Allan Appel Photo
It’s not every day that city government’s top lawyer comes to your driveway asking you to rate quality of life in town. Charles Musser of Lyon Street rated it a four out of possible high five.
He said his son John Carlos (at center in photo) particularly loves the library, Musser told city Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden (at left) during a surprise visit Thursday night. However, when your taxes go up 10 percent a year and your salary doesn’t keep pace, that’s a problem, he added.
Welcome to the city’s latest take on taking the pulse of the citizenry.
Approximately 35 heads of city departments and assistant heads fanned out in the Wooster Square and East Rock neighborhoods around dinner time Thursday.
On clipboards they noted the ratings, solicited any particular problems, passed out a sheet with phone numbers and recycling info, and asked for an email to receive news bulletins from city hall.
Why this effort and now?
“We’re going into budget planning soon. We want to know more of what residents want,” said mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga, who organized the first what she said will be multiple canvassing nights.
She said not everyone uses SeeClickFix or can come to the mayor’s nights in or out.
“We’re going to bring City Hall to [people’s] doorsteps,” she said as she deployed the troops.
Victor Bolden and housing authority Executive Program Manager Gary Hogan were tasked with knocking on doors on both sides of Lyon Street in Wooster Square.
In two hours they talked to 13 people. They generally elicited a “four” rating, full of praise for the street, somewhat less so for the city as a whole, and a refrain of “too high taxes.”
Here’s an account by the minute of some highlights.
6:10: Across from Charles Musser and beneath tree-dappled shadows at 97 Lyon, David Stolar and Ashley Kremser said they loved New Haven. The young couple’s “five” rating, however, dropped down to a three with regard to certain policies.
“As residents we fell persecuted by parking,” said Kremser.
Worse: the taxes. “We’re looking for houses, but taxes and the mill rate are so high, we’re looking [reluctantly] into East and West Haven,” Kremser said.
Hogan duly took down their email address provided and said, “Maybe we can help you with your homeownership opportunities.”
6:30: Across the street a young woman (who did not want to be photographed) gave another “four” rating to the city. She praised the city’s walkability. But on the heels of the “four” came the plaint about taxes, hers having been raised 30 percent annually over the past two years.
She also mentioned a chronically overflowing trash bin behind the backstop at the Conte-West Hills School. Animals poop all around it.
Bolden thanked her for her time and said, “I’ll look into that.”
6:45: Next up turned out to be Jeffrey Kerekes, leader of the New Haven Citizens Action Network and the recent property tax revolt. Surprisingly he also rated the quality of life in the city a four out of a possible five, with a particular affection for life on Lyon Street, a recurring theme.
Then the other shoe fell: Yes, taxes. “I’m concerned it’ll be not a diverse city” in years to come, with only the rich and the poor residing here, he said.
7:00:Bringing out a pile of metal for the bulk pick-up next morning was Alison Weir and her soon-to-be-sister-in law, Tanya Allen.
Like several others she praised the walkability of the city. “I walk four blocks to work. Life is great. I like living this close to downtown.” Still, she held off giving a five, and settled on four.
She praised the safety of Lyon Street. With many Yale students – at least three Bolden and Hogan spoke to had just recently arrived – Weir said Yale police were now patrolling.
What would make the city a five for her? “I’d love to see a grocery store downtown.”
7:10: One of those recently arrived graduate students from San Francisco, here only two weeks, wisely declined to rate. An avid bicyclist, he’d already concluded that the city needs more dedicated bike lanes. “On Orange they’re too close to the cars,” he added.
Hogan concurred that the city has only three bike-laned streets.
7:20: “Let’s give it a four so there will be a little room for improvement,” said Pedro Soto, head of New Haven Preservation Trust, who lives in a mid-19th Century wooden house, lone of many of the charmers on Lyon.
What would make it a five for him? More traffic enforcement, more city budget transparency and an earlier start to the budget process. When Hogan gave him a card with the new recycling info, Soto declared almost with enthusiasm, “And I’m a big fan of single stream.”
The positive vibes gave Bolden and Hogan a lift.
“It’s nice to hear people are loving the city they live in,” Bolden remarked. “But it’s like saying you an always do better.”
7:40: Perhaps the biggest earful came from Mona Berman, an artist who protested receiving one of the across-the-board $5,000 assessments in the recent tax year.
“Taxes and insurance give it [the rating for the city] a one. What we have on Lyon Street, it’s a five,” she said. She said her neighbors work hard to increase homeownership on the street.
Her main request: “When you go into City Hall, it’d be nice to feel that this is your house. And to be taken more seriously.”
Hogan and Bolden listened carefully, the corporation counsel taking time to explain his office’s role in the calling of members of the Board of Assessment Appeals to appear before the Board of Aldermen.
Although his answer did not please Berman, she concluded, “This reaching out of you guys, this is acknowledging” that residents need to be taken more seriously.
Then, as the light dimmed, from the tracks at the end of Lyon Street a train shook the air with a loud horn.
“This is really [terrible],” Berman said.
Bolden and Hogan thanked Berman for her time and headed back to City Hall.
There Mayorga was going to tally the results, determine if enough time had been allotted for the assigned blocks, and plot the next evening for the government to go a‑calling.
Wish they'd stopped by our house in East Rock. We were planning on showing them the new "for sale" sign on our front lawn. Taxes set to double by the end of the phase-in and the same old nonsense with the schools (eg superintendent who won't even bother to meet with parents to tell them what the process is to apply for Hooker School when out of district). After 20+ years, we are giving up.