Paul Bass Photo
Markeshia Ricks Photo
In an annual “State of the City” address, Mayor Toni Harp called New Haven “a city on the rise” where people work together — and will continue to.
“There is evidence in all corners of the city to support these assertions,” she said in the address, delivered at the beginning of Tuesday night’s Board of Alders meeting at City Hall. (The address was signed for the hearing-impaired, pictured.)
The evidence she pointed to included the city’s building on community-based policing to launch Youth Stat, a collaboration of the city’s Youth Services Department, New Haven Public Schools, and youth-focused community groups and state agencies to identify at-risk youth.
She also pointed to the city’s community canvassing initiative, which makes programs and services available door-to-door, as part of that evidence — evidence that recently received a shout out from President Obama.
“The truth is, our entire community rallied this year in what I call peaceful retaliation against urban violence, and the results are undeniably positive,” she said.
In the address, Harp also laid out new education and economic-development goals, including a 50 percent reading-proficiency target for public-school students.
Click here to read the full address.
Harp noted that reported crime dropped 14.5 percent in 2014. “These numbers continue a trend that began in 2011,” she said. “I believe much of this is attributable to being fully engaged as a community; all of us working together to create a better New Haven.”
“Engagement” was her theme.
The mayor said evidence of the city’s rising status could be found in its commitment to maintaining and preserving its infrastructure. From bridge projects such as those at East Rock Road and State Street nearing an end to drainage improvements along Morris Causeway and storm damage repairs at Lighthouse Point Park, the city is “fully engaged” in seeing crucial projects completed, she said.
She also said that the city showed its “engagement” through revamped and well executed emergency response capabilities, which have been battle tested in recent weeks’ snow storms.
Harp argued that the state and nation are watching New Haven because of the way it has “fully engaged” as a community to curb urban violence, to be at the forefront of initiatives such as pushing for broadband Internet access in the state and its stance on immigration reform.
Looking Ahead
Harp said her administration is not content to rest on its laurels.
On Schools and Literacy:
Harp announced plans to make New Haven “The City That Reads.” Her goal is for 50 percent of New Haven Public Schools students to read at or above grade level. “To read is to open up the world of learning and imagination and possibility,” she said. “I’m committed to doing that for New Haven’s young people.”
On Jobs and Economic Development:
To help the people who study in New Haven and want to stay and create jobs as entrepreneurs and small business operators, Harp touted the launch of a Web-based funding clearinghouse, to help people “match new ideas with the capital needed to bring them to life.” She said she is looking for help from local businesses to address the 22 percent of people in the city who report being under- or unemployed.
On Public Safety:
Harp said improvements to the city’s information-technology infrastructure, particularly for the fire department, are coming. “New software, expected to be operational by the end of February, will improve the timeliness of mandatory inspection reports and filings with the state,” she said. “You might recall the city had fallen behind in terms of that accountability. We are fully engaged in correcting that.”
View From Alders
Yale Alder Sarah Eidelson said she was glad to hear the mayor focus on what the city, the Board of Alders, is doing to reduce youth violence. Annex Alder Al Paolillo said Harp’s speech hit all the important points from economic development and education to public safety. “I think she did a good job of laying the case out where we are going,” he said.
Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn (at right in photo) said she too was happy to hear the mayor talk about the need to bring more jobs to the city, but she’d hoped to hear the mayor mention the Q House. “I would love to know the status of that,” she said.
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison (at left in photo) had a similar question; she said she wanted to hear more about programs specifically aimed at young people. “We heard a lot about programs for the youth from the safety/criminal justice side, as opposed to the positive program side,” she said. “I love the police. However, we can’t always look at kids from a police standpoint.”
Instead of drafting a love letter to the mayor, this reporter might have actually fact checked the contents of her speech; because that's what journalists do.