Hello Hartford! It’s budget season for Hartford City Council, meaning it’s time for us to work on one of Council’s most important responsibilities: reviewing and revising the Mayor’s recommended budget for the city. We want to give some updates of what our priorities will be this cycle and how you can raise your voice!
Housing
We have been hearing issues concerning evictions, rent prices, and living conditions for tenants in Hartford and we are collaborating with Connecticut Tenant Union, Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Make the Road CT and Central Connecticut DSA to come together and discuss some ideas for the budget and beyond.
Please join us at one of our 2 upcoming community meetings to hear what we have in mind for the future and share your thoughts & experiences!
Parks and Recreation
As you may know, WFP’s City Council team organized a survey last year to collect data on what residents would like to see from city programming and local parks. Over the next month, we will be posting the results and how they will inform our proposed revisions to the Mayor’s recommended budget. If you missed the survey – no problem! We will also post how you can still chime in. Follow Tiana and Josh on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates:
IG & Twitter: @thercules777; @rsgat
Public Safety
For the last 3 years, Hartford’s Working Families Party Council team has been fighting to reimagine the way we see public safety and reallocate resources from our inflated Police Department budget towards city services we feel will actually reduce crime, such as housing, education, recreation & family services, and public health.
This year is no different, the Mayor’s proposed budget for next year gives yet another increase to the City’s already-bloated Police Department. Even if the Council majority is not yet ready to listen to the people calling for real safety and accountability instead of a militarized presence in our neighborhoods, we will continue to raise the conversation until real change is felt.
If you would like to add your voice to this discussion, you can find contact information for your City Councilmembers here.
Continuing to Protect Immigrant Families
As we have in previous years, our Council team will also advocate to continue City funding for Hartford families facing deportation, through support for the Connecticut Coalition for Immigrant Freedom. To learn more about this program, visit our explanatory page.
Language Access
Finally, we will be pushing to expand language access resources for City Departments, Hartford Public Schools, Hartford Public Library, and City Council, so that we can continue to move closer towards true language accessibility for all Hartford residents.
Concerned about homes and apartment buildings being bought up and then rents increased. The increases do not match anything they are doing to substantially upgrade, and, at the same time, it leads to more homeless as people are unable to pay the higher rates. Glad you are looking into that. I believe GHIAA is also concerned with this phenomenon. We did to do better with refugees and immigrants, too. Glad to see what you are focused on.