Paul Ondrejka’s take on the West River.
Campaigning in Westville, Toni Harp came across one of her favorite New Haven scenes — on a wall.
The scene: the West River opening up from a spot near Orange Avenue onto a sweeping vista leading to West Rock in the distance.
Harp, one of four Democrats running around town this weekend in anticipation of the hotly contested Sept. 10 Democratic mayoral primary, came across the scene during a visit to DaSilva Gallery in Westville Village.
Paul Bass Photo
Gallery owner (and unofficial Westville Mayor) Gabriel DaSilva (at left in photo) welcomed Harp (at right) and state Rep. Pat Dillon (center) to the gallery Sunday afternoon for a meet-and-greet. DaSilva, who is neutral in the mayor’s race, has invited candidates to hold Sunday meet-and-greets at his gallery throughout the campaign. Harp and DIllon were particularly taken with some 3‑D retro American works by Scott E. Matyjaszek, and the large, prominently displayed West River/West Rock painting, by New Haven’s Paul Ondrejka.
“This is the one of the most underappreciated sites in New Haven, one of the most beautiful in New Haven,” Harp said, staring for quite a while at the painting. “West River becomes a reflecting pool for West Rock. Most people drive by [the spot] every day; it’s across the street from Dunkin Donuts. This person has captured its beauty, what I would consider to be natural art. It is really beautiful when the sun is setting.”
Then Harp talked about another underappreciated gem — Westville Village’s commercial corridor. She spoke of how DaSIlva’s gallery survived the recession, how several restaurants have thrived as well. She said that as mayor she’d focus economic development efforts on filling in long-empty storefronts in corridors like Westville Village, Dixwell Avenue, and Howard and Columbus Avenues in the Hill, to help them grow.
From art appreciation in Westville, Harp headed over to Goffe Street Park to check out some flag football. Her campaign organized a football tournament there Sunday complete with a deejay and a cookout for kids. Some 75 young men battled it out through several rounds on the gridiron.
Harp campaign volunteer Wakil Rashid served up the burgers and hot dogs.
Harp campaign staffer James Baker, a Hyde graduate and current Central Connecticut State University communications major, organized the event. At halftime during the tournament’s championship round, he gathered the players together to introduce them to Harp. He spoke of how as a state senator she successfully pushed repeatedly to raise the minimum wage, to $8.25 an hour.; the campaign has started making sure to list Harp’s specific accomplishments on the trail. “A lot of you are getting paid a lot more because she’s done a great job,” Baker told the players. Then he told them the campaign had brought cards for them to register to vote on the spot.
First they gathered for a photo with the candidate.
Then some of them signed up as they prepared to take the field for the second half. Meanwhile, Booker T. McJunkin pressed Harp to help him find more money support the Venom, the minor-league football squad he organizes when he’s not working his orthopedic technician’s job at Yale-New Haven Hospital. (Click here to read a full-length story on the team, by the Register’s Shahid Abdul-Karim.) “A lot of these kids would be on the street” causing trouble if not for the Venom, the coach argued. “We take people from the Trey, the Tribe, the Hill, and make them one team,” rather than off-field violent combatants. Harp promised to do her best to support the squad.
What an awesome event. I hope that flag football can get some local business sponsors and part time coaches to maybe create a summer league to give some of our youth something constructive to do. Perhaps the businesses can sponsor a team and give the kids part time work as well.