Christopher Peak Photo
Judge Robin Wilson swears in Paola Acosta as Ward 14’s alder.
After a month of hesitation about whether she had enough time to hold an elected position, Paola Acosta raised her right hand and took the oath to become a city alder.
That swearing-in — the last outstanding for this year’s board — happened in City Hall’s legislative chambers on Friday evening.
Acosta.
Earlier in the week, Acosta considered quitting, three weeks into her first term. She initially texted the Independent that she planned to resign, saying that late-night hours at her new job would probably keep her away from meetings. She missed Inauguration Day and the first two full Board of Alders meetings.
City staff later said that she had changed her mind and would go ahead with the swearing-in.
About a dozen other alders showed up at Friday’s ceremony to welcome Acosta, including board President Tyisha Walker-Myers and Majority Leader Richard Furlow.
“We’re a complete group now,” Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez said, after Judge Robin Wilson led Acosta through the oath.
Acosta shook hands with city officials as they walked in and she took pictures with other Hispanic lawmakers. She didn’t give a speech.
Acosta will represent Ward 14, which includes covers the southeastern quarter of Fair Haven and a sliver of the Heights.
Last fall, its former alder, Kenneth Reveiz, decided not to run again for a full second term. Acosta gathered enough petitions to make it onto the ballot. The party-endorsed candidate dropped out, and Acosta won the primary and general election races unopposed.
Acosta poses with other Hispanic legislators.
Her subsequent quandary about serving highlighted the long hours alders put in for practically no pay — which presents a potential barrier to people of modest means serving.
Would higher pay, as a charter revision commission took up in 2013, allow alders to spend more time legislating? Would having fewer alders — “professionals” rather than “volunteers” — free up that money?
Furlow said he doesn’t think so. He said that paying even part-time salaries would cost the city far more money than the stipends of roughly $2,000 it currently offers to each alder.
“If you take all the pay that they get here, what would that get you? One legislator, not including benefits?” Furlow said. “New Haven doesn’t have the stomach to add additional staff. It’s easy to say out loud, but if you give any thought to what that would cost the city, I think people would back off that.”
Furlow added that having so many alders allows them to cover for each other, as their neighborhoods overlap in some areas.
“We’re able to work together,” he said. “I think that’s the benefit of having so many representatives in the community, for those who have different hours.”
