nothin Harp Picks New LCI Chief | New Haven Independent

Harp Picks New LCI Chief

Paul Bass Photo

Mayor Toni Harp, who has been urging New Haven to buy New Haven” for the holidays, did some of her own local shopping in hiring a new chief for her neighborhoods anti-blight agency.

She chose Serena Neal-Sanjurjo (pictured) for the executive director slot at the agency, the Livable City Initiative (LCI).

Harp announced the choice at a City Hall press conference attended by some 50 LCI and other city staffers and community members at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Neal-Sanjurjo begins the job Monday. It pays $100,000 a year.

Neal-Sanjurjo was one of four finalists for the job, which Erik Johnson left on Nov. 14 to take a new job in California, despite having received a raise to try to keep him here.

In picking Neal-Sanjurjo, Harp reached for what she called a familiar face” to grassroots and civic leaders in New Haven, homegrown talent with experience in other cities.

Neal-Sanjurjo grew up in Dixwell’s Florence Virtue homes, one of the city’s urban renewal-era federally-supported coops. She attended Hillhouse High. She ran New Haven’s federally-funded Enterprise Community program in the 1990s. She also worked for City Hall as a small-business development officer. She served as chief of staff and compliance director for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She also previously ran Baltimore’s Empowerment Zone. She recently returned home to New Haven to work as a real estate development and planning consultant for the quasi-public Economic Development Corporation.

In her latest New Haven capacity, she played a quiet but crucial role in helping LCI develop a Hill-to-Downtown” plan for developing surface lots near the train station, Harp noted.

She was never the person who got the credit. She was always the person who did the work,” Harp said in an interview.

She had extensive experience and can hit the ground running. Because she has worked with the department for a number of years, she has good relationships with people in the department,” Harp said.

The LCI chief is New Haven government’s point person for improving neighborhoods, from inspecting properties and enforcing building codes to cleaning up vacant city-owned lots, from wrestling with slumlords and out-of-state banks to developing new housing and commercial plans.

Neal-Sanjurjo (pictured with Harp at the announcement) said Wednesday that one of her key goals will be to involve neighborhoods in the city’s development. There’s so much to do,” she said, noting the wave of new projects underway or planned citywide.

We are going to fulfill our commitment to work with the community” on projects like the development of the remaining underused acres of Route 34 between the Boulevard and Orchard Street, she said.

LCI staffers showed up en masse to Wednesday’s announcement. Many praised Harp’s choice.

We’ve all worked with her. It seems like a smart way to transition,” said Evan Trachten, who oversees property acquisition and disposition for the agency.

Neal-Sanjurjo after the announcement with city fair-rent chief Otis Johnson and her husband Renne Sanjurjo.

Sign up for our morning newsletter

Don't want to miss a single Independent article? Sign up for our daily email newsletter! Click here for more info.


Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

Avatar for Joyner- Ken

Avatar for observer1

Avatar for TruthWarrior