A Challenger’s Evening

Alderman Yusuf I. Shah has represented West River’s Ward 23 for a decade, but you might not have known that Tuesday night. Newcomer Tyisha Walker received the Democratic Party’s endorsement while Shah was nowhere to be seen.

Shah didn’t attend the Democratic Town Committee nominating convention at King/Robinson School, although he has already stated his intention to run in the Sept. 13 primary. Shah couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday night. Walker announced her candidacy in May.

The fact that Walker (pictured above), a challenger to a pro-City Hall candidate, showed up at the convention — and won the party’s endorsement — while Shah stayed away reflected a possible change in New Haven’s political landscape this year. The Democratic Party is gearing up for the most aldermanic primaries in recent memory. Many are coming from candidates, like Walker, who are backed by Yale’s unions and have generated an early show of energy and strength. Many faces are expected to join New Haven’s Board of Aldermen in January, with a possible shake-up in the balance of power.

Tuesday night’s convention in general reflected the stirrings of dissent and calls for change in a year in which anti-incumbent sentiment has emerged nationwide.

“It shows that democracy still happens,” Walker said after receiving the endorsement.

Shah, 50, who works at the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center (he’s pictured at the June 18 dedication of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which he made happen), lost a ward committee vote to Walker on July 20. Both Shah and Walker, a 31-year-old department steward in Yale’s Local 35 labor union, attended the meeting at the Berger Apartments, gave 10-minute speeches, and then took questions from the audience. According to Walker, she won the vote 6‑to‑3, and thus the support of the committee’s co-chairs.

Ward 23 co-chair Ann T. Greene voted for Walker Tuesday night but said she would be neutral in the primary race. Her co-chair, Sheryl Lee Ravenel, didn’t attend the convention due to illness.

Walker, who works as a cook’s helper at Yale, said the incumbent alderman’s inattentiveness to the ward’s needs is the primary reason for her candidacy. As an example, Walker cited the experience of a woman who attended the July 20 meeting. The woman said that Shah had told her to attend a meeting to argue for placing speed bumps on Day Street. The woman showed up for the meeting, but Shah didn’t and never called to apologize, according to Walker.

Walker said she had already knocked on 200 doors in the West River neighborhood and many of them didn’t know who their alderman was. ​“That’s a problem,” she said. ​“If you don’t know who your alderman is if you have a problem don’t know who to go to for help.”

Shah has said previously addressed his engagement in the ward. ​“I’m very much aware of what’s going on in the 23rd Ward,” Shah said in May. ​“If you’re a man like me who works three jobs and is serving as an alderman, there’s no way you can be everywhere. It’s impossible to be everywhere and at every meeting. That’s just a myth.”

Shah said people tell him what the desires and needs of the neighborhood are. ​“I don’t get involved in the micro-management of any community organization, but they all know that I’m there,” he said. ​“My reelection record has shown that.”

Some in the West River won’t be voting for him this time. Yaakov Komisar, who lives on Edgewood Avenue, came to the Democratic convention to show his support for Walker. ​“I just feel like there’s not a lot of community engagement on the part of the alderman,” said Komisar, a rabbi who will soon start as a teacher at the Ezra Academy. Komisar said he supportd Walker because ​“she’s new, she has an energy.”

Walker said that the community needs more information, particularly about access to jobs in the neighborhood. ​“When development comes in, it’s important that the community be part of the process,” she said. ​“We know when the first trucks pull in, we should also know what kind of jobs are coming in and whether the community will have access to them.” For example, she said Alderman Shah hadn’t informed the community about the possible merger between Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of Saint Raphael. ​“We didn’t hear about it from Yusuf,” Walker said. ​“We should have had some kind of conversation.”

Despite receiving the official party endorsement, Walker still may not receive the support of some members of the party establishment. Shah has been a City Hall loyalist; Walker is among the union-affiliated candidates running as outside challenges.

Walker said she’s not concerned. ​“It’s not up to one person, it’s up to the community,” she said.