“Three Musketeers” Seek Two More Years

Affordable housing and public safety are among the main concerns for the a team of alders who call themselves the ​“Three Musketeers” and are seeking another two years in office.

A crowd of 20 supporters and city officials attended a joint reelection event held Saturday by the three west side alders, Edgewood’s Evette Hamilton (Ward 24), Dwight’s Frank Douglass (Ward 2), and Board President Tyisha Walker-Myers of West River (Ward 23) in the park behind Troup School.

The ​“power team” gathered on the same spot back in 2013 to kick-off their successful campaigns.

Walker-Myers, who recently became a grandmother, said she was reluctant to run for another term, ​“it’s a lot of time away from my family,” she said. After some reflection, Walker-Myers said she knew she needed to do more. ​“The issues in the city didn’t just happen overnight. A lot of them are structural and we have to continue the fight.

“It is a difficult task keeping 29 other people together because everybody represents their own neighborhood. But we all want to live in a city where everyone is doing good, not just one side of the city. We want to live in a city that is fair.”

Mayor Toni Harp attended the event to endorse all three candidates, who are active members of Yale’s UNITE HERE unions. Of Walker-Myers, Harp said ​“I’ll tell you what, she is no pushover! She has the back of everyone in New Haven. She serves her community, but she also thinks about the entire city.”

Harp also commended Evette Hamilton’s work as the chair of the board’s Finance Committee. ​“There are difficult choices the committee has to make in our city, and they make them in a very fair way to make sure everything gets done, Harp said. 

Hamilton said she intends to work on concerns her constituents have expressed about speeding and other safety hazards on Edgewood Avenue.

“My constituents are always vigilant and they keep me informed. And it’s true, people drive like it’s the Indianapolis 500!” Hamilton said. She’s looking to add more stop lights or speed bumps to combat the problem.

Harp spoke of Douglass’s work on the RAC (Resource Allocation Committee) that helps to decide how to divide street paving and sidewalk repair money among different neighborhoods.

“It is really hard because he’s got every single one of the Board of Alders chomping at his feet, trying to get things done for their community,” Harp said. ​“But he’s the one who has to make the final decision based upon where it’s needed the most.”

Although the RAC decisions can create division, Douglass said, ​“this is the New Haven family, and we have too many things behind us and ahead of us that we still need to do. But we can only do that together. Divided we fall; united we stand.”

Douglass highlighted the importance of the three alders working together.:“To make progress, you can’t do it alone. We all have to work together. We’re not split into two cities, we are all together as one city.”

Douglass said the three alders plan to work together on job creation, education, public safety, and especially affordable housing. Affordable housing has been a hot issue this election season for alder and mayoral candidates. At her campaign announcement for Ward 8 alder in Wooster Square, Ellen Cupo singled out housing as a top priority. Similarly, mayoral candidate Justin Elicker, who is challenging Mayor Harp in the Sept. 10 Democratic, this week released a new ​“housing for all” platform. 

Stephanie Heyward came out to the kick-off to support her uncle Frank Douglass’s campaign. A few weeks ago, when Heyward’s home got a leak and the ceiling caved in, her anxiety and asthma became overwhelming, she said..

She said it took almost two weeks for her apartment at Kensington Square to get fixed. The stink of mold in her shower and dead mice in the walls remains, she said. ​“A lot of people there would rather be living in a shelter.” Heyward has been contacting city officials to bring attention to the problem.

“When I told my uncle, he started talking to people in the health department to help.” Though she is looking for more action, Heyward said now she has seen some movement to find a solution.

Ward 24 activist Joelle Fishman went around the neighborhood with other Hamilton supporters to campaign the morning before the kick-off event. Fishman volunteered for Hamilton’s initial campaign in 2011. Fishman said Hamilton was there to help displaced residents when properties were deemed unfit to live, and when a house caught on fire on Elm street. ​“Whenever a resident has a crisis, she’s there instantaneously,” Fishman aid of Hamilton. ​“She cares about people, and cares about people coming together to look out for each other.”