Seniors, Clergy Press Lamont On Safety

At reelection campaign stops with local faith leaders and elderly residents, Gov. Ned Lamont faced a flurry of questions about how best to keep New Haveners safe — from gun violence and reckless drivers alike.

Those questions, and Lamont’s responses, reflected the challenges faced by Democratic incumbents running for reelection at a time of increased shootings and increasing pedestrian deaths due to reckless driving.

Both of those campaign stops took place Thursday afternoon in New Haven, the prize city for any statewide Democratic candidate. In the 2018 gubernatorial election, New Haven produced 27,983 votes for Lamont, far more than any other community; and gave him a 23,366-vote victory margin over Stefanowski, more than half his statewide 44,372-vote victory margin.

The first New Haven stop Thursday involved a lunch with roughly 50 pastors, rabbis, and other local clergy people at Brazi’s Italian Restaurant at 201 Food Terminal Plaza on Long Wharf. The event was organized by Democratic Town Committee Vice-Chair Audrey Tyson.

The second stop of the afternoon saw Lamont address roughly 100 seniors who filled the courtyard at the Tower One/Tower East elderly living complex at 18 Tower Ln.

Lamont, a Democratic first-term governor and Greenwich businessman running for reelection against Republican challenger Bob Stefanowski, used both stops to tout his administration’s accomplishments. 

At neither event did he explicitly say, ​“Vote for me” or ​“Donate to my campaign.” 

Instead, he pointed to his administration’s working with faith leaders on Covid vaccination drives, to the suspension of bus fares through Dec. 1, to the state’s funding of a major renovation of the ground floor kitchen and program space at the Towers apartment complex, to his support for free summer camps and expanded mental health services for youth — all with the implicit goal of making the case for why he deserves another four years in the state’s top elected office.

Even though both crowds greeted the governor with applause and praise, the New Haveners in attendance at each also challenged Lamont to lay out a vision for how his administration will work to keep citydwellers safe. Primarily from flying bullets and red-light-running cars.

They spoke up not just in response to high-profile national incidents of mass shootings, like the recent massacres in Uvalde, Tx. and Buffalo. They spoke also about their own experiences living in — and trying to survive in — New Haven.

In response, Lamont navigated a fine line between championing a fair criminal justice system and touting increased financial support for local and state law enforcement, between blaming the sheer quantity of guns on the street and celebrating Connecticut’s history of strong gun safety legislation, between promising serious legal consequences for repeat dangerous offenders and recognizing that good jobs and productive ways for young people to spend their time are the true ingredients for a safe society. 

“We can talk about cameras and locks on synagogues,” Lamont said in response to one such public safety-focused question by a New Haven rabbi, Eli Raskin, during the lunch with clergy at Brazi’s. ​“But that’s not what our future is. Our future is giving our young people something to live for.”

"More Guns Than Ever Before"

In the back-and-forth with clergy about public safety in New Haven, Raskin pushed back on Lamont’s response.

Raskin said his primary concern right now is not necessarily security at places of worship. He thanked the governor and organizations like the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven for providing grants to synagogues to ensure that the buildings themselves are safe places to pray.

“But I’m referring to the streets, not synagogues,” Raskin said. ​“Bullets are flying. Our kids don’t feel safe to play on the streets. What do I answer to young families? Do I lie to them?”

Fellow Beaver Hills resident and former Alder Moti Sandman agreed. He said that he and his neighbors are most concerned about gang violence spilling out into the streets and affecting innocent bystanders.

“Two gangs had a shootout in the middle of the street” recently, he said. He said the mayor and police chief have been responsive to his and his neighbors’ concerns. But more needs to be done. It’s not just the Jewish community in Beaver Hills that feels beset by gun violence, he said. ​“It’s all of us that live in New Haven here who are experiencing this.”

(According to the New Haven Police Department’s most recent CompStat report, there have been four homicides, 35 non-fatal shooting victims, and 127 confirmed shots fired so far this year. Those numbers are down from the 13 homicides, 47 non-fatal shooting victims, and 136 confirmed shots fired at this time in 2021. But they’re still higher than the four homicides, 31 non-fatal shooting victims, and 76 confirmed shots fired at this time in 2020.)

Sandman said that he has heard that the reason that shootings are on the rise is that ​“prosecutors have stopped prosecuting,” and that ​“the perpetrators of these gun crimes are out on bail” within a week or two of getting arrested. Is that true? he asked. And what can the governor do to cut down to stop the gun violence in the streets of New Haven?

“It’s not true that people just turn right around and get back out on the streets,” Lamont replied. ​“But we are making sure that judges know if this is a repeat offender, [he] should be detained.”

One of the main drivers of all of this violence, Lamont said, is the surfeit of guns available. 

“There are more guns on the street today than ever before.” Everything in the world is more expensive right now, he added, ​“except for fentanyl and illegal guns.”

Guns are the problem, he stressed. ​“You’re not serious about law and order unless if you’re serious about getting those illegal guns off of the street.”

Belinda Oliver asked about young people getting access to guns from ​“elders” in the community. What can the state do to make sure that that type of handing down of guns doesn’t take place?

Lamont said that his administration is most focused on stopping guns from flowing into Connecticut from out of state, ​“guns that come up from Georgia and down from New Hampshire, and then are distributed by middlemen.”

“Those are the people we’re going after,” he promised.

He added that his administration has increased funding for and hiring more state police officers. 

New Haven State Rep. Toni Walker, who co-chairs the state legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said that, in addition to bolstering funding for state police, the newly approved budget signed by Lamont provides additional dollars to local police departments to help cover officer overtime. And it supports the establishment and operations of ​“gun task forces” in major cities across the state.

“Law and order is a big part of this,” Lamont added. ​“But I also want the most diverse police force ever, so they reflect the communities [they serve].”

“At the same time that we’re talking about the guns and violence and the money going towards the police and beefing up security,” local pastor John Lewis asked, ​“what money is being put towards preventative programs?” 

What efforts has Lamont made to make sure that young people, even those who may have gotten into trouble with the law, are able to turn their lives around? Lewis asked. ​“What money is going towards that?”

“If they do something bad, if they do something stupid,” Lamont said, there’s a clear way to ​“get them back on the straight and true.” 

That’s best done with ​“wraparound services,” with ​“jobs and apprenticeships and summer programs.”

Beware TikTok

After spending roughly an hour with the local clergy at Brazi’s, Lamont and his campaign staffers headed a few blocks west to Tower One/Tower East, for a 2 p.m. question-and-answer session with the assisted-living complex’s senior residents.

He opened the floor up for attendees to ask whatever was at the top of their minds. And, true to the line of questions he received an hour earlier with a different crowd, Lamont was again pressed on safety.

In this instance, Tower One/Tower East resident Rose Santos asked about school safety. What can Lamont do to make sure that schools are safe, particularly for young people?

“Look, Covid was hard on everybody,” Lamont said. ​“I think it was particularly hard on the kids. For us, we could quarantine and maybe watch a little TV. But these kids were isolated. They were alone.”

That Covid-induced isolation has had quite a few profound social repercussions. ​“We see some increase in crime,” Lamont said. ​“I’ve seen a lot of mental health issues.” And, he said, students have fallen down dangerous social media rabbit holes — like a TikTok challenge that allegedly encouraged kids to ​“poke your teacher, hit him in the back of the head. That was happening a lot.”

“We’re keeping our schools safe,” Lamont said. ​“We’re providing extra security for our schools. And we’re doing everything we can for mental health in our schools, as well.”

How do you keep kids from falling prey to dangerous social media influences? Santos asked.

“Social media’s incredibly entertaining, interesting,” Lamont replied. ​“But it’s also a fount of bad, cheap, fake news. Unfortunately, a lot of kids believe this stuff. We can’t ban it. But we can educate people, work with the teachers, let the kids know that you can’t follow everything you see on social media. It’s dangerous.”

The next time you speak with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, one resident called out to the governor, thank him for the bipartisan gun control legislation he is helping shepherd through the Senate.

Lamont praised Murphy for working with Republicans in the U.S. Senate to find a path forward for gun control legislation.

And, he added, ​“if the rest of the country had the same gun safety laws as Connecticut, a lot more people around this country would be alive today.”

Free Buses: "If I Can Keep It Going, I Think I Will"

One Towers resident asked about a different public safety concern: that posed by cars. Cars illegally turning right on red. Cars speeding down city streets, and endangering the lives of pedestrians and cyclists and fellow drivers. What can the governor do to stop that type of dangerous driving activity?

“I do think we ought to have remote cameras in some of the most dangerous intersections,” Lamont said. He also said that having more traffic law enforcement by state and municipal police should help ​“make sure our streets are safe.”

Lisa Sharog followed up by thanking the governor for making public buses free through Dec. 1. She said that she uses the bus all the time, not just to go to the grocery store and doctor’s appointments, but also to see her grandson’s high school baseball games in West Haven.

“Inflation is crushing people,” Lamont said in response. ​“What can I do as a governor to make life a little bit more affordable?”

He pointed to his cutting of the state gas tax as one such bid to curb household costs in Connecticut.

“Look, if the drivers are getting a little bit of a break, how about the folks who take the bus?”

“And by the way,” he continued, ​“a lot of these buses are not very crowded. And it’s just as expensive to drive an empty seat around as it is a seat with somebody sitting in it. I think it makes all the sense in the world for these buses to be free, get a few more cars off the road, and make life a little bit more affordable.”

“If I can keep it going,” he said about free buses, ​“I think I will.”