Johnson Administration Previewed

A year after Ira Johnson becomes mayor, more neighborhood schools will replace magnet schools. But the mayor’s chief of staff may remain the same.

Johnson — who has filed papers to try to seek a spot on the Sept. 12 Democratic mayoral primary ballot — offered those and other previews Tuesday of how he’d run the city, during an appearance on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program.

Democratic Mayor Toni Harp plans to run for a third two-year term this year. Former Alder and city labor relations chief Marcus Paca has also filed papers to seek the party’s nomination.

Johnson would need to collect about 5,000 signatures of registered Democrats to land a spot on the ballot, according to City Clerk Michael Smart. Johnson said he’s confident his team of supporters, currently numbering eight, will do that. He has created a GoFundMe page which he said has so far collected four contributions totaling $200; he said he hopes eventually to raise $2,000. He has also created this website.

Johnson, a 50-year-old former substitute teacher who is currently living at Bella Vista, grew up on Stevens Street. He was active in his Democratic ward committee when he lived in the Hill, and in 2015 organized a march on behalf of a 25-year-old woman who was shot dead on her porch. He once made the ballot for a challenge to a Hill alder, and announced campaigns for state representative and U.S. Congress that didn’t lead to a ballot spot.

On WNHH Tuesday, he spoke of converting some magnet schools to neighborhood schools, where kids can walk to classes each day.

“If kids in New Haven went to school in their neighborhood, more parents would volunteer,” he argued. Too many schools are magnets, drawing children from different neighborhoods, he said. As a result, some parents have to arrange difficult transportation for children who go to multiple schools in neighborhoods all over town. The problem is particularly acute at the high school level, where only Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse take students based on geography, he argued. ​“I know someone who lives on Greenwich Avenue. He has to catch the bus to Cross.”

He said he would assemble a team to help figure out how to de-magnetize schools that received state money and thus are under obligation to continue accepting students from across neighborhood or municipal borders. ​“It would probably take about a year,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he would seek to keep the current mayoral chief of staff, Tomas Reyes, in his job, but would look for a new economic development administrator — ideally ​“a recent graduate from Yale or Southern” Connecticut State University who would bring new energy and ideas. He sided with the state over the city in the current dispute over who should build a second garage at Union Station, echoing the argument of the governor’s budget chief that the state is in a better position to pay for it. He called for Interim Police Chief Anthony Campbell to be named the permanent chief because he’s doing ​“a great job.” He did argue that the city needs to do a better job encouraging the formation of block watches.

Click on or download the above audio file to hear the full interview with Ira Johnson and campaign supporter and childhood friend Maurice Smith on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”