Hamden Mayoral Candidates Clash On Race, Representation

Hamden an example of systemic racism? That ​“divisive language” from the left is creating rifts among the town’ residents.

That thinking denies historic reality as well as current segregation and violence against Black and Brown people.

Hamden’s two mayoral candidates offered those opposite positions in a one-hour online debate Wednesday that focused heavily on race, representation, and policing.

Democrat Lauren Garrett and Republican Ron Gambardella participated in the event, which was hosted by Hamden’s Regional Chamber of Commerce and moderated by attorney Steven Ciardiello. Watch the debate in full here, which was streamed on Facebook Live from the Whitney Center to an audience of around 80 people.

Between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., the candidates discussed how they would increase revenue and cut spending, confront climate change, and approach public safety.

The two agreed that the town needs more sidewalks, sewers, road paving, solar paneling, regionalization of services, competitive bidding processes for union and service contracts, and businesses. They both said they believe that Hamden needs more police officers.

The two sought to differentiate themselves from one another by comparing how they view and relate to the town, how they believe the town should prioritize the psychological and physical well-being of residents, and how they think a mayor should go about ensuring inclusive representation in local government.

The deeper argument revolved around what kind of broader political perspective the person filling Hamden’s top office should hold. As Garrett put it: ​“I think we need to make sure that we keep our values in this discussion when picking the people who lead this town.”

Despite the fact that both candidates said that the police department is understaffed and needed to hire more officers, the conversation consistently came back to how the town should conceptualize and communicate issues of crime and public safety.

Gambardella asserted that creating a culture of deference towards police officers and prioritizing investments in policing and departmental equipment are the first step towards lowering crime rates. He said crime had to go down before new businesses would agree to move into town. He also cited complaints, expressed mostly by residents of northern Hamden, that residents don’t want to go shopping in town because they’re scared of being robbed or beaten in parking lots and plazas.

Garrett argued that crime is circumstantial and the product of food deserts, lack of affordable housing, and limited job opportunities. She said investing in arts, culture, and education would not only create a more robust community but help bring new businesses like cannabis dispensaries to town, which in turn would help create revenue to provide more services that would raise quality of life and mitigate criminal behaviors.

She accused the Republican Party of capitalizing on people’s fear of violence. The spike in crime needs to be addressed, she said, but it is the result of a national trend that has occurred in response to the pandemic, not a growing problem that reflects the rise of local demands for police reform and accountability.

“We need to encourage people to shop in Hamden,” she said. ​“Fear mongering is not helping our economic development,” she added. A recent article in the Independent described a Republican council candidate affirming white, female residents’ non-desire to go shopping in Hamden without their husbands or with visible purses on hand.

She said that crime is concentrated in southern Hamden, where residents are worried about violent acts ​“happening right next to them on the street.”

One answer to that, she said, as well as to significant health disparities and issues of food insecurity in town, is to invest in grocery stores and open space in the southern end of town while prioritizing affordable housing development in wealthier and whiter neighborhoods that often organize to keep such properties out of their space. She said desegregating the town through reimagining housing would in turn desegregate Hamden’s public schools and promote equitable opportunities and resources for all, starting in childhood.

Gambardella was more cautious on the subject of affordable housing. ​“My opponent is suggesting affordable housing can occur anywhere,” he said. ​“I don’t know that that’s a good plan … It’s not because it’s racial thing. It’s not. People bought their homes, Black and white and brown, for a specific reason. They were attracted to a neighborhood because it was stable and had characteristics that they value.”

He said whether or not a community wants affordable housing is an important question to prioritize before pursuing such developments. There’s no reason, he said, that southern Hamden shouldn’t have more affordable housing — ​“if the people want it” — and that he would like to encourage more white people to move into that part of town. (Click here to read a story about southern Hamden residents, primarily people of color, arguing against a potential affordable housing development on a blighted property on Newhall Street.)

“I’m all about pushing government out to the people,” Gambardella repeated. He said he wants to create a committee of residents who do not have political connections who could meet with him on a monthly or bimonthly basis to discuss ​“thorny issues” — such as critical race theory — in order to ​“debate the issues calmy and matter of factly” and ​“make a recommendation to the mayor” to help him make decisions that would be most representative of the town’s collective stance. He picked critical race theory as an example, he elaborated, because ​“people on both sides have a strong opinion and I have a neutral opinion.”

Garrett replied with a smile: ​“I’m a little worried that would devolve into the Ron Gambardella cage match.”

A better plan, she argued, would involve electing a diverse group of people representing all areas of town into governmental offices and appointing strong community liaisons as department heads. She contrasted her racially-mixed Democratic slate of municipal candidates she is running with the almost all-white GOP slate.

Gambardella accused Garrett of being part of a leftist faction into that ​“demonizes police officers” and disrespects residents by calling them universally prejudiced.

Garrett pointed to another article in the Independent that interviewed students after an incident in which their peer brought a loaded gun into Hamden High. ​“Nobody’s suggesting we have fewer police officers on the road … I haven’t called anyone a racist,” she said. But, she argued, the input and feedback that Gambardella wants from a new resident advisory commission is in many cases already available but is simply being ignored. ​“These students that were interviewed were begging for mental health supports, not for more SROs [school resource officers],” she said.

She pointed out that many of Gambardella’s allies and running mates voted against a charter revision attempt this year that would have created pathways for expanded chances for fiscal transparency and public input at town meetings. Her slate, she asserted, would if elected reconvene after November and work to implement changes like that into the document.

Gambardella concluded the conversation by reiterating the idea that Garrett and her slate were dividing the town through ideological sensationalism, asserting, ​“I simply want to have peace and harmony.”

Garrett responded that the GOP was misquoting her and misdefining her party: ​“I haven’t called anyone racist, so if you’re feeling attacked, it probably says more about you than it does about me.” She reiterated: ​“Our community thrives when we value diversity.”