nothin Elicker Leaves The Starting Block | New Haven Independent

100 Jam Manjares For
Elicker’s Announcement

Thomas MacMillan Photo

A hundred people crammed both rooms of Manjares Fine Pastries & Tapas Bar Thursday night. They weren’t there to order tapas. They came to support the launch of the mayoral campaign of East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker.

Elicker (pictured) formally announced his mayoral candidacy for mayor at 7:30 p.m. in the Westville restaurant across from Edgewood Park. He’s running to unseat 10-term incumbent John DeStefano. They’ll square off in the Democratic primary. State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield is also planning to join the race; he has formed an exploratory” campaign committee and expects to make a formal announcement in coming weeks.

In a 15-minute speech Thursday night, Elicker outlined his platform. He issued a general call for more accessibility and transparency in government along with several specific calls: for a hybrid Board of Ed, a new superintendent of schools, more early childhood education, participatory budgeting,” updated the zoning code, and improved public transportation.

Aside from Elicker, the only other elected officials to attend the event were Aldermen Doug Hausladen and Evette Hamilton. Hausladen is backing Elicker in the mayor’s race. Hamilton said she is undecided.

Elicker’s announcement was preceded Thursday by a press release from the New Haven Democracy Fund, the public election financing program. Democracy Fund administrator Ken Krayeske announced that Elicker is the first mayoral candidate to join the program this year. To do so, Elicker resolved a funding dilemma arising from a loophole concerning exploratory campaign committees.

Manjares was packed on Thursday evening with people drinking wine and Negra Modelo beer, awaiting Elicker’s announcement. Campaign volunteers collected donations.

Tom Harned (pictured), a member of Elm City Cycling (ECC), was the first to donate by laptop to the campaign’s PayPal account. He said he’s supporting Elicker because he represents the more modern way of politics.” Elicker works from the bottom up, not like the top-down command and control” style of the current administration, Harned argued. He said Elicker has been ECC’s strongest ally on the Board of Aldermen.

Mike O’Leary, an East Rocker who was sipping a nice malbec,” said he’s been impressed by Elicker’s immediate responsiveness to constituent requests in the neighborhood. He solves problems.”

Elicker said he chose Manjares because it was a casual, comfortable atmosphere befitting his campaign theme of an approachable government.”

It doesn’t hurt that Westville is the votingest” neighborhood in the city, as one attendee pointed out. Ward 25 consistently produces among the highest voter turnouts in New Haven.

Elicker began his announcement by listing some of the — sometimes obscure — community meetings and events he’s attended in the last couple of months as he’s considered a run: The Quinnipiac Terrace Homework Club, the Mary Wade Home Holiday Bazaar, the Hill Community Management Team. Everywhere he’s gone, Elicker said, he’s found that people are interested in a new direction for this city. … A government that listens and doesn’t only talk to you.”

Elicker addressed three main themes: schools, budget, neighborhood support. Click the play arrow to see his speech, recorded by Ian Applegate.

Elicker said that while the city has spent $1.5 billion on new and improved school buildings, more needs to be done inside the schools. He called for a partially elected hybrid” Board of Ed, a proposal that’s being considered by the Charter Revision Commission. He called for a new superintendent of schools, a line that got big applause from the crowd. The city needs to increase pre‑K options in the city, which research has shown have a large impact on later academic success. And he said the schools needs a 21st-century curriculum” that includes character education” and life skills.” He also called for more vocational education.

On the budget, Elicker said the city is spending $65 million this year on debt payments alone and needs to take a more long-term view when it comes to budget planning. We need to take the politics out of development!” he said, hitting another big applause line. Developers should not feel they have to contribute to a political campaign to play ball in New Haven. And if I’m elected mayor, I will end that practice.”

Elicker promised to implement participatory budgeting,” which means you give neighborhoods the authority to prioritize what their spending is for some municipal investments in their neighborhood, instead of politicians.” It’s a citizen-led budgeting process that a ward in Chicago has tried out.

Elicker said the city should focus less exclusively on development downtown and work to develop economic corridors” like Grand Avenue, State Street, Whalley Avenue, and Dixwell Avenue.

After his announcement, Elicker said his campaign has been interviewing prospective campaign managers and intends to hire someone in the next two weeks.

At a recent Westville campaign event, Holder-Winfield called a hybrid school board not a terrible idea” and agreed with Elicker’s call for a more participatory government. Mayor DeStefano argues that a partially elected school board would politicize education. He has called the participatory argument a side process” issue raised by his opponents. Click here and here to read about his and Holder-Winfield’s stands on those and other campaign issues.

A spread of finger foods feeds supporters.

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