Streater Campaign Hits Dixwell Streets

Door after door, Maceo Troy Streater set out in the neighborhood where he’s lived his whole life to campaign for a newly vacant alder seat — and to convince neighbors that personal and political change is possible.

Streater, 55, is one of three candidates running to represent Ward 21 on the Board of Alders. That’s the zig-zagged district that covers parts of Dixwell, Newhallville, and Prospect Hill. The ward used to be represented by Steve Winter, who stepped down from his local legislative role late last year in order to serve as the city’s first director of climate and sustainability.

Streater is running for the aldermanic seat against fellow Democrats Fred Christmas and Kendall Hurse. Christmas is the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate, having prevailed with five ward committee votes over Streater’s four. The special election for the seat will take place on Jan. 23 at King-Robinson School at 150 Fournier St.

On Wednesday afternoon, Streater gathered with volunteers at his campaign’s home base of First Calvary Baptist Church on Dixwell Avenue in Newhallville. 

They set out to deliver campaign lawn signs to supporters and check in with voters planning to fill out absentee ballots ahead of the special election.

Streater’s campaign stands out in part because all of the volunteers have at one point been incarcerated. Several, like Streater himself, were imprisoned for crimes they have consistently said they didn’t commit.

Some of those campaigning alongside Streater on Wednesday included Gaylord Salters, Darcus Henry, and Donald Moody.

Having served two decades in prison before receiving a pardon, Streater now works at the 180 Center, a religious organization that runs a warming center for unsheltered people on East Street.

Streater said his life experience gives him a unique understanding of the stressors and challenges facing teens and young adults at risk of committing violence. ​“Experience is the best teacher,” he said. ​“They’re more inclined to listen to you.”

One volunteer, Sean Reeves of the advocacy organization Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said that the campaign’s goal is not only to elect Streater to office. It’s ​“to be a face for the community for change, especially for the young people who are doing the things we used to do that got us into prison.”

“We come from the stuff that we want to change,” said supporter Salters. ​“The younger generation that’s out here misguided — they need to see us doing something positive.”

One of Streater’s key campaign platforms is a plan to host events for young people from across the city and help kids from different neighborhoods forge connections with one another. He envisions friendly rap and breakdance competitions, painting events, cooking classes. ​“I feel in touch with people in their 20s and 30s,” he said. ​“I want to bring the youth together.”

“Dialogue is the best key to everything,” he added later.

Streater’s other goals as alder would be to establish a snow removal program for elderly residents, trim some of the neighborhood trees that block lampposts at night, and host regular community meetings for residents.

When he isn’t campaigning or working at the 180 Center, Streater runs a lawn care business and works as a freelance photographer. (He has one hard rule for photography gigs: No weddings. ​“You only have one shot” to get those right, he said.)

After departing from the church, Streater made sure to stop by longtime Dixwell Avenue resident Ann Garrett Robinson’s home to deliver a lawn sign.

“Did your ballot come?” Streater asked Robinson when she answered the door. Robinson had registered to vote absentee.

“No,” Robinson told Streater. 

“They say it was mailed on the ninth,” Streater said, pointing to a sheet he’d obtained from the city.

He explained that if she receives the ballot in the next few days, she should drop it off at the ballot box outside the municipal office building at 200 Orange St. rather than sending it by mail. He would drive her down there, he said.

Settling into a velvet chair at the center of her library, Robinson said she’s supporting Streater because ​“being a local person matters.” She’s known Streater for most of his life. She watched him grow up, she said, and she knows he has deep roots in the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods. ​“A local alder knows about birthdays,” she said.

She reminisced about a community culture that once thrived in the neighborhood, where kids would run up to her house to show her report cards or ask for help when they needed it. 

Streater recalled that when he was growing up, adults in the neighborhood would approach kids who were wandering about at night and make sure they were safe, regardless of whether they were related.

“We gotta get back to everybody helping everyone,” he said.

Robinson has already taken to referring to Streater as ​“Alder Troy.” She’s given him another nickname: ​“the front porch alder.”

That’s because she’s recently been rattled by apparent package thefts at her front door. A friend tried sending her a box of oranges twice, she said, and both times she never received the parcel. ​“I haven’t felt safe since,” she said.

So she contacted Streater. ​“He is the kind who’d come to my front door and see what he can do about it,” Robinson said.

Package deliverers ​“should be required to at least ring the front door” when they drop off boxes, Streater said.

Streater said that Robinson’s endorsement ​“makes me feel so warm inside,” as she’s someone he’s always wanted to impress. He doesn’t want to let her down: ​“I have a high bar to meet, but I’m up for the task.”

Streater and his campaign volunteer Jeff Williams, A.K.A. Charlie Brown, encountered two other supporters on Wednesday as they drove around to deliver signs.

When asked why they planned to vote for Streater, both Bishop John Adkins and Queen Lacks responded, ​“He’s a good guy.”

“I want to see all of this mud taken out,” said Lacks, a Gibbs Street resident, pointing to a pile of dirt beside her apartment building. ​“I want brighter lights on the street, with all of them working.”

As for Adkins, Streater said he’d recognized the religious leader for a while, but only really got to know him after beginning to campaign. He learned about the food giveaways and supply drives that Adkins’ church, His Divine Will Fellowship, runs for neighbors. He parked by Adkins’ Munson Street house one Sunday to listen to the bishop’s preaching and gospel music playing for the block to hear.

“I got to coordinate with him. I’m about bringing people together,” said Streater. ​“There’s a lot of gems in this neighborhood.”