Ward 21 candidates Hurse, Christmas, Streater.
It’s election season again — at least in Ward 21 — with three candidates now vying for a newly opened seat on the Board of Alders.
The seat opened up this week when Alder Steve Winter resigned to become the city’s new climate czar.
At a meeting held at Stetson Library Wednesday evening, the Democratic ward committee voted 5 – 4 to endorse Fred Christmas for the position. Maceo Troy Streater, who received the four votes, told the Independent he has collected the four petition signatures needed to qualify for the ballot to challenge Christmas in a special election. Click here to read a previous story in which the two candidates discussed their candidacies.
The election will be held on Jan. 23. The ward covers portions of the Newhallville, Prospect Hill, and Dixwell neighborhoods.
A third candidate, Kendall Hurse, filed paperwork at the city clerk’s office Thursday to run for the position as well.
“I’ve collected two signatures so far” and he expects to collect the other two to qualify for the ballot, Hurse told the Independent.
Hurse, 57, said he is running to bring change to Newhallville. “Our parks, [including] Bassett Park, need to get cleaned up and get up to date and materials like most other parks have,” Hurse said. “I would also like to see a community center that will focus on issues and problems in the neighborhood of Newhallville.” He spoke of pushing the city to ensure that they “plow right” after snowstorms in Newhallville, where “they don’t plow the side streets properly.”
Hurse said he still lives in the house where he grew up in Newhallville. He previously worked for the public school system as a “troubleshooter” for former Supt. Reginald Mayo, he said. He also has been in charge of a 134-bed homeless shelter in Phoenix, Arizona, which he said his children operate onsite; click here to read about a pitch he made in 2018 to open a similar facility in Fair Haven.
