I asked the 3 candidates for Mayor to respond to the NHI article regarding Whalley businesses tackling loitering and drugs. Below is the full text of their replies in the order received. Mayor Elicker did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment. Candidate Dubois-Walton has offered to meet with Whalley business owners.
Candidate Torres
We live in a city where we have swung the pendulum so far to one side or the other. There is no balance in this city. It has proven not to work. We can not use the excuse that this is happening all over the country. We had these problems long before covid.
Under the past administration I fought to get aid, under our current mayor I sought aid since he announced he was running. They did nothing.
I am birthed out of the unconsciousness of these two tyrant reigns. We desperately need someone who cares about the entire city. Not just one group because of ethnicity or another because of their income bracket.
It is my sentiment that the issues Whalley Avenue is living through are no different than the rest of the city. My thoughts are that social work must become the fabric of the community. Only then those vulnerable will also have a chance. We need a comprehensive community support structure addressing mental health, homelessness, and addiction putting to work community based programs addressing hunger, poverty, and crime as they are the key. These programs must support education, jobs, and access to care to be able to start moving the community to a balanced place.
Other cities in Connecticut and organizations work tirelessly towards one common goal: a safer community.
Addressing mental health, homelessness, substance abuse, and children’s needs are geared towards promoting a police department that knows clearly cut their job description, involvement, and ensures we do not over-police.
Mental health, homelessness, and substance abuse is not an excuse for crime but it is also better in the hands of those who can help such as medical and social service community partners. People with mental illness put in prison means they will be incarcerated twice as long, much less receive the treatment they need. And also, more than likely to be unemployed, and jailed in a perpetuating cycle.
What works? Crisis services. Crisis services reduce police involvement. Educating our current system such as judiciary, and empowering community; while routing 911 calls is how we can embark in having a cohesive system that will reduce the level of overwhelming failure we see in our city today.
The City of New Haven has over 5000 wonderful organizations but none that will deal with the issues to the level we need it. The lack of communication and united front these organizations show must be replaced with a supportive relationship between them, government, and the community.
Zoning of business is also key. Some of them have no place in communities that are already ailing and in dire need of change. In fact, it makes these communities much more unsafe than prior to the allowance of capitalization of the most vulnerable.
The concept of “zero tolerance” has proven to not work and it is a danger to our communities. We saw in the last few weeks the current administration say if you shoot there will be zero tolerance. It did not work in the ‘80s and it will not work now. These are responses with no thought given to our circumstances while proving the current administration does not care about the vulnerable in our city or our circumstances. Pledging over policing when we do not have enough police to do their job is putting even them in danger.
Things like urination, panhandling, littering, and other minor offenses alone are not large crimes but a nuisance. I take it very seriously nonetheless. But not at the brutalization of any group of people. Most definitely, not by using “order maintenance police'' as it only leads to more arrests of black and brown, LGBTQIA, sex workers, homeless, mentally ill, drug addiction community. Reality is it hurts us all. This also leads to police brutalization of others. I know because it happened to me when this administration pledged zero tolerance for the sake of winning votes in this election.
Police in regular attire mistreated me.
Make no mistake, I am very proud of men and women who take an oath to protect and serve. I thank you for your hard work. I am not one to think defunding the police is a wise idea because we need them as part of our social construct.
Honesty is also admitting that public servants in our city are connected to major crimes. “One bad apple” does hurt all of us. We should hold all public officials to the highest standards to ensure they themselves do not brutalize our community because it is happening here.
We also need to engage Alders and management teams to understand their ward. To work in unity with other wards, together to find solutions that will help the city. I have visited the wards, and since been on the trail to the Democratic convention; I experienced each ward as being states apart from each other. We are one city. United. “No man left behind” should be the most powerful message we send to all constituents.
I have seen greatness in cities where government and organizations unite to work for the betterment of the community. This makes me think about passing the Community Health Work legislature a few years back. I am very proud of the work this committee did because it gives us an avenue today to work with the community in a more holistic way.
We need people that know the issues from life experiences, not just education. To get to know our issues and our people ensuring we build an infrastructure eradicating health disparities. To do this work great organizations already exist and work very hard to put their best foot forward for the community. They are not getting the acknowledgement or respect they deserve. But, I say we need you! As a leader in our city I want to work with them. Because every single one of us counts and matters.
Here is where the cycle ends. Here is where we can birth a city for all. One city that stands together in an unbreakable bond that will stand the test of time now and in the future. This can be done!
Candidate Dubois-Walton
There are several components to addressing this successfully. I'll discuss each in turn.
Intervention: Issues of loitering and substance abuse are the types of incidents that we propose to redirect out of the NHPD through our creation of the Office of Neighborhood Safety, a civilian-led workforce that is equipped to deal with issues that are better served by social services systems. Intervention efforts would be directed to either ONS or NHPD as necessary, taking into account history and previous engagements.
Prevention: We should strengthen connections with community providers to ensure access to assessment and treatment services, and ensure the unhoused have access to a coordinated access network and workforce system. This also must include a real economic development plan that encourages job training and that has impacts in every neighborhood.
Responsiveness and Support for Business Owners: We should enhance support for local business owners to ensure coordinated response to complaints that relate to city services - cleanliness, nuisance activity, lighting, tree trimming. We need regular walkthroughs, identified point persons charged with coordinating city response and follow up, user friendly portals for accessing information and requesting support, and business to business communication and support systems.
Neighborhood and Commercial District Planning: We need a regular cycle of neighborhood and commercial planning and feedback with identified performance metrics and reporting on those metrics. Issues of blight, vacancies, marketing, business development, etc. would be addressed through data-informed analysis, plan and implementation.
