Barnes with Rodolfo Lopez.
Quinnipiac Avenue in Fair Haven Heights is under construction, forcing faster through traffic to detour and cause safety hazards on residential side streets. Brenda Jones Barnes sees the problem. What she doesn’t see is an adequate response from the city to her neighborhood’s concerns.
“The issues are not being heard or addressed,” Barnes said. “The frustration of people, it’s just amazing.”
This lack of attention to traffic, public safety and other problems in her neighborhood helped spur Barnes, 62, a nine-year resident of Fair Haven Heights, to declare her candidacy for alderwoman in Ward 13, opposing three-term Democratic incumbent Alexander Rhodeen. Barnes said her goals as alderwoman would be “to reach people, to connect and to serve.”
She plans to square off against Rhodeen in a Sept. 13 Democratic primary.
An entrepreneur who provides data and financial services as well as a financial assistant at Yale University, Barnes has no experience as a public official. She said that after a painful falling injury last year she felt a “higher purpose” and began talking to people in the community. She decided to run after determining that Fair Haven Heights was not being served by its elected officials.
On a recent walk through the neighborhood, Barnes said that one of the major problems she saw in the community is safety. Part of the problem is that a series of construction projects in the neighborhood have caused major traffic problems. A large area of Quinnipiac Avenue is currently closed, forcing faster through traffic to detour onto smaller streets and causing safety problems. Barnes complained that “nothing’s been done” in response to local dissatisfaction.
Rodolfo Lopez, a case manager with Yale’s Community Health Care Van who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, echoed Barnes’s frustration.
“I don’t mind that we gotta update things, but can’t we do it all at once?” Lopez said.
Barnes said that crime, both violent and nonviolent, has been increasing in recent years and that the police presence in the neighborhood has been minimal.
“The cops only come here when you call,” Lopez said. Barnes added that, in some cases, police hadn’t shown up even after crimes were reported.
Rosa Morales, a retired New Haven school bus driver who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years and another Barnes supporter, said that petty crimes such as vandalism and street racing have become more and more common in Fair Haven Heights. She told the story of a local police officer whose home was broken into and said that she no longer felt safe in the neighborhood.
Morales said that she did not know whom to contact with her concerns. Lopez said that in 20 years in the neighborhood Barnes was the only candidate or public official who had come to his door.
“I don’t even know the alderman,” Lopez said. “She’s the only one I know who’s run in 20 years.”
Jacob Cohn Photo
Brenda Jones Barnes (left) with daughter Lynai.
Barnes has not been endorsed by any organizations, but she said she has been networking in the community and is confident that she will gain support. She called incumbent Alderman Rhodeen a “good man” who has lived in the neighborhood for a long time. She said she believes she can gain a following through networking.
Gesturing down the street at the homes of people she believes are being ignored by city officials, she proclaimed: “Those doors should not have been missed.”
Rhodeen, 36, who grew up in Fair Haven Heights, said he plans to run for a fourth term. An Army reservist and head of retail for the furniture store chain LoveSac Alternative Furniture, Rhodeen argued that his record as an alderman speaks for itself. By securing funding for local construction projects, including the already-completed Ferry Street Bridge repairs, Rhodeen has prioritized neighborhood issues, he said.
“Of 30 members of the Board of Aldermen, 29 are not elected to think about Ward 13,” Rhodeen said. He said he plans to run based on his record of creating opportunities for his ward and working to fix local problems.
Rhodeen chairs the Board of Aldermen’s Public Safety Committee.
When asked about Barnes’s assertion that local government has not done enough to engage Fair Haven Heights residents, Rhodeen acknowledged, “there will always be room for improvement. The way to improve is to be better at listening.”
“Let me put it this way: I wouldn’t be running if I were planning to lose,” Rhodeen said.
The NHI should really keep a running list of Aldermanic seats up for grabs this election. I've lost count, at what I believe is 13 challenged seats. This is going to be an exciting year in New Haven local politics.