully shift into more moderate density traditional 2-4 family houses that have above average detailing and a nice mix of protruding masses to diversify the street corners. From Goffee northward the houses shift to low density mostly single family homes with some high and moderate density apartments near Crescent Street. This is one of the most complete streets in the city; it has a mix of all kinds of housing, it intersects the busiest road in the city and there is retail space throughout from Derby to Whalley with grocery stores and retail shops. It is also one of the widest streets in the city, yet it does not experience heavy traffic which is a huge plus. Furthermore, every inch of the street was designed and planned perfectly to accommodate all modes of transportation and living arrangements. Except for the two banks at the corner of Whalley the street is absolutely flawless.

Posted by: CPF | July 17, 2009 7:41 PM

I have been living in New Haven for just a few years now, but in the time that I've been living here I've been impressed by the effort and care that Alderman Sandman has put into Ward 28. I will be supporting him come election time.

Posted by: Nadine Herring | July 17, 2009 7:50 PM

While it is commendable that Ms. Thorpe wants to become more involved in her community and run for office, this is not the way to do it as Moti Sandman has proved to be an outstanding alderman. I personally have worked with him and other concerned residents and business owners to revitalize Whalley Avenue and he has been nothing but supportive and used whatever resources he has to help our cause. To say that Moti only represents a small pocket of our Ward is to not know the man because he has worked really hard for the entire Ward, which I can personally attest to as a Whalley neighborhood homeowner. Whenever I have called or emailed he has always made a point of getting back to me as quickly as possible and doing whatever he can to resolve the issue. Keep in mind that Moti does have a full time job, and a wife and young children and he still manages to make many aldermanic and community meetings. I fully support Moti in his re-election campaign and encourage my fellow Ward 28 residents to do the same.

Posted by: The Truth | July 18, 2009 10:32 AM

Sandman only does what DeStefano tells him to. We need an independent minded alder. Claudette has what it takes.

Posted by: Norton Parkway Resident | July 18, 2009 10:49 PM

Can someone please explain this? (from the Crime Log):

(237) date: Thu, Sept. 21st 2006
time: 05:24 p.m.
incident: POSSESS.OF NARCOTICS-GENERAL
address: 319 NORTON ST
intersections: WHALLEY/GOFFE

Does this mean that Ms. Robinson-Thorpe was in possession of Narcotics or could it have been someone else in the house?

Posted by: City Hall Watch | July 19, 2009 9:44 AM

@Home on Winthrop:

1. You must not have attended at budget meetings in the last three years or you would know that Sandman has not "made a concrete effort to amend the budget...decrease the amount of unnecessary spending on frivolous projects." In fact, this year, he neither proposed nor won any cuts, NOT ONE CUT in the budget as proposed by the mayor. If you know of any, please share and I'll take it back.

2. He shifted money for a catch basin. I'm not against that, but my point was that's the only change he could find in a budget of $450 million dollars. That's absurd.

3. You claim that "Sandman stands up for the taxpayers elect him and makes sure that the City Budget is reasonable and well-structured." As the Blue Ribbon study committee on the budget just released, the budget and the process by which it is created is seriously flawed to say the least. There is no metric used to measure efficacy of any program or department. There is a reasonable assurance the schools are overfunded and unaccountable for the huge percentage of the budget is consumes. Input from the public routinely falls on deaf ears and has no impact on the budget process at all.

4. Standing up for taxpayers? Really - and that's why we get tax increases every year? Why there is slush money in departmental budgets so the well heeled and well connected can get pay raises while the services are cut and the little people are laid off?

5. Property tax reval phase-in is a gimmick to mollify taxpayers who have seen their taxes double across the last five years. In fact, the reval should have triggered a decrease in the mill rate but it didn't because a mill increase was buried into the budget in the same dishonest way as the raises for the mayor two years ago, and these top paid city workers now.

6. The senior tax freeze simply pushes their taxes off on working families with kids because the city still needs the money. If property taxes were reasonable, the freeze wouldn't be necessary. Just for the record, I didn't say he didn't support either the tax freeze or flat taxes this year.

7. Moti does ask pretty good budget questions. Most of the time, those he's asking do not know the answers which is always kind of stunning in itself. But the questions historically have not resulted in any changes to the budget. The extent of the scrutiny ends with the question.

8. You say Sandman didn't intentionally miss the BOA meeting when the board discussed and voted on a resolution demanding the mayor rescind the non-budgeted, non-disclosed, non-authorized raises for a list of his appointees which included the highest paid people in the city - public or private? Sandman knew in advance this was going to come up at the board meeting. If he didn't hide out out, then perhaps he was on vacation with Sergio Rodriguez as Sergio now claims; or perhaps he was out of town with Goldfield or the other rubberstampers who all too often provide little real oversight and no dissent on DeStefano spending priorities.

Finally, describing my previous post as "blatant and libelous character assassination" is amusing. If you or others support Sandman, for whatever reasons you may do so, that's fine. I was just pointing out the rest of his record despite what he's done on behalf of Whalley or other ward issues.

Posted by: Eeger Beever | July 19, 2009 8:49 PM

We dont get our streets sweeped. We dont get our trash picked uop on time. Recycle stuf is never collected. Our kids dont get taught in school. Drug pusher rule our streets. Cops ignor us. Kids drive atvs and abuse us. No place for the old an retire to go. We cant even wash our clothe cheap an convenien. Vote for Sandman. If it this bad with him what it gonna be like with a lady who not in with th Mayr

Posted by: Carmel Street | July 19, 2009 11:18 PM

I am truly saddened by the comments I have read above. Honestly, the all seem like childish attempts to thwart the taxpayers attention from the real matter; which truly is not the candidates (Thorpe or Moti), but the fact that the community has needs that have not been met. Period. Rather than resort to adolescent and ineefective name calling and finger pointing as to who's wrong, who's right, or what any one person did, let's focus on the task at hand, and that is cleaning our community and making it a viable place to live, work and thrive for every resident. I personally am in support of Thorpe, not because she may know it all, but I think her presence in this community would be a welcomed changed from what we currently have. Like almost everyone on this page, she has struggled to overcome many obstacles that many members or our communities face, and I think that her background serves as a testament for what she can accomplish. With that being said, I also think the current alderman has made some strides in the community, but honestly, I don't think he is intimately or culturally with the issues that the people in our community face. When talking about experience, I can say that Moti, who by the mere measure of his time as alderman may seem more experienced, is anything but. Yes, he represents for a pocket of our community, by the community at large needs someone with more compassion for the day to day struggles of the people; and in my opinion Thorpe, who may be a relative newcomer, and late in the game, has the compassion necessary to push for greater results. Some people may not know, but she has a background in social work and community organizing, much of which will aid her in rally this neighborhood who is very disconnected. At the end of the day, I will support whomever the people chose, and I just hope and pray that God's will be done in this election, not any of our own. I pray for the people taking unresearched stabs at either of the opponents and only hope that you never find yourself being the subject of such scrutiny as both Thorpe and Moti. My best regards to you both. Here's to an amicable candidacy; and may the best alder win!

Posted by: Claudette Robinson-Thorpe | July 20, 2009 9:16 PM

I would like to address the incident that took place on September 21, 2006 that was raised by "Norton Parkway Resident" in the comments above.

There was indeed an incident at my home that day - but it involved my husband, not me. When I met my husband, he was - like me - a recovering person. He was clean for a long time, but he sadly relapsed and fell back into substance abuse, and was arrested on September 21, 2006 for narcotics possession, while I was at work. He is now paying his debt to society, and I am hopeful that he will, in the long run, be able to stay clean.

His experience is one of the many things that motivated me to run for office and advocate for a city that will provide more opportunities for everyone in terms of jobs and job training, education, and housing, so that we can give everyone a fair chance at a good life and lower the number of people who find themselves turning to drugs in hard times.

As alderwoman, I will work alongside the administration and Board to bring those very opportunities for each and every resident of our ward. I know the struggles people in our community face, and I will never forget where I came from.

Let's keep this race focused on the changes we need in the areas that matter most: jobs, housing, and education. If you want to be a part of my campaign for change, please email me at votethorpe09@gmail.com.

Yours,

Claudette Robinson-Thorpe

Posted by: Not Norton Parkway Resident | July 20, 2009 9:26 PM

I remember a New Haven Advocate story from the 1990s. Certain minors living at 150 Judwin Avenue were in possession of a substance they should not have had. There was a police report. This was not an issue that prevented their father being elected.

Posted by: Democratic Candidate Lisa Hopkins/Ward 22 | July 21, 2009 2:07 PM

Claudette,

In the midst of this storm of ignorance, your courage, committment and honest nature continue to shine through. Congratulations!