Notes From a Tweed Hearing

EAST HAVEN – New Haven mayor Justin Elicker held a public information ‘conversation’ in East Haven Wednesday night, in what was essentially a group of about 120 angry residents who had little to no intention of listening to what was being said.

-For the most part, the number present, despite countless pleas online for those opposed to attend, was significantly fewer than previous hearings. Those that did attend however, were loud, and rarely let Elicker or representatives complete their replies.

-At one point, two women began what appeared to be an altercation that required the police to be called.

-A woman, apparently a candidate running against Elicker for mayor as an Independent, stood at the front of the room with what looked like an astronaut helmet throughout the meeting. She left briefly, removed her helmet, shook hands and worked the crowd, telling them she would kill the Tweed expansion project if elected. She then put the helmet back on and returned to the front of the room.

-Much of the opposition revolved around noise. Some shouted out that they would get cancer.

-One woman, who indicated she was an environmentalist, accused Elicker and Tweed official of lacking transparency. She asked that some in the group be added to town boards on Tweed. Elicker responded that he would gladly add reasonable people should they put their names forward. It seems unlikely residents who are running online campaigns against the project would be added to any committee, and if they are, would likely have to recuse themselves from any vote on the project.

-The initial plan for the meeting was to break up into smaller groups and have conversations. But the opponents quickly took over, changing the format to people asking questions, and then rarely accepting answers. Some claimed they were not getting responses to emails; officials responded that they have answered the same questions many times and continue to get the same questions repeatedly.

-There were some details that were helpful. When asked about generators that are loud, officials explained that part of the new terminal is a better electrical grid, which will negate the need for generators being used to the extend they are now. Officials also indicated that based on suggestions from residents, they are working with the FAA on possibly changing the flight paths to be more over water than land, but also indicated this can impact flight paths into New York airports.

-Not surprisingly, most of the replies didn’t matter; opponents were only looking for the project to be killed. Throughout the meeting, Elicker remained calm and focused, but it was clear no movement was going to take place.

-One resident accused Elicker of making a statement in the past that ‘economic development means more than peoples health.’ The resident appeared to hold a document supporting this claim. Elicker then saw the document, made clear he never made such a statement, and showed that the document was some Facebook post opponents were spreading around social media.

-Many residents raised the matter of  noise ordinances that would seem to block certain plane engines and the time of day planes can come in and leave. However, it was pointed out that there are multiple noise ordinances, and exclusions in place for late arriving planes. Statistics provided showed a very small percentage of arrivals happen late at night, often due to weather delays.