Sam Gurwitt Photo
Mayor Leng at the Hamden Democratic Party convention.
One small city can’t stop America’s gun-violence crisis. It can play a small part.
So said Hamden Mayor Curt Leng.
Asked during an appearance on WNHH FM’s “Dateline Hamden” program about his reaction to the recent massacres in El Paso and Dayton, Leng responded, “sadness. And then anger. I don’t understand what’s happening in the world right now. I’d like to see more action on the local level.”
Leng recognizes that Hamden can’t pass federal laws to, say, ban assault weapons or institute universal background checks. But he said that he sees modest steps that Hamden can take in conjunction with local governments across the country. As a member of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization, Leng said he is exploring the idea of choosing vendors from an approved list the next time Hamden purchases weapons for its cops. The list includes companies that promote “smart technology” like fingerprint IDs on guns and that “sell to the right people.”
“You want to take action,” Leng said.
Another potential action would be to exclude companies removed from the list when Hamden invests public funds to avoid “supporting some of the companies and some of the investment firms that aren’t being socially conscious on this issue,” Leng said.
“Every little pebble in the lake makes those ripples.”
Meanwhile, on the home front, Leng described a policing strategy his administration rolled out three weeks ago.
Called “Hamden Community Police 365,” the new policy requires every patrol cop in every district on every shift to make at least one stop to engage with citizens, and then to produce a written record of the stop. They’re expected to chat up people in parks, on sidewalks.
Where would they stop at, say, 3 a.m.? “Convenience store. Diner,” said Leng, whose grandfather walked a beat as a Hamden cop.
The department will periodically review the record on those stops to see which ones produced results, with an eye toward tweaking the policy and expanding it. (Click here to read a story about how such advance work helped New Haven cops avoid a violent encounter this month.)
Leng had originally sought money to expand police walking beats in Hamden’s new fiscal year budget. The Legislative Council eliminated those positions, arguing the government can’t afford them. Leng said he recognizes that full walking-beat-driven community policing costs a lot of money, more than local governments can often afford. His new policy aims to incorporate the out-of-the-car citizen-contact approach into a leaner fiscal framework.
Citizen Input And Traffic Calming
In the “Dateline” interview, Leng fielded a question about traffic-calming measures on Ridge Road that led to a broader discussion about how to maximize public input on public decisions while also making the best decisions.
The question concerned a traffic island on the busy road after neighborhoods complained about speeding. The town acted after documenting that 70 percent of drivers were traveling over 45 miles per hour, Leng said, and after neighbors at public meetings told officials they supported the traffic island as a solution. After the island went up, other neighbors spoke up, complaining about it. Leng said one lesson he drew is that the government should take additional steps to solicit neighbor views on pending plans, including distributing flyers door to door.
He acknowledged that it’s not always possible to know exactly which side holds a majority position in such decisions. And sometimes the smartest decision isn’t the one that wins a poll — it may not be legal or physically possible, for instance. Leng said that officials’ job is to get the best possible information on where the public stands, and then have that factor heavily into the final decisions.
Campaigns & Civility
Leng is in the midst of campaigning for a third two-year term. He faces a spirited Democratic primary challenge from Legislative Council member Lauren Garrett and, and if he wins the primary, a general election challenge from Republican Jay Kaye. He was asked on “Dateline” about a remark made by a Democratic Party primary challenger for a Council seat, a Leng ally who said she’s running against a Leng critic because of a breakdown in “civility” among elected officials.
Leng agreed with that sentiment.
“It’s never been like this” before, Leng said. Until recently Hamden offered a refreshing alternative to the uncivil trajectory of American politics and government, he argued.
“The federal government is a disaster. People just yell at each other. They talk in sound bites. States get to the point where they’re not much better sometimes.
“But I would say [to voters], ‘We don’t have that in Hamden. Democrats, Republicans, different factions — you can argue, and debate and discuss. Then the meeting’s over. And you’re talking about the ballgame. Or going out for a cup of coffee.
“It seems like this term there’s been much less civility, the level of decorum and professionalism. It seems like most meetings there is a game of gotcha being played. Department heads have gotten to the point where they’re hesitant to move things forward” for fear of being “embarrassed.”
Leng was asked if increased pressure on officials might be a positive trend, to make them more accountable.
“It’s a balance,” he responded.
“It’s perfectly fine to have a series of questions,” Leng said. It comes down to how the questions are asked, and for what reason.
He cited school board member Myron Hul as an example of someone who keeps it civil without holding back in seeking accountability.
“Myron is a curmudgeon. He wants every detail. He has 15 questions,” Leng said. “You respect him. He does it in a professional manner. It’s not personal. That’s something that has been lost a little bit.”
The Mayor, while no doubt well-intentioned and effective in certain elements of his role, has quite simply not been good enough where it matters most – in developing and executing a transparent, credible plan for addressing Hamden's long-term financial challenges. Despite our precarious financial position we were without a Finance Director for a year. We haven't produced usable multi-year financial projections in at least 12 months. We certainly don't have anything like the 5-year plan recently released by New Haven showing how revenues and expenses will evolve and outlining specific cost-cutting measures and their corresponding savings. Commitments made in previous budgets to at long last fully fund the pension were discarded. The current budget once again contains revenue and expense projections that even some of those who ultimately supported it acknowledge are not based in reality. Our audited financials were 4 months late. When they finally did come out, the Mayor's statements about them were incomplete, misleading and in some cases flat-out inaccurate. None of this is good enough. And I don't think it makes me uncivil to say so.
Where genuine incivility exists I agree that it should be stamped out. But I also agree with a poster in a previous thread on this topic that current claims of incivility (and even worse, claims of "negativity") seem at least partially motivated by a desire to avoid accountability. People are being taxed out of their homes and this administration's response to the financial challenges we face has been inadequate. But somehow the real problem is that we're being too negative?