Compost Headlines: 4 Bright Ideas

Paul - The City of New Haven has a Not Invented Here (NIH) problem. The politicos are loathed to accept, or even give an airing to, ideas that don't generate from the political class. Gary Doyens, the city's budget watchdog for many years, has repeatedly provided recommendations to the Board of Alders. And attorney Patricia Kane has provided many recommendations w/r/t ethic ordinances and right-to-know notifications, but has been ignored. I myself provided many recommendations in writing to FRAC, and asked repeatedly to have those recommendations placed on the agenda for discussion. Yet, the Chair Mohit Agrawal refused to put the ideas on the agenda.

Paul...you should compile a list of all the good ideas and then ask the Mayoral candidates if they would adopt any of the ideas if they were to be elected Mayor.

Dennis, there is no shortage of good ideas. But while the Not Invented Here reaction to them is a reality, there is more to the problem. During the Harp Administration, the Affordable Housing Task Force came up with several sensible, practical ideas. The Task Force included members of the political class, including two alders and the directors of the Housing Authority and LCI. Nonetheless, its recommendations were largely not implemented. Similarly, Mayor Elicker’s transition team came up with tons of ideas, very few of which were implemented.

In some cases, the barriers to implementation are state or federal law, or insufficient funding. But often, there is a bandwidth issue. Some routine tasks can be delegated to interns or volunteers, freeing up time for policy-makers. But often, supervising them takes more time and effort than it is worth.

Hi Kevin - I agree with you when it comes to the 'bigger' ideas and recommendations. But there is no excuse when it comes to some of the smaller, low-hanging fruit. And there is a lot of low-hanging fruit. My recommendations on FRAC would cost nothing and there are no legal barriers. Same is true for so many ideas.

But there is definitely the NIH syndrome and a few alders/former alders feel similarly. I'm hoping the mayoral candidates address this problem. We have so many professional, experienced residents willing to help but are rebuffed by the politicos.

The late Fire Chief Michael Grant knew the NHFD better than anyone else. He had very real, practical suggestions but was rejected when he applied to Fire Commission.

So many Commission seats remain unfilled because the City would rather have no opinions, than opinions that might conflict with their own.