Hines To Ward 20: ​‘Your Voice Matters’

Lifelong Newhallville resident Teresa Hines said her candidacy to be the next alder of Ward 20 is not a referendum on the current representative, or any previous alder, but about the next step in her own journey as a community advocate.

“I chose to run because I felt it was time, and because I think people should have a choice,” she said. ​“Some people might say, ​‘Teresa, you’re new to this,’ but what I’m new to is the title of alder. What I am not new to is building relationships.”

Hines is challenging two-term Alder Clyburn, who was most recently endorsed by District 1199 of the New England Health Care Employees Union and UNITE HERE Local 34, of which Hines is a member, in one of the eight Democratic alder primaries scheduled for Sept. 16. Clyburn also has the support of the Democratic Town Committee and Mayor Toni Harp.

While knocking doors with friend, supporter and Read Street resident Linda Lampart (at right in photo with Hines), Hines spoke about how she found her voice as a community advocate and how she wants to help others in Newhallville find theirs.

Hines grew up on Goodyear Street, and now makes her home with her husband and sons on Butler Street.

“People didn’t think I had this voice in high school,” she said. ​“And they were right. I didn’t know I had a voice, probably until four years ago. Now that I’ve found it, I can’t let it go.”

Four years ago, Hines, an ITS administrator at Yale, was working on a masters degree in human services at Albertus Magnus, interning at Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE) at Yale School of Public Health, and participating in community meetings about violence in Newhallville. She said as the meetings progressed with people like New Haven Family Alliance Executive Director Barbara Tinney at the table, ​“every so often I’d raise my hand and add my voice to the voices at the table.”

Her first efforts to share her thoughts led to conversations with people who suggested that she keep speaking up.

“I would say, ​‘You want me to say something?’” she said. ​“And they’d say, ​‘Yes, Teresa. Your voice matters. We value your voice.’”

She was invited to participate in an offshoot of those conversations and later became a member of what would be known as the Newhallville Resilience Team.

Neighbor 2 Neighbor

While she was out door-knocking Wednesday on Read Street, Hines made it a point not to disparage Clyburn, or any other previous alder, in her pitch to voters.

“I have nothing against previous leadership,” she said. ​“But I feel as a longtime resident, I can bring something different. I can bring the strengths of what I can do in my capacity.”

That something different is what Hines calls ​“neighbor-to-neighbor” relationship building. For her that means not just information sharing, but a commitment by neighbors to look out for each other, and to aid each other in using the skills and passions they have to help uplift their community.

As she walked, she not only told people about her campaign; she also helped them register to vote. One man at the corner of Read and Butler Streets told her that he wasn’t keen on voting and that she could probably still win without him.

“I don’t like voting,” he said. She pressed him with the same words that put her on the path to running for alder: ​“Your vote is your voice. Your voice matters.”

“I think communication has been a struggle and locked in silos,” Hines said of what she is hearing as she talks to the community. ​“Because of that people have a hard time feeling connected. They don’t know who’s who. If you don’t know who someone is, when you see someone strange in the neighborhood, whether they come to do harm, or come in peace, it doesn’t raise a red flag for you and they get a pass.”

How would she change that? ​“First, I would ask,” she said. While she might have ideas about how to break down those walls and silos, Hines said, she wants to hear from the community about how communication between neighbors could be improved.

When her friend Linda launched into a criticism of community policing efforts that have been credited with driving down crime in the neighborhood, Hines challenged her to think differently about the issue.

“Any time people are breathing, there will always be opportunity for change,” she said to Linda. ​“It’s only when people shut the door on change, or are not willing to be a part of that change, that we get stuck. If somebody is willing to stretch out their hand, we should be willing to stretch out our hand too.”

Silencing Effort?

Sometimes a hand is outstretched in solidarity and suddenly snatched back. That was the case recently when Hines received an endorsement from Newhallville Management Team Co-Chair Kenneth Cousar (pictured).

When Hines announced that she had filed papers to run against Clyburn, that announcement included an endorsement from Cousar. He has since rescinded that endorsement, accusing Hines of being in cahoots with Jason Bartlett, the director of the city’s Youth Department, in a ​“scheme” to unseat Clyburn.

Cousar had endorsed Hines during a brief time when he and Clyburn were on the outs for what he characterized to the Independent as ​“a little spat,” the nature of which he would not detail. The two have since made up, and they did so, after Cousar said he learned during a strategy meeting with Hines that she was working with Bartlett. He said during that meeting, he witnessed Hines talking on the phone with Bartlett to receive direction about her campaign.

“I do not endorse a person who is out to underhand and undermine the people of Newhallville,” he said. ​“I grew up with Teresa, and when I endorsed her it was because I thought everybody should have a chance to run. But I also thought she was doing it for the right reason.”

Clyburn and Bartlett (pictured left and right in the photo) have publicly butted heads over the administration of a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to address crime Newhallville, including whether City Hall is delivering on a promise to allow neighborhood leaders to have a significant say in decisions. The Harp administration has endorsed incumbent Clyburn, and is on the record saying that Bartlett, a mayoral appointee, has no hand in Hines’ campaign.

Hines said she and Bartlett have built a relationship through her work with the resiliency team and the development of community conversations with the police. Hines said ​“many people behind the scenes” encouraged her candidacy.

“Jason has no role in my campaign,” she said. As for Cousar’s accusations, Hines said: ​“Kenny has his own perspective, and his perspective and mine are different.”

When contacted by phone Saturday evening, Bartlett scoffed at Cousar’s accusation. The former state representative and manager of Harp’s first campaign for mayor said he is not politically active this year and he is not supporting any alder candidates— though, he added, it is his right to do so if he chooses. He lives in Ward 24, not Ward 20, he added, so he can’t vote in the Ward 20 primary.

Bartlett said even if he did support someone, it shouldn’t impact someone else’s endorsement. ​“I am friends with Teresa. I work with Delphine,” he said. ​“I work for the city and I work with all the alders, and I try to maintain relationships with all of them.”

Hines said what she wants to bring ​“positive, respectful and engaging” leadership to the ward.

“What I tell people is that if the impact of the current leadership on their lives has been positive, then vote for her,” she said. ​“But if the impact hasn’t been positive, if it hasn’t been a change for the better, then you should vote accordingly.”

Previous coverage of the Sept. 16 Democratic alder primaries:
• Marks Promises New Leadership
• Local 34 Endorses 6 For Alder
• Berrios-Bones: Stay The Course
• Burwell Confronts Language Barrier
• Robinson-Thorpe Ready For Primary Fight
• 8 Primaries On Tap
• Newhallville Gets A Primary
• Clyburn: ​“A Voice At The Table”