🔒Q&A: New Haven Mayor Elicker weighs in on first months in office, vision for the future

Since New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker took over leading the city this past fall, it has been one crisis after another.

The coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted the economy, then Tropical Storm Isaias caused widespread damage and power outages. Even so, Elicker is upbeat about the city’s economic outlook and resilience.

He points to future projects, such as the 101 College St. project, a 10-story, 500,000-square-foot bioscience building planned for downtown, and the Yale New Haven Health System’s plans for a new neuroscience center at its St. Raphael campus.

In August, he spoke to New Haven Biz about his vision for the future and how he plans to help local businesses and residents succeed.

What are the ways the pandemic has impacted city businesses?

I think the most obvious is that there are so many businesses that haven’t been able to operate because of the Governor’s orders to have only essential businesses open up.

I think there has been some growing pains with businesses because they have had to invest in additional infrastructure.

And particularly in New Haven, we are heavily reliant on the service industry. We have a large part of our city that has restaurants and hotels and entertainment, like the Long Wharf and Shubert (theaters), and that has been very heavily hit by COVID-19.

You add to that the universities closing down or doing remote-only learning. That’s had a pretty significant overall impact on businesses.

Have any positives come out of the pandemic?

Businesses have been very resilient in finding ways to make sure they are offering services to residents. There is a lot of curbside pickup and delivery from restaurants and creative ways people are doing everything, from food service to manufacturing masks, so there has been a lot of creativity in the business sector in New Haven.

When you were campaigning, what was your economic development platform?

I talked a lot about inclusive growth. New Haven has a booming economy for many, but not for all.

In particular, our small businesses that are brown and black-owned are not many, and residents aren’t capturing the growing job opportunities because they may not have the skills or support that is needed to access those jobs.

So I talked a lot about inclusive growth, and how there is a lot the city can do to help support residents and make sure there is an even playing field, and people have opportunities to get out of what for many residents is quite a challenging economic situation.

What progress have you been able to make?

I think given the crisis we’ve actually been able to make significant progress in helping support businesses that are very significantly impacted by the pandemic.

I think it is important to say that a lot of the things I had hoped to accomplish, facilitating inclusive growth, have not been possible in the short term because of the pandemic.

Has the pandemic changed your economic development strategy?

The high-level answer is ‘No.’ We know that New Haven in the long term will continue to have a very resilient economy because we have major institutions [eds, meds and the life sciences sectors] that will support a very vibrant downtown.

But it’s also because many people are choosing to move to New Haven, and New Haven will continue to grow because of the unique aspects of our city, being a small city that offers a lifestyle that is more humane than larger metropolises, but also being able to offer the arts, culture, diversity.

What are some ways your office and city hall are helping the business community navigate and survive?

There have been countless webinars our office has provided to ensure that businesses have the kind of support they need to open safely.

We’ve created the ‘Together New Haven’ initiative that includes a website that has extensive information on how businesses can access not only the state and local economic support but some of the national support like the Paycheck Protection Program.

We’ve also through our inspections provided the public with an assurance that businesses are operating safely.

I would add that one of the most important things we are doing to support businesses in partnership with the state is working very hard to keep our (COVID-19) cases low.

What is the city's current incentives strategy for business and do you envision any needed changes?

The Partnership Loan Program for small businesses with the Community Foundation (for Greater New Haven) and HEDCO Inc. can significantly help small businesses by providing loans that can allow them just to get through the gap of time when their businesses may need that kind of support.

It’s much more difficult to start a new business than to keep a business that has been going well, going. So the investment in loans to help businesses get through this time will pay off in the long run much more.

What industries will drive the growth of New Haven over the next five to 10 years?

Clearly, there is a lot of potential in the life sciences, and 101 College is just one example of that. I think that has huge potential for New Haven.

On top of that, there is a lot of potential for small business growth. New Haven has a history of entrepreneurial spirit. Given the health and education sectors, the strength and growth of those sectors, I think we will see a lot of additional growth in businesses that serve those sectors.

We are already seeing an influx of people from New York moving to Connecticut. We expect that to continue to grow.

What role will the city play in supporting those industries?

Honestly, I think that one of the main things we can do to support new businesses coming to New Haven is to enthusiastically welcome new businesses and underscore that New Haven is a place where we want to welcome this kind of growth, as long as it is done in a way that is inclusive.

A second thing that’s vital for us is to ensure that we grow talent locally and support workforce development.