Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mayor Justin Elliker is back on with us. It's been
a while. Thanks for taking the time to come on.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Yeah, I felt badly when you said when we saw
each other at the debate, and the first thing you
said was haven't been on in a while. It's been
a while, you know. I called me right, was thinking
to myself, why have you missed it? Have you missed
coming on the project?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
But I you know, I.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Was looking at I was kind of surprised by the
timeline here. I read the most recent story about how
you are working alongside Fernandez. When I first met you
is when I first met Henry Fernandez. You guys were
running against each other. That was way back in twenty thirteen.
It's been a lot.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Life was simple, wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah, it's been a long stretch of time.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You're welcome to have me on even when it's not elections.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I would love to do that, gentlemanly of you to
say that, especially considering my frustrations with the city. You
know that I'm born and raised and that I love
and you know you were professing your love for to
act to debate, so I wanted to ask you, has
there been any was there any moment in the past
(01:12):
year of that you were thinking that maybe I won't
seek reelection, maybe I won't run, Maybe maybe I did
my time. I've done this gig six years. And however
long now did you debate at any point? Maybe not
throwing your hat back in there.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I feel like my wife may have put you out
to that question.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Well, I can see her pressing you how old are
your kids now? Too? I was very sincerely curious about
that as well.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
There's seven and ten years old, yah, two girls, And
you know I have to I have to say, it's
a lot. It's a lot, right, And the things that
make the job hard are also that make the things
that make the job enjoyable. Like every day is wildly different,
and you never know what to expect, and there's a
lot of very difficult challenges we face, and sometimes I
(01:59):
can be super frustrating. The schedule is crazy and I
don't have control over my schedule a lot because something,
you know, happens and I have to be available. But
at the same time, you know, I think I could
have some I don't know, consulting job where I'm traveling
a lot, and I don't have that kind of situation.
So you know, I can still go to my girls'
performances at school and see them at night. Sometimes there's
(02:21):
a sleep when I see them, but when I come home.
But you know, it's a lot. But there have been
moments where I'm like, is this really worth it? Because
also people can be pretty rude and aggresses sometimes, and
most people are wonderful, but some people are tough in
a way that's not always that doesn't make the job enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, and there are times I have to admit, I mean,
there are times. And this comes from a place of
I interviewed you when you were going after the gig
and didn't get it. You know, I interviewed you when
you were going after the gig and you did get it.
And so I feel like there was a Justin Ellick
that I met who was green and hungry and might
(03:04):
not have known how much this was going to be.
And I do feel like in the last few years
there was a Justin Eliker that I've seen who's got
small kids and who's married and who is in maybe
over his head. And that would be understandable. That's not
me being a smart ass at all. I mean, it
would be understandable to be like, I don't know, do
(03:26):
you feel like you've done a good job and are
doing a good job, or like, wow, this is way
more than I planned and maybe it's beyond you know
me right now with small kids, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, So I think that overall, when you look at
what's going on in the city, we've made really really
good progress. And I mean think about it. I started
a job and a couple of months and we were
in the middle of COVID and the world was turned
upside down. But when you look at the development in
the haven, we are are growing rapidly. You know, you
(04:02):
might even not recognize him if ten years ago you
came back. There's so much new development and there's been
a ton of progress, and so our finances have been
significantly stabilized. The rating agencies have upgraded us over and
over again because of the work that we're doing and
not being said, there's a lot of challenges, right We
(04:24):
have challenges with violence. It's significantly down, lowest gun violence
levels in ten years.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
But then we have.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
We lose residents through homicides and that's awful and hard,
and we have more work to do there, So it's
a little bit of both.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah. One thing that frustrated me at the debate, too,
is when I asked you the question about, you know,
comparing two thousand, twenty five to twenty twenty two, twenty eighteen.
You know, I don't necessarily bother myself with doing that,
and you were slick. I got to give it up
to you. You were like, well, I do because it's trending,
and you know, it was like, check me, it's down
(05:04):
compared to that year. But to me with a son
who's downtown New Haven every day and a daughter who's
relieved that she no longer is, and that that saddens
me because it's a city that I loved growing up.
She was terrified to drive through it. Every time she
got to a red light, there was somebody pounding on
the window begging for money. She had the little app
(05:26):
on her phone that let her know every time a
weapon had been discharged. That things, she said, was going
off all the time. And I posed that question to
you about violence in New Haven, and like I said,
you're like, well, I do care about you know, that
year was well done and I get it. But it
got written up in the New Haven Independent in such
(05:48):
a way that I think they misconstrued when my son
was on College Street and a weapon was discharged, that
was not in the homicide. You know, one of the
city's homicides this year. That was just somebody firing rounds
on a Friday night into the sky and creating a panic.
I just didn't want that confused with, you know, when
(06:10):
a life was lost. That was just one crazy night
on College Street, the kind of night that just didn't
take place when I was a kid on College Street.
You know, the only weapon it certainly wasn't a gun.
I mean, guns are prevalent in downtown New em and
crime is too compared the twenty twenty two or not.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So I would say that when you compare the numbers
today with the violence that we saw in the nineteen eighties,
we are a dramatically different city. And I'm happy to
pull those numbers and compare them. But in around the nation,
the crime is dramatically down from the nineteen eighties. So
(06:55):
maybe you I forget how old you are, but maybe
when you were a kid in the fifty.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, I'm fifty eight, that's what. No, No, it's that
it's there's comedy and at the same time it's frustrated.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I'm like, yeah, I'm not trying to make light of it. No, no, no, no, man,
I'm not trying to make that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
But but when I say to my kids, I wish
you could have the same experience, they can't. It's not
nineteen eighty six, they can't. It's so far back, you know,
they couldn't possibly, But they could have two thousand and six.
I'd give anything for them to have two thousand and six.
New Haven.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, it's so happy to look at those numbers.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Two.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But I think the point the point is that I
think one of the challenges you have is almost all
of the gun violence that happens in Newhaven happens to Hertford,
happens the waterbury Bridgeport. It's people that know each other
and have some sort of conflict with each other, and.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
The gangs or guns gangs, yeah, or don't.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
We don't use that word as much because sometimes it's
like two people that are angry at each other. So
sometimes it's gang and sometimes it's you know, individuals that
have a dispute with one another. That's you know, the point.
The point is that there's not random people being shot
in the city, and overwhelmingly New Haven is a very
(08:17):
very safe place. I mean, there's thousands of thousands of
people that come downtown every day, that come downtown over
the weekends, and we just don't see that kind of violence.
We have one or two, we have one or two incidents,
and understandably it gets a lot of attention and media
attention and such, but it doesn't reflect overall the situation
in our city.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah. Yeah, you have to understand too, Mayor when I
say that I don't agree with that, and when I
come on the air here and I say, this is
not the New Haven of again of my childhood, or
even of fifteen years ago, and the run ins that
I have. Last year alone, there were two shootings on
a street on a day that my son was actually
(08:57):
on that street just hours earlier parking his car are
where he parks. Don't I take hits from the businesses
down there too, in the theaters you know that I
work with with sponsors who are like, listen, stop painting this.
You know this place is unsafe to go to. I
have a restaurant here that you eat add a lot,
you know, and I want you so I get a
(09:18):
lot of people yelling at me about it. I wanted
to ask you, and again we'roun with mary Chester and Elliker.
You're still same place. You haven't moved right the East Rock.
If you don't, I mean, I don't know the address.
You're to worry about that, but East Rock, right, genuine question.
Your daughter's seven, ten years old, no doubt, beautiful wonderful kids.
(09:40):
You're fine, Like they say, hey, getting on our bikes,
going for a bike ride. They ride their bikes like
blocks away, they ride to East Rock. You would comfortably
let them scamper off into your neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yes, so not a seven year old, not the seven
year old, but the ten year old. Yes, I'm not
riding her bike because I don't want her to ride
a bike on the road because I still think people
drive pretty dangerously. But yeah, to walk to the corner
store on that sort of thing. And as she grows older,
(10:19):
I think she can get more responsibility. I think your
point is, and I do think we've lost a little
bit of this, this kind of neighborhood feel of neighbors
looking out for one another and the kid being able
to your kids being able to kind of run around
the corner to your friend's house, that sort of thing.
In East Rok we actually have a lot of that.
(10:40):
I think some of that deterioration is because we don't
have any neighborhood schools anymore, and so there's not as
much of that kind of cohesive feeling in the neighborhood.
But at the same time, we have neighborhood a lot
of neighborhood pride and hid in Wister Square, You've got Westville,
New Hall Viille, like people have a lot of pride
in their neighborhood. I think it's a bit of a mix.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I had a gentleman on last year who was seeking office,
Michael Massey. I don't know if that name's familiar to you.
I think he was challenging Rosa Delora. It is really
an interesting candidate because I think I think Newhallville is
exactly where he came from, and he was running as
(11:22):
a business owner. He had small he has small kids.
He owned like a deli in a neighborhood that was
getting vandalized a lot. You know, one of the rougher neighborhoods,
one of the rougher parts of New Haven where your
opponent would say you don't often frequent. Maybe you could
speak to that at some point. But he said something
(11:44):
interesting to me, Mayor. I wanted to get your take
on it. He said, Democrat policies don't work in the hood.
That was his and I wondered what your response to
that statement might be. I thought that was a very
interesting thing for this really likable guy with small kids.
His wife was taking pictures of him in front of
him and in front of the building, and he, you know,
(12:05):
really earnest guy who had to give up his neighborhood
Deli because there was just there were drug deals going
on in front of it. And so here's an African
American father saying I can't make a go of it
here in New Haven and Democrat policies don't work in
the hood. What do you say to that.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
By the way, while we were on the phone, I
looked up there were twenty four homicides in two thousand
and six and we've had thirteen this year, because you
had referenced that year. So I don't even know what Google.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Google is really, Google is just like you know whatever
with the Google move. But no, no, you.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Don't believe No, No, I don't know, but you know
what is Democrat policies don't work in the hood. Like so,
I see municipal policies, not Democrat Republicans. You know, maybe
there's some difference Democrats Republicans municipal policies, but everyone wants
good schools, wants their sidewalks, fix their low taxes. It's
(13:04):
not a Republican Democrat divide. I mean, maybe there's some
issues around immigration that you might find some differences, but
overwhelmingly mayors across the nation are focused on things that
have nothing to do with a Republican or Democrat point
of view.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, because I will hear from believe it or not,
in a station, you know, it is a heritage station
nine sixty w Eli, and I will hear from moms
in from New Halldale, and you know some of the
rougher parts of New aven who say they want a
police presence, they never wanted them and they don't have one.
(13:41):
I want. Yeah, I want to ask you about that.
And you had said to me at the debate that
we just have some huge graduating class. I'd love to
hear about it. How many graduated and are we going
to start seeing them on the street soon?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yes, So we have a new contract that and by
the way, I hear the same thing from people in
New Hallville and the Hill and you know everywhere in
the city that people are more police officers, and that's
just what we're doing. We have a new contract that
is much more competitive than the previous contract, that pays
a lot more. It's been helping us retain officers because
(14:17):
we were losing officers to you know, it's a Woodbridge
job or a Cheshire job, it's a lot easier and
pays more than your ava. But now we're keeping our
officers by and large, which is great and hugely helpful.
And we're also bringing in new officers. I can't remember
the exact number of the new recruits, but we've had
(14:39):
and I think since the murder of George Floyd, we've
had all police departments Cross Nation has seen a real
significant decline in the number officers applying. But since this
new contract, we've had a lot more officers applying, which
just gives us not only the ability to hire more officers,
to hire you know, high quality people. And so in
(15:00):
addition to this new class coming in or we have
another class that's in the pipeline as they go to
the physical fitness exam and a polygraph and other things
like that, and we're working people through that process as well.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Do you feel that the how do you feel considering
what you just said there? I mean, it's just facts
post George Floyd. And it was during that time that
the governor, along with many others, signed a police reform bill.
Do you think that needs to be looked at again,
maybe revisited, maybe walked back to a degree because the
exodus was clear, people were like, why would I want
(15:36):
this job? And then as a mayor, you're a guy
and you're working with Jacobson, who I feel like has
to have a horrible aultser Every time I see that
guy given press conference, I just feel like he's on
there so much pressure. But you must be like, we
can't get people to want to do this job. And
the reason why is, you know, this police reform bill
(15:57):
made it. You know, why wouldn't I want work in
Woodbridge as opposed to you know, it's just it's common sense.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Really, well, this is accountable in Woodbridge with the police
reform bill.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
As you're in new Haven, but you're less likely to
run into some of the stuff you would run into
in new Haven. If I were a guy with small
kids I wanted to get home to, I'd be like
you And like you said earlier, you get that from
my wife. There's a lot of wives, a lot of
husbands saying, yeah, take the gig and mystic, take the
police gig.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And you know it just makes sense.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, you can't blame people. And on the foot side,
you see everything in New Haven and for someone that's
interested in a challenging job and not kind of you know,
sitting at an intersection and pulling people over from time
to time the supposed to be. And there's a lot
of more upward mobility in this job in new Haven, right,
you can become a detective of sergeant lieutenant. And so
(16:51):
I think there's a lot of people that are attracted
to New Haven also because we've got an awesome chief
and we've got you know, really focused on community policing
just to police accountability.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I think a bit over time people are seeing that
it wasn't the disaster that some people made it out
to be. Right, that that when there is when there
are officers involved shootings, meaning an officer shoots somebody, there's
an investigation that goes on and we've seen over and
(17:21):
over again when the officer did the right thing that
there's the officer is, you know, relieved of any sort
of wrongdoing there. So I think that there was a
lot of concern about the Police Accountability Bill by some
when it passed, but I think we're generally seeing that
(17:43):
there's not the kind of issues for officers that were
people were afraid of.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well, I don't think we'd have the street takeover phenomenon
without uh, that bill having been signed, because that's a
bizarre phenomenon. Well, because I don't think they're afraid that
they're not afraid of being chased, they're not afraid of
being pursued. I mean their actual street, just just the
title alone, it's a orchestrated street takeover that I've got
(18:12):
to worry about my daughter rolling up on and not
knowing is not something she can drive through. And there's
really you know, that's a bizarre trend and a terrifying trend,
and I think born out of that knowledge.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, so I don't think that and I have to
check this, but I don't think that the no chase
policy started with the Police Accountability Bill, that was the
prior that was prior to the Police Accountability build, and
the whole purpose of that was so that officers didn't
engage in these high speed chases where they actually put
others people at risk. Officers can still engage in cases
(18:49):
in certain circumstances, but I agree that the street takeovers are,
you know, basically people being brazen and saying, oh, the
officers can't chase these We're going to do what we do.
There's a lot of ways that we're confronting that, and
we're making progress on that, although it's a little bit
of an allusive challenge because people, some people I think
(19:10):
frankly enjoy disobeying the law.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely, And again I think that's at
least somewhat tied to the police reform bill. Mayor Aliker,
I appreciate you coming on this morning, and we want
to get you back on maybe even next week. I
appreciate the accessibility and offering yourself up. Again. We've got
two weeks to go.
Mayor Justin Elliker is back on with us. It's been
a while. Thanks for taking the time to come on.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Yeah, I felt badly when you said when we saw
each other at the debate, and the first thing you
said was haven't been on in a while. It's been
a while, you know. I called me right, was thinking
to myself, why have you missed it? Have you missed
coming on the project?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
But I you know, I.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Was looking at I was kind of surprised by the
timeline here. I read the most recent story about how
you are working alongside Fernandez. When I first met you
is when I first met Henry Fernandez. You guys were
running against each other. That was way back in twenty thirteen.
It's been a lot.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Life was simple, wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah, it's been a long stretch of time.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You're welcome to have me on even when it's not elections.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I would love to do that, gentlemanly of you to
say that, especially considering my frustrations with the city. You
know that I'm born and raised and that I love
and you know you were professing your love for to
act to debate, so I wanted to ask you, has
there been any was there any moment in the past
(01:12):
year of that you were thinking that maybe I won't
seek reelection, maybe I won't run, Maybe maybe I did
my time. I've done this gig six years. And however
long now did you debate at any point? Maybe not
throwing your hat back in there.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I feel like my wife may have put you out
to that question.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Well, I can see her pressing you how old are
your kids now? Too? I was very sincerely curious about
that as well.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
There's seven and ten years old, yah, two girls, And
you know I have to I have to say, it's
a lot. It's a lot, right, And the things that
make the job hard are also that make the things
that make the job enjoyable. Like every day is wildly different,
and you never know what to expect, and there's a
lot of very difficult challenges we face, and sometimes I
(01:59):
can be super frustrating. The schedule is crazy and I
don't have control over my schedule a lot because something,
you know, happens and I have to be available. But
at the same time, you know, I think I could
have some I don't know, consulting job where I'm traveling
a lot, and I don't have that kind of situation.
So you know, I can still go to my girls'
performances at school and see them at night. Sometimes there's
(02:21):
a sleep when I see them, but when I come home.
But you know, it's a lot. But there have been
moments where I'm like, is this really worth it? Because
also people can be pretty rude and aggresses sometimes, and
most people are wonderful, but some people are tough in
a way that's not always that doesn't make the job enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, and there are times I have to admit, I mean,
there are times. And this comes from a place of
I interviewed you when you were going after the gig
and didn't get it. You know, I interviewed you when
you were going after the gig and you did get it.
And so I feel like there was a Justin Ellick
that I met who was green and hungry and might
(03:04):
not have known how much this was going to be.
And I do feel like in the last few years
there was a Justin Eliker that I've seen who's got
small kids and who's married and who is in maybe
over his head. And that would be understandable. That's not
me being a smart ass at all. I mean, it
would be understandable to be like, I don't know, do
(03:26):
you feel like you've done a good job and are
doing a good job, or like, wow, this is way
more than I planned and maybe it's beyond you know
me right now with small kids, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, So I think that overall, when you look at
what's going on in the city, we've made really really
good progress. And I mean think about it. I started
a job and a couple of months and we were
in the middle of COVID and the world was turned
upside down. But when you look at the development in
the haven, we are are growing rapidly. You know, you
(04:02):
might even not recognize him if ten years ago you
came back. There's so much new development and there's been
a ton of progress, and so our finances have been
significantly stabilized. The rating agencies have upgraded us over and
over again because of the work that we're doing and
not being said, there's a lot of challenges, right We
(04:24):
have challenges with violence. It's significantly down, lowest gun violence
levels in ten years.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
But then we have.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
We lose residents through homicides and that's awful and hard,
and we have more work to do there, So it's
a little bit of both.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah. One thing that frustrated me at the debate, too,
is when I asked you the question about, you know,
comparing two thousand, twenty five to twenty twenty two, twenty eighteen.
You know, I don't necessarily bother myself with doing that,
and you were slick. I got to give it up
to you. You were like, well, I do because it's trending,
and you know, it was like, check me, it's down
(05:04):
compared to that year. But to me with a son
who's downtown New Haven every day and a daughter who's
relieved that she no longer is, and that that saddens
me because it's a city that I loved growing up.
She was terrified to drive through it. Every time she
got to a red light, there was somebody pounding on
the window begging for money. She had the little app
(05:26):
on her phone that let her know every time a
weapon had been discharged. That things, she said, was going
off all the time. And I posed that question to
you about violence in New Haven, and like I said,
you're like, well, I do care about you know, that
year was well done and I get it. But it
got written up in the New Haven Independent in such
(05:48):
a way that I think they misconstrued when my son
was on College Street and a weapon was discharged, that
was not in the homicide. You know, one of the
city's homicides this year. That was just somebody firing rounds
on a Friday night into the sky and creating a panic.
I just didn't want that confused with, you know, when
(06:10):
a life was lost. That was just one crazy night
on College Street, the kind of night that just didn't
take place when I was a kid on College Street.
You know, the only weapon it certainly wasn't a gun.
I mean, guns are prevalent in downtown New em and
crime is too compared the twenty twenty two or not.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So I would say that when you compare the numbers
today with the violence that we saw in the nineteen eighties,
we are a dramatically different city. And I'm happy to
pull those numbers and compare them. But in around the nation,
the crime is dramatically down from the nineteen eighties. So
(06:55):
maybe you I forget how old you are, but maybe
when you were a kid in the fifty.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, I'm fifty eight, that's what. No, No, it's that
it's there's comedy and at the same time it's frustrated.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I'm like, yeah, I'm not trying to make light of it. No, no, no, no, man,
I'm not trying to make that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
But but when I say to my kids, I wish
you could have the same experience, they can't. It's not
nineteen eighty six, they can't. It's so far back, you know,
they couldn't possibly, But they could have two thousand and six.
I'd give anything for them to have two thousand and six.
New Haven.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, it's so happy to look at those numbers.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Two.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But I think the point the point is that I
think one of the challenges you have is almost all
of the gun violence that happens in Newhaven happens to Hertford,
happens the waterbury Bridgeport. It's people that know each other
and have some sort of conflict with each other, and.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
The gangs or guns gangs, yeah, or don't.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
We don't use that word as much because sometimes it's
like two people that are angry at each other. So
sometimes it's gang and sometimes it's you know, individuals that
have a dispute with one another. That's you know, the point.
The point is that there's not random people being shot
in the city, and overwhelmingly New Haven is a very
(08:17):
very safe place. I mean, there's thousands of thousands of
people that come downtown every day, that come downtown over
the weekends, and we just don't see that kind of violence.
We have one or two, we have one or two incidents,
and understandably it gets a lot of attention and media
attention and such, but it doesn't reflect overall the situation
in our city.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah. Yeah, you have to understand too, Mayor when I
say that I don't agree with that, and when I
come on the air here and I say, this is
not the New Haven of again of my childhood, or
even of fifteen years ago, and the run ins that
I have. Last year alone, there were two shootings on
a street on a day that my son was actually
(08:57):
on that street just hours earlier parking his car are
where he parks. Don't I take hits from the businesses
down there too, in the theaters you know that I
work with with sponsors who are like, listen, stop painting this.
You know this place is unsafe to go to. I
have a restaurant here that you eat add a lot,
you know, and I want you so I get a
(09:18):
lot of people yelling at me about it. I wanted
to ask you, and again we'roun with mary Chester and Elliker.
You're still same place. You haven't moved right the East Rock.
If you don't, I mean, I don't know the address.
You're to worry about that, but East Rock, right, genuine question.
Your daughter's seven, ten years old, no doubt, beautiful wonderful kids.
(09:40):
You're fine, Like they say, hey, getting on our bikes,
going for a bike ride. They ride their bikes like
blocks away, they ride to East Rock. You would comfortably
let them scamper off into your neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yes, so not a seven year old, not the seven
year old, but the ten year old. Yes, I'm not
riding her bike because I don't want her to ride
a bike on the road because I still think people
drive pretty dangerously. But yeah, to walk to the corner
store on that sort of thing. And as she grows older,
(10:19):
I think she can get more responsibility. I think your
point is, and I do think we've lost a little
bit of this, this kind of neighborhood feel of neighbors
looking out for one another and the kid being able
to your kids being able to kind of run around
the corner to your friend's house, that sort of thing.
In East Rok we actually have a lot of that.
(10:40):
I think some of that deterioration is because we don't
have any neighborhood schools anymore, and so there's not as
much of that kind of cohesive feeling in the neighborhood.
But at the same time, we have neighborhood a lot
of neighborhood pride and hid in Wister Square, You've got Westville,
New Hall Viille, like people have a lot of pride
in their neighborhood. I think it's a bit of a mix.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I had a gentleman on last year who was seeking office,
Michael Massey. I don't know if that name's familiar to you.
I think he was challenging Rosa Delora. It is really
an interesting candidate because I think I think Newhallville is
exactly where he came from, and he was running as
(11:22):
a business owner. He had small he has small kids.
He owned like a deli in a neighborhood that was
getting vandalized a lot. You know, one of the rougher neighborhoods,
one of the rougher parts of New Haven where your
opponent would say you don't often frequent. Maybe you could
speak to that at some point. But he said something
(11:44):
interesting to me, Mayor. I wanted to get your take
on it. He said, Democrat policies don't work in the hood.
That was his and I wondered what your response to
that statement might be. I thought that was a very
interesting thing for this really likable guy with small kids.
His wife was taking pictures of him in front of
him and in front of the building, and he, you know,
(12:05):
really earnest guy who had to give up his neighborhood
Deli because there was just there were drug deals going
on in front of it. And so here's an African
American father saying I can't make a go of it
here in New Haven and Democrat policies don't work in
the hood. What do you say to that.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
By the way, while we were on the phone, I
looked up there were twenty four homicides in two thousand
and six and we've had thirteen this year, because you
had referenced that year. So I don't even know what Google.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Google is really, Google is just like you know whatever
with the Google move. But no, no, you.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Don't believe No, No, I don't know, but you know
what is Democrat policies don't work in the hood. Like so,
I see municipal policies, not Democrat Republicans. You know, maybe
there's some difference Democrats Republicans municipal policies, but everyone wants
good schools, wants their sidewalks, fix their low taxes. It's
(13:04):
not a Republican Democrat divide. I mean, maybe there's some
issues around immigration that you might find some differences, but
overwhelmingly mayors across the nation are focused on things that
have nothing to do with a Republican or Democrat point
of view.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, because I will hear from believe it or not,
in a station, you know, it is a heritage station
nine sixty w Eli, and I will hear from moms
in from New Halldale, and you know some of the
rougher parts of New aven who say they want a
police presence, they never wanted them and they don't have one.
(13:41):
I want. Yeah, I want to ask you about that.
And you had said to me at the debate that
we just have some huge graduating class. I'd love to
hear about it. How many graduated and are we going
to start seeing them on the street soon?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yes, So we have a new contract that and by
the way, I hear the same thing from people in
New Hallville and the Hill and you know everywhere in
the city that people are more police officers, and that's
just what we're doing. We have a new contract that
is much more competitive than the previous contract, that pays
a lot more. It's been helping us retain officers because
(14:17):
we were losing officers to you know, it's a Woodbridge
job or a Cheshire job, it's a lot easier and
pays more than your ava. But now we're keeping our
officers by and large, which is great and hugely helpful.
And we're also bringing in new officers. I can't remember
the exact number of the new recruits, but we've had
(14:39):
and I think since the murder of George Floyd, we've
had all police departments Cross Nation has seen a real
significant decline in the number officers applying. But since this
new contract, we've had a lot more officers applying, which
just gives us not only the ability to hire more officers,
to hire you know, high quality people. And so in
(15:00):
addition to this new class coming in or we have
another class that's in the pipeline as they go to
the physical fitness exam and a polygraph and other things
like that, and we're working people through that process as well.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Do you feel that the how do you feel considering
what you just said there? I mean, it's just facts
post George Floyd. And it was during that time that
the governor, along with many others, signed a police reform bill.
Do you think that needs to be looked at again,
maybe revisited, maybe walked back to a degree because the
exodus was clear, people were like, why would I want
(15:36):
this job? And then as a mayor, you're a guy
and you're working with Jacobson, who I feel like has
to have a horrible aultser Every time I see that
guy given press conference, I just feel like he's on
there so much pressure. But you must be like, we
can't get people to want to do this job. And
the reason why is, you know, this police reform bill
(15:57):
made it. You know, why wouldn't I want work in
Woodbridge as opposed to you know, it's just it's common sense.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Really, well, this is accountable in Woodbridge with the police
reform bill.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
As you're in new Haven, but you're less likely to
run into some of the stuff you would run into
in new Haven. If I were a guy with small
kids I wanted to get home to, I'd be like
you And like you said earlier, you get that from
my wife. There's a lot of wives, a lot of
husbands saying, yeah, take the gig and mystic, take the
police gig.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And you know it just makes sense.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, you can't blame people. And on the foot side,
you see everything in New Haven and for someone that's
interested in a challenging job and not kind of you know,
sitting at an intersection and pulling people over from time
to time the supposed to be. And there's a lot
of more upward mobility in this job in new Haven, right,
you can become a detective of sergeant lieutenant. And so
(16:51):
I think there's a lot of people that are attracted
to New Haven also because we've got an awesome chief
and we've got you know, really focused on community policing
just to police accountability.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I think a bit over time people are seeing that
it wasn't the disaster that some people made it out
to be. Right, that that when there is when there
are officers involved shootings, meaning an officer shoots somebody, there's
an investigation that goes on and we've seen over and
(17:21):
over again when the officer did the right thing that
there's the officer is, you know, relieved of any sort
of wrongdoing there. So I think that there was a
lot of concern about the Police Accountability Bill by some
when it passed, but I think we're generally seeing that
(17:43):
there's not the kind of issues for officers that were
people were afraid of.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well, I don't think we'd have the street takeover phenomenon
without uh, that bill having been signed, because that's a
bizarre phenomenon. Well, because I don't think they're afraid that
they're not afraid of being chased, they're not afraid of
being pursued. I mean their actual street, just just the
title alone, it's a orchestrated street takeover that I've got
(18:12):
to worry about my daughter rolling up on and not
knowing is not something she can drive through. And there's
really you know, that's a bizarre trend and a terrifying trend,
and I think born out of that knowledge.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, so I don't think that and I have to
check this, but I don't think that the no chase
policy started with the Police Accountability Bill, that was the
prior that was prior to the Police Accountability build, and
the whole purpose of that was so that officers didn't
engage in these high speed chases where they actually put
others people at risk. Officers can still engage in cases
(18:49):
in certain circumstances, but I agree that the street takeovers are,
you know, basically people being brazen and saying, oh, the
officers can't chase these We're going to do what we do.
There's a lot of ways that we're confronting that, and
we're making progress on that, although it's a little bit
of an allusive challenge because people, some people I think
(19:10):
frankly enjoy disobeying the law.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely, And again I think that's at
least somewhat tied to the police reform bill. Mayor Aliker,
I appreciate you coming on this morning, and we want
to get you back on maybe even next week. I
appreciate the accessibility and offering yourself up. Again. We've got
two weeks to go.
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