Politics

Alders Pass Law That Allows CAO To Live Out Of Town

by | Mar 7, 2024 3:05 pm | Comments (26)

Thomas Breen Photo

Ordinance's first beneficiary, CAO Regina Rush-Kittle.

A handful of high-up local officials can apply to live outside of New Haven, as long as they can demonstrate a critical need” or extraordinary hardship” associated with living within city bounds after serving in their roles for at least a year.

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"Dems For Dems" Crush Challengers

by and | Mar 5, 2024 8:16 pm | Comments (26)

Laura Glesby Photo

Ward 18 challengers Zelema Harris and Sharon Braz congratulate Chris Avallone on his victory at Nathan Hale School.

Allan Appel Photo

Victorious co-chair candidate Gary Hogan (at left) declared "a new Ward 28" in congratulating challenger Ephrat Lieblich (center) on a good race. Fellow victor Jess Corbett at right.

(Updated with official final results) A slate of insurgents raised issues — then ended up losing all their races Tuesday — in the city’s first competitive Democratic ward co-chair primaries in over a decade.

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Barber's Loneliness RX: Start With Poverty

by | Mar 5, 2024 2:14 pm | Comments (5)

Thomas Breen Photo

Bishop Barber at NXTHVN: Poverty "preventable, avoidable, unnecessary."

How do you reconcile a moral crisis of loneliness with the economic toll of a stagnant minimum wage, and then reach a more perfect union?”

Bishop William J. Barber II charted that path in a Dixwell sermon Tuesday that touched on biblical scripture, the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., the good deeds of his grandmother, the precariousness of swing-state voter turnout, and the fatal cruelty of poverty.

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Protesters Host Their Own "Public Hearing"

by | Mar 4, 2024 9:20 pm | Comments (37)

Laura Glesby Photo

Hajyahia at City Hall protest: Gazans are not numbers, but "human beings with hopes, dreams, and aspirations for a better life."

As a Palestinian, I learned early what it means to fear for the safety of my family on a daily basis,” said local law student Alaa Hajyahia.

A hundred protesters who had gathered outside City Hall in support of a ceasefire in the Gaza war fell silent as she spoke.

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Opinion: Building A City For All

by | Feb 27, 2024 11:17 am | Comments (5)

Colon (at left) at Saturday campaign rally.

Throughout my life I have fought for our city’s residents to be able to support their families and live dignified and fulfilling lives. Living in the Hill through economic struggle taught me that we win respect, dignity, and economic security by banding together, rolling up our sleeves, and doing the work required to address decades of racial segregation and policies that have benefited the powerful at the expense of the poor. We still have significant work to do, but building a movement that is focused on winning freedom for all New Haven residents has motivated my work as a union leader, an alder with 18 years of service, and a current co-chair for the Democratic Town Committee. 

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Election You Never Heard Of Heats Up

by | Feb 26, 2024 2:23 pm | Comments (32)

Candidates Dolores Colon and Doris Doward at Trowbridge Square Park rally.

Allan Appel Photo

Jason Bartlett addresses challenge candidates at the Hill Museum.

(Updated Feb. 29) In a park and then in a pencil museum, separate groups of politicos gathered in the Hill on the same day to rally voters to show up for one of the most obscure, historically least competitive elected positions in town: Democratic Party ward co-chair.

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Streater Tackles Housing At Street Level

by | Feb 7, 2024 3:33 pm | Comments (20)

Laura Glesby Photo

Alder Streater at the 180 Center, where he works overnight.

Troy Streater turned the key to the Lloyd Street apartment door, walked inside, and inspected the fresh gray paint job he’d recently commissioned so new tenants can move in.

Hours later, he arrived at the 180 Center to make his trademark hazelnut coffee for clients who have no apartment to sleep in.

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State Of The City Meets State Of The World

by | Feb 5, 2024 10:28 pm | Comments (88)

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.

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Elicker: Ceasefire Resolution
"Simplifies A Complex Issue"

by | Feb 5, 2024 9:07 pm | Comments (12)

It didn’t concern” Mayor Justin Elicker that protesters shouted down his annual State of the City” address Monday night, he said.

I am a little bit concerned about the dialogue,” he said. I don’t think it was the most productive way to have a conversation. I also understand the frustration.”

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"Simplifies A Complex Issue"’

8 DTC Primaries Loom

by | Feb 2, 2024 3:35 pm | Comments (6)

Challenge slate co-organizer Jason Bartlett outside the Registrar of Voters office with candidates; some did, some didn't make the ballot.

As the nation already focuses on the November 2024 presidential races, New Haveners started campaigning for March 2024 elections for the most local of offices: party ward co-chair.

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Students Grill Senator

by | Jan 26, 2024 12:38 pm | Comments (33)

Laura Glesby Photo

"I can't quit": Blumenthal fields sharp Qs from Mauro-Sheridan fifth-graders.

If you had to either quit or work with Donald Trump as president, what would you do?”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal faced that question and others about his role in the future of American democracy — not at a press conference, or on the Senate floor, but in Lauren Bitterman’s fifth-grade classroom at Mauro-Sheridan school.

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33 Dems Inaugurated; Poet Pleads For "Democracy"

by | Jan 1, 2024 5:47 pm | Comments (21)

Paul Bass Photos

Mayor Justin Elicker is sworn in for his third two-year term as mayor, surrounded his wife Natalie, daughters Molly and April, and mom Joan Elicker.

A Democrat, a second Democrat, a third Democrat, then dozens more Democrats all at once took oaths of office Monday to inaugurate the seventh straight two-year cycle of one-party government in New Haven.

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At Inauguration, Imam & Rabbi Pray For Justice

by | Jan 1, 2024 5:46 pm | Comments (3)

Dereen Shirnekhi Photo

Pastor Valerie Washington, Imam Omer Bajwa, and Rabbi Eric Woodward after speaking at the inauguration.

Rabbi Eric Woodward and Imam Omer Bajwa didn’t compare notes before giving back-to-back invocations at Monday’s mayoral inauguration. They didn’t need to — they knew what to say. And they had similar messages to impart.

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