Elm City Beat

By Andy Ross

Eighth Ward Alderman Michael Smart knows Wooster Square. He attended Conte School on Wooster Street and Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven. After high school, he attended the University of Bridgeport, where he studied business, marketing and political science. After launching a successful career in real estate investing, Smart and his wife Elaine purchased a home on Lyons Street. And, when Smart noticed that his beloved hometown and neighborhood was starting to fall victim to crime and neglect, Smart decided to fight.

Little did Smart know that his next steps would lead him on a path from concerned citizen to full-fledged politician, in just a few short years.

As Smart remembers it, in 1998, there was no formal group or organization pushing for change in the Wooster Square area -- it was simply a group of concerned citizens banding together to reclaim their neighborhood. Crime went down and residents all pitched in to clean up their neighborhood. “We began to see green spaces pop up along Bradley Street, trees being planted on Williams and Lyons Streets, and house after house starting to shape
up, as stakeholders began to improve their properties.”

In 1998, as crime-fighting became more organized, Smart joined the New Haven Good Government Group, an organization that works closely with New Haven Public Works; Police Services; and Parks and Recreation. The Good Government Group partners with local leaders to bring resident issues to their attention and to hold elected officials and city workers accountable to the tax payers. “This is where I really began to gain a sense of how city government worked,” says Smart. “Looking back, I would have to say it is when I knew I would become a part of the solution to the problems facing New Haven.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Fight or Flight

Even before Smart was elected an Alderman, one of Smart’s earliest community efforts was when he joined the fight to have a sound barrier erected along Farnam Court public housing complex to reduce noise pollution from I-95. The process taught him a lot about the complexity of state and local government – and the red tape that often accompanies change.

“Everyone had to have their say. State Senators, State Representatives, the Mayor, the Alderman, the state Department of Transportation – you name the group or politician, and we had to interact with them,” Smart says. “It took several years, but after I became Alderman we were successful. ”

Change, it seems, was possible. The success of the Farnam Court sound barrier was proof. And Smart was just getting started.

Smart Takes the Fight to the Center Ring: the Political Arena

“I had a mental list of reasons I wanted to get involved politically,” recalls Smart, who says he wanted a higher quality of life for all New Haven citizens. “I wanted to create sustainable social and economic programs, ensure the best education system possible for our children, maintain citizen safety, and improve city roads and parks.”

Smart launched a campaign to be Alderman of the 8th Ward in2003. However, Smart did not get the initial Democratic endorsement, so he waged a successful primary fight. That effort paid off: on January 1, 2004, Smart took his position as Alderman for the 8th Ward. He has been re-elected three times since then.

“Listening, Studying, and Participating”

As Alderman, Smart is involved in a variety of community organizations, including the Wooster Square Block Watch, The Downtown Wooster Square Management Team, Historic Wooster Square Association, Friends of Lenzi Park, the St. Andrew’s Society, St. Mary Magdalen Society and the 8th Ward Democratic Committee. It’s quite a workload, but Smart wouldn’t have it any other way.

“There are so many great groups and organizations throughout my ward,” he says. “I do my
best to be aware of them and to be available to help at any time.” Between Smart’s twice-
monthly aldermanic meetings and service on aldermanic committees (Smart Chairs the Tax
Abatement Committee and serves on the City Services and Environmental Policy
Committee), he still finds time to listen and participate in dozens of community groups.
Most notably, Smart heads the very successful Bradley Street Green Space project which is
now going into its sixth year of revitalizing the area through planting of trees and flowers in
open spaces.

Smart regularly tackles projects ranging from new sidewalks to drug and alcohol prevention to working with homeless shelters in an effort to increase capacity during the harsh winter months. Smart also works to address his constituents’ educational issues: after residents raised concerns that the Conte Magnet School was not admitting enough ward resident students, Smart worked with school officials to set aside slots for neighborhood children.

It’s a heavy workload, but to Smart, it’s just one more way to stay connected to the community he loves and the people who live there.

After all, for Smart, community is where his focus started… and where he intends to keep it. “I decided to enter politics because I love this ward and I love New Haven,” Smart says. “I grew up here. I live here. I could not sit quietly while so many of the neighborhoods I grew up in were becoming embattled.”

Today, Smart helps residents fight a different kind of battle – one less physical, but no less harrowing. Smart’s work as head of the Tax Abatement Committee gives him an opportunity to listen to residents’ financial challenges. “This is, in one way, one of my favorite tasks because I get to help people with real problems,” Smart says. “On the other hand, my heart goes out to anyone having financial difficulties as the economy worsens.”

Those “real problems” can be frustrating, says Smart, who notes that the most difficult part of his position is working with city finances. “It’s frustrating because there are a lot of good programs that we have enjoyed and come to depend on in New Haven,” he says. “When funding cannot be restored, it hurts to take those programs away. However, facts are facts and when we are facing reduced state funding -- we have to make sound business decisions regarding the city’s finances. A constant but stimulating part of this job is helping to find long term solutions to New Haven’s social and economic challenges, while representing the residents of my ward in particular.”

All in all, Smart puts in about 30 to 40 hours a week as Alderman and, unlike his job as a real estate investor, Smart’s political career requires him to be available virtually 24/7. “They call me, text me, email me, and even stop by my home if they require my attention. And I take every one of them seriously: if something bothers them enough to contact me, I will do whatever it takes to help. Someone was needed to represent the entire ward. You do this by listening, studying and participating. That’s why they elected me.”

Alderman Smart is currently entering his seventh year in office. He lives in Wooster Square with his wife and two daughters, Mariah and Aliah. For more information or to contact Alderman Smart, he can be reached at One Lyon St., 2nd floor, New Haven, CT 06511-4925,
Phone (203) 624-4177 or by email at Ward8@newhavenct.net.