New Haven Independent

Newhallville Race Evokes “Plantation Politics”

by Melinda Tuhus | September 11, 2009 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)

nelson%20pointing.JPG The new face on the campaign trail knocked on a door to make a political pitch. Instead, he ended up participating in a seminar on how politics really works in New Haven and the black community.

The impromptu seminar took place on Thompson Street the other day as challenger Moses Nelson canvassed in Newhallville’s 21st Ward. Nelson (pictured) is mounting a challenge in next Tuesday’s Democratic primary against a City Hall-backed incumbent alderwoman, Katrina Jones. (Click here for a previous story on the candidates.)

Stephen Soares came out on his porch.

“They only come around when they want to get elected,” Soares began, referring to candidates for public office.

stephen%20soares.JPG Nelson assured Soares (pictured) that if he wins the Democratic primary, his face will be a common sight in the neighborhood.

Just then another resident of the Thompson Street house arrived home. “Who asked you to run?” Edwin Muhammad challenged Nelson, in a friendly but firm voice.

“No one from the city asked me to run,” Nelson replied. “Actually, a lot of people from my community asked me to run.”

edwin%20muhammad.JPG “The reason why [I ask] is that the mayor is going to get involved in this,” Muhammad (pictured) continued. “He wants aldermen who are going to back whatever he wants to do, so he hand-picks them.”

Soares piped in, “How does he back them? By giving them money?”

“He controls them,” Muhammad replied. “Plantation politics.” He was referring to an argument that has existed in Newhallville and Dixwell and the Hill since the urban renewal era. Should voters in lower-income, black or Hispanic wards support politicians backed by City Hall and party leaders able to dispense sidewalks or jobs or other favors? Or does that establish a subservient relationship to power? Should voters instead mount independent campaigns with the potential of challenging city political leaders on broader issues of economic development, patronage and favoritism, government contracting, public education policy, distribution of public services, and political inclusion? Ward 21 in particular has had many aldermanic battles with that theme, with candidates like the late Chuck Allen, Willie Greene, and Ron Gattison.

From the sidewalk, Moses Nelson offered Soares his version of Local Politics 101.

“The mayor already controls the city and all of its departments,” the candidate said. “The Board of Aldermen is supposed to be the one body he doesn’t control, and it’s supposed to provide a check for him so he doesn’t have too much power. That hasn’t happened the last ten years he’s been in office.”

“That the aldermen hasn’t gone with him?” Soares asked, still a bit confused.

“No, that they haven’t provided a check for him,” Nelson said. “He’s been able to pretty much move along any policy or procedure he’s wanted over the majority of his terms in office.”

Muhammad reiterated, “What’s happened is that he’s been controlling the Board of Aldermen by hand-picking who he wants.”

Soares challenged Nelson: “How do we know you’re not going to be his puppy dog?”

Nelson assured his potential constituents that he would be his own man.

How Much To Question?

So it went on an afternoon canvas — when Nelson found people home. At well over half the houses, no one answered Nelson’s bell ring or crisp knock. One constituent opened her door only to tell Nelson she doesn’t vote. (A Jehovah’s Witness, he presumed.) At another house a man almost snarled, “I make my own decisions” about voting, which apparently precluded speaking to an actual candidate.

Nelson, who works as a case manager in a mental health agency, said he considers neighborhood violence and the lack of youth program services the ward’s biggest issues. “And they go hand in hand,” he said.

His opponent, incumbent Alderwoman Jones (pictured), said in an interview Tuesday night that the ward’s top issues are jobs and the need for job training. (She declined to have a reporter accompany her door to door in the ward.)

The two took different positions on a series of issues — some of which hearkened back to the issue of aldermanic independence of City Hall.

The two were asked whether the Board of Aldermen should more closely scrutinize line-item spending and policies of the Board of Education, which constitutes about half of the total city budget.

“Absolutely,” Nelson said. “We need to have that purview of what they’re doing. The Board of Ed is like a perfect storm — the lack of involvement of the Board of Aldermen, and the ability of the mayor to appoint the board and the superintendent. There needs to be more checks and balances and more oversight.”

Jones, who works for the Board of Ed coordinating a college prep program, said aldermanic oversight would be misplaced.

“Do we really have any say? Because it’s federal money,” she argued.

When told that some of the school budget comes from local property taxes, Jones added, “I did ask questions about how much of the budget comes from the federal government, the state and the city, but I never got a clear answer. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop asking.”

She said because she is a Board of Ed employee, she recuses herself from votes related to education issues and doesn’t delve into those issues.

The question that generated the most outrage for Nelson concerned raises for 41 non-union mayoral appointees. These generated controversy when they quietly went into effect July 1 without notice to the aldermen or the public — after months of public debate and negotiations over layoffs and givebacks for other city workers. Administration officials said this group of employees had already gone years without raises; what angered some aldermen more was the process rather than many of the raises themselves.

brandon%20beard%20and%20moses.JPG Nelson (pictured chatting with Brandon Beard) said he would “absolutely not” have supported those raises.

“I can’t support a raise at the same time that layoffs are happening. To me, that’s unconscionable. There was an alderman who said, ‘We have to look out for our people.’ I would say that ‘our people’ are the ones who were laid off months before. These people are the mayor’s people. Those raises moved them from upper class to borderline wealth[y]. We always say we can’t hire teenagers for summer jobs, but these raises cost $111,000.” That was a reference to the new pay for several top aides, including mayoral Chief of Staff Sean Matteson, Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts, and economic development chief Kelly Murphy.

Jones said she also opposed the raises; she was gentler in her criticism, noting that some people were due a raise. “I think it was very poor timing [coming after layoffs],” she said.

On crime, Nelson said the city has abandoned community policing. He said he’s talked to many people — “taxpaying, working-class people who I don’t think have ever been in trouble” — who have a negative view of the police based on their own experiences. “The overall sentiment [in favor of the NHPD] is pretty low. I was told by Chief [James] Lewis that walking the beat doesn’t lower crime. That’s one of the reasons we don’t have community policing — because the police don’t think it reduces crime.”

Jones was more ambivalent.

“I really can’t say yes or no whether community policing still exists. I don’t see many police out on the beat in my community, but I know if I need to get in touch with someone [in the NHPD] if there is an issue, there is not a problem,” Jones said.

“I haven’t had many complaints about lack of police in the area. I see many more patrol cars [than cops on a walking beat]. It’s evolved. There used to be a lot more money for community policing but [now] there is a lack of funding.”

toddler%20and%20mom.JPG As Nelson continued his canvassing stroll down Thompson Street, he encountered a young woman with a toddler near Shelton Avenue. She hailed him with a hearty, “Hey, future alderman!” Laurena Joyner (pictured, with her son, Antoine) has volunteered for Nelson’s campaign.

Katrina Jones, who said she’s been out canvassing for the past three months, is counting on Joyner being wrong.

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Posted by: streever | September 11, 2009 8:08 AM

"I was told by Chief [James] Lewis that walking the beat doesn't lower crime. That's one of the reasons we don't have community policing -- because the police don't think it reduces crime."

He's absolutely right, too. But, walking a beat isn't community policing. Community policing is being responsive to citizens & being part of the community. (For instance, appointing Reddish, who lives in New Hallville, is certainly community policing)

We can have community policing without wasting police resources on walking beats that simply encourage criminals to avoid the person in blue. In an age of limited resources, I'm glad the police are able to get somewhere quickly & efficiently.

Posted by: City Hall Watch | September 11, 2009 8:34 AM

Great article. Insightful. You really get a sense of who the candidates are, what they stand for, and what you can expect if elected. I hope people read it closely. There are huge differences in these two people.

Posted by: Morris Cove | September 11, 2009 8:47 AM

You can't abandon the idea of Community Policing because Chief Lewis says it's his opinon it does not work, that's bull.

The concept of having walking beats, is so the officer knows the neighbors and the players on his beat, he can't know by driving a cruiser and aswering calls, how is supposed to get that one on one with the citizens, and find out what the issues are?

Chief Lewis is doing a good job, but he's wrong on walking beats, they work, I recall my cops when i lived in Fair Haven ( Bill Copolla, Frank Roberts, Harry Leach), great cops who busted up the Latin kings and really connected with the Community.

Posted by: cantor | September 11, 2009 9:09 AM

Moses you can beat the machine....we need new blood...katrina works for the boe and being an alderperson interesting ..RUBBER STAMP

Posted by: john | September 11, 2009 9:19 AM

don't take this the wrong way. but again, i hear "plantation politics" so blatantly misappropriated--particularly egregious was that "draft dyson" guy. what do these people mean exactly?

it's odd that the resident does not feel compelled actually to *define* plantation politics or what about the arrangement now has so clearly a racial and not socio-economic dimension.

use of the term in this context is a damaging, needless way of racializing the nature of politics *in general* -- one that applies equally well to black and non-black neighborhoods who do not have direct influence on the power structure. it's *just* politics, and the point is to take civil action when the power structure fails to heed you.

Posted by: Ellis Copeland | September 11, 2009 11:09 AM

Plantation Politics is a reference to plantations and slaves in the Old South. After the Civil War there were still plantations (owned by the unscrupulous Northern "carpetbaggers") and those who had been slaves were now "sharecroppers." At election time the sharecroppers were expected to vote as they were told by the plantation owner. The same thing happened in the North with the workers (wage slaves) who occupied the "company towns" (a town owned completely by the company that employed the residents.) The basic idea was/is, "shut up and do as you are told or we will take away your livliehood."

In New Haven it works the same. Support Johnny Boy and any and all skullduggery he wants or get cut off of the doling out of city money.

It is easy enough to overthrow such as system, but it requires something New Haven lacks-- people smart enough to realize that their long term interests are not served by such servility and courageous enough to stop acting like chumps. The people of New Haven have repeatedly proven that they are too stupid and too weak to live as free people.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | September 11, 2009 11:35 AM

Hey John.
I like what the great Niccolo Machiavelli said about politricks,Politics have no relation to morals.This is why for the past ten years I write
in my candidate. I will say it over and over as long as we don't have Proportional representation
the machine will be in control.

http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/globalrights/democracy/abcs.html

Posted by: streever | September 11, 2009 11:37 AM

Morris Cove,

I think it's a sophistic argument you make. Plausible but ultimately false. You set up a polarizing situation, where community policing is either walking beats or nothing.

I think there is a lot more context involved in community policing, and to make it simply a matter of "do they walk around or not" obscures the issue & prevents us from engaging in meaningful dialogue on what type of community policing we want.

Posted by: cba | September 11, 2009 11:51 AM

Little John De Stefano, the boy scout, who would be governor except for the good sense of the state electorate is trying to build his own little empire in New Haven by political contributions. It's high time for all groups to spurn him and elect a leader for themselves and not a flunky for his self promoting agenda

Posted by: nfjanette | September 11, 2009 2:10 PM

While I agree that the expression "community policing" can mean different things, I disagree with your assessment that "walking the beat" is not an important part of the police developing relationships with the community both on a personal and a departmental level. I placed quotes around the expression because I believe it's not as much about walking as it is about not being confined to closed vehicles; bicycle, horse, and Segway patrols may work as well as actual walking when it comes to the personal contact that both facilitates development of specific personal relationships as well as publishing an image in general of the department as a group of real people that interact with citizens of the city.

Posted by: Balintino | September 11, 2009 2:24 PM

If you think Johnny Boy runs the Aldermen! try the Board Of Education they all get free cks. for doing nothing but looking busy! Look at how they have built new schools and they are over crowded classes are jamed packed-so much for smaller classes lol who cares it is an urban area with students of color and two schools reserved for yalies and the mayors friends...do not forget the third floor private school at Cross. If you are ignorant, know the mayor, middle age and have little Education experience come to New Have Public Schools and get a job...you can leave early walk around with papers in your hand look busy and get paid...you can even get awards for looking busy miseducating the children of new haven it is a big racket. Watch the swine flu outbreak this Fall they will keep the illequiped custodial staff working like dogs to keep the dirty schools open and by the way if we have an earth quake just come to any of the rat infested new schools!

Posted by: Facchec | September 11, 2009 4:34 PM

I am shocked and dismayed that alderwomen Jones would say the following to the NHI.

"Do we really have any say? Because it's federal money," she argued.
When told that some of the school budget comes from local property taxes, Jones added, "I did ask questions about how much of the budget comes from the federal government, the state and the city, but I never got a clear answer. That doesn't' mean I'm going to stop asking."

Really... Alderwomen Jones, why is it that you continue to ask these questions in light of the fact that you have already put your rubber stamp on this budget in June 09.

But, if your really don't know what you voted on, I have included the answer to your question found in the 09/10 budget,section 1 page 6.

First where the money goes;
Followed by where the money comes from;

Incredible!!!!

FY 09-10 GENERAL FUND
WHERE THE MONEY GOES:

Other Departments
0%

Public
Works/Engineering
4%

General Government
6%

Debt Service
13%

Police & Fire
15%

Pensions/Benefits
22%

Education
37%

Human Services
1%
Economic
Development
2%

Section

Category Budget Percentage
Education 173,019,297 37%

Pensions/Benefits 100,290,990 22%

Police & Fire 70,670,676 15%

Debt Service 62,169,780 13%

General Government 26,257,315 6%

Public Works/Engineering 16,857,617 4%

Economic Development 7,113,045 2%

Human Services 6,733,743 1%

Other Departments 888,295 0.2%

Total: 464,000,758 100%

Where the money comes from:

Budget Percentage
Property Taxes 206,165,103 44%

State Aid for Education 154,638,921 33%

Other State Aid 59,600,267 13%

Other Revenue 43,596,467 9%

Total: 464,000,758 100%

Posted by: streever | September 11, 2009 5:52 PM

NfJanette,

I'm not saying it can't be part of community policing!

I'm just protesting the attitude that without a walking beat, we have 0 community policing. That's essentially what the candidate and commentators are saying.

Do I think it'd be great if police got out of their cars and interacted with the neighborhood? Yea. I think they can do this without explicit walking beats though--I think they should be encouraged to park and take a walk up the street.

I just think a predictable walking beat a. is something any reasonably intelligent criminal will hide from & b. is something we don't have enough police/money to do right now.

I don't think that is the "death of community policing" though, as has been claimed.

Posted by: The Professor | September 11, 2009 8:50 PM

Hey Mr. Soares:

Do you know how many voters an Alderperson would have to contact every day in order to talk to each voter in the ward just once every two years? 5.5 voters, Mr. Soares. If you want to see your Alderperson three or four times, that means they have to go to between 16 and 22 voters per day, every day for two years. The day is just as long for Moses Nelson as it is for Katrina Jones. You'll probably see him about as much as you see Katrina.

Look, all that I see is people saying that their Aldermen don't come to them. I don't see people saying "my alderperson is unresponsive." If your alder were unresponsive, that would be a big problem. But that's not the criticism. Be proactive and empower yourself.

Posted by: Morris Cove | September 12, 2009 6:49 AM

Streever

The concept of community policing is the one on one with the cops that patrol the beat, you get this by interaction of the walking beat.

Please explain how I'm wrong, I see the cops in my neighborhood now, but they drive by, as they patrol, there is no walking beats where you can stop and chat and get to know the cop thats assisgned to your neighborhood. Thats the whole concept of community policing, and it's lost,

Do you even know the cops that patrol in your neighborhood?

Posted by: teepee | September 12, 2009 9:51 AM

Balitino you make a good point board of ed...free checks and on election days they are at polling places..what a job...

Posted by: john | September 12, 2009 11:53 AM

@EC -- Yes, I do understand the historical origins of the term, but do appreciate the succinct description.

Still, I see the expression is often used to try to give a specifically racial dimension to something that is in fact, at least nowadays, a political phenomenon irrespective of race.

In addition, the expression--because of its historical origin--suggests the *unique* victimization of blacks by whites, but really the same thing could be said to occur in all wards of the city, whether predominantly black, white, whatever. In other words, use of the term creates an unhelpful symbolic divide between blacks and whites when (in my opinion) really we should be working together to improve our community as a whole.

Posted by: Morris Cove | September 12, 2009 2:33 PM

Streever

Maybe you don't understand the concept of community policing. The walking beats are an essential component to community policing, because as an officer you get to know the problems of the beat and the citizens get to know the cops.

You can't get that by an occasional park and walk, you have to actually walk the beat. The concept is not new, the name has changed but there was a neighborhood cop that everyone knew and could go to when I was growing up.

And if the criminals were so smart as you imply, then why did the cops do so well locking them in the mid 90's, especially in Fair Haven. If you don't think community policing is dead, maybe you missed the obits, and should look around. How well do you know your neighborhood cop?

Posted by: Insider2 | September 13, 2009 9:30 PM

It really does not matter who wins this race. Moses who is a nice guy will be overwhelmed by the administration should he win on Tues. Moses is young and really does not understand what he is up against.

Katrina Jones who is favored to win will carry on as usual and push King John's agenda with no regard for the people of the ward. What is really ashame is that the people will vote her back in and then spend the next 2yrs complaining.

When you look at her record she has done nothing for the community. We have not had a voice on the BOA since Allen, Greene and Gattison. While I disagreed with them all many times they were not afraid to stand up and challenge the administration when City Hall was wrong.

Posted by: streever | September 14, 2009 7:33 AM

Morris Cove,

I have cell phone numbers, & they answer calls when they aren't working.

I see them where I shop & say hello.

They come to block watches, Community Management Team meetings, & Elm City Cycling meetings & even donate their time to community events.

Community policing is alive & well for me, and the rate of enforcement & success they are showing demonstrates that.

Walking beats are wonderful in an ideal world. You figure out a way to train 50 cops a year so we can hit our target force, despite the attrition of retired employees, and let us all know.

Posted by: Morris Cove | September 14, 2009 9:38 AM

Streever

You just confirmed what I said in my earlier posting, that Community Policing is dead, why can't you just except that your wrong, is it an ego thing?, I understand.

The word community refers to everyone, not just Streever, so if you do have cellphone numbers, then good for you, but that does not serve the COMMUNITY at large, does it? And I don't have the answer to the policing problems, never said I did, I just pointed out that community policing is dead, read what I wrote before commenting.

I would also like to add, that they are doing a wonderful job, I'm not knocking that, I just wrote of the death of community policing.

Newhallville Race Evokes “Plantation Politics”

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