INNER-CITY NEWS

INNER-CITY NEWS

July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

Connecticut Joins NewaYork New Jersey In Challenging Tax Reform Financial Justice Keyand Focus at 2016 NAACP Convention New Haven, Bridgeport

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January 31, 2018

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February 06, 2018

Connecticut Joins New York and New Jersey In Challenging Tax Reform

by Christine Stuart CT. Junkie News

HARTFORD, CT — The governors of Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey said Friday they plan to challenge the constitutionality of the state and local tax deduction cap that was part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by Republican President Donald Trump in late 2017.

In a conference call with reporters, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it offends the concept of federalism and tramples states rights.

The $10,000 cap on state and local taxes severely impacts 12 states and those states are forming a coalition to file a legal action challenging the constitutionality of that provision, Cuomo said.

It’s too soon to say when and where a lawsuit would be filed.

But Cuomo believes they have a very strong legal argument that the bill is “a fundamental violation of states rights and repugnant to the very concept of federalism that formed this nation.”

He said there’s also an argument that it’s a violation of the Equal Protection

clause.

He said the 12 states that get hurt by the provision all happen to be Democratic states, all have virtually no representation in the U.S. Senate and a small minority of House members, and are states that Trump lost in the last election.

“There is no doubt the tax reform plan takes from the 12 and distributes to the remaining states,” Cuomo said.

He said it’s not even a new issue. He said it was raised before.

Going back to 1862, Cuomo said when President Abraham Lincoln proposed the first income tax to pay for the Civil War that bill said: “all other national state and local taxes shall first be deducted,” to determine a taxpayer’s liability for the income tax.

He said the state has a right to tax for state services.

“States are not colonies of the federal government,” Cuomo said. “Federalism was a covenant. It was shared power and the federal government shall not trample the states powers.”

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has yet to announce plans for how the state

CTNEWSJUNKIE FILE PHOTO

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy

might lessen the burden of the inability to deduct state and local taxes over $10,000, said it’s a dramatic break with past practice and a covenant that the state has with the federal government.

In Connecticut, the cap on state and local taxes would likely impact 171,118 filings representing hun-

dreds of thousands of individuals.

Those filings represent $10 billion in deductions they otherwise would have been able to claim, if they had not been capped.

“In so many ways these changes discriminate against our states, against our economies, against the individual citizens who live within our states and

somebody has to stand up and say not at this time,” Malloy said. “It is fundamentally unfair and illegal.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who was inaugurated just 10 days ago, said he was happy to sign the letter of “common interest” with other likeminded sister states.

He said the state and local tax deduction is “unambiguous” and has “nothing to do with sound policy.”

He pointed out that filing a lawsuit doesn’t preclude the parties from trying to mitigate the impact on their states.

Cuomo has spoken about creating a new employer-side payroll tax with a credit against state income tax liability.

The idea is that individuals would pay their state income taxes through the employer-side payroll taxes.

But that would only work for individuals who are employed by companies.

Many individuals who are self-employed or freelancers would be out of luck.

It’s unclear how many residents Connecticut might be helped by that change.

House Democrats Get Jump On Toll Debate

by Christine Stuart

New Haven Independent

HARTFORD, CT — Democratic legislative leaders in the House weren’t going to wait for the start of the legislative session to debate electronic tolls.

They want to hold a vote and pass it as soon as possible.

“Connecticut residents can’t afford to wait; we must invest in transportation now,” Rep. Antonio Guerrera, DRocky Hill, said. “Every day we put off making these tough decisions, we risk tragedy on our decaying roads and bridges.”

Guerrera and Rep. Chris Perone plan on introducing legislation to require the state Department of Transportation to prepare a statewide plan to implement electronic tolling on Connecticut’s highways.

Guerrera, who co-chairs the Transportation Committee, said they can get tolls up and running in the state over the next two or three years if they approve electronic tolls for Connecticut’s highways, like Interstates 95, 84, and 91.

But Guerrera and other Democratic lawmakers don’t want to wait.

“It’s not about Republican or Demo-

crat,” Guerrera said.

He said the question is, “do you want a vibrant state that can move goods and services in a timely fashion?”

The Special Transportation Fund, which is used to borrow for road improvements, will be insolvent in two years.

Guerrera estimated tolls would bring in about $600 million to $800 million a year in new revenue to the state.

An estimated 30 to 40 percent would come from out-of-state drivers, he added.

Over the course of 25 years, electronic tolls could raise $37-62 billion depending on the toll-rate used — according to the CDM Smith study commissioned by the state Department of Transportation and published in 2016.

Do they support a stop-gap measure like an increase in the gas tax?

Rep. Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, who chairs the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, said he will propose a 4-cent increase in the gas tax. The gas tax is currently a flat 25 cents. He’s not proposing changing the gross receipts tax, which is the other tax on the per gallon cost of gas.

Guerrera said he would support an

CHRISTINE STUART / CTNEWSJUNKIE

Rep. Antonio Guerrera

increase in the gas tax as long as it was temporary and written in a way that would reduce the gas tax when electronic tolling is installed.

House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said they’ve been funding the Special Transportation Fund with a half-percent of the sales tax,

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which will increase in 2021 based on the bipartisan budget that was recently passed.

“However you do it, we have to have a real conversation about that,” Ritter said. “Because it’s not working and our state is failing because of it.”

Ritter said he’s not certain where the

revenue for the Special Transportation Fund will come in the short term, but he believes there’s ways to raise the revenue to keep it solvent.

He said he hopes they get support from Republicans in the House, but there’s no guarantee.

Con’t on page 8

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

Quest Resumed For Civilian Review Subpoena Power

by ANEURIN CANHAM-CLYNE New Haven Independent

Police accountability advocates are gearing up for a renewed push to create a civilian review board with teeth in New Haven.

Three of the advocates unveiled proposed legislation for such a board at a panel discussion Thursday night at Yale Law School.

The proposal, entitled the “Malik Jones All Civilian Review Board (ACRB) Ordinance,” would give a CRB subpoena power, a key demand among activists in town in heated public debates over the past year.

“A bad board is worse than no board,” argued Yale law student Wally Hilke, who has worked on the proposal and served as one of the panelists Thursday night.

Longtime public accountability activist Emma Jones, and Chris Desir joined him on the panel City alders, after succeeding in getting a 2013 charter referendum passed to create a tougher new version of a CRB, have failed to pass an ordinance actually to create it since then. Debate over how to grant subpoena power has proved a sticking point. Alders discovered state law prevents the CRB from being able to subpoena cops to testify. Advocates argue that without subpoena power, the CRB would be toothless.

“Without subpoena power board meet-

ings are just useless PR,” Hilke said Thursday night.

Emma Jones, whose son Malik was killed by an East Haven cop in Fair Haven in 1997, agreed with Hilke. After her son’s killing, Jones studied the structure and efficacy of different civilian review boards and found that few had the power necessary to act as a check on police abuse.

“Of 106 civilian review boards I reviewed, none are effective,” Jones said.

Subpoena power, independence, funding, investigative powers and the ability to recommend disciplinary powers or a grand jury investigation are the determinants of review board efficacy, according to Jones.

Jones said Thursday night that the CRB could get that power by including the president of the Board of Alders or an aldermanic committee chair on the CRB, because those individuals have subpoena powers in their official roles.

According to the proposed ACRB Ordinance, the Board of Alders would have to create a CRB committee, whose chair would serve as a non-voting member with subpoena power on the ACRB. Hilke added that subpoenas are useful not just for compelling police to testify, but for securing documents and enlisting witness testimony as well.

Chris Desir, the third panelist, argued that internal affairs divisions are structurally incapable of serving a public in-

ANEURIN CANHAM-CLYNE PHOTO

Emma Jones, at right in photo, at the panel.

terest, as they are answerable to police departments instead of civilian power.

“We’re talking about structures, not individuals,” Desir said. Desir said they had obtained police records on misconduct from 2010-2016 from the department’s internal affairs division by means of a Freedom of Information Act request.

When the information came it was in the form of handwritten spreadsheets, with many names illegible or spelled incon-

sistently, according to Desir. Desir said this was reflective of the police’s inability to police the police. Desir also said the documents revealed NHPD tried to discipline the officers involved in the shooting of Jewu Richardson, but that the officers responsible for this internal discipline closed ranks at the witness stand.

Hilke said noted the police union has presented an opposing force for a

stronger CRB before the Board of Alders. He argued that the city shouldn’t worry about the police contract. An ACRB, Hilke said, is compatible with the chief’s authority as enumerated in the union contract and the city charter.

“City law trumps the contract,” Desir said.

“They’d have to change the contract to Con’t on page 23

Connecticut General Assembly Will Examine Its Sexual Harassment Policy

by Christine Stuart CT. Junkie News

HARTFORD, CT — The Connecticut General Assembly will reflect this year on its sexual harassment policy for lawmakers and employees at the state Capitol complex.

In what seems to be a proactive move and response to the #MeToo movement, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for retraining for lawmakers, who are only mandated to take sexual harassment training once no matter how long they’ve been in office.

Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said legislative leaders plan to introduce legislation through the Joint Committee on Legislative Management and hold a public hearing on the sexual harassment policy for the state Capitol complex.

Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, said Thursday outside the Senate caucus room that they have to recognize “there’s a power dynamic in this building.”

She said “even just having this hearing lets everyone in this building know that that power dynamic is not to be used to

CHRISTINE STUART / CTNEWSUNKIE

Leader Bob Duff

Senate President Martin Looney and Senate Majority

exploit young women or young men or older women or older men.”

Sen. Marilyn Moore, D-Trumbull, said they’re trying to “get ahead of this.”

She said she’s unaware of any allegations of sexual harassment, “but I think it’s smart of us to get in front of it.”

Looney said the review of the policy for the state Capitol complex doesn’t foreclose any committee’s ability to look at altering the statute of limitations

for reporting sexual assault or enhancing criminal penalties in certain areas.

Given the current climate, Looney said he believes they owe it to the public to review their own policies.

The policy was updated and reviewed in 2013 following an incident in which a lawmaker in a leadership position told a 17-year-old girl that if she was shy then he had a live snake for her under his desk. The girl, an intern with the Con-

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necticut Science Center, talked about being shy and overcoming her fear of snakes during her testimony.

The lawmaker was stripped of his leadership responsibilities and didn’t win re-election.

“Everyone needs to examine their policies,” Looney said.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said he thinks the 2013 policy is much stronger than policies of “many private businesses.”

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, DBerlin, ordered his caucus members to attend sexual harassment training again this year.

Aresimowicz himself took the training on Thursday and is happy to have the Legislative Management Committee review the current policy.

Senate Republican President Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said the policy should be reviewed and there was agreement among legislative leaders to move forward with a public hearing.

Pat O’Neil, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, RDerby, said all four caucuses agreed to

address this issue and one of the options was reviewing the current policy.

It’s not an insignificant decision for the four caucuses. The Joint Committee on Legislative Management meets very rarely, in fact, it hasn’t met in five years.

The decision to review the current policy comes after Legislative Management has received a handful of Freedom of Information requests for disciplinary action taken against any members of the General Assembly. There have been no responsive documents to provide and according to Looney there’s been no settlements made.

Pew Charitable Trusts Stateline blog found in late December that at least 18 state lawmakers who faced allegations of sexual misconduct have either resigned, announced they will resign, or been punished to some extent. At least 14 states have held anti-harassment training, announced that training will take place at the start of the next session, or said they will institute more regular training and at least 19 legislatures are updating or reviewing their code of conduct, policies or procedures.

ConnCAT Scores $1M THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

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February 06, 2018

by ALLAN APPEL

New Haven Independent

A woman in the phlebotomy training class had been doing well, and then not. Then she dropped out completely.

Staff figured out the problem: She had become homeless. They put her in touch with an agency that could help. She got a place to live, she returned to the phlebotomy program, she graduated, and she is now gainfully employed.

That story of lifting up people whose lives are on the edge to new skills, new self-esteem, and success was told Wednesday as an example of the kidn of life-changing work that is getting a $1 million boost.

The boost is coming in the form of a grant from KeyBank to the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT) in Science Park.

About 75 philanthropic movers and shakers and political officials marked the occasion at a press conference convened at the Orchid Cafe.

That’s the restaurant, at ConnCAT’s 4 Science Park headquarters, run by students in the culinary training program.

That program, along with training in phlebotomy and medical coding and billing, are the specific beneficiaries of the Key grant, said ConnCAT President and CEO Erik Clemons.

John P. Thomas Publisher / CEO

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Editor-in-Chief Liaison, Corporate Affairs Babz@penfieldcomm.com

Advertising/Sales Team Trenda Lucky Keith Jackson Delores Alleyne John Thomas, III

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Christian Lewis/Current Affairs Anthony Scott/Sports Arlene Davis-Rudd/Politics

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Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur ALLAN APPEL PHOTO Highsmith,

Clemons, Copeland, and Key Bank Connecticut President f Jeff Hubbard.

The grant, the largest given yet in Connecticut by the KeyBank Foundation, is intended to cover three years of sustaining general operations costs pertaining specifically to the adult job training programs, not the afterschool, summer, and arts activities for which ConnCAT is also known.

The grant is part of a five-year, $16.5 billion National Community Benefits Plan that Key Bank, headquartered in

Cleveland and operating in 15 states, negotiated as part of its purchase of First Niagara Bank back in 2012, said Key spokeswoman Karen Crane.

At any one time about 57 students are involved in ConnCAT’s intensive job training programs, which run four months for the phlebotomy classes; six months for the culinary arts; and eight months to complete certification in medical coding and billing.

In a brief tour of the classes Wednesday, before the formal speeches began in the cafe, we met Pierre Goubourn, a graduate of the phlebotomy program himself back in 2012. He now teaches the course.

“What is a tumor of the gland?” he called out to a particular student.

“An adenoma,” she respnded.

After working for several years in medical billing in Shelton, he returned to teach the course and to find others who might become business partners in the medical billing business he plans to open. “People who are my students today, they are going to become colleagues,” he said.

ConnCAT’s newest program is a two-week-long intensive entrepreneur training conducted at Quinnipiac University for area high school students.

ConnCAT Board Chairman Carlton Highsmith said that since the day the center opened, not a dollar of govern-

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ment money at any level has been solicited or spent. The entire operation depends on grants from individuals, corporations, and foundations.

ConnCAT finds transforming pathways for people whom other programs might have given up on. When staffers found, for example, that most of those enrolled in the medical programs were women, they did a market study and found that New Haven’s booming restaurant scene needs people able to step instantly into a kitchen and know what to do.

That’s how the culinary arts program was established. In no small part, those attracted to it were men, many formerly incarcerated.

“We’re in the hope business. We’re in the business of turning liabilities into assets,” Highsmith added.

The culinary arts job placement rate is 100 percent. For those training in the medical field, it’s 64 percent thus far, Clemons reported.

KeyBank Foundation CEO and Chairperson Margot Copeland, who formally presented the check, agreed.

She called the gift a “smart investment” and ConnCAT’s program potentially a national model for job training and reeducation.

“It’s not training people in a vacuum but for real jobs to be skilled people who transform their lives,” she added.

Michelle Turner Smita Shrestha William Spivey Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

_______________________

Contributors At-Large

Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com Paul Bass New Haven Independent www.newhavenindependent.org

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

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February 06, 2018

41 New Firefighters Chosen; 83% Local

by ALLAN APPEL

on the economic side” they also contribute, Alston said.

Come summer, when the training Matthew Watkins’s night shift as a li- ends, the department will see significensed practical nurse had just ended. cant overtime savings, Alston said.

His shift as a school nurse was about The department has been short 55 to begin. firefighters, requiring some 20 overThat left just enough time to drop by time shifts a day. The new firefighters, the Board of Fire Commissioners’ regu- starting at $41,488, early as much as lar monthly meting Tuesday morning to $37,000 less a year than experienced learn that a new job awaits him: He has firefighters. So even factoring the been offered a seat in the new class of extra cost of paying benefits to new NHFD firefighters. firefighters benefits, the department The commissioners voted to offer will save money having them work seats to 41 people in the new class to shifts that more experienced firefightbegin 16-week training Feb 28. The ers would otherwise work overtime, vote was unanimous.

Alston said.

The 41, to fill already budgeted jobs, Also among those selected Tuesday include a 56-year old phenom who was Samod Rankins who, like Watpassed all the tests, and five women. kins, is a graduate of Eli Whitney That’s notable, Chief John Alston Jr. Technical High School. said, because the department has only The paths that led Rankins and Wat11 women currently serving out of 322. kins to this moment in their lives were And 34 of the 41 cadets — or 83 per- different,both characterized by the imcent — live in New Haven. That’s a re- pulse for public service. cord, according to Alston.

Watkins, who placed first on the writCity residents receive an automatic ten and oral tests for the job, joined ten point boost on their applications. the army right out of high school. He “They know the area, the streets, and served for six years, including a deNew Haven Independent

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO

Matthew Watkins and Samod Rankins after making the cut.

ployment to Kuwait. He used the time there effectively, earning an online bachelor’s degree.

“There’s not much to do while you’re in the desert,” he said.

After his discharge, he went to work in retail. That didn’t fulfill his desire to help people, a desire he inherited from a firefighter uncle and from his mom, a nurse.

Watkins began applying to become a firefighter while training and subsequently working as an LPN at an assisted living facility and also as a school nurse at Long Hill Elementary in Shelton.

Rankins’ success Tuesday morning was a story of persistence.

He failed the oral exam back in 2013, he said, but kept at it. “I retook the oral and passed everything successfully. I never gave up.”

A New Haven native like Watkins, Rankins prepared during the intervening years by earning state certifications in “hazmat awareness,” and as an EMT. The arduous application process began back in May with a formal application. In June came the written and oral tests, with results in July. In August, the department administered the physical exam. Background checks then ensued, organized by the police department. In November there was a health assessment and then last month the in-person interviews.

At those interviews, which can run Con’t on page 23

At Least 4 Overdose On Bad K2 Batch

by STAFF

New Haven Independent

At least four people overdosed within moments of each other in the Hill Thursday afternoon, thanks to a bad batch of a street drug known as K2.

The city has issued a public health alert and is racing to learn more about the overdoses and get more information out.

Fire, police and health officials updated the public at a 17-minute press briefing shortly before 6 p.m. in the Emergency Operations Center at 200 Orange St. Click on the video above to watch the conference.

Officials subsequently reconvened with updated information, including that one of the fatalities reported at the initial briefing had been resuscitated.

They said they’re working hard to keep people informed as new information comes in.

Fire Chief John Alston Jr. and Police Chief Anthony Campbell said that at least four overdoses, and maybe more, were linked to the ingestion of K2, a synthetic cannaboid, that’s usu-

ally smoked. It also goes by the name “Spice Mix.” The chiefs were careful not to attribute the overdoses to opioids or PCP; they said they’re not sure yet precisely what poison, if any, was mixed in with the consumed K2. Drug samples have been sent to the Drug Enforcement Administration for testing. “Whatever it was, it affected these [four] people the same way,” Alston said at the briefing. Their hearts slowed, he reported, and they had trouble breathing. “Some were in a lifeless condition, others in altered mental status.”

The first involved a 36-year-old woman fallen to the ground on Court Street, who later died. At this point, it appears that she overdosed on a different drug from what the others took.

Her case is not, as of yet, being included in the official tally of K2-related overdoses.

“I’m not saying it’s not related. I’m not saying it is related,” Alston said.

The first verified K2 calls came at 2:52 p.m. at two separate locations in the Hill: one at Vernon Street and Congress Avenue, one at Davenport

Emergency management chief Rick Fontana, John Alston, Anthony Campbell and David Hartman, at an emergency briefing.

Avenue and Vernon.

Two people had overdosed at each location and were transported to the hospital. Two of them confirmed they were K2 users.

On the way over, two went into cardiac arrest, meaning their hearts stopped beating. One is in a medically induced coma.

6

Officials did not provide identifying information about the victims.

At 4 p.m. a fifth person was discovered to have overdosed, on High Street downtown. But that involved prescription medication and not K2, Campbell said.

Campbell said a call from Kensington Street is also being investigated as

possibly related. Campbell said Friday morning that that person apparently overdosed from PCP. Anyone with information relevant to the overdoses is asked to dial 911 or call detectives at (203) 946-6304.

The New Haven Fire Department dispatched its paramedics to 547 overdoses last year.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

How Jennifer Wells-Jackson Emerged From Plato’s Cave

PAUL BASS PHOTO

WNHH FM.

Jennifer Wells-Jackson reads aloud from a James Baldwin story on

by PAUL BASS

New Haven Independent

Listen to Jennifer Wells-Jackson tell the story of Plato’s cave, and you’ll understand why she devotes her days to reading to New Haven schoolchildren.

You may also be inspired to volunteer an hour this coming week along with others to pick up a book in a public school classroom as part of New Haven’s version of World Read Aloud Day. Wells-Jackson is the reading coach at Bishop Woods School. She and other coaches are helping organize the Feb. 1 Read Aloud Day by scheduling volunteers from throughout town to come into classrooms to read a book to kids. Reading opened Wells-Jackson’s world at a young age. She has made opening up the next generation’s world her professional mission.

She grew up on Truman Street in the 1980s and ‘90s, when violent drug gangs made it one of the most dangerous stretches of the city. She found she could travel beyond that world in books. Especially after she brought a concern to her mom.

She was in second grade at the time.

“I’m scared,” she told her mom.

“What’s wrong?” her mom asked her.

“Every single time I read, I get these pictures in my head. I think there’s something wrong.”

“Babe,” her mom told her, “that’s what’s supposed to happen.”

Wells-Jackson didn’t stop from then on. She got into Norfolk State, a historically black university in Virginia.

In her sophomore year, she read Plato’s famous allegory of the cave in The Republic. The 2,400-year-old text had a modern-day resonance for Jackson.

“It speaks about people being in a cave and looking at these shadows on the wall and believing these shadows were reality. Every now and then someone

would escape and come back [and say:] ‘This is not reality! Come on!’

And try to bring someone out. And no one wanted to do that.

“That was exactly the life I was living. I remember feeling like I was looking at the images on the wall as a Truman Street girl. I remember saying to myself, ‘Am I ever going to get out of this?’ Looking at those images, I thought: Teen pregnancy. HIV/AIDS. All kinds of drugs. That was my reality.

“But I broke away. And I ran out of the cave. I went to college. And I gained knowledge.”

And, like the escapee from the cave, she needed to go back.

Wells-Jackson thought about a remark then-mayor John Daniels had made at her Wilbur Cross High School graduation. He urged the students to return to New Haven after graduation and make a difference.

“I decided to come back to New Haven. I said, ‘OK, I’m going to run into this cave and try to convince other people that [what they might see on the street] is not your reality.’”

She did that first as a classroom teacher, at Helene Grant and Fair Haven schools. For the past 14 years, she has worked full-time as a literacy instructional coach, part of a team working to make New Haven into “the city that reads.”

Wells-Jackson discussed that quest along with another coach, Quinnipiac School’s Robyn Sweet, and Lauren Canalori, a district-wide reading supervisor, on an episode of WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” They read aloud from books, discussed the school district’s progress on raising reading scores, and urged listeners to help make this year’s Read Aloud Day the best yet.

ya l e i n st i t u t e o f s a c r e d m u s i c joins the

inner city news in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans to the cultural and spiritual life of New Haven and the world.

e v e n t l i st i n g s at ism.yale.edu

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

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February 06, 2018

Yale Div School Eyes East Rock Home

by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven Independent

The Yale Divinity School is interested in purchasing a single-family home near its Prospect Hill campus and converting it into an academic building, thereby removing over $18,500 from the city’s annual property tax rolls.

At Monday night’s regular monthly meeting of the East Rock Community Management Team (ERCMT) at the mActivity Gym on Nicoll Street, Karen King from Yale’s Office of New Haven and State Affairs and Stephen Brown from Yale’s Planning Administration informed neighbors that the university is exploring a potential purchase of the two-story, single-family home at 320 Canner St. The home, built in 1986, is privately owned and occupied and has an assessed value of $481,810 as of 2016.

At the current mill rate of 38.68, annual property taxes on the home would be $18,636.

King and Brown said that the university has not yet purchased the house.

They said that the university is in the preliminary stages of the project, and does not yet have a timeline or any further details on when the purchase and proposed use change would take place.

King said the university is eyeing the Canner Street house because the Yale Divinity School recently absorbed the Andover Newton Theological School, a small, historic congregational seminary based out of Newton, Mass., that is the oldest graduate school in the country.

Yale Divinity School does not plan to increase its student body above its current enrollment of 400. But the new partnership with Andover will bring 20 new students and six faculty and staff associated with the latter’s congregational ministry program to the Yale Divinity School’s campus each year.

The building at 320 Canner St. would serve as a cultural center and seminar space for Andover’s students and faculty, and may host a weekly Sunday worship service that would be open to the public.

“The proposal is for Andover to have a sense of identity here in the city in association with the divinity school,” King said.

Brown, who is the associate director of Yale’s Planning Administration, showed neighbors a map and several photographs of the location, pointing out where Yale plans on creating a cutthrough path that would connect 320

THOMAS BREEN PHOTO Stephen Brown shows neighbors a map and photographs of 320 Canner St., a two-story, single-family home that Yale is interested in purchasing and converting to academic use.

Yale’s Karen King (right) and Stephen Brown at Monday night’s meeting.

LCI neighborhood specialist Linda Davis (right) and East Rock management team chair David Budries.

8

Canner St. to the divinity school’s Prospect Street quadrangle.

He described the building as a “welldesigned” and “well laid-out” house, with a large backyard, a one-car garage, a kitchen, dining, and living area on the ground floor, three bedrooms on the second floor, a contiguous loft bedroom, and a downstairs study.

“They’re not going to expand the footprint,” King said about Yale’s tentative plans for the building.

“They’re just going to update the inside so that it can be used as a student teaching space.”

“I like the idea from the student’s perspective,” said East Rock neighbor Andreas Erben, “but will this property continue to pay property taxes?”

King said that the property would become “university use” and therefore be exempt from property taxes.

She said that she os not sure if the university would need to seek any zoning relief for the planned change in use. She promised to update neighbors at future ERCMT meetings as to any developments with this project.

Homeless Encampment Cleared Monday night’s ERCMT meeting also featured a brief follow-up from Livable City Initiative (LCI) neighborhood specialist Linda Davis and East Rock alder Anna Festa about the recent clearing of a homeless encampment under the I-91 overpass near the Ralph Walker Skating Rink.

Davis and Festa said that in midDecember various city departments, including parks, public works, LCI, and the police, worked with the state of Connecticut to clear 14 tons of trash from the encampment. Davis said that the encampment was unoccupied at the time that it was cleared, and that it remains unoccupied today.

Festa told the group that she and Beaver Hills Alder Richard Furlow, city Homelessness Coordinator Velma George, and then-Community Services Administrator Martha Okafor met with state Department of Housing Commissioner Evonne Klein back in December to talk about how the state can best support the city in finding stable housing, employment, addiction treatment, and mental healthcare for its homeless population.

“It’s a very, very challenging situation,” Festa said.

Con’t from page 2

House Democrats Get Jump On Toll Debate “We hope common sense prevails and it’s bipartisan,” Ritter said.

Last year, after some debate on the issue, a bill that would have instituted electronic tolls was tabled.

Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Lyme, said during the debate that what he’s seen of proposals for tolls on Connecticut highways is asking too much of Connecticut residents.

He said all this bill will do is “lead to more funds coming out of hardworking people’s pockets.”

House and Senate Republicans have argued they can find the money for the Special Transportation Fund by prioritizing bonding without increasing the gas tax or installing tolls. Democratic lawmakers say it can’t be done.

“This issue will certainly be debated in the coming legislative session, and public opinion will likely move around once the location and number of tolls are defined and we learn how much revenue they will generate,” House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said.

Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, added that it’s “reckless to rush to approve tolls” before understanding the impact they would have.

“Everyone assumes tolls would be put on the borders; but let’s be clear, the state cannot put up border tolls,” Fasano said. “The DOT’s rough study shows that 75 percent of people paying tolls will be Connecticut residents.

Even if approved by the federal government, feasibility questions remain.

Asked if they would let the bill get raised for a vote, Ritter said any decision to call a bill for a vote resides with Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin.

Ritter said he doesn’t want to prejudge the argument against tolls.

He said he wants to wait for Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to solve the Special Transportation Fund deficiency.

The federal government, according to Guerrera, requires that funds from electronic tolls be used for transportation infrastructure. Guerrera argues that tolls could not be used for any other purpose even if the transportation lockbox on the ballot in 2018 is leaky.

“The bottom line is that we need some kind of revenue to come into this state that’s fair for everyone,” Guerrera said.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

The Price of Freedom: Screening of Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes at NHM

New Haven, Conn. (January 2018)— What began simply as a 5th-grade project on family roots became a 15-year, cross-country saga for Regina Mason, and, ultimately, an award-winning film. The New Haven Museum (NHM) will host Mason for a special screening of her documentary, “Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes,” based on research of her ancestor, a former slave who escaped to freedom, lived in New Haven, and penned the first fugitive-slave narrative in U.S. history. He later was buried in the Elm City’s historic Grove Street Cemetery. Mason, and filmmaker and producer Sean Durant, will appear at NHM on Monday, February 5, 2018, at 5:30 p.m. The free event will be presented in partnership with the Amistad Committee Inc. and Friends of Grove Street Cemetery, and followed by a Q&A and a book signing.

Years after completing that school assignment, Mason maintained a curiosity about the enigmatic great, great, great grandfather she knew only as Grimes, a fugitive slave who had traveled the Underground Railroad and lived in New Haven. Long before the internet and Ancesty.com, and armed only with clues garnered from the faded pages of a family bible, Mason followed the threads of the story, and ultimately discovered that Grimes’ epic struggle was told in a little-known 1825 autobiography, “The Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave, Written by Him-

self,” and in a later, amended edition in 1855.

During “Gina’s Journey,” both Mason and Grimes defy the odds of their times to tell their stories. Winner of the 2017 Annual Oakland International Film Festival “Roots Award,” the film conveys not only Mason’s long road to uncover her past, but also the unimaginable conditions that Grimes faced as he struggled to free himself from slavery. Mason notes particularly the heavy psychological burden of living in so-called “free” territory for nine years while constantly looking over his shoulder for those who might return him to his former master. Grimes eventually was captured, and compelled to buy his freedom for $500.

At a pivotal point in her research,

Mason worked with former Librarian and Curator of Manuscripts James Campbell at the New Haven Museum’s Whitney Library. During a phone conversation confirming the Whitney Library held the 1855 edition of Grimes’s autobiography, Campbell casually mentioned that an engraving of Mason’s forbear was on the cover, a revelation that brought her to tears, and eventually to the New Haven Museum to view the volume in person.

Mason also worked with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher and E. Maynard Adams Professor of English, William L. Andrews, and, in 2008, they republished Grimes’ narrative with additional annotations/ research, in a release by Oxford University Press, “The Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave.”

Mason is an international speaker, author, executive producer, and storyteller who believes in the extraordinary will of the human spirit. She challenges audiences to recast painful stories of America’s past in a light that empowers, inspires, and transforms their thinking. Her essays have appeared in “The Race Card Project,” various blogs, and “The Root.” She has presented to educational organizations and corporate and professional organizations on diversity and equity and inclusion at The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and American Cultures division at UC Berkeley, among others.

She has appeared on NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, C-Span’s “Book TV,” RTE Radio of Ireland; and NPR and PBS affiliates. In addition to performing “The Raw Truth: A Slave Descendant’s

Soliloquy” as narration and film, she serves as executive producer of the award-wining, feature documentary film, “Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes.”

About Friends of Grove Street Cemetery The Friends organization was founded in 1997 in response to growing public interest in the New Haven Burial Ground, better known as the Grove Street Cemetery, as an historic and cultural resource for the community and the nation. Grove Street Cemetery is the oldest incorporated cemetery in the United States, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

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Mecha Does It Pho The Culture THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

-

February 06, 2018

by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

The young man and woman peered at a phone and then into the windows of Mecha, the popular Crown Street noodle bar. It was about 10:40 a.m.

The restaurant wouldn’t open until 11 a.m.

They tried the door anyway, and found it was unlocked. They were in luck. Or so they thought.

Daryl Wells moved swiftly from the back of the restaurant to the door: “I’m sorry,” he said. “We don’t open for another 20 minutes.”

After operating the restaurant for a year and a half, Wells has grown accustomed to early arrivals.On any given day right at 10:59 a.m. someone is pulling on the door looking for the slurpable comfort food the restaurant is known for delivering.

Come at happy hour, and you might have to take a seat on benches that have been added outside to accommodate the lines of people eager to get in. Watch and wait as people slurp down noodles from big bowls of steamy pho or ramen, while classic ‘90s hip-hop and R&B provide the soundtrack.

Mecha Noodle Bar is the brainchild of Tony Pham and Richard Reyes, two young restaurateurs who grew up together, the sons of Vietnamese and Latino immigrants. Mecha, which is Vietnamese for “mom and pop,” specializes in the richly, broth-based noodle dishes of Vietnamese pho and Japanese-style ramen. The restaurant also serves other street foods from those cuisine traditions like bao, egg rolls, and dumplings. You can even get bubble tea spiked with tequila and mezcal, bourbon, or cognac.

The men already had noodle bars operating in South Norwalk and Fairfield. When they decided to open up their third noodle bar in New Haven, they tapped two young locals to run the place: Wells, who grew up in Hamden, and Head Chef Jason Rawlings, who grew up in New Haven.

Wells, 28, will tell you he’s the vibes guy; he makes sure that your experience at the restaurant is a good time.

The music choices playing in the restaurant are usually his. Rawlings, 32, of course, is the food guy, making sure that what is in your bowl is a good time as well.

Though Rawlings grew up in New

Rawlings, bringing the heat in the kitchen; Wells, bringing the vibe.

Haven, which is where his father is from, his cooking roots are distinctively Southern like those of his mother, whose family hails from Georgia and Maryland. He grew up cooking with her and developed a great affection for that style of food.

So how did he end up cooking Southeast Asian comfort food He credits his college roommates and their Korean moms. They would take over the kitchen cooking their native dishes and expose him to flavors that he came to love.

Wells said opening a Mecha location in New Haven just made sense. Not just because of the food culture but also the activist culture.

“For the owners and what their vi-

sion was for the spread of Mecha, they wanted to definitely be in a community-based city focused on community action,” he said. “The mission of Mecha is to take taste and tradition and transform it into pride and progress through interpretations of Southeast Asian comfort food in a high energy fun communal environment.”

To Wells, that means making Southeast Asian comfort foods like ramen and pho as likely to be what’s for lunch or dinner as pizza and burgers. It doesn’t hurt that the taste for both foods has grown as urban centers have become hot again. Wells pointed to the success of ramen spots like Momofuku and Ippudo in New

10

York City.

“The ramen boom has been pretty big in the city for a couple of years now,” Wells said. “The hope is to take this family culture cuisine, which is that of one of our owners, Tony Pham. This is his family food, he’s of Vietnamese descent and a lot of the recipes for pho come from his family restaurant in Danbury.

“The hope is to break those barriers so that people will approach ramen and pho and recognize it as delicious and something they can enjoy whenever they want,” he said.

Rawlings said his job is to get people, particularly Americans, to think beyond what they know about food like ramen, which for many are the dry noodles and salty seasoning packet on which people with limited funds subsist.

“They brought me on because I love Asian cuisine and they’ve taught me a lot about their specific cuisine in Vietnam and then in the ramen,” he said. “They’ve let me bring the Korean background and culture that I’ve grown to love and the southern food that I love which I got from my mother. And all of that has kind of brought me to this point right now to kind of have a good amount of creative control to do things here.”

And that means Rawlings and his staff are allowed creative license to make dishes and try them out. That gives everyone ownership of what comes out of the kitchen, he said.

“I don’t personally take credit for all the dishes here,” he said. “I have a great support staff. We all collaborate on everything. And we do a lot of interactive food where people have to put their food together themselves. Where they kind of like take a ramen bowl, or a cold rice dish, that they have to mix everything together for themselves to kind of feel like they’ve been more interactive with what they’re doing.”

That creative control shows up in the food and the vibe of the restaurant, said the men, self-described 90s kids who grew up on “real hip-hop.” It’s nothing to walk in and here The Fugees, The Roots and A Tribe Called Quest jamming overhead. And, while Wells said the music isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, most people enjoy it.

“We don’t own the restaurant, but I feel like I’m an owner when I’m in this space,” Wells said.

Rawlings echoed the sentiment.

“We feel like our name is on the outside when people come in here as far as making sure the staff is set, making sure the plates are right, the dining room is set up correctly,” he said.

“We definitely treat it like our name is on the building. This is our space.”

Rawlings, in his eight years of professional cooking, did a stint at Ordinary, while Wells formerly managed Barcelona Wine Bar in New Haven and throughout Connecticut. Though they both came up in the local food scene, they didn’t meet until Mecha.

“Everyone thinks that I’ve known him for years,” Rawlings said with a chuckle. “He just kind of turned into a tall little brother.”

“I’ll take that,” Wells said. “It’s probably the best thing you’ve ever called me.”

In all seriousness, Wells said when the owners were looking at putting together a team, “they wanted New Haven guys who know the community, who know the restaurant community and could build with anybody.”

Pham and Reyes created a parent company called Eat Justice that helps them put their money where their mouth — and your mouth is.

That means from time to time, the restaurants will host backpack drives, fundraisers to feed families, and parties with a purpose to provide aide for things like hurricane relief. The New Haven location held a Valentine’s Day party to aid cancer research and care, donating the proceeds to the Yale-New Haven Smilow Cancer Hospital. More recently it raised money for Puerto Rico and St. Croix for Hurricane Maria relief.

“There are people who need help in the world and we try to impact that through campaigns we’re running,” Wells said. “It’s a cool thing because it just kind of highlights the fact that we’re not alone.”

He said as Mecha’s and by extension Eat Justice’s roots deepen in the community, the company is looking for opportunities to collaborate locally with other restaurants and food justice advocates. They’re working on a “dope community festival” that could bring together food and music in the late spring, early summer for a good cause.

“We’re not just here to make money and be a profitable business,” Wells added. “We’re doing some good in the community as well.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

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History Didn’t Just Happen THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

-

February 06, 2018

by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

When activist Bree Newsome climbed into the history books by scaling a flagpole on the South Carolina statehouse grounds and removing the Confederate flag, many people assumed that one very fed up black woman had taken spontaneous action.

Newsome disabused a crowd gathered at Yale University’s Battell Chapel of that notion Wednesday evening. She told them that her act of resistance three years ago which sparked a national reconsideration of honoring the Confederacy wasn’t spontaneous at all but the result of meticulous planning and collective decision-making by nine activists.

Those gathered heard the story as the North Carolina native delivered this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Keynote Address sponsored by Yale College Dean’s Office, the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale, the Office of the Secretary & Vice President for Student Life of Yale University, Yale Office of New Haven & State Affairs, and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

“Once we settled the first matter of who would scale the pole, which was largely a matter of who could physically do it and who could risk being arrested ... we as a collective thought more about what we wanted to communicate visually and symbolically with this action,” Newsome said. “We would be attacking a symbol of white supremacy with an action that symbolized it’s dismantling.”

The activists knew that Newsome and anyone with her that day would likely be arrested. Someone who could withstand an arrest needed to be with her.

A fellow activist named James Tyson volunteered to accompany her that day as she scaled the four-foot tall spoked fence that surrounded the flagpole. He helped her get over the fence and stood guard, waiting for police.

“As I neared the top of the pole and prepared to remove the flag, the officers on the ground trained their Tasers on me and threatened to shoot me with bolts of electrical currents,” she said. “Given that I was attached to a metal pole, they could have potentially electrocuted me.”

Tyson would grab the pole that day, telling officers if they were going to electrocute Newsome, they had to electrocute him too. He also would be arrested with her after their mission had been accomplished. Tyson is white.

“It’s become common to hear social justice advocates say that they don’t need white allies, they need white accomplices,” she said. “An accomplice is what James was that day. History will rightly remember him alongside the many white accomplices over the centuries who have

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO Newsome at Battell Wednesday: Human rights is question of our time.

The New Haven African Dance and Drum Group encourages audience participation.

Newsome with New Haven’s own Corey Menafee, who smashed his way into national headlines the summer after she did.

risked their own safety and in some cases spilled their own blood in defense of black life and in the name of freedom.”

Newsome said that her action that day was never just about removing the flag.

She said it was “about abolishing the spirit of hatred and oppression in all its

forms.”

“What we see today, what King called for in 1968 is greater than a constitutional right,” she added. “It is the issue of human rights.”

A Time of Counter-Revolution In her address, Newsome drew a line

12

that connected the civil rights movement, to the Black Power movement to today’s Black Lives Matter movement. She used the theme of the keynote, “Chaos or Community: Fifty Years Later, Where Do We Go from Here?,” and King’s own writings, including the words that he wrote that would become his last book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?.

“King in that last book made the salient argument that counter-revolution inevitably accompanies revolutionary progress,” she said. “In 2016, Make America Great Again emerged as the counter-revolutionary movement to Black Lives Matter.

With America’s two steps forward, one step back approach to addressing racial injustice a person eager for change can easily slip into despair.

“But between pessimism and optimism resides a healthy realism that organizers activists and dreamers alike must embrace if we are to successfully bring about change. Being realistic means recognizing how much effort it takes to achieve equality and justice in a nation built on slavery and genocide.”

Newsome noted King’s own frustrations with white allies of his day, who effectively gave up on the cause of racial equality once their efforts at unity had defeated the outright barbarism visited on black people. She noted that King also chastened the black middle class, whom he said met the plight of their impoverished brothers and sisters with indifference. She said she sees similar patterns in today’s fights for racial justice and equality.

“The problem is never when folks show up but how they show up,” she said.

“Many that have shown up have defined the resistance as beginning and ending with the Trump administration. But resisting the Trump administration is not necessarily the same as resisting white supremacy or advocating for racial equity.”

She said King foresaw the fight for racial equity as one made up of many small, even quiet victories such as the centering of mass incarceration and police brutality as part of this fight in such a way that it drives national debate and leads to formal investigations by the U.S. Justice Department into police departments.

But two steps forward, one step back.

“It must be understood that a system built on anti-blackness cannot be reformed into a system that values black lives,” she said.

“And that the system instead itself must undergo a radical transformation in its values and organization.”

Newsome said she was deeply disturbed at the way King’s message of nonviolence has been “weaponized” to “stifle legitimate protest” over the years.

“It’s become a popular practice to invoke King and nonviolence to criticize uprisings and even moderate nonviolent civil

disobedience,” she pointed out. “When Black Lives Matters protesters began blocking traffic and disrupting commerce, many including black leaders said they disapproved because this is not what King would have done.”

Such acts of disobedience happened all over the country, including here in New Haven touching off furious debates about the efficacy of such protest. Further fuel was added to such debates when a Yale University dining hall employee, Corey Menafee, knocked out a stained-glass panel of window in the former Calhoun College, a year after Newsome removed the Confederate flag in South Carolina.

“First of all ...”

Before she could go on, the crowd burst out laughing. In popular culture, when a black woman starts a sentence with “first of all,” it is the verbal equivalent of her balling up her fist and preparing to land a blow.

“First of all,” Newsome continued, “we can’t say with certainty how King would respond to these modern protests. We can’t say with certainty because despite living a life of nonviolence, King was targeted by the FBI and ultimately murdered by white supremacists.

“Secondly, if the only time officials are invoking the name of King and the spirit of nonviolence is to criticize those protesting injustice and not to call out the violence and evil of police and prisons and poverty and racism that is an hypocrisy and an offense to everything that King stood for,” she said.

She made the case that an uprising a more accurate way, in her mind, to describe what the media often calls a riot is “more than the misdirected chaos that it is so often portrayed to be.

“It’s actually an informed and targeted rebellion against the oppression of racism and capitalism.”

She said one of the main arguments leveled at people who react in rebellion and destroy property is “that people are destroying their own communities.”

“But this argument overlooks the reality that in many of these communities, those who live there own practically nothing,” she said. “They don’t own the housing they live in or the stores where they shop.

They don’t even own the streets and the sidewalks where they are subjected to heavy policing.”

“I’m not saying that I reject nonviolence,” she added. “What I am saying is that I do reject the notion that there is any moral equivalency between police depriving Eric Garner of oxygen in a chokehold and a black teenager smashing the window of a police vehicle in protest of racism.”

Newsome said the question of human rights is the question of our times.

“And it is up to us, all of us, to provide the answer,” she said.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS

Residents Protest Board Vote that Ousted London Breed as Interim Mayor of San Francisco

By Stacy Brown, NNPA Newswire Contributor During a contentious public meeting, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to appoint Mark Farrell, a White venture capitalist, to serve as acting mayor. The vote stripped London Breed of those powers, who was the first African American woman to serve in that role.

Critics of the board’s actions—inside and outside of the city—alleged that the vote was tainted by racism and discrimination.

Breed rose to national prominence, after she was named interim mayor of San Francisco, when Ed Lee, the city’s first Asian American mayor, died of a heart attack last December.

Amelia Ashley-Ward, a long-time resident of San Francisco and owner of the Sun-Reporter Publishing Company, said that she was surprised to see so many “White progressives lining up” during the city hall meeting, before the vote, to express concerns about Breed holding the two power positions—interim mayor and president of the board of supervisors—while running to become the next mayor of the city.

“Perhaps San Francisco isn’t as progressive as some people like to think,” said Ashley-Ward. “I think that she was double-crossed by some of her colleagues on that board, who might have promised to support her.”

However, according to the San Francisco Examiner, temporarily serving as acting mayor and board president is not a conflict of interest.

“It is precisely what the voters established in the charter; it is common democratic practice; and it has been happening for the past six weeks, not to the detriment of city stability, but to its benefit,” the Examiner said.

The Examiner continued: “San Francisco mayors and boards always overlap.

Mayor Lee appointed two of the board’s current members. The City Charter gives the mayor authority to join and speak at any board meeting. And supervisors serve as acting mayor all the time, occasionally signing their own legislation.”

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association called the San Francisco board of supervisors’ vote a “non-progressive and backward decision” and speculated that some board members may have been motivated by race and gender bias.

Dorothy Leavell, the chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Asso-

ciation and the publisher of the Crusader Newspaper Group, said that she was highly disturbed by the actions of the board of supervisors.

“This vote has national implications for African Americans everywhere that aspire to serve in public office, said Leavell. “As chairman of the NNPA, I condemn [the board’s vote]. I strongly encourage everyone to support London Breed’s campaign to become the next mayor of San Francisco.”

Leavell continued: “The Black voters need to come out in large numbers. People who aren’t registered to vote, need to register. Those who can give time, need to give time.”

Ashley-Ward said that Breed is one of the most qualified candidates in the race.

“She is very capable and that’s what frightened her opponents,” said AshleyWard.

Unabashedly outspoken, the 43-yearold Breed said that she was raised on the hard knock streets of the Fillmore District, just southwest of Nob Hill.

“When you come from the kind of community that I come from and experience a lot of frustration, you have to be outspoken to get things done,” Breed said during an interview with the NNPA Newswire. “I say what I feel like I need to say and that’s how I’ve always been, and I couldn’t live with myself, if I felt that I had to change to be an elected official.”

Breed said that she wants to continue to address homelessness, improve social services and increase access to healthcare in the city.

Breed said that the Black Press, particularly newspapers like the San Francisco Bay View and the Sun-Reporter, is vital in San Francisco.

“The African American newspapers lead the way in providing a well-rounded, news perspective and they’ve pushed companies that make money in the African American community to reinvest those dollars back into the community,” Breed said.

Breed also recommended that the Black Press raise awareness about the lack of diversity in the tech industry.

Ashley-Ward called the board of supervisors’ vote a “disgrace” and said that even though many residents are angry and incensed, she hoped that their passion translates into a record-level of civic engagement on June 5.

“There are some really bad feelings in the city, over what happened with the vote, but that should spur people into action,” said Ashley-Ward. “It won’t just be Black voters; it will take all freedomloving voters in San Francisco.”

Ashley-Ward continued: “We have to embrace people like London Breed, because they are the future.”

Freddie Allen contributed reporting for this story.

January 31, 2018

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February 06, 2018

Rakim Turns 50: “It’s A Blessing To Be Around This Long”

by Barry Anderson, BDO Contributing Writer

“Ask the teenagers, OG’s and nasty kids What their definition of “classic” is Timeless, so age don’t count in the booth When your flow stay submerged in the fountain of youth” -Rakim, “Classic (Air Force One Remix) For over 30 years, hip-hop legend Rakim has been lauded as hip-hop’s premier MC because of his flawless flow on the mic. From his first album out the gate, Paid in Full in 1987, Rakim as cemented himself into the halls of the hiphop hall of fame.

“It’s a blessing to be around this long and I’m still mentioned with everybody’s favorites,” says Rakim to Billboard. “It’s a hell of feeling, man. [Laughs.] I just appreciate the love that I get and support from hip-hop. I’m gonna stay focused and do what I do. Hopefully, within the next couple of years, I can do some good things to help finish the legacy off right.”

Born William Michael Griffin Jr in Wyandanch in Long Island, New York, his aunt was the legendary Atlantic records R&B singer Ruth Brown, while his mother sang jazz and opera. He showed an early talent for music, playing baritone sax for the Wyandanch High School band. He also joined a number of different rap groups at school, including the Almighty 5 MCs and The Love Brothers. DJ Belal, who would later be part of the Uptown Records group Groove B Chill, told Longislandrap.com that: “This dude sounded so good at 12… that most MCs could not even come close.

So I stopped rhyming.”

His precocious talent is evident from old recordings of the time, including a 1985 high-school performance alongside future star Biz Markie, where he billed himself as “Kid Wizard Rakim.”

He’d adopted the name Rakim after joining the 5 Percent Nation, an offshoot of the Nation of Islam.

Rakim, Eric B. and Marley Marl all tell conflicting stories about how the three came together to record Eric B. & Rakim’s 1986 debut single, “Eric B. Is President,” but Rakim says it came about through his friend Alvin Toney, who brought Eric B. over to his house unannounced. In an interview with The Atlantic’s David Samuels, he said Toney greeted him with: “Well, this is Eric, he’s trying to look for a rapper. He knows Mr. Magic, Marley Marl. He asked me who the best rapper out here was and I told him, you.”

Eric B. took Rakim to Marley Marl’s home recording studio where they laid down a couple of tracks — “My Melody” and “Eric B. Is President” — released as a double A-sided single on the independent label Zakia. Marley Marl

14

claims he produced the tracks; Eric B. says that he did. But no matter, either way, history was made.

Rakim’s procedure for writing lyrics is insane. The way he sees words and phrases are unlike most. He sometimes writes a rhyme backwards–yes backwards.

“I’ve been writing rhymes for so long I got like five or six different ways I write a rhyme. It might be from the last word in the verse to the first or sometimes I sit there, toy with it and I might come up with sixteen of the illest words I can and write the rhyme to fit in. That’s just when I’m f**king around or when it’s a little slow for me and I’m not in the mood to write I know how to force it out. I’ve been writing for so long I got a lot of different ways to write. Everything becomes too normal after a while. I’ve been writing for so long it’s like… … how could I do this different. How can I make it seem like I’m not writing a rhyme today. Those are just some things I do. People bug out when they see me grab a paper and start writing from the bottom. People be like what are you doing? Just slow down. By the time I get to

the top I’m done. They like done with what and I be like this is sixteen bars.

I just wrote a rhyme ni**a. It’s crazy man.”

And when it comes to his health, Rakim doesn’t play around. He eats to live and doesn’t live to eat.

“I’ve always been a picky eater but I’m not the healthiest eater. When we were going on tour we were eating fast food every night. Before I started rapping and touring I weighed about 160. But by going on the road every night eating fast food, performing every night, partying and drinking I started gaining weight immediately. But I try not to eat too much beef. I try to eat healthy.

Wifey stay steaming up some sh*t for me. I just try to eat as good as possible. I don’t work out too much. I just do some pushups when I feel the right hook is getting a lil weak.”

“I don’t work out too much and it’s wild because it bugs me out. I don’t take vitamins or none of that shit but I do still look kinda young so I give that one up to moms and pops.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

One Year of Trump:

Black Mayors Vow “To Protect Immigrants”

What We’ve Lost and What We’ve Learned

By Congresswoman Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)

The year leading up to his inauguration in 2017, as the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump espoused senseless, baseless and ultimately empty assertions about the state of Black Americans and our communities.

“What the hell do you have to lose?” he screamed in front of a predominantly White crowd in a small, predominantly White suburb of Lansing, Michigan.

After Trump was inaugurated, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) found it prudent to answer his question. In March, the CBC Executive Committee, led by our Chairman Cedric L. Richmond (DLa.), presented Trump with a 130-page policy document entitled, “We Have A Lot To Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st Century.”

The document, which was compiled by the entire 49-member Caucus, outlined policy solutions down to the bill text for issues facing our communities. Voting rights, criminal justice reform, economic justice, education, health care, immigration – these were just some of the topics we presented to continue our progress.

Unfortunately, these are the issues that Trump and his administration have chosen to ignore. The President, who has not commented on the document since we presented it to him, obviously has had other ideas, almost as if he wanted to answer his own question in his first year, to show us what we can lose.

On the criminal justice front, Trump has used the Department of Justice to embrace mass incarceration and shy away from transparent policing.

One example of this is an FBI report published last August entitled, “Black Identity Extremists Likely Motivated to Target Law Enforcement Officers.”

One problem with the report is that the term “Black Identity Extremists” is an invented group that does not exist. There are no Black people organized to kill law enforcement officers. When I asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray about the origins of this report, none of them could tell me what the report was even based on or how the term was created.

Economically, Trump has gone after our consumer protections. Congress is working to repeal Dodd-Frank, a landmark piece of legislation designed to protect consumers from the wreck of the 2009 recession. Trump’s favoring of big banks will ultimately leave consumers in the same spot they were during the recession, or worse. The education of our children is also under attack. In 2014, for the first time ever, the majority of public school students in the United States were non-White. Secretary DeVos has been less than helpful to these institutions, ignoring grave disparities in how students of color are disciplined compared to White students, and supporting a budget that would further attack services that public schools provide.

Trump has also gone after our healthcare by actively sabotaging the Affordable Care Act, continually issuing statements citing death spirals and other doomsday prophesies in addition to cutting funding for advertisements and allowing health insurance companies to

The truth is that in this first year, we’ve lost a lot.

Almost immediately after being elected, Trump established the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity and appointed a known vote suppressor to lead it. The commission was designed to intimidate voters and Trump—because of political and legal pressure— recently decided to dissolve it into the Department of Homeland Security.

Throughout the past year, Trump has stacked the federal courts with judges with nothing short of scandalous records when it comes to voting rights. Among his nominee group was Thomas Farr, who helped lawmakers draft and defend a 2013 law that the Fourth Circuit Court of North Carolina ruled targeted African American voters “with almost surgical precision.”

Fresh off her “Trump moment” last week — when the president called her out for boycotting a White House meeting that turned into a photo op for his administration’s attack on sanctuary cities New Haven Mayor Toni Harp promised Sunday that she and her fellow black mayors “will protect immigrants.”

Harp the president of the AfricanAmerican Mayors Association made the promise in a statement issued on behalf of “more than 500” black mayors across the country.

“This nation has always been a melting pot of people from different countries, different ethnicities and different races. Rather than celebrating this diversity, the current Administration continues to attack immigrants and people of color, many of whom have spent their entire lives in the U.S. and

do not know another home. Nearly 44 million immigrants currently reside in the U.S. Over 20 million of them are naturalized citizens. Thirty six percent of U.S.-born children of immigrants are college graduates— 5 percent higher than the national average —and 64 percent are homeowners, which is on par with the national average. Immigrants are our neighbors, colleagues and friends and are productive members of our society.

“Mayors have an obligation to defend the cities they are elected to serve, and protect society’s most vulnerable citizens. The rhetoric coming out of the White House is disheartening and offensive to the hardworking immigrants living and working legally across the country. The cities we represent are not ridden with gangs, cartels and criminals as this Administration claims. In

fact, a 2017 Cato Institute study found that the 2014 incarceration rate for 18 to 54 year-old immigrants both authorized and unauthorized was considerably lower than that of the U.S.-born population.

“It’s time this Administration holds itself to a higher standard. This is not a country of racists and bigots. We are a country that proudly houses a diverse population, each with a unique background and story. It is un-American to attack immigrants and the people seeking to protect them. We stand with the hundreds of mayors who want their cities to remain safe places for immigrants to call home. Our communities will continue to safeguard American values, and remain welcoming places for all, for the sake of our security and our national character.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

-

February 06, 2018

Rod Doss Honored with 2018 NNPA Publisher Lifetime Achievement Award

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Contributor

For 50 years, Rod Doss has remained dedicated to the New Pittsburgh Courier and his success has been among the more celebrated of Black Press publishers.

Doss received the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2018 NNPA Publisher Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony in Las Vegas.

“There is no greater honor than to be recognized by your peers,” said Doss.

NNPA Chairman Dorothy Leavell, NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., and Real Times Media CEO Hiram Jackson were on hand to present Doss the award.

Doss was joined on the podium at the ceremony by his sister, Marilyn Hughes, who he called his biggest booster and biggest fan.

“His integrity as a journalist is impeccable,” said Leavell. “He’s contributed a lot and he’s really deserving of this honor. [Rod Doss] put the ‘I’ in the word ‘integrity.’”

Chavis said that Doss not only continues to manifest a distinguished career as a publisher of a Black-owned newspaper in America, but also that his work ethic embodies the high standards of journalism; Chavis added that Doss is committed to freedom, justice and equality for all humanity.

Robert W. Bogle, the chairman, president and CEO of “The Philadelphia Tribune,” agreed.

“He worked his way up and made a real difference,” Bogle said. “He’s pro-

(Left-right) Dorothy Leavell, the chairman of the NNPA; Rod Doss, the publisher of the New Pittsburgh Courier; Marilyn Hughes, Rod Doss’ sister; Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the NNPA; and Hiram Jackson, the CEO of Real Times Media, celebrate Doss’ career achievements, during the 2018 NNPA Mid-Winter Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)

vided leadership to the New Pittsburgh Courier that’s led to the success of the newspaper.”

Doss joined the Courier in 1967 as an advertising sales representative. He climbed the ladder at the paper for years and, in 1983, he began running the publication as vice president and general manager.

In 1997, after the death of legendary publisher and Doss mentor John H. Sengstacke, Doss was named editor and publisher.

Under Doss’ leadership, the New Pittsburgh Courier has earned more than 100 NNPA Merit Awards, including the

coveted John B. Russwurm Trophy and A. Philip Randolph Messenger Award.

“I went to the ‘University of The New Pittsburgh Courier’ and it was there that seasoned professionals took me in and taught me everything I needed to know about the newspaper business,” Doss said. “When I came into the operation, I knew nothing and they taught me sales, layout and design; they taught me how to write headlines, write articles and they taught me everything that I needed to know on a one-on-one personal basis.”

Doss continued: “I was so pleased with that, that I shared it and passed it along

and today I have a staff of people who are the most stable in the entire organization. They lift me up and I lift them up. They celebrate me and I celebrate them.”

Doss said his “graduate studies” began at NNPA. “Right here, attending many informative sessions, year after year, and receiving invaluable training, meeting people and learning from established professionals all of the ins and outs,” he said.

Along with receiving many accolades, Doss is known for giving his time through serving on numerous boards and by participating in community

events.

He currently serves as chairman of the Rivers Club Board of Governors, a position he’s held for just over one year.

Doss credited much of his success to his own father and John H. Sengstacke, the famed publisher and civil rights activist.

“There were a couple of people in my life who really made a difference,” he said, remembering Sengstacke as a “walking legend in the publishing industry,” and his father as the person who taught him how to be a man.

Doss continued: “I can say that I am my father’s son.”

Actor And Activist Danny Glover To Serve As Black History Month Keynote Speaker At Quinnipiac University On Feb. 6

Acclaimed actor and leading social justice activist Danny Glover will be the Black History Month keynote speaker at Quinnipiac University on Feb. 6.

Hamden, Connecticut – Jan. 18, 2018 – Acclaimed actor and leading social justice activist Danny Glover will be the Black History Month keynote speaker at Quinnipiac University on Feb. 6.

“From Abolition to #BLM: A Conversation with Danny Glover,” will take place at 7 p.m. at Burt Kahn Court on the Mount Carmel Campus, 275 Mount Carmel Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

Driven by activists like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, early abolitionist efforts became the foundation for contemporary debates over the meaning of freedom. The Black Lives Matter movement, named for the hashtag started on Twitter, is steeped in the American tradition of using free speech and social

actions to further the fight for justice and equality.

In a fireside chat-style program with Khalilah Brown-Dean, associate professor of political science, Glover will explore the similarities of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and its early abolitionist roots –– particularly Frederick Douglass –– to build connections, increase dialogue and end racism.

Glover said he often recites the powerful Douglass speech, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” from July 5, 1852 in Rochester, N.Y. “It’s the greatest Fourth of July speech ever,” he said. “It’s pretty obvious when we look at what’s happening today, it’s relevant, not only as we look at the issues around race that are happening in this country, but the issues

16

around race that are happening in the rest of the world. Are the people of color the ones who are the most vulnerable and the most marginalized in this system of capitalism? Of course, they are. It’s historic.”

Glover has been a commanding presence on screen, stage and television for more than 25 years. As an actor, his film credits range from the blockbuster “Lethal Weapon” franchise to smaller independent features, some of which Glover also produced. In recent years, Glover has starred in an array of motion pictures, including the Oscar-nominated hit “Dreamgirls.”

Glover has gained both respect and renown for his wide-reaching community activism and philanthropic efforts, with a particular emphasis on advocacy for economic justice and

access to health care and education programs in the US and Africa. Currently Glover serves as UNICEF Ambassador.

“I remember visions of my greatgrandmother, who was born in 1853,” Glover said. “She was freed by emancipation like my great-grandfather. I remember my mother telling me how grateful she was for her mother and father because she didn’t pick cotton in September, she went to school in September. All that changed me. My legacy goes back from slavery on to the end of slavery, my direct context, through my great-grandmother.”

Quinnipiac is marking the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ birth with a series of events to honor his life and his many achievements.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

-

February 06, 2018

There’s More To Ayesha Curry Than The Title ‘NBA Wife…

by Shawna Davis, BDO

Ayesha Curry has put in work to earn the titles of chef, actress, author, entrepreneur, CoverGirl model, TV host and mom of two – but one thing she is not – an “NBA wife.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever call myself that,” Curry said when asked what she thinks of the moniker ‘NBA wife’ during a recent interview with Nightline. “I mean, I don’t think my husband would call himself ‘chef’s wife.’”

Curry did, however, discuss what she considered to be her most important titles. “Obviously mom and wife first,” she said of the many different roles she leads. “Those are the two most important titles.”

While maintaining her household and being married to two-time NBA champion, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Curry has somehow managed to take advantage of many opportunities that have come

culinary resume. Curry is the host of the Food Network’s “Ayesha’s Home Kitchen,” where she introduces viewers to her signature style of entertaining- and yes, that does include cooking up some of her best dishes – all from the comfort of her home kitchen.

Last Fall, Curry created “Homemade,” a food delivery program that sends subscribers a weekly box that includes simple meal-prepped recipes delivered to your doorstep. Subscribers have the option of choosing between the homemade recipe subscription which gives the option of selecting from two recipes for two adults or one recipe for a family of five; Curry also created “Homemade Kids Subscription,” the first meal kit specifically for kids which includes two easy dinner recipes for four children sent weekly.

Additionally, Curry released her first collection of cookware through Meyer corporation which includes

her way.

If you thought Curry was simply an ‘NBA wife’ that likes to cook, you’re mistaken. Here’s a look at the different business ventures Mrs. Curry currently has going on.

Author As a self-taught chef, Curry grew up enjoying food and it wasn’t until after she created her blog, that Curry decided to share 100 of her favorite recipes with the rest of the world in her best-selling cookbook “The Seasoned Life.” The familyfriendly cookbook has recipes that cater to different lifestyles whether you’re vegetarian or don’t have any diet restrictions at all, and even has natural remedies including scrubs and masks.

Television host The first CoverGirl rep who is “not an actress, singer or influencer,” has also added TV show host to her

Ayesha Curry

porcelain enamel, stainless steel and hard-anodized cookware, cast iron, stoneware, bakeware, cutlery, and pantry ware.

As if any of the aforementioned wasn’t enough, thanks to the success of her pop-up grill-focused restaurant, International Smoke, with chef Michael Mina in 2016, the businesswoman also opened a permanent flagship restaurant of the same name in San Francisco as well.

While juggling her different titles, Curry appears to have found a good balance between making her dreams a reality, turning them into a profit and managing her household. “One thing that my mom always told me was to never lose yourself inside of your marriage,” she told Nightline. “I’m happy that I’ve been able to find that so-called balance and be able to pursue my passion and take care of my family.”

Singer Kelis Selling Million-Dollar Mansion To Buy Farm & Grow Own Food

by Aria Ellise, BDO Special Contributor

Singer and celebrity chef Kelis did like many celebrities have done after coming into a large amount of money: she bought a house. But instead of living and moving from mansion to mansion over the years, Kelis is selling her property to buy something far more valuable to her: a farm so she can grow her own food.

When she first purchased the property, in 2012, Kelis was attracted to the classic 1920s architecture and entertainment areas. “The architecture inside the house was amazing, and it had a very dramatic, old Hollywood feel,” she remembers. “The backyard was so glamorous, and really, for me, that felt great. It was so nice for entertaining, and I pictured all the things I could do back there.”

But now, the 38-year-old “Milkshake” singer told Architectural Digest in a recent interview that she plans to sell her mansion in Glendale, California, that she shares with husband and real estate agent, Mike Morato, and her sons, Knight, 8 (with Nas), and Shepherd, 2, to live on a farm.

“We’re buying a farm…so that we

can grow everything and sustain everything that way.”

“Now that I’ve got these two boys, I want to control a little bit more how we eat,” she said. She’s put their 3,850 square feet home on the market for $1.885 million. The property features five bedrooms, two fireplaces, a heated saltwater pool and, not one, but two kitchens (one inside and one outside).

There are also two kitchens with attractive fixtures and new amenities (one inside and one outside).

The indoor kitchen has been enhanced with Italian marble and an old wheel (which she sourced from the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California) that functions as a pot rack. “We smoke meat, so we have a BBQ smoker. We can do great grilled vegetables and steaks and sit outside with a glass of wine.

It’s so nice,” she shares.

Kelis isn’t the only Black woman who is going into farming. As a matter of fact, Black farmers are on the rise (yes)!

In 1920, the number of Blackoperated farms peaked at nearly a million, accounting for 15 million acres of farmland—the size of New Hampshire, Massachusetts

and New Jersey combined. They made up 14 percent of the country’s farmers.

The height of Black farming didn’t last. Faced with the economic and social barriers of the time and decades of… … racist and discriminatory policies, black farmers spent the next century in decline. By 1982, their numbers were down to about 30,000—just 2 percent of the nation’s total. That same year, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights predicted that no black farmers would remain by the year 2000.

But today, the number of black farmers in the United States is suddenly growing again. In 2012, there were more than 44,000 of them, up about 15 percent from 10 years earlier. Nationally, they were still less than 2 percent of the country’s farmers, but their growth is noteworthy after such an extensive decline. Oklahoma, Louisiana and Florida all show gains, while Texas takes the lead with a gain of more than 2,500 black farmers.

Way to go Kelis! Just let us know when we can start ordering food from your farm!

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

Who are Those MLK Family Members Expressing Support for Trump?

by J. K. Schmid Special to the AFRO

Members of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s extended family came out in support of President Trump this week, on the national day of recognition for the civil rights leader.

Isaac Newton Farris Jr. and Alveda King, Dr. King’s nephew and niece, respectively, asserted in interviews that Trump is not a racist.

Their statements came amid a new round of criticism of the president’s stance on race. When an agreement on immigration reform failed to solidify late last week, lawmakers present at a meeting with Trump said the president referred to African nations as “shithole countries” and questioned “Why do we need more Haitians?”

The singling out and disparaging of Haitians was reframed as “fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation,” by White House Spokesman Raj Shah. “‘Racism’ is just a word that’s being bandied and thrown about and thrown

Imagine.

at the president, in my opinion, unjustly. President Trump is not a racist,” Alveda King said during an interview on “Fox & Friends.” King cited Trump’s signature on a bill that upgraded Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site to a National Park.

She called the accusations of racism “outrageous” in the light of how much respect the president has shown her uncle.

“There was no offense to the people, a lot of dignity to the people,” Alveda King said of Trump’s comments on Haiti and Africa. “But the hellholes, in that some of their own leaders in Africa and Haiti have taken advantage of them and the area and done a disservice to the people.”

Alveda King has been a Republican since the 1990s and previously said she voted for Trump in the 2016 election.

Isaac Newton Farris Jr. told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Trump is not a racist “in the traditional sense that we have known racists,” the newspaper reported.

Farris said he doesn’t see President Trump as one who “looks at people

Inform.

Invest.

who don’t look like him or come from a different culture as being less than a human being,” according to the Journal-Constitution.

“That’s what we were confronted with in 1960,” Farris said. “Donald Trump is not walking around saying we should have a segregated society.”

Among the president’s alleged comments during the immigration meeting was a preference for immigrants from majority-White countries such as Norway. Trump campaigned on a promise to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and in 2016 stated that the “Central Park Five” were guilty of a notorious 1989 New York City rape incident, despite DNA evidence exonerating them.

“I’m not saying he does not say racist stuff, but I’m trying to tell you, that it’s possible to say something racist and not be racist yourself or intending to be racist,” Farris told the newspaper.

Farris is the son of Willie Christine King Farris, Dr. King’s oldest living sibling. He was the president of the King-founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 2009 until 2012.

President Donald J. Trump, with Alveda King, center, niece of slain Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and joined by Isaac Newton Farris Jr., left, nephew of Dr. King, and Bruce Levell of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, right, signs the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park Act, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, aboard Air Force One, in Atlanta, Ga. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

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January 31, 2018

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February 06, 2018

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Invitation for Bid (IFB) PT Barnum Apartments Unit 205 Renovation Solicitation Number: 080-PD-17-S The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is requesting sealed bids for Renovation of unit 205 at PT Barnum Apartments. A complete set of the plans and technical specifications will be available on May 8, 2017. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A MANDATORY pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on May 23, 2017 @ 10:00 a.m., submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than May 30, 2017 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. All bids must be received by mailed or hand delivered by June 6, 2017 @ 2:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Contract Specialist, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604, at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. No bids will be accepted after the designated time.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Invitation for Bid (IFB) Moving and Storage Services Agency Wide Solicitation Number: 097-AM-18-S The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is currently seeking bids from qualified moving companies for Moving and Storage Service. Solicitation package will be available on January 16, 2018. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A pre-bid conference will be held at 301 Bostwick Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on January 30, 2018, @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities. org no later than February 14, 2018 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org.

Seal bids will be received until February 28, 2018 @ 2:00 PM, at which time the bids will be publicly opened and read aloud.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

Request for Proposal (RFP) for Security Guard Services – Trumbull Gardens Solicitation Number: 098-SEC-18-S The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is currently requesting proposals from qualified security firms to provide security guard services at Trumbull Gardens a public housing complex in the city of Bridgeport. Solicitation package will be available on January 16, 2018. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A pre-proposal conference will be held at 505 Trumbull Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06606 on January 31, 2018, @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than February 14, 2018 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. Proposals shall be mailed or hand delivered by February 28, 2018 @ 3:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Director of Procurement, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604. Late proposals will not be accepted.

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Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating heavy equipment; be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate &for excellent Invitation Bids benefits Contact: Dana Briere Phone: Temporary Staffing Email: Services 860-243-2300 dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com The Housing Authority of the City of New Women & Minority Applicants are Haven to is apply d/b/a Elm Cityencouraged Communities currently seeking Action/ Equal Opportunity Bids Affirmative for Temporary Staffing Services.

A complete Employer copy of the requirement may be obtained from

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Monday, January 29, 2018 at 3:00PM.

GARRITY ASPHALT RECLAIMING , INC Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks: Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing and clean driving record.

We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860243-2300 Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming Inc Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic Employer

preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory training on equipment we operate.

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming Inc Location: Bloomfield CT seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic Contact: James Burke Phone: 860preferably experienced in Reclaiming and 243-2300 Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com training on equipment we operate.

Women & Minority Applicants are Location: Bloomfield CT to apply Contact:encouraged James Burke Phone: 860Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity 243-2300 Employer We offer excellent hourly rate & email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com Women excellent & Minoritybenefits Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits

Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer heavy equipment; be willing to travel Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer Equipment. Must have a CDL License, excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits clean driving record, capable of operating Contact: Dana be Briere Phone: heavy equipment; willing to travel 860-243-2300 Email: throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Women & Minority Applicants are Contact: Dana Briere Phone: encouraged to apply 860-243-2300 Email: Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com Employer Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018

The Town of East Haven is currently conducting examinations

to fill the following positions: Secretary III, Grade Level 11-Qualified candidates must possess an Associate’s Degree or higher and 2 years of experience. The starting salary is $38,945.30/ year.

Accountant I-Qualified candidates must possess a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting plus 2 years of experience. The starting salary $58,366.44/year.

Candidates bilingual in Spanish are encouraged to apply. The town offers an excellent benefit package. The applications for both positions are available at http://www.townofeasthavenct.org/civil-service-commission/pages/job-noticesand-tests or The Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven CT and the deadline to apply is February 9, 2018. The Town of East Haven is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities, Females, Veterans and Handicapped are encouraged to apply.

Listing: Logistics Assistant - Immediate Opening

High Volume petroleum oil company is seeking a full time skilled Logistics Assistant with previous petroleum oil, retail or commercial dispatching experience for days, shared on call duties and weekends required also. Must possess, excellent attention to detail, ability to manage multiple projects, excel proficiency and good computer skills required. Send resume to: Human Resource Dept., PO Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437.

********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

Meterman II Position involves the installation and repair of all types of water meters, including outside reading type, used on the water system. Requires graduation from H.S., GED, or vocational school plus four (4) years employment in the water department of which two (2) years shall be in the Meter Department or an equivalent in experience and training. $23.12 to $28.06 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. The closing date for applications is February 20, 2018 or the date we receive the fiftieth (50) application whichever occurs first. Apply: Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492, (203) 294-2080. EOE.

DELIVERY PERSON NEEDED Part Time Delivery Needed One/Two Day a Week,

Must Have Own Vehicle If Interested call (203) 435-1387 TRANSFER STATION LABORER Off load trailers, reload for trans/disp. Lift 50 lbs., operate industrial powered trucks and forklift. Asbestos Worker Handler Training a +. Resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 173 Pickering St., Portland, CT 06480; Fax 860-342-1022; or Email to lkelly@redtransfer.com RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Field Engineer

BA/BS in Civil Engineering or Construction Management.

2-5 yrs. experience. OSHA Certified.

Proficient in reading contract plans and specifications.

Resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002; Fax 860.218.2433; Email resumes to info@redtechllc.com. RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Project Manager Environmental Remediation Division 3-5 years exp. and Bachelor’s Degree, 40-Hr. Hazwoper Training Req. Forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002;

Fax 860.218.2433; or Email to HR@redtechllc.com

RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Class A CDL Driver

with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed. (Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480. RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

Town of Bloomfield

Custodian $22.31 hourly For details go to www.bloomfieldct.org

Waste Treatment Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator (Attendant II): Operates and maintains equipment and processes in a municipal sewage treatment plant. Requires a H.S. diploma or GED. In addition, must possess a State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Class II Operator or higher certification; or a Class II Operatorin-training or higher certification. Must possess and maintain a valid driver’s license. $25.38 to $30.24 hourly / $22.59 - $30.24 based on certifications & experience plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. The closing date will be that date the 50th application form/resume is received, or February 13, 2018, whichever occurs first.

EOE

The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT is requesting proposals for the painting of interior vacant units.

Proposal documents can be viewed and printed at www.

norwalkha.org<http://www.norwalkha.org> under the Business section RFP’s/RFQ’s Norwalk Housing is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Curtis O. Law, Executive Director.

Contract Administrator

1907 Hartford Turnpike North Haven, CT 06473

Galasso Materials is seeking a motivated, organized individual to be its next Contract Administrator. This position provides administration associated with our paving division. Responsibilities include billing, payroll, collection, lien tracking, coordinating with outside legal counsel, and job cost. Experience is preferred but willing to train the right candidate. Salary commensurate with experience and educational achievement. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Reply to Hiring Manager, PO Box 1776, East Granby, CT 06026. EOE/M/F/D/V.

Insulation company offering good pay and benefits.

Dispatcher

KMK Insulation Inc. Mechanical Insulator position.

Please mail resume to above address.. MAIL ONLY This company is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer.

Common Ground seeks an Assistant Fa-

cilities Manager to be responsible for the care, upkeep and maintenance of Common Ground’s facilities. The Assistant Facilities Manager will supervise part time custodial staff. This is a full time, year round 40-hour per week position with benefits. Work hours will generally run from noon until 8 pm with some weekend hours required. For a more detailed job description and how to apply, please visit http://commongroundct. org/2017/10/common-ground-seeks-an-assistant-facilitiesmanager/Common Ground seeks an Assistant Facilities Manager to be responsible for the care, upkeep and maintenance of Common Ground’s facilities. The Assistant Facilities Manager will supervise part time custodial staff. This is a full time, year round 40-hour per week position with benefits. Work hours will generally run from noon until 8 pm with some weekend hours required. For a more detailed job description and how to apply, please visit http://commongroundct.org/2017/10/common-ground-seeks-an-assistant-facilities-manager/

Help Wanted. Immediate opening for operator for Heavy and Highway construction. Please call PJF Construction Corp. @ 860-888-9998.

We are an equal opportunity employer M/F. 21

Galasso Materials is seeking a motivated, organized, detail-oriented candidate to join its truck dispatch office. Responsibilities include order entry and truck ticketing in a fast paced materials manufacturing and contracting company. You will have daily interaction with employees and customers as numerous truckloads of material cross our scales daily. We are willing to train the right individual that has a great attitude. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Reply to Hiring Manager, PO Box 1776, East Granby, CT 06026.

EOE/M/F/D/V.

Hot Mix Asphalt Plant Technician & Paving Inspector There are multiple openings in Galasso Materials Quality Control Department. NETTCP certification is preferred, with at least one year of experience. Full time positions available. Your schedule must be flexible as sometimes night shifts are required. Must be able to lift and carry 50lb buckets.

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Reply to Hiring Manager, PO Box 1776, East Granby, CT 06026. EOE/M/F/D/V.

Equipment Operators and Laborers Galasso Materials is seeking applicants for the 2018 paving season. Experience in paving operations is required. Must possess current OSHA 10 card, have a valid driver’s license, and own transportation. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Reply to Hiring Manager, PO Box 1776, East Granby, CT 06026.

EOE/M/F/D/V.

Construction Truck and Equipment Head Mechanic

Large CT based Fence and Guard Rail contractor looking for experienced, self-motivated, responsible Head Mechanic. Responsibilities will include maintaining and repairing all company equipment and vehicles, updating asset lists and assuring all rolling stock is in compliance with state and federal regulations. Must have extensive diesel engine, electrical wiring and hydraulic systems experience. Top wages paid, company truck and benefits.

AA/EOE Please send resume to Mpicard@atlasoutdoor.com

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

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February 06, 2018

7 Tricks To Outsmart The Flu

sive care units or even a home with a sick child — as long as sensitivity to moisture-loving mold and spores isn’t a problem,” according to Jeffrey Shaman, Ph.D., of Oregon State University in Corvallis, a coauthor of the study.

“It seems that [the influenza virus’] ability to survive and be transmitted person-to-person is greatly affected by how dry or wet the air is,” says Shaman, whose study is published in this Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

by Ruthie Hawkins, BlackDoctor.org Contributor

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 200,000 people are hospitalized each year with the flu or related complications, adding that more than 36,000 people die from the seasonal virus. Try these tricks to outsmart the flu and to prevent colds and other infections.

1. Stay hydrated.

Keep your membranes – which can trap viruses in your nose and throat — in tip top shape by drinking lots of fluids, preferably water.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE. IT’S WHAT WE DO. Insured or uninsured.

We’ve got you covered.

LEARN MORE. PPSNE.ORG • 1 (800) 230-PLAN

2. You are what you eat.

Cut back on fatty foods and give your immune system a boost with foods like fruits and vegetables, experts say. Federal guidelines recommend five to nine servings of fruit and veggies each day for a healthy dose of symptom-beating antioxidants.

3. Hands off.

Believe it or not, the most common places for germs to enter your body are the eyes and nose. So, wash your hands and keep them to yourself.

4. Shots, shots, shots!

Whether or not you’re a fan of shots, the CDC recommends a yearly flu

vaccine for all persons aged 6 months and older to keep symptoms at bay.

5. Use a humidifier.

According to a 2008 study, researchers found that the flu virus is more likely to survive in low-humidity conditions, giving it ample opportunity to spread from person to person. Those same findings also suggest that using a humidifier, “may be a good idea in places where the spread of influenza poses a serious threat, such as inten-

6. Get your beauty sleep.

Experts suggest getting eight to 10 hours of rest when under the weather to give your body a fighting chance when braving this common viral infection.

In fact, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found that people who got eight or more hours of sleep were less likely to catch a cold than those who snoozed fewer than seven hours, even when a live virus was placed directly in their nose.

7. Stay away!

The CDC suggests sufferers stay home for at least 24 hours after fever subsides (without the use of fever-reducing medicine).

Of course, the next step would be seeing a doctor to treat leftover symptoms like cough, sore throat or body aches.

ya l e i n st i t u t e o f sa c r e d m u s i c joins the

inner city news in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans to the cultural and spiritual life of New Haven and the world.

e v e n t l i st i n g s at ism.yale.edu

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS January 31, 2018 - February 06, 2018 Con’t on page 6

Quest Resumed For Civilian Review Subpoena Power

fit the law, not the other way around,” Desir said.

To build momentum, Jones, Desir and Hilke are calling a series of mass meetings to launch a public campaign for support for the proposal. The first, on Feb. 8, will serve to coordinate a social media campaign, calls to alders and conversations with neighbors. Hilke hopes the ACRB ordinance will pass this spring so that it can go into effect by the end of the year.

Steve Winter, the newly elected alder for Newhallville/Prospect Hill’s Ward 21 alder and a longtime advocate for a stronger CRB, said that the key to the campaign is grassroots organizing. He encouraged people to talk to their alders and their neighbors. He has vowed to work with colleagues to get the new CRB law passed.

Hilke said the proposed ACRB would differ substantially from the Board of Police Commissioners, a civilian body which has hiring and firing power and the ability to compel officers to testify under the current charter. The Police Commissioners Board also has the ability to “make all rules and regulations relating to the administration of the department which it may deem necessary or advisable, which rules shall be printed and made available to the public.”

Jones said it was necessary to remember the police violence that prompted calls for a CRB. “Is it really about these horrific animals from the inner city that are driving officers to kill from fear? Is that what we really believe? That they have no choice but to shoot?” Jones asked. Jones added that the police killed over 1,000 people in the United States in the last year.

Desir said one of the latest examples of brutality for which officers need to be held accountable happened in Bridgeport, where James Boulay, a cop, followed 15-year-old Negron into a Walgreens parking lot before trying to pull him from his car. Boulay shot Negron and another passenger in the car, before handcuffing him and leaving him to die, according to Desir.

Jones added that police violence cuts across racial, socioeconomic and gender lines, though it disproportionately affects black people. Jones said that the current political situation necessitates urgent reforms to stem police violence, alluding to a Martin Niemoller’s poem, “First they came for the Socialists,” which discusses the way state violence in Germany undercut social solidarity and gradually consumed the progressive elements of civil society, until there were no good people left to defend democratic order or human life.

Con’t on page 6

41 New Firefighters Chosen; 83% Local

from 20 minutes to more than an hour, the chief ran scenarios of different firefighting situations.

The department created the pool of about 60 candidates, from which Alston and the commissioners chose 41.

Aspiring firefighters sat in the room as names were called out Tuesday morning, hoping to hear theirs.

Not all the young men ended up smiling.

New Jersey-raised Tyler Skolnik lives in West Haven and is completing a degree at the University of New Haven in fire science. He said that during his time here, which includes being in the Marine Corps Reserve, he has fallen in love with New Haven and ultimately wants to serve as a firefighter here. It runs in the family, as is the case with many firefighters; Skolnik said his uncle has put in 40 years with the NYFD. Skolnik, however, will have to wait a bit. His name wasn’t selected from the eligibility list this time, but it will remain on the list for potential future selection. He said he will continue to pursue his goal: “I’m not going to let this stop me.”

Aspiring firefighter Cordell Bell waited with straight posture that belied a certain nervousness as names were read off by the chief. Bell’s came up as one to remove from the list.

Afterwards, in the hallway, his disappointment was palpable. He said many of the mentors in his life have been firefighters; that’s why he’d applied. Commissioner Vincent Mauro acknowledged the disappointment and told him to keep his head up.

Bell said he will continue to pursue his goal, but likely in other cities. He lingered after the meeting in hopes of meeting with the chief. He got the chance.

In other fire department news, Chief Alston announced that Retire Battalion Chief and department historian Edward Flynn was recently been elected to the Connecticut State Firefighters Association Hall of Fame.

“We’re excited about him getting this.

It’s a high honor,” said Alston. Retired Chief Michael Grant, among other members of the fire department, have previously been elected.

The induction takes place at a ceremony in Southington on April 5.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS

January 31, 2018

N e w P u b l i c

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February 06, 2018

H av e n S c h o o l s

2018 SCHOOL EXPOS You are invited to discover all that New Haven Public Schools can offer families and students. Please join us at a School Expo.

Thur • Jan. 25, 5:30-8pm Floyd Little Athletic Center • 480 Sherman Pkwy

6 - 7pm High School Info Session

Sat • Feb. 3, 11am-2pm

1:30 - 2:30pm Kindergarten Info Session

John Martinez Magnet School • 100 James Street Choice.NHPS.Net 24