Maryam Elahi and Dennis Tulimieri, representatives from March for Justice, a coalition of community members committed to racial justice, came before the Essex Board of Selectmen (BOS) on Feb. 3 to discuss several of the coalition’s priority areas.

These priorities include “health equity, by starting off with adopting the [Racism is a Public Health Crisis] resolution,” “inclusive education,” and “housing equity through increasing affordable housing units and rezoning for multi-family homes,” according to Elahi, founder of the coalition and president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut.

Conversation at the BOS meeting centered primarily on housing and health equity, with Elahi asking whether the BOS would adopt the Racism is a Public Health Crisis resolution.

The resolution was developed by Health Equity Solutions (HES), an advocacy organization based in Hartford that works to help ensure that all Connecticut residents achieve “optimal health regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status,” according to HES.

“They [HES] are laying out next steps, ideas that then a race lens is incorporated into every decision that is made in the town,” Elahi said at the BOS meeting.

After Elahi asked for First Selectman Norm Needleman’s thoughts on the resolution, he responded by discussing his work as a state senator for the 33rd District and as first selectman.

“This is exactly what we’re going through in the Senate, right now, where every decision should be through the lens of social justice and equity,” he said, discussing the challenge of “things that we cannot even deal with at the state level because they are federally preempted.”

On a local level, he continued, “I’m not sure that it’s been one issue that’s come up where that lens would have mattered in Essex…I can’t think of anything where, you know, there is certainly issues, where it comes up and housing might have been one of them and we did that…

“Honestly, the business of most towns is pretty mundane, I’d like to say, it’s not that exciting here. One of the most contentious meetings we ever had in town was about beavers and what to do with them. So, I want to be serious about it and let us think about” it, he said.

The resolution is now pending review by the BOS. No action was taken at the Feb. 3 meeting.

There are 20 cities and towns in Connecticut, including Old Saybrook, that have adopted the resolution.

Once adopted, “several towns have created working groups to determine next steps and engage in assessments of opportunities to advance equity through municipal government,” said Karen Siegel, director of policy for HES, by email with the Courier.

HES also offers “support to towns as they determine next steps, if they reach out,” she added.

The resolution states that “racism is a social system with multiple dimensions…a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks.”

It also states that “racism unfairly disadvantages specific individuals and communities, while unfairly giving advantages to other individuals and communities…It is a root cause of poverty and constricts economic mobility.”

A full copy of a sample resolution is available at www.hesct.org.

Affordable Housing

The town’s efforts to increase its affordable housing stock were discussed earlier in the meeting.

“All of the affordable housing we’ve done has been a great addition to the community and we want to encourage more of that where it is appropriate to put it,” said Needleman.

There are three non-profit affordable housing complexes and one private complex that is 30 percent affordable in town, according to Needleman. A 17-unit affordable housing project was also recently completed at Spencer’s Corner in Centerbrook.

“I consider Essex to be a very warm and inclusive town and the leadership of the town has been aggressively outspoken in any kind of contentious discussions about” affordable housing, said Needleman.

He added later that “We’re not zoning, but zoning has been pretty favorable in this town when even 8-30g issues have come up here. They have been fair, and they have done it correctly, in my opinion.”

State Statute 8-30g says that municipalities must allow affordable or mixed-income housing proposals when less than 10 percent of the housing stock in a town qualifies as such, under a state formula.

Essex is now at 3.04 percent, according to the state’s 2019 Affordable Housing Appeals List.

The recently released Connecticut Zoning Atlas, developed by the advocacy group Desegregate CT, “lays out the zoning throughout the state for affordable zoning, for multi-family homes, and we can see where there is a need for more affordable housing,” said Elahi.

The atlas is available at www.desegregatect.org.

The March for Justice coalition has asked for a virtual meeting to discuss its priority issues with each of the municipalities from which it has members. This includes Essex, Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Deep River, and Westbrook.