As aldermen voted to sell portions of two downtown streets to Yale for $3 million, a half-dozen cops stood in the back of the room, keeping a close eye on rowdy protesters who had already held up the vote once.
The action took place in City Hall’s aldermanic chamber Monday night, where lawmakers voted to approve a $3 million deal that will turn over portions of Wall and High streets to Yale forever.
The 21 – 8 vote came after a lengthy floor debate, lengthened further by bullhorn-wielding protesters whose chants forced board President Jorge Perez to call a recess in the meeting. Click the video to watch the confrontation.
Protesters objected to the deal in part because it does not guarantee that Yale will keep the streets open to the public. Aldermen supporting the deal said Yale will likely keep the streets open, and the city needs the $3 million to help close a budget gap in the current fiscal year.
For over 20 years, Yale has controlled the sections in question — High Street between Elm and Grove streets and Wall Street between College and York streets. The university has closed part of High Street to vehicular traffic. Cars are technically restricted from using the section of Wall Street, though Yale vehicles are permitted to park there and drive through.
Yale first closed the streets after a 1990 deal in which the university paid the city $1.1 million and agreed to ongoing annual contributions. The city revisited the deal in 2011 as a part of a required 20-year review. After contentious debate over the possibility of renegotiating the deal, aldermen tabled the matter for over a year, until a plan to sell the streets outright emerged this spring.
The fate of High and Wall is an issue that gets to the heart of the city’s sometimes combative, deeply symbiotic relationship with Yale. It’s complicated further by the fact that the Board of Aldermen is now controlled by a majority comprising lawmakers supported by Yale unions.
That majority nearly always votes as a block. But not Monday night.
Members of the union-backed majority split their votes Monday night rather than voting as a bloc. Four of the eight aldermen who voted against the sale are labor-affiliated lawmakers.
Aldermen also voted Monday night to sell 182 square feet of Broadway to Yale for $8,190. The university plans to expand the bookstore there and put up new signs.
Outside
Monday’s meeting was preceded by a rally outside City Hall attended by about 25 activists who protested against the streets sale. The demonstration was organized by a coalition of groups including My Brother’s Keeper, Seminarians For A Democratic Society, and Unidad Latina en Accion.
Gregory Williams (at left in photo), a Yale Divinity School student and founder of Seminarians For A Democratic Society, noted that Yale has an endowment of over $18 billion. He called for “just distribution of wealth in this city.”
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker (pictured), a mayoral candidate, called the streets sale “short-sighted” and “wrong for our children.”
Activist Barbara Fair (pictured) cautioned that Yale keeps taking over more pieces of the city: “I’m waiting for New Haven’s name to be changed to Yale. It’s time to say, no more!”
“They take with a shovel and give with a teaspoon, and we’ve had enough of that kind of bullshit,” said Frank Panzarella.
Westville activist Tim Holahan (pictured) announced that his online petition against the sale had gathered 238 signatures in just one day.
“Selling public access to our streets is not negotiable,” declared Downtown Alderman Doug Hausladen (pictured).
Inside
Inside City Hall, Fair Haven Heights Alderwoman Brenda Jones-Barnes was the first to speak up when the streets deal came up for debate. She said the current Board of Aldermen was elected to listen to the people and to be “better than the previous rubber stamp machine.” She called the sale of the streets “amazing” and “outrageous.”
“It’s as though New Haven is a Monopoly game with streets for sale,” she said.
Elicker moved to have the matter sent back to committee for more public testimony. Eight other aldermen supported him on that proposal, not enough to make it happen.
Dixwell Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison, in whose ward the streets lie, said her student constituents told her they want the university to have the streets. “It’s about safety for my students,” she said.
“Four years ago, I said parking meter monetization was the worst idea since margarine,” Elicker said. “This is the worst idea since parking meter monetization.”
Yale has not guaranteed the public will have access to the streets forever, he said. And even if it were a good idea to sell the streets, “$3 million is a fire sale.”
“Yale has proven itself worthy of ownership,” said Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon (pictured), a Yale alum who now works for Yale’s Beinecke Library on Wall Street and used to work for UNITE HERE Local 34. She said Yale will not close the streets to cars because it needs to have a way for firefighters to access all the buildings.
She said the streets are “useless” except to Yale. That drew a roar of disapproval from the activists in the back of the room.“Who would want to buy the streets except for Yale?” she said. “We need to sell the streets because we need the money to make our deficit smaller.”
“You can’t put a price on our ability to walk down those streets,” said Alderman Hausladen.
East Rock Alderwoman Jessica Holmes (pictured) said she would like see a more powerful city and a more supportive Yale, but the street deal doesn’t prevent that from happening.
“When those streets are sold, no one in Ward 6 will miss them,” said Colon, who represents Ward 6. Her comment drew more howls from the protesters.
Bullhorn Interruptions
As aldermen were about to vote on the item, protester John Lugo stood up and used a bullhorn to rail against the sale. President Perez struggled to keep control over the meeting as Williams stood on his seat and pulled out another bullhorn. Protesters chanted and sang for several minutes as Perez called a recess.
Six police officers arrived in the chamber and stood by. The protesters quieted down; aldermen finally voted. “It’s being voted under armed guard,” Williams announced.
The final vote was 21 to 8. Voting against the sale were Hausladen, Elicker, Fair Haven’s Migdalia Castro, Newhallville’s Alfreda Edwards, and four union-backed aldermen: Brenda Jones-Barnes, Delphine Clyburn, Newhallville’s Brenda Foskey-Cyrus, and Beaver Hills’ Angela Russell.
As protesters filed out of the room with police at their back, they sang the chorus of an old union-organizing song: “Which side are you on?”
Yale gets what Yale wants, otherwise they might reconsider their voluntary taxes.