Eli's Record

In my six years on the Board of Alders and in the seven legislative sessions that I’ve worked in Hartford, I focused on the issues I hear most about—housing affordability and taxes, gun violence and street safety, jobs and education, health care and child care, immigrant rights and climate. Here’s some of the work I’m most proud of:

Celebrating the passage of a law raising housing code fines

Making Our City and State More Affordable

Over the past four years, I built a coalition to write and pass the Downtown for All affordable housing zoning law to allow the construction of more affordable mixed income housing
In 2023, I led the effort to pass a new state law (and then supported a city law to match it) that increases fines on landlords for housing code violations from $250 to $2,000
Every city budget cycle, I’ve pushed for fiscal responsibility and to lower the mill rate, while maintaining high-quality city services
We passed legislation to empower tenant unions
At the state capitol, I've fought for a child tax credit with Connecticut Voices for Children and helped the Progressive Caucus advocate for paid leave and a higher minimum wage

Chairing a Board of Alders Education Committee meeting

Investing in Great Schools for Our Kids

As chair of the Education Committee from 2022-2023, I brought attention to the literacy crisis in our schools and pushed the district to adopt a new research-based reading curriculum
We also focused on getting chronically absent kids back, helping spur an investment in outreach that brought down absenteeism
With the mayor and my colleagues, we invested in a $3 million tutoring program to help students get back on track after the pandemic.
I helped bring attention to the need for more post-grad opportunities for our students, the importance of multi-language learning, the challenges facing LGBTQ+ students, teacher staffing and retention, and facilities maintenance issues
In 2023, I joined my colleagues to approve a new contract with our city's teachers, giving them a well-deserved and much-needed raise

Discussing street safety on Chapel St in Dwight

Improving Neighborhood Safety

Earlier this year, I co-wrote a new zoning ordinance and a new licensing ordinance to better regulate smoke shops in our city
Over the past several years, I joined my colleagues to invest in more cameras and other public safety infrastructure to prevent violence in our neighborhoods
In 2020, we strengthened our city's Civilian Review Board
Over the past several years, we created and then invested in Elm City COMPASS to provide mental health and social services through the 911 system
In 2021, we created a new Department of Community Resilience and the Office of Violence Prevention, which are helping to address the root causes of violence in our city.

Eli talking about a $5.3 million grant for road safety and housing

Critical Investments in Streets and Infrastructure

In 2022, I worked with city and state partners on a $5.3 million grant to redesign State Street to create space for new mixed-income housing development
I worked with a coalition of city and state leaders to help secure a game-changing $25 million investment to improve our bus system.
We also helped secure $4.6 million in funding for infrastructure improvements around the Green.

Helping sign up volunteers for the Vaccinate Fair Haven effort

Supporting Our Immigrant Community

In 2020, I organized a letter on behalf of 25 members of the Board of Alders to Governor Lamont asking for economic support to our state’s undocumented residents during the pandemic. Our advocacy helped win $4.5 million in state funding.
In 2021, I worked with community leaders on an effort to knock on every door in Fair Haven to help residents sign up for vaccination appointments
As the Trump administration has attacked immigrant communities this year, I joined city leaders to announce a Resource Guide for New Residents.
This past year, I helped draft pending Welcoming City legislation for New Haven

Quality of Life

During the pandemic, I worked with Downtown small business owners to close down a lane of College St, so that restaurants could expand outdoor dining.
I helped pass a noise ordinance amendment that has cut down on trash haulers who violate city law by waking up residents before 5 am.
I helped fix broken sidewalks, install new traffic calming improvements, and address constituent services issues like potholes and tree trimming requestS

Eli organizing a neighborhood cleanup