Laura Glesby Photo
Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers to protesters... for 30 minutes: "I will meet with you afterwards."
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Inside the board chambers.
Video by Nora Grace-Flood
A mayor’s vision of a booming city clashed with protesters’ vision of a world on fire — as pro-Palestinian activists held up the annual “State of the City” address in City Hall for half an hour on Monday night.
One hundred protesters arrived outside City Hall to press the Board of Alders to pass a proposed resolution in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza, which activists had submitted in early December and which has not yet been assigned to an alder committee for a public hearing.
Bracing to enter City Hall, one activist took the megaphone to provide instruction. “If they’re not gonna give us public comment, we’re gonna disrupt business as usual,” they said.
The crowd filed inside the building, marched upstairs, and filled the aldermanic chamber, where alders, city staff, and a number of other city residents were awaiting Mayor Justin Elicker’s “State of the City” speech.
Holding up signs and banners, the protesters sang in an ethereal melody: “Ceasefire now … Never again for anyone … No genocide, no more genocide … Let Gaza live.”
After a couple of minutes, Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers interrupted. “That’s a very nice song. I’m gonna ask you to wrap it up.”
After a few more verses, the protesters followed suit.
For about half an hour, Elicker delivered his speech as planned.
He painted an image of New Haven as a thriving city purported to keep growing. He cited articles in The New York Times and Cosmopolitan Magazine heralding the city as trendy and worth visiting.
He touted visits from federal officials such as U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su.
He highlighted his administration’s efforts to ensure that the city’s economic growth is “inclusive,” pointing to the city’s homeless services as an example of how “when other places say it’s not our problem, New Haven steps up and that should make us proud.”
Before the mayor could finish his speech, one of the activists took to the megaphone once again: “Mayor Elicker! Do you oppose Israel’s mass violence against Palestinians? Do you support a ceasefire?”
Protesters Push Palestine Proposition
Laura Glesby Photos
Zachary Herring implores fellow protesters to embrace "solidarity."
Mayor Justin Elicker consults Police Chief Karl Jacobson during an aldermanic recess.
“We want action!” Other activists chimed in. “How many children will you let die? Think about the children!”
Repeatedly, Walker-Myers promised to stay after the meeting to hear out the protesters’ concerns, while imploring them to stop disrupting the meeting and allow the mayor to finish his speech.
The activists ignored her.
Student Board of Education representative Harmony Cruz-Bustamante called out, “What will I tell the Palestinian students in New Haven Public Schools?”
Other activists yelled out individual pleas.
The group began to chant: “Alders, alders, stop your stalling. While you wait the bombs are falling!”
Alders dispersed for a five-minute recess. Walker-Myers and Elicker conferred. Half a dozen officers filed into the room.
“Whoever is in charge, I want to speak to you,” Walker-Myers announced.
Eventually, Zachary Herring approached the aldermanic president for a hushed conversation.
The group continued to heckle and chant as Herring returned to the group.
“You don’t care!” one person shouted at the alders.
“You don’t know me,” Walker-Myers responded. “I do care.”
Herring took the megaphone to address fellow protesters and urge them to wait quietly until they are able to discuss the matter with alders after the meeting. “This room is divided,” he said. “We have to be in solidarity.”
New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson eventually took the microphone. While protesters who remain quiet can stay, “we will clear out whoever is disrupting,” he said. He issued three warnings to the group.
Eventually, a majority of the activists marched out of the room — and the mayor continued his speech.
“In conclusion, the state of the city is strong,” he said.
About 20 protesters remained until the meeting’s end, after the mayor finished his address and after alders voted on their agenda items, to chat with Walker-Myers and other representatives.
“People have a right to protest,” Walker-Myers said after the meeting ended, in between chats with several individual protesters. “Everyone is welcome in these chambers. We’re going to have some order.”
She said she is still “undecided” about how to proceed with the resolution.
Elicker Emphasizes Housing
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Elicker at post-speech press conference in mayor's office.
In his address, Mayor Elicker predicted that New Haven will grow from 139,000 to 150,000 residents by the time of its 250th birthday as an incorporated city in 2034.
The core of his speech was a call to guide that growth by ensuring people have affordable, safe places to live with no one getting pushed out by higher rents. Click here to read the full text of his prepared remarks.
“How does New Haven become a city of 150,000 thriving people?” Elicker asked in the address.
“We must ensure that our residents who were born here, raised here, live here now, and made New Haven what it is today, are able to stay here and be beneficiaries of its growth. At the same time, we must ensure we remain a city that is consistent with our values – an inclusive city that welcomes everyone and that is a haven for all.”
Toward that end, Elicker said, his administration will propose in his upcoming proposed new fiscal year budget an increase in spending on housing code inspectors. Another proposal will seek to strengthen the city’s tenants union ordinance to enable more renters to organize. He vowed to “continue to explore and advance ways that we can lift existing barriers in the City’s zoning law to facilitate the responsible growth and creation of new housing as well.”
Nora Grace-Flood and Paul Bass contributed.
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Laura Glesby Photo
Javi Villatoro, an indigenous Zapotec 27-year-old from Oaxaca who now lives in Edgewood: "As a Native person and a person who has been displaced by U.S. imperialism, I see the lives of the Palestinians as braided with mine."
How will the Mayor ensure that our City can provide enough housing supply?