Wildaliz Will Fight For:
BETTER SCHOOLS, BRIGHTER FUTURES
Wildaliz was six years old when she became a plaintiff in the Sheff v O’Neill decision. The litigation began in 1989, but didn't end until 2022. This is not ancient history. Connecticut still has the 11th-most-segregated school system in the country.
Education is a priority for Wildaliz, from her lived experience and as a public school mom. The way we educate our children impacts families today, and it is the future we create for our children
Improve schools & cut property taxes
Increase state funding to city education budgets
Strengthen partnerships between parents, teachers, and schools
State funding for inter-district magnet schools and special education
Resources for after school programs and extracurriculars
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Wildaliz will fight for landmark funding for inter-district magnet schools and tie our ECS formula to inflation.
Expand the ECS foundation number, tie it to inflation, and phase in full state funding for inter-district magnet schools — so local districts don't pay fees when their students choose magnets, and we stop pitting our neighborhoods against each other.
In exchange, we can look at transparency and create efficiencies where we can. But that will not come at the expense of our teachers, and it will not come at the expense of our students.
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The charter that gave Yale its tax exemption was passed in 1745, when the government funded the university and it owned four acres of land. Today Yale owns over half the land in New Haven, valued at over $4 billion. That tax burden falls on New Haven families— on our property taxes, passed down in the form of higher rents.
By law, the state has promised to pay cities 77% of what private colleges and hospitals would have paid in property taxes– but each year, we fall far short of this number.
Mayor Elicker organized 28 mayors and first selectpeople across the state to petition to restructure PILOT — the basis of the tiered PILOT bill now bringing over $50 million more to New Haven every year. As state rep, Wildaliz will continue working across municipalities to make the state meet its statutory obligation to fully fund PILOT, so we can share the educational wealth in our community.
LOWER COSTS, GREATER OPPORTUNITY
Bring down utility and energy costs
Build affordable, energy-efficient housing
Champion universal childcare, fully funded
Bring tenants and landlords together for fair, stable rent
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Wildaliz will champion a bill for just-cause eviction, which has died on the House floor four years in a row. She supports the Department of Housing proposal capping rental increases at 5% for new landlords — so a landlord who buys a building can't jack up rents by 30 or 40%, beyond what anyone could reasonably pay.
Wildaliz will also support SB 274, championed by Roland Lemar, to require LLC beneficial-ownership disclosure for landlords, so tenants and cities know who owns our buildings and who is profiting.
She will also be a voice to amend the fair rent statute to extend Commission jurisdiction to low-income housing— so when a private equity company buys a building and raises the rent, like they did at Sunset Ridge, the commission has clear jurisdiction to mediate. Just because a cap is federally mandated doesn't give a landlord the right to max it out.
Transit Oriented Development. 8-30g is an enforcement mechanism, not a substitute for zoning or for real housing policy, and we should not lean on it that way. Wildaliz will work across the state to champion Transit Oriented Development and streamline the process to increase housing supply.
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Connecticut households have the second-highest electricity bills in the country.
Wildaliz will support Community Choice Aggregation, allowing New Haven to bundle resident demand and negotiate lower energy rates. New Hampshire and Massachusetts do this–let's do it in Connecticut.
It's important to understand how UI and Eversource make their money. We regulate their rates, but they earn a guaranteed return of roughly 9% on every dollar in their rate base, recovered through delivery charges — the more they spend, the more they make. Let's keep energy lobbyists off PURA, examine every dollar they're spending, and move them toward performance-based incentives.
Most importantly, let's build alternatives. Last year we broke ground on geothermal near Union Station– heating and cooling that avoids the traditional utility structure altogether. The best way to break the hold of these monopolies is to create alternatives, and we can.
IMPROVED, HEALTHIER LIVING ENVIRONMENT
Stand up to the UI & Eversource monopolies
Invest in public transit & electrify our buses
Clean up brownfield sites once & for all
Cut air pollution & hold polluters accountable
Support the dignity of seniors aging in place
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Wildaliz chaired Hartford's first environmental task force and testified in favor of a Green New Deal for Connecticut.
Our district, near Tweed, alongside the Quinnipiac, can no longer serve as a sacrifice zone. I will oppose the Storage Tank Proposal Global New Haven Terminals wants to re-permit Tank 123 in the Annex to store gasoline instead of diesel and heating oil — in one of the most environmentally burdened zones in Connecticut, in a flood-prone coastal area, with impacts reaching Morris Cove. It is unacceptable for the state and corporate interests to keep treating the 97th District as a sacrifice zone, and we cannot accept an agreement that relies on a corporation policing itself. I will never be silent when my constituents' air and water are threatened.
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English Station is a symbol of UI's lack of accountability to our community — and an opportunity. Wldaliz will bring our community together to decide on its best use moving forward, examining proposals like that of the Urban Design League to turn it into a renewable energy-producing facility with mixed use toward Grand Avenue. With imagination, we can make English Station the foundation of a more resilient, post-industrial future.
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DEEP's BiG grant program has no statute behind it. Let's codify BiG in state law, attach state bonding, and prioritize environmental justice communities like New Haven.
Moving New Haven Forward
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