Candidate Profiles: Green Party Slate

We sent out a series of questions to the candidates running for office this election, and these were the responses we received. The final installment, unaffiliated candidates for City Council and Board of Education, will go up on Wednesday.

Jessica Cartagena, Kenric Hanson, and Joan Sullivan Cooper are running for City Council. Ronna Stuller and Mirna Martinez are running for the Board of Education.

Jessica Cartagena

Age: 21

Address: 44 Center Street

Hometown: New London

Employment: Retail

Education: I recently graduated from New London High School and I’m pursuing my undergraduate degree in sociology at Three Rivers Community College.

Incumbent: No

Previous elected experience: None

Civic experience: I worked with FRESH New London non-profit for about 6 years. Starting around fifteen my position changed as did the growth and education I was learning from my mentor. I later became youth & market coordinator working directly with youth and the community, teaching and also bringing in volunteers who have something to offer either through art, poetry, food related issue or public speaking techniques. I also strived to have youth teach their peers through peer to peer days and it helped build confidence and a sense of leadership for the youth. I help organize the roving market truck that went in areas in New London where people were not getting access to healthy food. In addition, I was an ally for Public Allies CT; I worked in Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford to help provide the need the community was seeking. I was also taught an intense training that helped structured my leadership role. Currently I’m working with Movement In Motion. Movement in Motion is an artist collective that disseminates information through cultural mediums. We create rhymes, music, websites and other forms of artwork to dialog with our respective communities for social and economical change.

Top issue: I believe that there are many issues we are facing but the two major issues in our town are taxes and education. I personally feel the effects of tax increases and I know I’m not the only one. I want to help work on ways to prevent any further considerations on increasing taxes and find strategies to decrease them. The more we increase taxes the more we put stress on our New London families, in some instances pushing people out of our great city. We need to look at ways to invest in and support economic development that won't include increasing our taxes. Education is an important issue. The high school should focus more on job training and on making sure that students are making decisions about their futures with the best possible information. There’s also the issue with utilizing our resources better. Our parks, local art galleries, youth based organizations and service programs these are all very important. Riverside Park has a lot of potential because of its size it could be like Harkness Memorial State Park. We need to make sure that all of our parks are not being ignored in general and bring New London’s cultural diversity out through them. The art galleries and youth based organizations should engaged youth as potential after school programs. There are too many service programs to state as examples right now but the few I’m referring to are programs that provide housing assistance, child care, and scholarships for single household parents etc. I find that these programs are disconnected to each other and I want to work to fill that gap so everyone is being offered the full package. Youth engagement is a big issue. This is the generation that is not given the opportunity to be heard. There are many negative assumptions about our New London youth and I want to work to show what my generation as well as the younger ones are capable of. I’ve worked with many of them first hand all with different perspective about how they want to serve their peers and community more effectively. We really need to connect with our youth and bring forth their talents in creative educational ways.  My goal is to work for social justice in my community, and I won't rest until I see the fruits of my efforts.

Kenric Hanson

Age: 52

Address: 242 Ocean Avenue
Hometown: New London

Employment: Self-employed; property management and renovations

Education: B.A. in environmental studies, Connecticut College
Incumbent: No
Previous elected experience: None

Civic experience: Chairman, New London Sustainability Committee; New London School Building and Maintenance Committee; New London Land Value Tax Pilot Committee.   Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of Re-New London Council; Former director with Board for Alliance for Living; former director with Board for Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities; former director with board of New London Soccer Club. Former president and member of Calkins Park neighborhood group.

Top issue: Economic development; move the municipally and state owned property into private ownership.  Adjust zoning regulations to allow for mixed-use neighborhoods.  Any re-planning of streets should include prioritizing pedestrian and bicycle traffic at least equal with the vehicular traffic.  All development projects should conform to LEED standards for buildings and neighborhoods.

Second issue: New London public schools/ education: I believe that American public education is failing us, so New London is not unique in terms of public education.  Education is competing with mass media in its various forms and is losing.  Our schools are passing out copies of pages from books or maybe Internet sites along with pencils and telling the students to "do this work".  It is a very static method in a world that has many interactive options both physical or electronic.  We have to make more connections across disciplines too.  Music and science and art and history and civics have very interesting links.  We should make greater use of our school building too.  They should be our community centers and emergency shelters as well as education centers.

Third issue: An emphasis on conservation, efficiency and alternative energy procurement requirements for the municipality should be put in place.  Similar options should be documented for the commercial and residential constituents.  Our school renovations should have been LEED certified and all future renovations or construction for the municipality needs to be to assure significant reductions on fossil fuel reliance and to use to advertise a future focus emanating from city government.

Mirna Lis Martinez

Age: 38

Address: 19 Prospect Street

Hometown: Fort Lee, N.J.

Employment: Bilingual teacher, currently home with my 2 kids

Education: Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Purchase;

Masters in Bilingual Education from Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan

Incumbent: No

Previous elected experience: None

Civic experiences: Graduate, 2005 New London Neighborhood Academy; member, C.U.R.E (Citizens United for a Renaissance in Education); advisory board member, F.R.E.S.H. (Food, Resources, Education, Security, Health); president, Post Hill neighborhood group

Top issue: I believe that education is the number one issue facing New London at this time. People choose not to move into New London because they don't have confidence in the schools. We want people choosing to live in New London, choosing to participate in our civic life, choosing to enroll their children in our schools. Improving our schools is an essential part of building a more vibrant New London.

Second issue: Riverside Park is not only a town issue, it's an educational issue as well. Winthrop School needs Riverside Park. Selling off the heart of the park would be a disastrous decision for the students of the future science-based Winthrop school. The students deserve the opportunity to study in a natural, multi-ecosystem park right out their school's front doors. We can't take that away from them. We must Vote No on the sale of Riverside Park.

Third issue: We tend to use our space poorly. We are such small community; letʼs pool our resources. We have new schools in existence and new schools being built that we want community involvement in. Yet these buildings sit empty at night, during the weekend, and during summer months, lets bring community groups into these buildings. This type of shared space services the breaking down of false walls. When people have convictions about the schools and yet have never been inside the schools, how would they know. Opening up schools is an embodiment of opening up dialogue; itʼs a form of transparency.

Ronna Stuller

Age: 62

Address: 19 Evergreen Avenue

Hometown: Philadelphia, Pa.

Employment: Infant/toddler/preschool teacher; currently working as a per diem substitute at Riverfront Children's Center

Education: B.G.S. in Early Childhood Education from Eastern Connecticut State University.

Incumbent? Yes

Previous elected experience: I was elected to the New London Board of Education in 2009. As the Board's Early Childhood Liaison, I also sit on the LEARN Board of Directors and The Friendship School Governing Board.

Civic experience: Re-New London Council board of directors; founding member of Thames Hilltop Neighborhood Association; Southeast Connecticut Peace & Justice Network

Top issue: The disconnect between the New London schools and the community at large, including city government. We can start by taking some small steps in the right direction: (1) implementing and participating fully in the administrative consolidation process that was approved last spring by Council and the Board of Ed; (2) encouraging the use of school facilities for community activities; (3) bringing students out of the classroom and into our parks, historic sites, art institutions and cultural centers; and (4) effectively using the media to keep the public informed about our schools, students and Board activities.

Second issue: The achievement gap. The Board is currently participating in the Lighthouse  Project (a collaboration with the State Department of Education and the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education) that aims to help us set policies which will boost student achievement. Also, as an early childhood education practitioner and advocate, I support the efforts of Children First New London, which seeks to ensure that all children enter school healthy, safe, thriving and ready to learn.

Third issue: The residual effects of poor urban planning over the past 50 years, up to and including proposed sale of Riverside Park to the federal government. Too often our development decisions have mirrored suburban ideals, and have destroyed our uniquely urban assets. Though the effect on education may not be obvious, the socio-economic segregation that resulted from redevelopment has created a burden on our schools, which are looked to for health and social services as well as education. I am not against the schools' taking on these roles, but hope for a future in which it is not so necessary to do so. It is never too early, nor too late, to start correcting the mistakes of the past; making Jane Jacobs required reading for all city officials might be a good place to start.

Joan Sullivan-Cooper
Age: 61
Address: 207 Thames St.
Hometown: New London
Employment: Former editor/writer/copywriter of 20 years and office employee, now retired
Education: Associates from Mitchell College; continuing education program at Connecticut College and UCONN at Avery Point.
Incumbent: No
Previous elected experience: None
Civic experience: Member of the Thames Hilltop Neighborhood Association; participant in The New London Neighborhood Academy; volunteer at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital
Top issue: Sale of Riverside Park. I am committed to preserving Riverside Park.  It’s waterfront property.  It is probably the only land in New London that gives us a glimpse of the landscape as it looked in the 1600s.  The Coast Guard (which I heartily support) wants the core acreage, the center slice.  We would be left with the outer crust, a narrow, rocky ledge of land.  This land was a gift to the city and should remain so!
Second issue: Development of Fort Trumbull.  The aftershock of the devastation at Fort Trumbull still lingers, for the former residents and for those of us who watched in disbelief as the neighborhood was bulldozed into nonexistence.  I advocate promoting community-based development in Fort Trumbull so that New London residents have an opportunity to invest.  I am committed to ensuring that future development projects protect the city’s residents and taxpayers, and preserve the historic character of neighborhoods.

Third Issue.  Education. I believe that there is an educational crisis brewing in this country that has accelerated since the advent of the No Child Left Behind policy mandated by the federal government.  It’s a Band-Aid approach that doesn’t begin to address the root of the problem.  Kids graduate from high school who can’t read.  Children don’t seem to be mastering basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills.  And many kids who do learn fundamental skills are not adept at applying and evaluating those skills.  I don’t have the answers.  I do know that New London won’t be successful at attracting families to relocate or settle here without making education a top priority.  That means inspiring an all-out community commitment to improving the educational system.  A good education helps create responsible, caring citizens who contribute to their communities.