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Tom Goldenberg: "This is quid pro quo politics. This is non-transparency. This is corruption."
The city’s Republican candidate for mayor kicked off his post-Democratic primary general election campaign by lobbing accusations of corruption at the Elicker administration in its dealings with a local methadone clinic — claims that the current mayor dismissed as “fearmongering politics,” “ridiculous,” “unethical,” and coming at the expense of some of New Haven’s most vulnerable populations.
Tom Goldenberg issued those allegations of wrongdoing Thursday morning during a press conference outside of the vacant former Gateway Community College building at 60 Sargent Dr. on Long Wharf.
The press conference took place two days after Mayor Justin Elicker handily won the Democratic primary election against challenger Liam Brennan in his bid for a third term in office.
For 20 minutes straight, Goldenberg — an ex-McKinsey consultant and registered Democrat who is the Republican and Independent Party nominee for mayor in this year’s Nov. 7 general election — spoke at three reporters and three members of his campaign team about an alleged conspiracy he claimed to have uncovered between the Elicker administration and the substance use disorder treatment nonprofit, the APT Foundation.
Goldenberg based his claims on roughly a dozen pages worth of emails he obtained from City Hall via a Freedom of Information Act request.
The emails showed that the Elicker administration sought between January 2020 and mid-2021 to help the APT Foundation find a new home for its local methadone clinics, which currently operate out of 1 Long Wharf Dr. and 495 Congress Ave. That latter site has long drawn complaints from Hill residents about pervasive substance use, drug dealing, and occasional violence – including a 2017 stabbing death — outside APT’s doors
City officials spoke with APT about potentially moving to an industrial spot on Terminal Lane in the Hill. APT tried to get the city’s support in moving to Ferry and Fox Streets in Fair Haven. Both plans ultimately fell through.
Subsequent emails starting in October 2021 indicate that then-city Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal knew about APT’s plans to move to the former Elm City College Prep school building at 794 Dixwell Ave. in Newhallville, and spoke with city staff about a pre-application review for a site plan for that location. APT wound up buying that property for $2.45 million on Dec. 14, 2021 — sparking widespread neighborhood pushback, and leading APT to indefinitely pause its plans to relocate its Long Wharf office and methadone clinic to that site.
Departing from the FOIA’d emails and moving on to previously published articles in the New Haven Independent and New Haven Register, Goldenberg pointed to the mayor’s public presentations about how the city would like to see the APT Foundation build a new substance-use-treatment clinic in the Long Wharf district as part of a broader mixed-use redevelopment of that industrial waterfront area. He said that one of the Register articles quoted the mayor as saying that the city would be handing over the 60 Sargent Dr. site — which was owned by the state, and will be conveyed to the city — for just $1.
From all of these emails and articles, Goldenberg extrapolated — without pointing to any evidence — that the APT Foundation had agreed to go “along with the lie that the city had nothing to do with” the Newhallville property purchase and planned relocation in exchange for the Elicker administration’s commitment to handing over the publicly owned 60 Sargent Dr. property at virtually no cost. He also pointed to quotes from APT’s director, Lynn Madden, saying that APT wouldn’t move ahead without the city’s involvement. (The Register article from January 2022 that Goldenberg referenced quotes Elicker as saying at the time: “This is a private transaction between two parties. APT purchased this property from Achievement First and the city was not involved.”)
“This is quid pro quo politics,” Goldenberg claimed on Thursday. “This is non-transparency. This is corruption.”
Mayor Elicker (center): "The idea that there's some illicit agreement is ridiculous. For a candidate to throw out allegations with no information whatsoever is unethical."
In a followup phone interview on Thursday, Elicker dismissed virtually everything Goldenberg had said.
“Mr. Goldenberg is trying to create a conspiracy where none exists,” Elicker said.
“We were very clear with the community” in Newhallville, he said. “I was aware of the sale [of 794 Dixwell] and told APT multiple times that they needed to engage the alder and the community. Nothing has changed there” based on the emails Goldenberg read from on Thursday.
He also pointed to a comment he made in an email from January 2020 sent to city economic development chief Mike Piscitelli and deputy Steve Fontana stating that “it’s quite important that we work closely with [APT] so they don’t go off on their own to identify a site that may not be ideal for all parties involved.” And yet, Elicker said on Thursday, APT wound up doing exactly that with its December 2021 purchase of the Newhallville ex-school property.
Elicker stated repeatedly that there is no secret sweetheart deal that the city has with APT to just hand over any properties on Long Wharf. “That is not true.”
The city has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with APT “outlining the pathway forward to move” to the ex-Gateway site at 60 Sargent or elsewhere on the 1 Long Wharf Dr. property. Elicker said “there is no agreement to sell anything to APT for a dollar,” as Goldenberg repeatedly claimed on Thursday.
The MOU, which Goldenberg provided to reporters on Thursday and which was signed by the city on July 7, includes the following clause in a section called “APT Commitments” : “APT Foundation agrees to sell the property located at 794 Dixwell Avenue. The Foundation will consolidate its New Haven based methadone treatment services in the newly developed New Haven Location [on Long Wharf] and discontinue methadone treatment at its Congress Avenue location within 30 days following receipt of a certificate of occupancy for the new location. APT is committed to continuing to reshape its service delivery model to include remote, mobile and regional services in accordance with its strategic plan.”
APT Foundation Lynn Madden acknowledged that MOU in a separate email comment provided to the Independent for this story. She wrote: “APT Foundation does have an MOU with the City of New Haven regarding APT potentially having a location within the Gateway district that is under discussion; please be reminded that APT Foundation currently has locations on two floors at 1 Long Wharf, adjacent to the Gateway building on Sargent Drive (ie; already located in the proposed mixed use plan). We have been located there for more than two decades and would continue provide needed services in the area.”
The mayor continued his critique of Goldenberg on Thursday by saying that “the idea that there’s some illicit agreement is ridiculous. For a candidate to throw out allegations with no information whatsoever is unethical.”
Elicker also described Goldenberg — who has criticized the Elicker administration for engaging in early-stage conversations around safe-injection sites, and who has repeatedly lambasted APT’s Hill methadone clinic — of engaging in “fearmongering politics.
“Mr. Goldenberg is taking advantage of some of the most vulnerable populations in our community to win votes. We have real issues here. People are dying almost every day in New Haven because of overdoses. We should be focusing on solutions instead of our political careers.”
"spoke at three reporters and three members of his campaign team" is a great summary of Goldenberg's campaign.