Sam Gurwitt Photo
Curt Leng and Lauren Garrett at the debate.
In their second debate in three days, Hamden Mayor Curt Leng and Challenger Lauren Garrett faced off in front of Hamden’s business leaders, this time illuminating their differences on policing, tax exemptions, and economic development.
The Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted the debate at the Whitney Center Friday in advance of Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary.
(Read about Wednesday’s debate here).
Garrett, an at-large member of Hamden’s Legislative Council, has made police accountability one of the pillars of her campaign after the shooting of Stephanie Washington by a Hamden police officer in April. She has been a vocal critic of the department, and has voted to put pressure on the department to curb overtime expenses.
Leng, on the other hand, has defended Hamden’s police, and tried to introduce five new police positions in his latest budget.
Residents and business leaders at the debate.
On Friday, both candidates gave starkly different visions of how to approach the department that varied less in actual substance than they did in tone.
The Hamden Police Department, said Garrett, should follow the findings of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
“We need to make sure that our officers aren’t just doing walking beats, but they’re doing talking beats — engaging with the community,” Garrett said when moderator Steven Ciardiello asked how each candidate would improve Hamden’s image after the April shooting.
She said she had heard last week from students who said that when dealing with youth, maybe police should dress down. “Maybe a T‑shirt that says Hamden Police Department rather than wearing a gun on his belt,” she said.
The effectiveness and nature of Hamden’s community policing has been a topic of debate. Southern Hamden Councilman Justin Farmer has criticized the department’s community policing practices in the low-income, majority-minority parts of his district, saying they just add police to the area and don’t actually improve police-resident relations.
Leng responded with an impassioned defense of Hamden’s police.
“The two pillars of a strong community are public education that excels and public safety,” he began. “Throughout the town, people want additional police presence.”
His grandfather, an officer in Hamden’s police force, told him about the importance of walking beats and community policing, Leng said. He mentioned a new policy that went into effect over the summer that requires officers to spend 30 minutes of every shift “engaging in a positive manner” with members of the community. Officers are required to record details of the interaction at the end of the shift.
Then came the guns.
“Police officers need to have their guns. Being a police officer is not an easy job,” he said with a hint of extra gravity in his voice. “The unfortunate reality is that [officers] need to have the tools to do that job, and our residents want our officers to have those tools. If not, then we could have a volunteer police force and we could go back to the 1920s.”
Garrett clarified that she was not advocating disarming the police. “I think that when they are engaging with our youth they don’t need to be so intimidating,” she clarified.
A few minutes later, a phone rang in the audience. Leng joked: “It’s possible that phone call might have been one of our police officers concerned that they’re all fired.”
Homestead Exemptions, Business Tax Abatements
Early in the debate, Ciardiello asked the candidates a question relevant to many of the business leaders in the room. Do the candidates support a two-tiered mill rate with a higher tax rate for businesses? Or tax abatements for businesses? Or a homestead exemption?
The two-tiered mill rate was easy. The town had looked into it, and had decided the benefits would not outweigh the costs, said Leng. That system sort of exists already, said Garrett, because of higher multipliers for tax assessments in commercial areas than in residential areas.
The candidates disagreed more directly on the homestead exemption. A homestead exemption would allow Hamden residents who have lived in Hamden for at least 20 or 25 years to have a certain amount subtracted from the value of their homes when their property is assessed for taxes.
“People that have lived here for 20 to 25 years and have paid taxes into the town and have invested themselves into the town deserve a break. And I think it will help to stabilize neighborhoods to do that,” said Leng.
Garrett had a different take on the program.
“I think that there are plenty of struggling families out there with small children who are not able to pay their taxes as well,” she said.
After the debate, she explained her position more fully to the Independent.
“The homestead exemption doesn’t take into consideration the income of the household. This will push the tax burden on to low-income families who are already suffering,” she explained.
The candidates didn’t quite see eye to eye on tax abatements either.
Leng explained the system that Hamden already has in place. It provides abatements for businesses that expand or move into Hamden. If a business invests in a renovation, and the assessment increases, the town can grant up to 50 percent off of the taxes on the increased value of the property for three years.
Garrett was less enthusiastic about business tax abatements. “I’m not really a fan of giving out huge tax breaks to businesses,” she said. “I think it’s a case by case basis, but we’ve seen that not work in Connecticut.”
When giving out tax abatements to businesses, she said, the town needs to make sure it does so equally, rewarding them to businesses owned by women as much as those owned by men.
According to Director of Economic and Community Development Dale Kroop, the town prioritizes giving benefits to manufacturing businesses because they employ more people.
“Manufacturing based jobs [employ] more men,” Garrett told the Independent. She said she would like to see the town make more active steps to encourage female business owners.
Qualified Opportunity Zone
This year, Hamden got an area around Dixwell Avenue in the southern part of the town designated as a Qualified Opportunity Zone. Qualified Opportunity Zones give tax incentives for investing in the zone
When Garrett brought the area up as an opportunity for development in Hamden, Leng offered a warning.
“It’s a tool that has to be used very carefully,” he said. “There’s many many examples of the opportunity zone being used as a nice tax shelter for the very rich but not necessarily bringing businesses that you want.”
Garrett had a solution. That, she said, is why she has proposed creating a committee composed of people who live in the zone to oversee development there. It would keep those special interests that Leng warned about out of the town, she said.
Other Highlights
• The candidates disagreed about magnet schools. In June, the Legislative Council approved most of a plan to restructure Hamden’s school district. It included turning four schools into intra-district magnet schools to help racially balance schools. While Leng maintained that the plan would attract people to Hamden, Garrett said she is not convinced the magnets will actually help the district achieve a better racial balance. She also said she voted against one of the renovations because she thought it was irresponsible to carry out when the town is so strapped for cash.
• Make incremental changes, or get debt under control? Garrett said the town needs to stop kicking the can down the road on debt, and stop making new employee positions. Leng said “you can’t shock people with massive tax increases.” Garrett, later in the debate, countered: “We need a financial plan that tells people when they will see relief.”
• At one point, they agreed! “Who said Mrs. Garrett and I don’t agree on anything,” Leng remarked. Both said that Quinnipiac and the town need to find ways of keeping students close to campus, and a college district would be a benefit to both the town and the university.
• Leng said he and Quinnipiac President Judy Olian have discussed an old plan to join forces and get state funding to turn Whitney Avenue between the connector and Quinnipiac into a prettier, more pedestrian-friendly boulevard.
Watch the full debate below.
