10TH WARD CANDIDATE TAKING ANOTHER TACK ON ADVOCACY

NEW HAVEN - Thomas Fagan, along with three other plaintiffs, was
unsuccessful in suing the city for moving several bus stops away from the
Green when the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale opened at Chapel and Temple
streets.

So the Libertarian-leaning Republican has decided to fight his battle from
within the system.

He's running for Board of Aldermen in the 10th Ward.

"If we can't do it legally, we'll do it politically. Moving those stops was
wrong," said Fagan, a self-employed researcher and online magazine editor.

Fagan, with two failed General Assembly campaigns in his recent past, is
vying for a seat also coveted by first-time office seekers Democrat Edward
Mattison, 60, and Green Party contender Allan Brison, 63.

Mattison, a former deputy corporation counsel in the late Mayor Biagio
DiLieto's administration, was appointed to finish the term of Robert
Schmalz who moved to Boston last month.

"I'm for individual responsibility and individual liberty," said Fagan, 51,
who plans to push for lower taxes and a citywide referendum to gauge
support for the medicinal use of marijuana, if elected.

"Whether it's tobacco, alcohol or any other drug, if you're a rational,
competent adult, you have the right to do what you want to your body."

He also pledges to get rid of downtown parking meters.

"We're using the fact that people have cars as direct access to their
purse. This fascist attitude is just crazy," said Fagan, who ditched his
car because of insurance rates, two thefts and towings. "I give up," he said.

He wants to make up the lost meter revenue by trimming staff in the city
Traffic and Parking Department. "We'll get more people coming into the city
spending money with less municipal employees."

Fagan's platform is far afield from that of Mattison, founder of the
nonprofit South Central Behavioral Health Network. The agency helps those
grappling with mental health disorders and substance abuse.

Mattison said he interacted with the Board of Aldermen under DiLieto on
social welfare issues, as the city's attorney for the welfare and police
departments.

The aldermen finalize the city budget each year and have to approve
transfers or budget amendments. Mattison wants to play a role in the next
term in "maintaining services to poor people in a fiscally difficult
environment."

As other lawmakers help him tackle the legislative learning curve, an issue
that he dealt with in the late 1980s is still on the table.

The board is considering an ordinance amendment that would reserve
construction-related contracts under $100,000 for small and minority- owned
firms and waive bonding requirements on work less than $50,000.

"Small businesses don't have bonds. It's a significant cost," he said.

When Mattison was deputy corporation counsel, a legal challenge was
mounting against a former set aside ordinance, which the court ultimately
declared unconstitutional.

"I'd like to see us figure out a way to make it clearer," he said of the
ordinance language now under review.

Mattison said that he would focus on unifying three distinct segments of
the ward, if he can hold on to the seat Nov. 6.

An isolated pocket known as Cedar Hill is cut off from the rest of the ward
by Interstate 91.

"Economic development is needed in the Cedar Hill area. I think we're all
in this together and we've got to make every part of the ward work,"
Mattison said.

Meanwhile, an easy-going Brison who sports a signature ponytail, hopes to
capitalize on what he describes as "an increased public awareness to
machine politics and political corruption."

Ralph Nader's unsuccessful yet historic bid for the presidency and Alderman
John Halle's victory in a 9th Ward special election have given local Greens
like Brison a supply of momentum.

"I think our organization cuts across class lines. We do have an uphill
battle," he said, considering there are about six registered Greens in the
ward, compared to 137 Republicans and 1,270 Democrats.

The stay-at-home dad left his computer programmer-analyst career to home
school his two daughters. "It makes being a parent more real. It's taught
me patience, for sure."

The New Jersey native is active with People Against Injustice, a criminal
justice advocacy group that monitors the courts and campaigns for a
moratorium on the death penalty.

A former Democrat, Brison jumped to the Green Party nearly a year ago
feeling that the major parties weren't representing the interests of residents.

To drive his point home, he cites the demise of manufacturing companies, a
failed Long Wharf mall plan, the proposed re-opening of the English Station
power plant in Fair Haven and touting New Haven a destination retail center.

"The Malley Co. building was torn down, now it's an empty lot.

That's what these projects leave us with," he said.

As a legislator, Brison said he would oppose pending utility projects that
would install natural gas and electrical power lines through New Haven
Harbor and the Sound to Long Island.

But he would support an ordinance amendment introduced by Alderman Matt
Naclerio, D-17, that would mandate a fee for laying power cables in public
spaces. Brison also said he would back extending the Farmington Canal
Greenway into the city.

Both Brison and Fagan favor elected boards of education.

All three candidates agree that the neighborhood must strike a consensus
over the controversial expansion of Worthington Hooker School.