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Mayor Toni Harp Wednesday said she anticipates finding a local replacement for her departing neighborhoods development and anti-blight chief.
Harp learned Tuesday that despite her best efforts to keep Erik Johnson in New Haven — including a raise and expanded responsibilities — he is stepping down on Nov. 14 as executive director of the Livable City Initiative (LCI) to take a job with a private development organization in California.
Harp said she has not yet chosen a successor. She plans to start her search for Johnson’s replacement locally.
“I think we have enough local talent. But if we don’t find the person we need, then we’ll do a national search,” she said.
An earlier version of this story follows:
Four and a half months after the mayor gave him a raise to stay in town, city government’s neighborhoods chief handed in his resignation Tuesday.
The official, Erik Johnson, is leaving his post as head of the Livable City Initiative (LCI), City Hall’s anti-blight and neighborhood development agency, in two and a half weeks, he informed Mayor Toni Harp Tuesday morning.
Johnson, who turns 42 on Friday, is taking a job with a development organization in California.
Earlier this year Johnson accepted a job with the city of Hartford. In an unusually public negotiation, Mayor Harp convinced him to stay by elevating the status of his agency and giving him a raise, from $98,230 a year to $120,000. (Read about that here.)
Johnson declined to comment Tuesday until he had a chance to inform his staff of his decision.
“It now seems clear Mr. Johnson’s ambition is to move on from New Haven and pursue his career elsewhere,” Mayor Toni N. Harp stated in a release from her office. “We’re grateful for all he has done to advance New Haven’s Livable City Initiative and wish him well going forward.”
Here’s what Johnson wrote to Harp in his resignation letter:
“It is with a great deal of thought and gratitude that I am offer [sic] you my resignation as Executive Director of the Livable City Initiative effective November 14, 2014. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you and your vision for the City, however, I have been offered an opportunity that I feel compelled to try and take advantage of.
“Over the coming weeks I will continue to work diligently with your staff, Matthew Nemerson and the senior staff at LCI to develop a transition plan for your review. Please understand that this was a very difficult decision. New Haven is home, I believe in the people that are here, that I have the pleasure of working with and most importantly I believe in what this City can be.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve and know that I will continue to support you and this City in any way that I can.”
Johnson grew up in Newhallville. In office, he has taken a particular interest in charting a long-term revival plan for that neighborhood, among others. LCI, under his stewardship, has remade Putnam Street in the Hill. (Read about that here.) It has been in the process of selling five abandoned homes to five different owners to test five different approaches to neighborhood renewal. His office has also been in the midst of working on crucial long-term development projects, including:
• The remaking of the parking lot-infested stretch connecting downtown with the train station and the Yale medical area in the Hill, including Church Street South, back into a busy, walkable neighborhood chocked with housing and offices and/or stores. Johnson, along with former development chief Kelly Murphy, crafted a detailed “Hill-to-Downtown” plan in conjunction with neighbors. He shepherded the plan’s overall vision to approvals. Now it needs to be filled in on the ground. Click here, here, here, and here to read more about that.
• The reclaiming of 16.2 acres of abandoned median land along Route 34 between Dwight Street and the Boulevard, property the city bulldozed a half-century ago to make way for a highway that was never built. Johnson shepherded to approval a $50 million plan to build new offices, stores and a hotel on the first 5.39 acres of that land. Now the Harp administration is planning for the rest of the land. The goal is to create a walkable neighborhood again with a mix of housing and stores. Click here, here, here, and here to read more about that.
It's bad when a 22% pay hike can't buy loyalty or longevity. Can we now go back to paying the next LCI director what we should have been paying all along before taxpayers got used so Mr. Johnson could be more comfortable while he continued his job search?