Author Archives: Marcel Przymusinski

New Haven’s ongoing $1.1 billion public school construction program is providing local kids with resources ranging from marine biology labs to visual arts studios. But the project also seems to be providing Mayor John DeStefano Jr. with a major source of campaign funding. As a candidate for Connecticut governor, DeStefano has managed to raise over »

A Connecticut Supreme Court ruling against the city of New Haven released this week is the latest chapter of a battle over promotions in the city’s civil service that has raised allegations of racial discrimination and political favors. The court’s decision upholds a lower court’s ruling that the New Haven’s promotions policy violates the city »

With the Ward 1 aldermanic election a month and a half away, candidates Rebecca Livengood ’07 and Nick Shalek ’05 are working hard to inform the ward’s residents — and especially Old Campus freshmen — about the race and get them interested in their campaigns. Livengood, the Democratic candidate and the current alderwoman, said she »

With vote tallies in from Democratic primaries across the city, Ward 29 Alderman Carl Goldfield declared his candidacy for president of the Board of Aldermen last night and announced enough endorsements to make victory likely when a new board convenes next January. Meanwhile, Ward 2 Alderwoman Joyce Chen ’01, who backs current President Jorge Perez »

Democrats city-wide are facing off in municipal election primaries today, likely determining the outcomes of November’s aldermanic elections in several of the city’s Democrat-dominated wards. Two of the contested races are in wards with significant concentrations of Yale students: In Ward 22, which includes four residential colleges and Swing Space, incumbent Alderman Rev. Drew King »

After four years making controversial votes on the Board of Aldermen, Ward 2 Alderwoman Joyce Chen ’01 finds herself in a primary battle against a candidate backed by Mayor John DeStefano Jr. Chen, twice elected as a Green Party candidate but now a registered Democrat, asserts that the mayor feels threatened by her and is »

By Marcel Przymusinski Staff reporter In some ways, not much has changed in Ward 1 in the past two years: In 2003, as now, an independent political newcomer emerged to challenge an endorsed Democratic incumbent. The similarities go further: Like Daniel Kruger ’04, who ran against then-Alderman Ben Healey ’04 in 2003, Nick Shalek ’05 »

Since redistricting in 2002, Yale students have become an increasingly important constituency in Ward 22, and aldermanic candidate Cordelia Thorpe faces an uphill battle to win them over in a few short weeks. Thorpe, who is challenging Ward 22 Alderman Drew King to a primary on Sept. 13, is campaigning on a platform of unity »

By Marcel Przymusinski Staff reporter Rebecca Livengood ’07 was sworn in as Ward 1 alderwoman yesterday and will now represent the residents of seven residential colleges and Old Campus on New Haven’s legislative body. Yesterday’s ceremony at City Hall, presided over by Mayor John DeStefano Jr., enables Livengood to go into November’s aldermanic election as »

Residents of Ward 1, which includes most of Yale’s campus, will soon have a new representative on the city’s Board of Aldermen, as Rebecca Livengood ’07 steps in to fill out the remaining two months of the term of Ben Healey ’04, who resigned in early August. Livengood, who won the Ward 1 Democratic Committee’s »

Yale’s recently-announced agreement to increase its voluntary financial contribution to New Haven to $4.18 million this year has been touted by city and University officials as a lasting compromise indicative of steadily improving town-gown relations. But given the tumultuous history of Yale’s interaction with New Haven, it would be remarkable if the current agreement were »

Students with cars on campus may have to be more cautious about observing parking regulations in the fall, as the city is planning to increase its parking ticket revenue in the tight budget planned for the next fiscal year. While the city will bring in $4.3 million from parking tickets this year, the budget for »