Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Jorge Perez plans to give his back.
When Barbara Constantinople won a seat on New Haven’s Board of Aldermen, she also won a new Amazon Kindle. Whatever that is.
“How big is it?” asked the Fair Haven Heights alderwoman-elect the other day when informed that the e‑readers await her and 18 other new aldermen when they get sworn in on Jan. 1.
Constantinople, a 71-year-old retired diner waitress who lives at the Bella Vista senior complex, said she’d never heard of the Kindle, which is also being issued to the 11 aldermen returning next term.
The disbursal of digital devices is an attempt to cut down on the use of paper in the execution of aldermanic business. It’s a result of an amendment to the 2010 – 2011 budget that called for less paper use. The city bought 40 Kindles from Staples at $189 each, using money already set aside in the budget for the purchase.
Some of those Kindles are already in the hands of aldermen. Others are waiting in leather jackets in the Office of Legislative Services to be picked up.
Legislative services Director Al Lucas has the Kindles set up so that they automatically download the latest aldermanic documents as he makes them available. Aldermen don’t even need to check their email.
“It’s just magically there,” marveled East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker.
Lucas compares the budget to the Kindle.
Documents distributed to aldermen can run into the thousands of pages each over they course of a year. A journal of the regular meeting — a transcript, essentially — can run about 60 pages per meeting, and the board holds 24 meetings a year. The annual budget is a beefy volume, as is the city’s master plan. Full agenda packages for board meetings can be an inch thick.
The transition to e‑readers comes as the board approved a new five-year $4.375 million contract with Xerox to oversee the printing of all those legislative photocopies.
Elicker, who’s had his Kindle for a month, said the user interface is a little tricky. “It’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve,” he said. “But we waste so much paper at the board.”
He said he’s optimistic the new technology will be beneficial, if his colleagues adapt it. “I think it will be as successful as possible if it’s actively pursued by alders,” he said. Not everyone will use it, he said. “Some people like the feel of paper in their hands.”
“I’m not excited about it at all,” said Hill Alderman Jorge Perez, the board’s longest-serving member. “I’m not going to use it. I’m going to give it back.”
“I’m old-fashioned,” Perez said. He said he prefers to be able to touch the city budget.
“I have other tools available,” he said. He has a computer for email, and an iPhone, he said. “For me personally, I don’t need it.”
Greg Dildine, outgoing Westville alderman, has had a Kindle by his side in the aldermanic chamber since his birthday in September 2010. He’s been using it as a document reader for his legislative business for over a year.
Reached by phone on Friday, Dildine said he was sitting in the skateboard park in Edgewood Park watching his kids as he read Neal Stephenson’s latest novel on his e‑reader. He said he recently read Tom Clancy’s “Dead Or Alive” and was happy to have the e‑version instead of lugging around “a very thick tome.”
“I find it a useful tool,” he said. “Paper is still irreplaceable in terms of being able to highlight and mark up.” The Kindle does allow users to add marginalia, but it’s not as easy as grabbing a pen and jotting a few notes.
Dildine said he likes being able to have virtual stacks of documents with him and available in a searchable format. He said he advised aldermanic staff to buy the older Kindles and not the Kindle Fire, which has shorter battery life.
Newhallville Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards has a Kindle of her own that she reads books on. She hasn’t set up her city-issued reader yet, she said.
“I’m not really so savvy, to be honest with you,” she said.
Edwards said she didn’t think a Kindle would help her in her aldermanic duties. “It won’t make my life easier, to be honest.”
Lucas points out how documents automatically download.
“I’m trying to learn how to use it,” Fair Haven Alderwoman Migdalia Castro said of the Kindle she’s had for a few weeks. “It’s going to be great once I really master it.”
Castro said she’s looking forward to using the Kindle to check her email while she’s on the go, so she doesn’t have to wait until she gets home. “I’m very happy. I just have to know it inside and out.”
Melissa Bailey File Photo
Fair Haven Heights Alderwoman-elect Constantinople (at left in photo) said she didn’t know what a Kindle is. “I don’t know what that would do for me.”
“How big is it?” she asked. “I have no idea what I’d do about it yet.”
Beaver Hills Alderman-elect Brian Wingate said he thinks the Kindle plan is a good one. “Anytime you can save paper and save the city money, I’m with that.”
He said he doesn’t have a Kindle, but that he is an active smartphone user. He said he’s ready to give up paper, if it will save budget dollars.
Talk about a WASTE of tax dollars. Instead of buying the Kindles from Staples at $189 each, the same Kindles could have been ordered from Amazon.com at a cost of $79 each (or less due to a bulk order) and they could be custom set-up to meet the needs of the Alders. I wonder how many of those ordered will be used by the Alders and how many will end up with other City employees or their children-- people who should not be getting Kindles at tax payers expense. This is but one example of dollars being wasted. The fact that Al Lucas went to Staples to buy these also shows that he is behind the times. Kindles should only have been ordered for those who planned to use them. Is it any wonder there is a fiscal mess everywhere in government? Someone should now keep track of exactly what happens to each of those Kindles. NHI - are you up for this?