Maya McFadden Photos
Candidates John Carlson, Steve Orosco, and Anthony Acri talk with neighbor Carol Landino (left) at meet-and-greet.
Republican candidates seeking to reenergize their local party this fall gathered in a Morris Cove open space not for a picnic — but to promote a platform that includes protecting New Haven parks.
The first joint public meet-and-greet with the candidates took place Sunday at Jerry Juliano Playground off Lighthouse Road and Cove Street.
The party is running its largest slate of local candidates in years in the Nov. 2 general election, including its first mayoral candidate since 2007, John Carlson. Democrats currently hold all citywide office positions and all 30 Board of Alders seats. (Except the required position of Republican registrar of voters.)
Three of the Republican alder candidates — AnneMarie Rivera-Berrios from the Annex’s Ward 17, Steve Orosco from Morris Cove’s Ward 18, and Gail Roundtree from Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 11 — joined Carlson, Board of Education candidate Jim O’Connell and city-town clerk hopeful Anthony Acri at Sunday’s event. (Click here to watch and read about a joint radio appearance by several of the Republican candidates, including Upper Westville Ward 26 candidate Joshua Van Hoesen.)
Even before Sunday’s event, Carlson sought to position the Republican ticket as pro-park and pro-environmental, by supporting citizen efforts to kill a deal to sell a Kensington Street playground to a developer. Carlson, a member of the National Arbor Society, World Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club, also came out in support of a proposal to ban future sales of parks or greenspaces.
Those present Sunday made clear that while they each have individual local issues on their agendas, they share a common platform that supports park preservation, support for the police, and offering voters choices in Democratic-dominated New Haven.
Sunday’s Republican meet and greet.
“We want a balance in power,” citywide GOP Treasurer and former East Shore Community Management Team (CMT) Chair Lisa Milone said at the event.
The six candidates gathered at the Morris Cove park because of recent alleged unconfirmed rumors that the city is considering selling the piece of land to a builder looking to add affordable housing to the neighborhood, Milone said. (“There are no plans for that to be anything but a playground,” said city spokesperson Kyle Buda.)
The candidates spoke about the need to have a park in every neighborhood. Neighbors told the candidates they would like to see more police officers in the Cove, lower taxes, and increased financial assistance from Yale
“I don’t think we’re ever going to get taxes out of Yale, but we can get help with crime,” said Acri.
Lisa Simone suggested applicants from New Haven get more points on the police civil service exam and tax breaks on their homes to help recruit more local officers. “They have to know who they’re policing or else nothing is going to get better,” she said.
Simone also urged locals to get involved in city politics and alder seats. “Regular people in the neighborhood should be helping to run the city,” she said. “You don’t need to be a perfect person with a college degree. You just need a heart.”
Acri agreed with Simone.
“We can fix the city before it gets worse,” said Acri.
Carol Landino, 72, promised her vote to Orosco. She said she has been disappointed with Mayor Justin Elicker’s 3.56 percent tax increase last year. (The Board of Alders ultimately dropped last year’s tax increase to 2.09 percent. Taxes did not go up this year.)
“Us and Westville pay the taxes in the city of New Haven, and we only get one cop out here,” Landino said.
“We need to tax Yale, too, because Yale does not fall into the nonprofit category. It’s a billion-dollar corporation,” Carlson responded.
AnneMarie Rivera-Berrios: Doing it for the Kids
Maya McFadden File Photo
AnneMarie Rivera-Berrios.
Rivera-Berrios, a special education teacher, has lived on Chester Street in the Annex for 12 years. She has been an advocate against neighborhood dumping and for restoration of parks and playgrounds for kids in the past. Last year, as a member of the East Shore CMT, she pushed to get $1,000 from the CMT to restore the children’s playground at Peat Meadow Park.
Ten years ago Rivera-Berrios said she noticed “things started to go downhill with my party,” so she changed her Democratic affiliation to Republican.
“I felt as a Democrat I wasn’t being heard. It’s like I was being forced to be complacent,” she said.
Retired former New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) principal and teacher Salvatore Punzo is also running for the Annex alder seat as the endorsed Democrat.
“It’s not always about the party. It’s about the person, and we need a whole new revival and that’s what I’m fighting for,” Rivera-Berrios said.
Several of the party members, like Ward 11 alder hopeful Roundtree, promised not to be “yes men” if elected.
“The Democrats are looking for those who won’t fight against them,” said Roundtree, who is running against incumbent Democrat Renee Haywood. Roundtree, a member of the Board of Directors at Harbour Crest Condominiums for the past ten years, has been a Special Olympics coach for 16 years.
Steve Orosco: Allegiance to Ward 18
Orosco chats with CMT co-chair Carlos Reis.
Morris Cove candidate Orosco, a professional mixed-martial arts (MMA) fighter and former Wall Street broker, founded and SMASH Global Sports and Entertainment and SMASH for Troops.
On Sunday he said he plans to use all three skills to fight his way into the alder seat.
He moved to Morris Cove, where his wife grew up, and lived in the neighborhood for seven years before moving to L.A. He returned in 2019.
Orosco is focusing on the planned expansion of Tweed New Haven Airport and neighborhood quality-of-life issues. “The airport doesn’t benefit my ward. We’re being sacrificed and exploited,” he said.
Orosco described himself as a lifelong Democrat who gained more conservative perspectives with age. “If you’re a rational person, you sit in the middle and teeter back and forth,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important to have a balance of both parties, because one side can’t please everybody,”
Anthony Acri: More Absentee Ballots
If elected city clerk, Acri said, he will work to “accelerate voting” to get more residents involved in the elections.
Acri, a business owner for 30 years, said he can bring management experience and financial analysis skills to the position. “I would love to analyze and rearrange the office budget to make the city’s money more useful,” he said. “It’s about cutting expenses without cutting people.”
In the past, Acri was an independent who often voted Democratic. He officially switched his affiliation to Republican this year. He said a Republican city clerk would make city record-keeping fair and unbiased.
“Covid has changed the look of voting; people aren’t going out to vote anymore,” Acri said. “I can help facilitate those changes and the increasing need for more absentee ballots to make sure that everyone is heard.”
Millone, who helped organize the event, said the group plans to host meet-and-greets in other neighborhood parks, like Newhallville’s Learning Corridor and Dixwell’s Goffe Street Park.
“People deserve choices,” she said. “The whole political arena should never be all Republican or Democrat. It’s unjust.”
As a Green, I cheer on the Republicans who favor preservation of our parks and natural resources and oppose the 43 year proposed Contract with Tweed/ Avport.
Both involve quality of life and environmental issues.
Robert Moses made a name for himself as a proponent of parks in New York. John Carlson is on the right track.
As I've said before, party labels are less important that where a candidate stands on the specific issues.
At the local level, we seem to want most of the same things.