Opinion: Building A City For All

Throughout my life I have fought for our city’s residents to be able to support their families and live dignified and fulfilling lives. Living in the Hill through economic struggle taught me that we win respect, dignity, and economic security by banding together, rolling up our sleeves, and doing the work required to address decades of racial segregation and policies that have benefited the powerful at the expense of the poor. We still have significant work to do, but building a movement that is focused on winning freedom for all New Haven residents has motivated my work as a union leader, an alder with 18 years of service, and a current co-chair for the Democratic Town Committee. 

I haven’t always seen myself as someone who could make a difference. I graduated from Yale University in 1991, attending through a program for non-traditional scholars. After graduating, I found that as a poor working mother my Yale education alone was not enough to overcome the systemic racism and economic challenges I faced. Securing subsidized housing at Union Square Plaza and a union job with Local 34-UNITE HERE helped, but even with a Yale job my wages were so low I qualified for food stamps. 

My circumstances only really changed through organizing with other members of my union. Together, we created a new economic standard for workers in Connecticut. We did this by walking off the job and going on strike multiple times. Striking was not easy, especially for working mothers like me, but because we made that sacrifice and stuck together, we won respect, dignity, access to good healthcare, and a secure retirement. Wages in Local 34 have increased by over 600 percent since the union’s founding in 1984, and our contracts have lifted thousands of New Haven residents and their families out of poverty.

My union also taught me that no one wins alone — our victories had to be shared with other working people in the city. This is why our union has negotiated permanent hiring pathways for qualified New Haven residents into our contract, funded a jobs training program for working mothers like me, and continues to fight subcontracting to keep more good union jobs in our city. 

I’ve carried these same lessons into public service. With former Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn, we called attention to the jobs’ crisis in New Haven’s Black and Brown neighborhoods after the great recession. Together as a board and community we pressed Yale to hire more residents from Black and Brown neighborhoods, and we pushed to rebuild the Q‑House. I’ve worked with hundreds of community members, in thousands of hours of meetings and public hearings, to advocate for affordable housing and insist developers include affordable housing in their plans. 

I’m running for re-election as the co-chair of Ward 6 and I take the responsibility of this role very seriously. I work hard to ensure that residents of my ward are engaged in elections. I’m proud to continue the legacy of the great Helen Martin by registering and providing residents with absentee ballot applications in the Towers and Katherine Harvey Terrace apartments. Many of these residents cannot vote at a polling place on election day. As co-chair, I make sure their voices can be heard. I have worn through many shoe soles canvassing my ward and turning out voters because I believe working people must be empowered to participate in the democratic process. I share this belief with UNITE HERE members and volunteers who gave up holidays and lived months away from home to knock on over 7 million doors in 2020 and 2022; an effort that defeated Donald Trump, secured a Democratic majority in the senate, and made programs like the American Rescue Plan Act possible. 

I’m running for re-election because we have more work to do. As a city, we have to decide how to grapple with a history marred by slavery, racism, and redlining. As a community, we must confront the ongoing impact of gentrification, disinvestment, and segregated development. New Haven’s institutions generate and attract enormous wealth, but the housing crisis leaves too many residents living in terror that an eviction or expired lease will force them out of their homes and out of our city. Hopelessness still too often gives way to heartbreaking violence. We need more investment in youth opportunities and our school system. We need more good union jobs that offer people a path to economic stability.

I’m proud to serve alongside alders and co-chairs who have worked together to push Yale to hire hundreds of residents from low-income neighborhoods and have brought tens of millions of dollars to our city in revenue annually by calling on Yale to pay its fair share. Municipal elected leaders from as far as North Carolina seek advice from us on how to hold large educational and health care institutions accountable to their communities. We are now seeing historic reinvestment in our neighborhoods, including bringing back community centers like the Bar Bell and a revitalization of Trowbridge Square in my own neighborhood.

Unlike my opponent, I believe real change for our city requires more than vacuous attacks on unions. It requires hard work, accountability, consistency, participation, and courage. It requires attending meetings after work and on the weekends. It requires demonstrating in the streets and holding powerful organizations like Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital accountable. It requires wearing out your shoe soles talking to your neighbors. 

So, here’s my invitation to you: Work with me to make our beautiful city an example of justice and what working people can achieve. Together we will inspire our state, the country, and the world.