Hamden residents voted in the town’s Democratic primary on Wednesday, Sept. 15, and came away with several new faces who could lead voters for the next two years.
Mayoral candidate Lauren Garrett beat out incumbent Curt Leng and challenger Peter Cyr, and will face Republican candidate Ron Gambardella and Independent Party candidate Albert Lotto in the general election on Nov. 2.
Garrett’s likability showed in the numbers. She racked up 2,962 votes, otherwise known as 55.76% of Hamden voters, leading to her win. It was a role reversal of 2019 when then-Councilwoman Garrett lost to Leng in this very race. She nearly doubled the votes of Leng, who finished with 1,419 votes. Cyr tallied 853 votes.
Hamden traditionally leans left on the political spectrum, so the primary can be a good measure of what to expect in November. Should Garrett win, she would become the town’s first female mayor in 20 years.
“Thank you to the voters for placing your trust in us,” Garrett wrote on Facebook the morning after the election. “I’m proud of the campaign we ran and the results.”
It’s not uncommon to simply want to see someone new in the political hot seat, particularly after one person holds the highest seat of power in the town for such a long time. Leng has been Hamden’s mayor since May of 2015.
“My candidate didn’t win, but I’m glad Leng is out,” Hamden resident Patricia E. Kennedy said.
Kennedy was one of the 16.06% of Hamden voters who voted for Cyr, and wants her mayor to focus on “responsible budgeting.” Cyr announced his support for Garrett after she won the primary.
The state Office of Policy and Management and local town data releases its tax information every year. Property tax/mill rate has steadily increased ever since Leng took office in Hamden, with the only exception being Leng’s first year in office. After that year, from 2016 to 2021, the property tax/mill rate increased by 13.7%.
Connecticut recently ranked Hamden as the most indebted state town per capita, with $4,295 in bonds, $5,247 in pensions, and $8,670 in Other Post-Employment Benefits (OEB), which equals $19,021 in debt per capita.
Comparatively, the second-placed town in the state was New Haven’s $16,513. The average Connecticut town’s debt per capita was $6,367, which is just 38.6% of Hamden’s rate. It’s safe to say that Hamden’s taxes and finances were a point of healthy discussion between candidates during the election process that heavily factored into voters’ decisions.
Budgeting and economic responsibility were a common theme among voters, as it would be in most elections. But after a year and a half of pandemic restrictions that limited business revenue and income for most residents, it is even less surprising. With property tax continuing to rise, Hamden resident Chris Atchley was “very excited” to see a switch in government leaders.
“Change was long overdue,” Atchley said.
Similarly to Kennedy, Atchley cited “fiscal responsibility” as the main issue he cares about. However, he also cited “transparency” as an important point.
Leonard Young, the founder and director of “Gimme Shelter,” said he is most looking forward to “a first-ever Hamden Animal Shelter.” According to an article by the New Haven Independent, Garrett, Gambardella, and Lotto all pledged to have decided on a site with a blueprint, as well as an estimated price tag for a shelter when elected. At the moment, Hamden uses a North Haven shelter.
These are issues that are important to the voters, issues that need to be conveyed to candidates so that problems don’t linger as the shelter had for the past 17 years.
A Hamden resident who works at Quinnipiac University said “had enough” about the “vagrants [and] homelessness” issue in the town.
“I have lived in Hamden for 40 years and feel like I live in downtown (New York City) with so many homeless begging for money every time I go to Stop and Shop,” the Quinnipiac employee said.
Homelessness actually reached an all-time low in Hamden before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the statistics were recorded in 2007, homelessness had been on a steady decline. It had dropped 33% from 2010 to 2020.
That’s not to say there isn’t a pressing issue. Volunteers who searched towns to acquire these figures found that 577 of the 2,905 homeless were children. Those figures also don’t accurately reflect the difficulties imposed by the pandemic.
Its effect on homeless numbers in Hamden has not been supplied. But with nationwide numbers rising largely due to economic struggles poised by the pandemic, it’s likely Hamden’s numbers have risen as well. Almost 8,500 calls were made to Connecticut’s hotline in search of temporary shelter in February 2021 alone. A year prior, before the pandemic, that number was under 6,000.
The resident also stressed the need for politicians to “invest in the town and bring business to Hamden,” a sentiment agreed upon by many Hamden residents.
Peter Laffin, the recreational specialist at Hamden’s Brooksvale Park, said he invites all local politicians to Brooksvale Park so they can understand how it transforms the “souls and minds” of the people of Hamden. It serves as a venue to open a dialogue about local issues.
Though he acknowledged that the park is a hidden gem in Hamden, he hopes “hidden” doesn’t equate to “overlooked,” and he has already started that conversation.
“I did have the opportunity yesterday to talk to a couple of politicians because I was down at the Hamden Festival, [but] I didn’t get the chance to talk to [Lauren Garrett], which was a shame,” Laffin said.
Given that Young had problems establishing a Hamden shelter after more than a decade of discussion, politicians mingling with residents, sparking a thought-provoking discourse, helps meet that desire for transparency.
Hamden’s general election will be held on Nov. 2. Voting locations vary across the town but can be found here. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.