3‑Way Alder Race Comes To Fair Haven

A Wilbur Cross teacher of English as a second language is running to represent Fair Haven’s Ward 16 on the Board of Alders, joining what has become a three-way race.

Magda Natal made her candidacy official on Tuesday afternoon, filing the requisite paperwork at the City Clerk’s office at 200 Orange St.

She is challenging 10-year incumbent Alder Jose Crespo, who is running for a sixth two-year term, as well as fellow first-time candidate Nelys Calcano. 

The three candidates are seeking to represent the southeastern part of Fair Haven — a ward encompassing a large portion of bustling Grand Avenue, FAME and John S. Martinez schools, Fair Haven Community Health Care, Criscuolo Park, and industrial River Street.

Natal, a lifelong Fair Havener who now lives on Exchange Street, said she had long mulled over the idea of running for alder. She said she finally felt ready to take on what she sees as a weighty commitment. ​“I think that Fair Haven can be oftentimes overlooked,” she said on Tuesday. ​“It needs good representation, someone who’s going to be present for constituents.”

She later added in a text message: ​“I spent a few years away on and off throughout my life. I always returned and I now live in my childhood home, where I grew up in. The goal was always to leave but the longer I stayed as an adult, the more immersed I became in the neighborhood and then my jobs were always in Fair Haven until my life’s work became Fair Haven.”

Crespo currently chairs the Tax Abatement Committee on the Board of Alders, an entity that commonly forgives interest on the property and car taxes of residents seeking relief. According to his LinkedIn page, he is the Hispanic Programs Specialist at Boy Scouts of America and the Community Engagement Coordinator at Latinos for Education Advocacy and Diversity. He did not respond to attempts to contact him for an interview.

Calcano, meanwhile, was not available for an interview in time for this article’s publication.

All three candidates filed as Democrats, which means that they will be competing in the Democratic primary election on Sept. 9 prior to the general election on Nov. 4. The Democratic Party will formally endorse a candidate in mid-to-late July.

As an educator, Natal is no stranger to the task of being present for a community that’s often overlooked. She said that she sees teaching as her life’s work — ​“there’s no doubt in my mind.” In the back of her mind, she said, she’s always thinking about the next parent she needs to call or the lesson plan she needs to adjust to better resonate with her students. ​“The work never ends.”

Natal continues her work with kids during the summer as a volunteer cook and co-coordinator of Big Turtle Village, a one-week camping trip for about 60 kids run by Junta for Progressive Action. ​“I would call it ​‘glamping,’ but they wouldn’t call it that,” she said with a laugh.

Leslie Blatteau, the president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, accompanied Natal to file the paperwork on Tuesday (alongside Natal’s neighbor, Janice Perry, and partner, Rafael Ramos). ​“I want to live in a city where teachers like Magda” are on the Board of Alders, Blatteau said. ​“Teachers have such perspective on the needs of the city,” building trust and at times navigating stressful dynamics, ​“all on a shoestring budget.”

While city employees are not allowed to serve on the Board of Alders, that restriction does not apply to New Haven Public Schools employees, according to the city’s Office of Legislative Services. The Board of Alders allocates part of the school system’s funding and approves labor contracts. Teachers and other school employees have served as alders in the past, including Michelle Sepulveda, Katrina Jones, and Charles Blango; when those alders served, they recused themselves when their colleagues voted on a teachers contract. 

The school system is now facing a looming threat of 129 layoffs, most of which include teachers and librarians. ​“I think there’s a fight ahead of us. We’re being cut in ways that are gonna hurt our students,” Natal said. Her priority, she said, is advocating for ​“teachers in the classroom” — alongside more resources for schools in general. ​“We’ve got schools falling apart,” she noted, including a leaky roof in her own school.

At Wilbur Cross, Natal specializes in Teaching English To Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Her students include immigrants from all over the world, speaking a number of different languages. At the start of each year, she asks her students to write a narrative about their own life stories. ​“A lot of them come with a lot of trauma,” Natal said. ​“I had students walking across the Amazon” with little to no food — ​“walking from country to country.” 

The alder race is unfolding at a time of heightened anxiety among many in the neighborhood, which is home to many immigrants, under President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump has sought to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants, destabilize legal immigration routes such as green cards and refugee resettlement, delegitimize birthright citizenship, and use the Alien Enemies Act to justify circumventing immigrants’ right to a fair trial. 

New Haven has not as of yet seen atypical activity from ICE, but community advocates say that the fear of ICE has already impacted the neighborhood. Neighbors have rallied to patronize the restaurants and other local businesses on Grand Avenue, where several business owners have reported a downturn in customers due to a fear of immigration enforcement. Meanwhile, Fair Haven Community Healthcare (for which Natal has served as an executive board member for 14 years) is planning to restructure its services in order to continue providing healthcare to uninsured community members as a federally-funded institution.

Natal said she would support immigrant rights as an alder. ​“I’m a believer that the world was made for everyone to exist,” Natal said. ​“We made borders… We should make space. People are coming here because they are fleeing from somewhere else.”

On top of educational resources and immigrant rights, Natal said she hopes to see a more beautiful neighborhood. ​“I’m big on gardening. It’s one of my dreams for Fair Haven,” she said. She envisions a project of tending to the yards outside abandoned houses. ​“We need a cleaner neighborhood,” she added. In her own yard, she grows vegetables and perennials: ​“I love the pinks and reds.”

She has a tradition of enlisting her neighbor, Janice Perry, to garden with her. It became a way to connect over bringing beauty to their block. ​“She was one of the first people to welcome me to the neighborhood,” recalled Perry, who said she is supporting Natal because ​“she’s gonna listen to you, and she understands what this community needs.”