Elijah Hurewitz-Ravitch, Staff Photographer

Mayor Justin Elicker faced pointed questions from members of the Unhoused Activist Community Team, or U-ACT, for over an hour at a budget town hall Wednesday evening — sparking at times fiery debates over public restrooms, affordable housing and the Rosette Village tiny homes.

At LW Beecher School, Mayor Justin Elicker spent around 20 minutes reviewing his budget proposal, announced late last month, mostly under the implicit goal of explaining and justifying a proposed 2.3 percent increase in the mill rate.

About two dozen residents had gathered to hear the mayor, who presented a lengthy slideshow of graphs and charts. Elicker laid out his primary goal of maintaining city services in the face of federal uncertainty and acknowledged, among other topics, the decrease in the city’s taxable properties and “a real crisis” in the public school system.

But, by and large, attendees — the majority of whom were affiliated with U-ACT — were not interested in minute fiscal and policy details. Instead, over two-thirds of the meeting was dominated by issues related to homelessness.

Jorell Alford, a New Havener affiliated with U-ACT, decried the lack of public bathrooms in New Haven.

“Unlock the bathrooms in these facilities,” she said. “I can go into a fine restaurant, get free Wi-Fi, AC, heat, a lounge area, but I got to pay to pee. Mayor, I challenge you today: build these bathrooms. I challenge you today Mayor, you cannot use your bathroom in your office. I challenge you to walk across the street and use those same porta potties that you said is clean for us to use.”

In response, Elicker said that portable toilets on the New Haven Green — which Alford referred to as “disgusting” — continue to face challenges, including complaints of prostitution and abandoned needles.

Soon after, Mark Colville — U-ACT’s lead organizer — accused the mayor of stonewalling efforts to build public restrooms on the Green. He said that in raising concerns over “human excrement,” Elicker was “setting up a victim-blaming process” that allows the police “to make people disappear who are poor.” A heated back-and-forth between Elicker and Colville lasted for over five minutes.

Minutes later, a shouting match erupted between several U-ACT members and Joe Fekieta, a longtime Elm City resident and one-time candidate for Ward 4 co-chair, who suggested that homeless residents should be “brought” to nearby psychiatric hospitals.

To be sure, two residents asked questions around the budget itself. Tory Sansing, who recently left her job as a New Haven Public Schools teacher, voiced her concern over paraprofessionals’ low wages. Elicker explained that their contracts operate on a different timeline from the budget process.

Meanwhile, Mark Gimpel, who has a background in financial engineering, asked about the city’s debt — which City Budget Director Shannon McCue said is currently around $700 million — and voiced his concern that the mayor “keeps adding $30 million a year.” Elicker had earlier explained that the city borrows $60 million every two years. 

“We’re kicking the can down the road,” Gimpel told the News after the town hall. 

Despite the contentious nature of much of the meeting, Elicker told the News that he enjoys this style of public participation.

“I actually really like these budget town halls, because you never know what’s going to come up, and it’s an opportunity for us to have a little bit more of an in-depth conversation on different issues,” he said.”

The Board of Alders must approve the city’s budget by June 2.