Elicker To New Haven: "This Is Your Home"

A high school jazz band set the soundtrack. Hand-held finger food and homemade hummus fed a crowd. There was not a tuxedo in sight, but sweatshirts, suit jackets, yoga pants, ergonomic baby carriers, and blue jeans were all par for the course.

A no-frills reception marked Mayor Justin Elicker’s fifth day in office Sunday afternoon, as City Hall opened its doors to hundreds of New Haveners. The celebration, for which there was no formal program, featured the jazz band from High School in the Community, food from ConnCAT’s Orchid Cafe and Petals Market, and sweet treats from culinary students at Gateway Community College. It was organized by Barbara Segaloff, a longtime (now retired) development director with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas and member of the city’s Cultural Affairs Commission.

The event marked a shift from the inaugural traditions of former Mayors Toni Harp and John DeStefano, who both held black tie inaugural balls (and once, a combined regional bash) during their time in office.

“Welcome to City Hall,” Elicker said to applause, shouting out city staff, civil servants, and members of his family. “There was a lot of talk about a ball, and I felt like it was much more important that we set the tone about accessibility of government by opening up the doors of City Hall today to you all, to both ensure that you know that this is your home, this is your house, this is your church, this is your community and you are always welcome here.”

“As everyone in this room knows, this is a complicated city,” he continued. “And I believe New Haven is at a turning point. We’re entering a new decade. And 2020, this coming decade, I think is an opportunity for us to work together ... we need to work together no matter what you look like, your sexual orientation, your background information, your economic status, your document[ed] status, all of those things don’t make a difference in the end. We have got to work together to address the challenges, and I look forward to working with you all to make sure that happens.”

As Elicker promised a City Hall “accessible to everyone,” attendees took that message to heart. Corey Evans, who runs social media for City Clerk Michael Smart, praised the casual approach as a way to show New Haveners that they are welcome in the seat of city government. Even as his colleague Mishele Rodriguez protested—”it was a chance to celebrate,” she said of past inaugural balls—Evans joked that he is ready to put away the tux and tails for a while.

“I really like it,” he said. “His [Elicker's] message is about transparency and community, and I think an event like this really sets the tone. City Hall is the heart of the community.”

That was true for 63-year-old Greta Johnson, who retired last year from her work as a school security officer. Born and raised in New Haven, Johnson has spent the last few decades in the city’s schools, most recently with young kids at Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School. While she moved to Hamden last year, she said she is excited to see what comes out of the new mayoral administration, including new and expanded programming for seniors.

As a retiree, she said she spends time looking for activities for herself and for her mother, who lives at the Bella Vista Apartments in Fair Haven Heights.

“This is wonderful,” she said as she looked over a swelling crowd in the atrium of city hall. “He’s awesome. You can definitely expect some change. This is not intimidating—you can tell that he’s normal. He’s natural. He’s going to take me for what I am.”

Fresh off his first Sunday services of the new decade, Rev. Steven Cousin of Bethel A.M.E. Church said he was feeling good about the political shift, behind which he put his support after a decisive mayoral primary last September. After attending previous inaugural celebrations in a tuxedo, he said that a suit jacket felt just fine. Besides, he joked, there was nowhere else he needed to be after the New England Patriots’ loss to the Tennessee Titans earlier in the weekend.

“Today, it sets the tone,” he said. “It’s laying the foundation for a new administration. You’re seeing new faces. We’re New Haven—there’s an ownership that we have here, and we’re all making sure that the city is prosperous. This is informal. It’s relaxing.”

“This morning, I talked about how God still supplies,” he added. “He supplies us with his mercy, his grace, with his wisdom. That’s how I look at new administrations.”

As they took a break between Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder, members of HSC’s jazz band—all of whom are still too young to vote, but follow city politics—said they were excited to play for the celebration. Junior Kaila Bolden, a bass player who grew up in New Haven, added that the event just narrowly topped opening for Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward at College Street Music Hall last month.

“To get an opportunity like this, it’s amazing,” chimed in 17-year-old Thomas Sabin, a saxophone player from East Haven.

Other attendees came to the event because they supported Elicker during his run, and are ready to see the administration in action. Sitting with police accountability advocate Barbara Fair and Sex Workers and Allies Network (SWAN) Founder Beatrice Codianni, local activist C.J. said that she hopes to see action in the first months of the new administration.

“There’s a lot to do and there’s a lot to pay attention to, so we better do a lot with this change,” she said. Among her top priorities, she named stronger sanctuary city status, meetings of the Board of Police Commissioners that are held in public locations, and equal representation from Black and Latinx members on the city’s Board of Alders and Board of Education.

Fair, who has been a longtime champion of social justice causes in the city, called herself “cautiously optimistic,” noting that she is disappointed that former Assistant Police Chief Luiz Casanova did not receive a mayoral appointment. She added that she hopes to see a stronger challenger to gentrification in Elicker, noting the number of New Haveners she knows who have been pushed to the edges of the city's housing market, or locked out of it entirely. 

“I like this, that we can all be together,” she said of the reception. “I just want to see where the city’s going.”

At a table packed with members of Unidad Latina en Acción, New Havener Marcella Aguilar said she is excited to see Elicker work on stronger sanctuary city legislation. The aunt of Wilbur Cross student Mario Agular, who just last week received asylum, she said that she feels safer under this administration.

“I feel good,” she said, speaking through translation and fellow ULA member Erick Sarmiento. “This is just the beginning, and he [Elicker] is going to be with us. I think he’s going to help us with his work, and I think that he will protect the community.”