Nora Grace-Flood photo
Alder Santiago (right), with Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez: Keep me in, coach!
A new dugout at Clinton Avenue park, fairer playing fields across the city, and municipal teamwork.
That was the pitch Fair Haven Alder and softball enthusiast Ernie Santiago practiced on fans Tuesday night during a fundraiser for the incumbent’s run to remain the neighborhood’s local legislative representative.
He did so inside La Molienda, a Grand Avenue Peruvian restaurant just outside the border of Ward 15, the political district which Santiago is seeking to keep representing on the Board of Alders for a seventh two-year term.
To do so, the 12-year aldermanic veteran will first have to beat challenger Frank Redente, a Fair Haven street outreach worker, in a Sept. 12 Democratic primary.
Though neither Santiago nor newcomer Redente received endorsements from the Democratic Party this year, long-time local and state leaders crowded into La Molienda Tuesday to eat arroz chaufa and cheer on Santiago’s continued campaign — while praising the candidate for being a team player and pushing forward a common legislative agenda including affordable housing, public safety, and youth opportunity.
La Molienda at 113 Grand Ave.
Arroz con chaufa and salad for dinner.
“Everyone here knows I’m into sports,” Santiago said during a short speech delivered to a room full of current alders, established community activists, and Latino leaders, noting that what spare time he’s experienced during more than a decade of legislative service has gone towards playing softball games across the state. “My main concern is improving parks for the kids of Fair Haven so they have a place they can be proud to play in.”
He also pressed the importance of continuing to build relationships between neighborhoods with large populations of people of color, like Fair Haven and the Hill, to make sure needed resources get to areas that often go overlooked. That includes putting money into “beautifying” parks around Fair Haven, so that the neighborhood’s kids have equal playing fields to those growing up in wealthier parts of town. Since he’s become alder, he said he’s already brought more splash pads and new playgrounds to the majority of parks around the neighborhood — and he wants to continue on that track.
He said he also wants to build opportunity and community for youth in order to make sure New Haven’s next generation of leaders come from the city’s own neighborhoods. Again, he pointed to sports as an answer: “When you play with a team, you learn to communicate with each other. It creates character.” If he could fix up the Clinton Avenue park and baseball field, perhaps with state money through his relationships with leaders like State Rep. Juan Candalaria, Santiago said more kids might get the chance to practice their sport, develop their character, more seriously.
Affordable housing development, vocational training investment, and public safety are Santiago’s other top priorities too, he said.
“I want to improve my community, and I’ve been doing the job,” he said, pointing to his involvement as the chair of the Black and Hispanic caucus, the former chair of the Tax Abatement Committee, a member of the Finance Committee, a member of the parks commission, a member of the Livable City Initiative’s board, and a member of aldermanic leadership.
Those who showed up to support and donate to Santiago’s reelection campaign on Tuesday said his years of service have proved his commitment to the job, demonstrated his ability to work with others, and made him, in turn, plenty of friends ready to stand by his side in pursuit of the aldermanic position.
State Rep. Juan Candelaria: "It’s because he’s doing the work."
Veteran New Haven educator Maritza Rosa brought her sister and brother in-law to the fundraiser because she said Santiago has helped her fundraise for her own projects in the past. More than two decades ago, she started a softball exchange to bring police officers from Coamo, Puerto Rico, to New Haven for a game played in honor of Luis A. Espado, a brother to a New Havener who served as an officer in Puerto Rico before he was killed in a motorcycle accident.
“There’s a big community of people from Coamo here,” she said. “And ever since Ernie became alderman, he would help us deal with all the departments, he’d write letters to businesses to fundraise for the event.”
State Rep. Juan Candelaria said he’s supporting Santiago because he’s had years to build relationships with constituents and other officials as the ward’s incumbent: “He’s in six committees, he’s really doing the work. It takes someone who really loves that community to be really engaged at that level.”
Candelaria pointed to homeownership as a top issue in Fair Haven. He said the state is working to help residents “afford the American dream” by buying their own home, such as through loans from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. Santiago’s ability to “connect with the constituency” and state representatives alike put him in a position to educate residents about relevant opportunities they may not otherwise access or know about, Candelaria offered as one example for why Santiago should maintain his seat.
“It’s not because he’s Latino, it’s not because he’s Puerto Rican. It has nothing to do with race. It’s because he’s doing the work,” Candelaria asserted.
Others argued that Santiago’s Puerto Rican background was an important contribution to the board.
“We have to represent, we have to show up and hear our voices,” Mark Melendez, a plastic surgeon with an office based in Bridgeport, said. “We need to feel that we have representation in our community.”
Some of Santiago's supporters Tuesday night, including Celestino Cordova, center, and La Voz Hispana publisher Norma Rodriguez, second from right.
The event was organized by leaders of Connecticut’s Hispanic and Latino communities, including Norma Rodriguez, publisher of La Voz Hispana de CT, and former aldermanic president and former Harp administration chief of staff Tomas Reyes, who is serving as Santiago’s campaign’s treasurer. (Full disclosure: Rodriguez is also the president of the board of the Online Journalism Project, the nonprofit that publishes the New Haven Independent.)
In addition to guests like Celestino Cordova, who started the city’s first Spanish-language newspaper, a wide variety of people attended to celebrate Santiago, like Rev. Scott Marks, one of the founders the social justice and labor advocacy group New Haven rising.
A large crew of incumbent alders, including Board President Tyisha Walker-Myers, Majority Leader Richard Furlow, Jose Crespo, Carmen Rodriguez, Sal DeCola, Ron Hurt, and Adam Marchand all showed up in support as well.
“Over the last 12 years, I’ve seen him do the work,” Walker-Myers said of Santiago. “You could never, ever, ever not hear Ernie talking about speed bumps and paving. He’s one of the biggest advocates who doesn’t let up — and you see the fruit of his labor when you walk the streets of Fair Haven.”
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Santiago.
“I love Fair Haven, it’s so many people from so many cultures and we’re all embarking on wanting a better New Haven for seniors, for youth, and for everyone,” Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez said. “We’re looking to unite everybody and not divide everybody — and that’s what Ernie’s about. He has a love for the people.”
In unison, following Santiago’s speech, those who turned out Tuesday came together for a sporting-event inspired chant to name the night’s most valuable player: “Ernie! Ernie! Ernie!”
Good article, I've talked to Alder Santiago and he's very passionate about bringing not a dugout, but 2 baseball fields and soccer fields on Clinton Avenue Park, every time I pass by there I see lots of kids playing baseball and soccer, so I personally think that is a good idea to do the baseball and soccer facilities, our kids in Fair Haven deserve better and quality fields and hopefully he gets the help from our local and State elected officials to get this facilities done and I hope the Park neighbors can agree to improve Clinton Avenue Park.