Gonzalez brings balance and concern to campaign

With election day less than a month away, Julio Gonzalez, CC '99, is putting his campaign in full gear across campus. Gonzalez, the Democratic nominee for Ward One alderman, has been busy with a fundraiser, door-to-door campaigning, table-tenting, and making himself known around campus with Calvin Klein-inspired "jG one" campaign stickers.

While many students would find it difficult to run for public office while balancing academic demands, Gonzalez is prepared to manage the undertaking.

"Julio possesses remarkable understanding for such a young person," Patricia McCann-Vissepo, the executive director of Casa Otañal, said. "I think he is more than prepared to maintain a political position, particularly after the work he did for our organization last summer, which enabled him to become familiar with the New Haven beyond the Yale campus." Gonzalez was a Presidential Fellow at Casa Otañal.

Gonzalez concedes that it is slightly unusual for a Yale student to be running for city office, but he maintains his commitment has not disrupted his normal routine. "My political involvement has not yet interfered with my academic and extracurricular endeavors at Yale. I may have learned how to manage my time more effectively, or to skim a book better, but nothing has suffered."

Gonzalez currently divides his time between outreach to student and resident voters, and developing a relationship with the city, assessing the problems that it faces.

Having been involved with civic-minded service projects since his freshman year, Gonzalez estimates that he spends approximately 20 hours a week on his campaign alone. He projects that if elected, he will spend at least this amount of time per week in the alderman capacity.

Sam Pilling/YH Julio Gonzalez hopes that his door-to-door campaign will help voter turnout on election day and familiarize Yalies with his views.

Last Sat., Oct. 11, Gonzalez formally introduced his platform at a fundraiser held at the home of Ward One Democratic Co-Chair Bruce Blair. Gonzalez focused on the taxi-system monopoly in the town, rate and service regulation and improved conditions for drivers, the Farmington Canal (which requires Yale's consent to be redeveloped into a public jogging or biking trail), panhandling and homelessness, and extending the living wage initiative to increase health benefits and coverage.

Gonzalez is particularly adamant about addressing the problem of homelessness in New Haven, which affects not only citizens but Yale students as well. Opposed to the current movement to ban panhandling and arrest infracters, he believes that even curbing panhandling would only increase problems related to homelessness, and would be a limitation on civil libertarian rights.

"It is imperative that the city increases public assistance and the number of shelter beds for women. Although some may argue that improving public services only attracts more homeless to the region, I am not at all convinced of this," Gonzalez said.

"I find the homeless population in New Haven to be extremely hostile, and I think that to improve this situation, it is necessary to increase education and job training programs to create a better working pool," Margaret Malone, TD `99, agreed after Gonzalez approached her during a door-to-door campaign session.

Gonzalez's door-to-door campaign has been very effective in provoking students to think about this and other New Haven affairs in his platform. During these door-to-door sessions, Gonzalez takes extensive notes on the ideas of the students, assessing their ideas later on. He listens to student concerns and bounces campaign ideas off them, analyzing their reactions to his proposed policies.

"Walking the ward campaigning is a productive means of winning votes in a local election, and particularly in a region that is not always very politically active," Christina Bost, MC '01, said after attending Saturday's fundraiser.

"I think that this is a highly effective method of spreading campaign ideas," said Rupal Sevak, TD '98, after a visit from Gonzalez. "I must admit, when Julio left a pamphlet for me a few weeks ago, I skimmed through it and really did not pay too much attention. But when he addresses me personally like this, I can really focus on the campaign issues and think about his goals for the city."

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