Political Peace On A Sunny Sidewalk In Fair Haven

Erica Rodriguez and Isiah Miller aren’t supporting the same candidate for Ward 15 alder — but that political difference didn’t ruin their afternoon. Or even force them onto opposite sides of the street.
Instead, they stood side by side, smiling and talking in the afternoon sun as they pitched prospective voters, and got to know each other, outside of a Chatham Street polling place where one of the city’s most closely contested Democratic primary elections will be decided come 8 p.m.
That’s the election for alder for Fair Haven’s Ward 15. Six-term incumbent Ernie Santiago and youth violence prevention worker Frank Redente, Jr. both successfully petitioned onto the Democratic primary ballot after the neighborhood ward committee split its votes at July’s convention — meaning that neither candidate emerged with a party endorsement. The two have been actively campaigning for months, with Santiago calling in local legislative colleagues and union allies and fellow elected officials to bolster his bid for reelection as Redente and a team of his supporters have gone door to door to door to door throughout the ward making a plea for change.

Signs of the times, outside of Chatham Street polling place.

On Tuesday at around 1:45 p.m., Redente and a dozen campaign’s supporters — all wearing red t‑shirts with white text reading “Ready for Change and Accountability” and “Frank Redente Ward 15 Alder” — had tables and tents and campaign lit at three of the four corners at the intersection of Chatham and Rowe Streets, near the polling place at 197 Chatham St. Santiago and family and friends and neighbors and New Haven Rising union supporters were stationed at one of those same corners, similarly passing out campaign lit and calling out to drivers and walkers as they made their ways to the polls.
According to Ward 15’s polling place moderator, 147 people had cast their ballots out of a total of 829 eligible voters as of around 1:50 p.m. Tuesday.
Unlike at the other campaign spots at Chatham and Rowe, where each candidate and his supporters appeared to keep their distances from one another, Rodriguez and Miller stood side by side in the open sun on the Chatham Street sidewalk just west of the polling place’s entrance.
Rodriguez, who lives on Spring Street in the Hill and whose sister is married to Santiago, is supporting Santiago. Miller, who lives in Ward 15 on Poplar Street, is supporting Redente.
“I’ve known Ernie for years now,” Rodriguez said about why she was campaigning for the incumbent. “He has done a lot for the community.”
Miller said he’s backing Redente because “of the activism he does at night” through his work with the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program, reaching out to young people around preventing violence and “gang outreach.” “There’s too much violence,” among young New Haveners in particular, Miller said. He said he’s inspired by Redente’s push for a more “purposeful” life for New Haven youth.

Pastor Victor Gomez and Alder Ernie Santiago.

On the other side of Chatham Street, Santiago found a brief respite in the shade alongside Pastor Victor Gomez. “I’m feeling good,” Santiago said. “The people I talk to, they like me.” He said he’s proud of more “speed bumps” and “hardly any blight” in the neighborhood after his nearly six terms in office.
“He make a good job,” Gomez said in support of his friend. “He works for the community.”
Santiago said he hopes to win another term in office. Either way, he said, “we’ll know at 8 p.m.”

Tamiko Jackson-McArthur, Frank Redente, Maria Olmo, and Erick Rodriguez.

On the opposite corner of Chatham and Rowe, Redente stood alongside campaign supporters Maria Olmo, Erick Gonzalez, and Tamiko Jackson-McArthur, all past or present Fair Haven residents.
Redente said he and his supporters “claimed” the Chatham-Rowe corners at 3 a.m. Tuesday. “We’ve done extensive groundwork,” he said about his campaign. “I know my own doors.” Time and again, he said, he’s heard concerns from Ward 15 residents about “quality of life” and “eyes on the street.”
Each block’s needs and challenges are a little bit different, he said. Ferry Street has “open-air drug users” and sales, while other areas have more “general crime and violence.”
He said he’s well positioned to represent Ward 15 on the board based on the connections he’s made and knowledge he’s accrued over the course of a whole life living in Fair Haven, and across his many years of working with at-risk youth. Jackson-McArthur said that one of the biggest reasons why she was out in the sun backing Redente on Tuesday was exactly that: he has “fresh ideas,” and he’s “lived all his life” in Fair Haven.
This campaign is not meant as a personal attack on Santiago, he said. “It’s politics.”