“Welcome to Harp Alley,” Mayor Toni Harp said with a laugh.
“Just kidding.”
With those words, Harp, a Democrat who is running for a second two-year term at the city’s helm, opened her first reelection campaign office in front of a crowd of supporters in Westville Village Saturday. The office is at 904 Whalley Ave., near Bella’s Cafe and by an alley that cuts through the commercial strip.
The location makes sense for an incumbent looking to shore up support where needed. The headquarters sits at the edge of Westville’s high-voting Ward 25 — which was hardly “Harp Alley” in the 2013 mayoral elections. Harp came in third place in the 2013 Democratic primary in Ward 25, which she then lost by a more than 2 – 1 margin in the the two-way 2013 general election.
State Sen. Martin Looney was on hand for the office opening to state that Harp deserves to be re-elected “by an overwhelming majority.”
“We should all be proud,” he said. “She has helped New Haven to shine.”
Several current members of the Board of Alders attended the opening including Yale Alder Sarah Eidelson and Amity/Beverly Hills Alder Richard Furlow, both of whom were up late the previous night helping to facilitate the city’s first election of student representatives to the Board of Education. (Read about that here.) Other alders in attendance included Adam Marchand, Andrea Jackson-Brooks, Frank Douglass and Alfreda Edwards.
People like Ellsworth “Elzy” Simmonds, who has known Harp since her days as a member of what used to be called the Board of Aldermen, came out to show their support. Simmonds, a former alder, worked with Harp to start the Black and Hispanic Caucus.
“That’s my girl,” he said.
Transportation, Traffic and Parking Chief Doug Hausladen also was in attendance Saturday, as were city Comptroller Darryl Jones, Cultural Affairs Chief Andrew Wolf, and Housing Authority of New Haven Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton.
Harp gave a special shout to Hausladen and Jones, who she said are leading the state in the pursuit of a high-speed fiber-optic network that transfers data at up to 1,000 megabits per second. (Read about that here and here.)
She said their efforts would help make Connecticut “one of the smartest states in the nation.” She said creating such a network would help the city modernize, and educate children who would be prepared to survive in a “knowledge-based economy.”
Harp also told the crowd about some of her successes over the last year and a half as mayor including the fact that none of the children involved in the city’s Youth Stat program have been lost to gun violence. She praised the efforts of the city’s police officers and vowed to work with groups like New Haven Rising to help the city’s residents get hired.
She asked them to help her get re-elected so they can advance the initiatives that have been started during her administration.
“If you want to be part of moving New Haven forward, bring your friends and let’s rally this city,” she said. “It’s a question of working together and bringing everyone to the table with all of our energy and all of our vision.”
No other candidates have yet surfaced to challenge Harp in a Democratic primary; she faced three other candidates in 2013’s party primary. Two potential candidates have filed papers to run for office and have said they plan to petition their way onto the November ballot as independents: plumber (and former mayoral candidate) Sundaita Keitzazulu and former City Clerk Ron Smith.
Mirror Mirror Notes:
Ribbon cuttings are like fireside chats with politicians - they are absolutely useless unless those in the media use them to knowledgeably question the candidate or others in attendance about issues of the day, issues that confront the people they purport to represent. Events are photo ops - that's what it's worth. Spending time writing a one sided story of accolades and self gratification is akin to "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"
In the spirit of mentoring - here's some questions that could/should have been asked: