Paul Bass Photo
Attorney/musician Steve Mednick at WNHH FM.
By day Steve Mednick has been helping cities rewrite their constitutions. By night he has been writing songs about the storms in our political universe.
Three Connecticut cities — New Haven, Norwalk, and Stamford — held referenda on Election Day asking voters to approve charter (what we call local government constitutions) revisions crafted under the guidance of Mednick, an attorney considered the state’s top expert on the subject.
New Haven voters approved the changes by almost a two-thirds margin, paving the way for local elected officials to serve four-year terms and for language and board-and-commission-process updates in the charter. An even higher percentage of Norwalk voters OK’d the most sweeping language changes to their document in a century. Stamford voters voted down charter changes dealing with appointments to boards and commissions after heavy lobbying for developers who aren’t keen on building more affordable housing.
That brings to 27 the total number of Connecticut municipal charter revision proposals Mednick has been hired to craft since 1995.
“People need to pay attention” to their charters, Mednick, a former New Haven corporation counsel and alder (back when the position was called “alderman”) said during an appearance Tuesday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program. “The better your charter works, the more likely you will get engagement from the public,” which in turn can translate into better government.
In after hours following his daytime charter work, Mednick finished and recently released On The Brink: Problems in Democracy Part VI, his 21st album of original folk-rock songs with an often political flavor.
His “Dateline” appearance included discussion and the playing of a track on the new album called “At Night I dream of Odessa.” It invokes both the current debate over the future of Ukraine (whose resistance against Russia the album liner notes champion) and Mednick’s grandfather, who grew up in Russia and came to the U.S. after a stint as a political prisoner in Siberia.
“You can be more honest as a musician” about your political views than you can as an attorney hired by municipalities to help negotiate charter changes, Mednick observed. “Charters need to be consensus documents.” The music comes straight from the heart.
Mednick is currently working on the finishing touches of album #22 and expects to advise more municipalities on charter changes in 2024. In both cases, there will be plenty to write about.
Click on the above video to watch the full discussion with Steve Mednick and listen to two tracks from his new album, on WNHH FM’s“Dateline New Haven” program. Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of Dateline New Haven.
“People need to pay attention” to their charters. Someone should tell this to the Elicker administration.