Elicker: Yale should give New Haven $50 million a year

Justin Elicker at the opening of his headquarters for his mayoral campaign. Justin Elicker at the opening of his headquarters for his mayoral campaign. Photo: Mary E. O’Leary / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Mary E. O’Leary / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Elicker: Yale should give New Haven $50 million a year 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — Mayoral contender Justin Elicker held two events over the weekend at which he elaborated on similar themes with some familiar faces in attendance.

He stressed the need for affordable housing, which he said could be helped through inclusionary zoning; and jobs, which would benefit from training in the building trades to capture the construction work underway downtown.

In Fair Haven Saturday, in a yard where some 30 neighbors and friends listened, as small children played and a rooster crowed behind them, Elicker said the city is facing a “fiscal crisis” and an “education crisis.”

He also told the group gathered at the home of Sarah Miller and Lee Cruz that this is a time for a new deal with Yale University. Miller is an organizer with NHPS Advocates, which has been highly critical of the school administration.

Elicker said Yale’s $11.5 million voluntary payment to the city is too small. He said in comparison to the university’s operating budget, “you can’t even see the $11.5 million. That’s a problem.”

“I think they should give $50 million a year to the city. This isn’t a huge amount for Yale University, but would dramatically increase our ability to function as a city, and ... would benefit Yale a lot, too, because if New Haven thrives and Yale thrives ... that makes us both so much stronger.”

Elicker ran against Mayor Toni Harp in a three-way Democratic primary in 2013 and then in the general election. Harp is seeking her fourth term as mayor.

Karen Peart, a spokeswoman for Yale responded to Elicker’s statement.

“Yale works with the city’s government and its neighbors in many ways to bring about progress in New Haven. Yale’s generous voluntary payment is just one aspect of its engagement. Paying college tuition for public school students through New Haven Promise, funding the Homebuyer Program that encourages Yale’s employees to live in the city, providing thousands of good, secure jobs for residents, and attracting thousands of visitors who patronize hotels, shops, and restaurants are just some of the ways Yale contributes to New Haven’s vibrancy,” she wrote in an email.

Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital are the two largest employers in the city.

Unite HERE, which represents the two unions at Yale, and New Haven Works struck a deal that Yale over three years would hire 1,000 New Haven residents for permanent jobs, with half from the neighborhoods of greatest need.

The numbers kept changing in a hearing in January on the progress Yale was making, from a high of 2,591 locals hired to a low of 876, with either 627 or 273 from neighborhoods of need, depending on what definitions were used.

Elicker said he thinks Yale should hire 2,000 more New Haven residents in the next five years. The university said at the time of the update that its work was not done.

Compared to five years ago, the candidate said he hears much more about people struggling and the issue of affordable housing is now a central topic. The alders just put together a task force that produced a comprehensive report on zoning and other changes that should be made to help with the housing crisis.

Elicker, as does Harp, supports inclusionary zoning, in which developers of larger projects would set aside a certain percentage of units as affordable, and others as deeply affordable, in exchange for a more dense design. Elicker said he supports the version in which reluctant developers could pay into a fund to support affordable housing elsewhere.

The report found the need for 20,000 units of affordable housing, which must be met with cooperation from the suburbs. In New Haven, 41 percent of all households are housing burdened, meaning that they are paying in excess of 30 percent of their household income toward rent and utilities. The median rent in the city is $1,090 and 58 percent of the units in New Haven rent for more than $1,000 a month.

Ed Corey, Harp’s campaign manager, said in addition to 1,000 units of market-rate housing downtown, 1,000 units of affordable housing have been added during Harp’s tenure. He said it was “a combination of negotiated units in market level developments, Glendower units, Neighborhood Housing and other nonprofit developers, as well as the city.”

He said, going back to her days in the state Senate, Harp always worked to maintain the tax credit legislation needed to support affordable housing. “She has been fighting for this for a very long time,” Corey said.

Elicker asked why it took her so long to get behind inclusionary zoning and make the connection between the housing explosion and gentrification. Corey said the mayor asked why he hadn’t advocated for it when he was the East Rock alder from 2009 to 2013.

Despite the market-rate housing boom and startup companies downtown, Elicker said many residents don’t feel connected to that growth.

“I can’t tell you how many people I have spoken with who see the development going on downtown and don’t feel that it is impacting their lives in any way,” Elicker said.

He criticized the mayor for dismantling the Construction Workforce Initiative 2. He said it was designed to establish a relationship between builders, such as Yale University and construction companies, while offering training for residents who needed the jobs.

It was overseen by Nichole Jefferson, the former head of the Equal Opportunity Commission, whom Harp fired in 2015 over CWI, among other things, a structure that was set up by her predecessor, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. The city continues to appeal each step Jefferson has won to get back her job.

Jefferson and her family were at the Sunday event where Elicker opened his campaign office at 161 Whalley Ave. Jefferson is volunteering for the campaign, while her daughter, Dominique Baez, is working for it part-time.

Asked whether he would bring back CWI 2 if he were elected, Elicker said he would recreate the program “in a manner that provides pathways to employment for construction-related jobs and addresses some of the structural problems with the previous program. I think it isn’t the best set up for accountability to have people that are working for a nonprofit and the city at the same time.”

The candidate said the city is in a “fiscal crisis ... where we are not going to be able to pay for so many things that are important to us.”

Corey said the city is in the black and while there are always challenges, it is not a crisis.

Elicker said New Haven is in an “education crisis.” He said the school system is “hemorrhaging a lot of good talent and not supporting the educators at the grassroots level that are working directly with the students.”

He was asked what his role would be on the Board of Education. He said he would be respectful of everyone and not micromanage. Instead, he said, he would focus on the real role, “which is hiring a really good superintendent, making sure there is accountability.”

He said the mayor has to own any problems as she has so much influence by her appointment power.

Elicker said being a successful leader “is being open and not be so arrogant that you think you have all the answers to things, rather, everyone needs to work together.

“There is so much distrust in the city. ... The lack of transparency means that people with political connections, people with economic resources, people with the time to pester their alder get their issue addressed and other people don’t.”

He said the foundation of leadership is addressing the challenges of the people who don’t have the economic or social capital to effectively advocate for themselves. “If we have ethical leadership that is open with our numbers, with our books and have an open checkbook policy, then people can hold us accountable,” he said.

“I love New Haven and I see so many things that are wrong and I complain about politics, but I don’t want to just complain about politics. I feel it is intellectually dishonest for me to say to myself, ‘oh those politicians,’ without stepping up and doing something about it,” Elicker said in answer to a question as to how important ethics are.

At the opening of the headquarters, Alder Abby Roth, D-7, and Alder Steven Winter, D-21, stopped by, as did Amy Marx, a New Haven Legal Aid Association lawyer fighting the city on its lead policy. Cherlyn Poindexter, the former head of the Local 3144, who butted heads with the administration, also attended.

Patricia Kane, another critic, made a point of attending, as did developer Fereshteh Bekhrad, who said she was supporting Elicker because New Haven needs a creative leader who will move development beyond downtown.

mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577