“Tough” Talk

Times are tough in New Haven. But not tougher than a pack of wolves.

That was the theme of Thursday evening’s annual Black and Hispanic Caucus State of the City Address, delivered in the Aldermanic Chamber of City Hall by Westville Alderman Sergio Rodriguez.

Taking a page from Rudyard Kipling, Rodriguez called out individual lawmakers and community members who together are helping New Haven through challenging times.

This ​“pack of wolves” together has the strength to make the city better, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez began his address by reminding his colleagues that he is in his fourth term as alderman and has been twice elected as president of HELO, an organization of Hispanic elected officials, part of the National League of Cities. So he’s been twice invited to Vice-President Joe Biden’s house and this year will go to the White House to see President Barack Obama, Rodriguez said.

He said he plans to tell the president that times are tough in New Haven, but not to worry, because the Black and Hispanic caucus is ​“tough and it is moving.”

Rodriguez segued into a poem about tough times, by Rudyard Kipling:

“Now this is the law of the jungle—
As old and as true as the sky;
And the wolf that keep it may prosper,
But the wolf that shall break it may die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk,
The law runneth forward and back—
And the strength of the pack is the wolf
And the strength of the wolf is the pack.”

One by one, Rodriguez bade his colleagues in the Black and Hispanic Caucus stand as he named some of their efforts and accomplishments.

He then went on to name people in the audience, who stood to receive his accolades. Among those mentioned were Blest Peters of the Frontline Souljahs …

… and Stacy Spell, Keving Ewing and John Fitzpatrick of the West River Neighborhood Association.

Rodriguez went neighborhood by neighborhood recognizing people and organizations: Greg Smith in Dwight; Frank Alvarado in Fair Haven; Ken Joyner, Jeffrey Kerekes, Harry David, and Gary Doyens of NHCAN; Frank Jones and Thelma Ragsdale in Newhallville; Larry Conaway in Dixwell; SWANA in the Hill; John Fitzpatrick in Westville; Bob Kaplan and Nan Bartow in Beaver Hills; Honda Smith and Cassandra Lang in West Rock; and Oscar Reyes on Quinnipiac Avenue.

“We are as ferocious as a pack of wolves to solve our problems but we must never forget and always remember that the strength of the wolf is the pack,” Rodriguez said. ​“This is especially important as we set out to repair our community and make this city better than it has ever been.”