Battle Waged For Bella Vista

As she struggles to get in the door of the senior complex with the largest voting bloc in her ward, Maureen O’Sullivan-Best faces a reelection challenge: An opponent who’s running from inside, with union money and a large crew of local volunteers.

Voters at Bella Vista, an private high-rise complex at 339 Eastern St., will likely determine the winner of next Tuesday’s contest, when independent Ward 11 Alderwoman O’Sullivan-Best faces Democrat-endorsed Bella Vista resident and retired diner waitress Barbara Constantinople.

The race, one of five aldermanic battles taking place Tuesday, could add another face to the newly elected team of union-backed challengers who toppled City Hall-backed incumbents in September’s primary. It pits a 71-year-old political newcomer who does not support Mayor John DeStefano (Constantinople) against an independent-minded, one-term incumbent who does.

The neighborhood they seek to represent, Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 11, includes the Eastern Circle projects and condos and houses between Eastern Street and Quinnipiac Avenue. The area is split up between two polling stations — one at Bella Vista and another at the Bishop Woods School.

While Bella Vista is just one of two polling stations, veteran electioneers have no doubt which turf matters most: Bella Vista residents make up three-quarters of those who come out on Election Day, according to O’Sullivan-Best. The complex, which serves adults over 55 and people with disabilities, is home to about 2,000 people. Its five towers rise over the Quinnipiac River like a third set of cliffs confronting the city’s historic East and West Rocks.

Getting in the door can be difficult, because the property owner, the Carabetta Organization, forbids door-to-door soliciting. The towers are locked to guests. Visitors are prohibited from roaming around inside.

In a visit this week, the incumbent alderwoman revealed she has done no campaigning on that important turf, save for an event planned Saturday.

“There’s more to the ward than Bella Vista,” O’Sullivan-Best declared.

She said she’s running on her two-year record as alderwoman, including these highlights: Pushing for the new sidewalks on Quinnipiac Avenue; getting the city to clean out a culvert under Hemingway Street to stop flooding; and serving as an active member of the Finance Committee.

While she has lawn signs and supporters outside the towers, O’Sullivan-Best does not claim to have a sizable volunteer crew ready to work on Election Day in the ward, let alone inside the towers. She has raised less than $1,000 this election.

By contrast, Constantinople has raised $1,500 from political action committees affiliated with local unions, which have pledged on-the-ground help on Tuesday and which have already elected a majority for the incoming Board of Aldermen. Constantinople said while she too has encountered barriers to campaigning at Bella Vista, she estimated she has 20 to 30 volunteers inside her complex, including a captain in each of the five high-rises. 

Constantinople showed that support Wednesday evening at the Victoria Room at Bella Vista.

Hot Dogs & Volunteers

Neighbors gathered at 5:30 for a hot-dog dinner combined with a candidate meet-and-greet, which was advertised in flyers and phone calls home. Constantinople estimated 125 to 150 people showed up throughout the evening.

Constantinople said the campaign paid $150 to rent the room. It bought some of the food, while other residents heated up their stoves to supplement the provisions. The resulting spread was an array of meatball subs, macaroni salad, pasta salad, green salad, vegetable dip, cupcakes and many cakes.

Renee Haywood joined a crew of campaign volunteers who greeted diners at the door wearing Constantinople T‑shirts. Haywood called Constantinople a ​“hands-on” organizer known for getting things done. That includes starting a Wii bowling group two years ago and organizing bus trips to casinos and other destinations every other month.

Haywood said she thinks Constantinople will be a good advocate for Bella Vista-ers’ concerns, which range from getting held up on the way to Wal-Mart to a shortage of turkeys at a Thanksgiving giveaway. Screw-ups or changes to the turkey delivery, a staple of the Bella Vista holiday season, have become the subject of political controversy in years past; click here to read more.

Haywood, at least one generation younger than most of the women, said Constantinople ​“speaks to me because Bella Vista is not just about the elderly any more. It’s also disabled adults.”

Constantinople has lived in the complex for almost nine years. She said when the city shut down its senior center two years ago, she took it upon herself to organize social events.

Now retired at age 71, she said she worked most of her life as a waitress, including at diners in Branford and East Haven. She later did stints in a laundry facility and at a nursing home.

“I’ve been a server all my life,” she said.

Her service has made her popular with two 93-year-old ​“twins,” Yolanda Archangelo and Jo Buonfiglio (pictured).

Asked if she’ll vote for Constantinople, Buonfiglio replied ​“Of course! She’s one of us.”

“She’ll get the job done,” she added. ​“She’s up and out-about.”

Constantinople said she opposes Mayor DeStefano’s reelection and sees herself as part of a team of 15 new faces set to join the Board of Aldermen next year. Without naming specific policy proposals, she said the new team would work together on issues of crime, education, potholes, jobs and quality of life concerns.

“If we have to fight the city, we will.”

Among the cadre of volunteers joining her fight are Kenneth Jackson and Gayle Hall. (They’re pictured cleaning up the last few hot dogs after the event.) Gayle lent the services of her son, Donte Hall, to sing at Wednesday’s event.

Hall said she hopes Constantinople brings ​“harmony” back to the complex.

Constantinople said crime has become a top issue in the ward. Seniors have been robbed or beaten up on their walks down to Route 80 for medication or supplies. ​“If we go, we go in a group,” she said.

She called for more walking beat cops throughout the neighborhood.

“Mean Maureen!”

“It’s insulting for Ms. Constantinople to talk about crime,” O’Sullivan-Best retorted in a separate visit. She said her own house was shot up by machine gun fire in 1994 in a case of mistaken identity. Neighbors had just moved in next door, seeking a better life in a more stable neighborhood, she said. A gunman intended to target that house — but sprayed 15 bullets into O’Sullivan-Best’s home instead.

The alderwoman, who has lived at 54 Foxon St. since 1972, said the event strengthened her family’s commitment to the neighborhood.

“We didn’t give up,” she said. ​“We didn’t pick up and move out.” Now, she said, 80 percent of the homes in her immediate neighborhood are owner-occupied.

On Tuesday afternoon, she left her block on foot wearing green leather shoes, a knit sweater and a long skirt. She led a reporter up to the towers, just a short walk along the leaf-strewn sidewalk of Eastern Street. She said she wanted to offer to pick up some papers from someone who hadn’t been picking up her phone.

She walked inside the glass doors of the lobby to Building A. She didn’t want to ring the woman’s buzzer, for fear of breaking the complex’s rules against solicitation. So she called a friend, who provided her with the woman’s phone number. She stood dialing the number on her cell phone, ignoring the mechanized doors that swung open and closed when residents wheeled by.

“You’re not supposed to sneak yourself in,” she later explained. She finally got through on the phone to the woman, whom she described as a member of her church and supporter of her campaign. O’Sullivan-Best didn’t say exactly what she was calling about. She ended up leaving in a huff.

“This is a voting place that doesn’t like change,” she declared as she strode down the hill back home.

She explained that the woman had told her that she didn’t need O’Sullivan-Best’s help; she preferred to handle the matter herself.

Down in her neighborhood, the alderwoman led the Independent to two of those homeowners who are supporting her reelection.

Louise Byrne is part of a strong block watch that formed after the drive-by shooting at O’Sullivan-Best’s house. She called her neighbor a liaison between the community and the towers, and a ​“tenacious” fighter. ​“Whatever she gets involved with, she gets done,” Byrne said.

Vincent J. Marottoli (pictured), the Democratic Ward 11 committee co-chair, stepped away from his lunch table to answer the doorbell Tuesday.

“Mean Maureen!” he announced with affection. Then he pledged his support for her campaign this way: ​“All I know is Maureen is a hard worker and you don’t want to tangle with her.”

O’Sullivan-Best beat three-term incumbent Robert Lee in a surprise upset two years ago as an independent candidate, with some help from high school students sent by Mayor DeStefano’s campaign. Though she’s a registered Democrat, she chose to run again as an independent this year, because that’s how she was elected the first time.

Though DeStefano campaign spokesman Danny Kedem said the mayor has made no endorsement in the race, O’Sullivan-Best sports a DeStefano lawn sign on her front yard, and said she has been invited to DeStefano campaign events.

Because of their support for O’Sullivan, Marottoli and his fellow co-chair, Patty DePalma, declined to endorse the only Democrat in the race, Constantinople, ahead of the primary, which would have landed her a spot on the ballot. So Constantinople had to gather signatures to do so — with the help of some union volunteers. She emerged from the primary as the Democrat-endorsed candidate because no other Democrats ran.

Back at Bella Vista Wednesday night, Luis Grimaldi showed Constantinople a sign of her continuing union support: A letter from UNITE HERE Locals 34 and 35, as well as the association of Yale retirees, announcing their endorsement of a ​“tireless advocate.”

The unions don’t have many members in Ward 11, save for some Yale retirees like Grimaldi.

Constantinople received $375 each from Local 34 and 35’s PACs, as well as from AFSCME Council 4 and the New Haven Central Labor Council PAC.

As of Sept. 30, her campaign had raised over $2,500, including $1,500 from the unions. The money has paid for multiple mailings and lawn signs, she said. The most recent filing, due Monday, was not available Wednesday on the city/town clerk’s website.

UNITE HERE organizer Gwen Mills said the unions will send volunteers to the ward to supplement the team of Bella Vista volunteers Constantinople already has in place.

O’Sullivan-Best didn’t file a finance report because she declared she’ll raise less than $1,000. Asked for campaign literature, she said she is running a tight ship and does not have any to spare.

Constantinople’s main criticism of O’Sullivan-Best is that she isn’t visible in the ward.

The alderwoman said the charge may stem from the pestering problem that comes from the turf: It’s hard to cross the proverbial Bella Vista moat.

“I’m not going to be as much of a visible presence as a Bella Vista tenant. I don’t reside there,” O’Sullivan-Best said. She goes to the complex every Saturday for an 8:15 a.m. church service. Other than that, she said, ​“I’ve gone when I’ve been invited to things.”

“It’s very difficult for a candidate who doesn’t reside in Bella Vista to have equal access,” she argued.

Even for someone on the inside, campaigning at Bella Vista is no easy task, Constantinople maintained. When her campaign tried to hand out flyers, she was ​“slapped on the hand” and told to stop. 

“I’ve had a very hard time here,” she said.

Both plan to target Bella Vista over the weekend, as O’Sullivan-Best holds her first campaign event in a community room in Building C. Constantinople, meanwhile, will gather volunteers to phone bank and canvass voters’ homes. Their mission will be the same: Disseminate the campaign message throughout the fortress in time for Election Day.