Maturo: East Haven Fought Back From 'Dark Times'

Originally written by Jack Kramer, Correspondent

EAST HAVEN, CT - Mayor Joseph Maturo trumpeted many new projects and initiatives in his State of Town 2017 address Tuesday night, but he made a point of directly talking about how he believes he, and the town, have fought back from what he called its “darkest times.”

While not saying so directly, Maturo was clearly referring to a period going back to 2012 when he, himself made national headlines for making racially insensitive remarks about Latinos after four of his police officers were charged with using excessive force against undocumented immigrants.

In subsequent years the town’s police department has been under the watchful eye of the Department of Justice, which monitors the conduct of East Haven’s cops to make sure that the town’s Latino population, which is sizeable, isn’t unfairly signaled out for profiling arrests. (To sign up for East Haven breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

About those times, the mayor said Tuesday night: “Through cooperation and compromise, we’ve not only charted a path of sustained fiscal prosperity, we repaired the once-torn fabric of this great community. Where there was once unmistakable pessimism, there is now genuine pride. Tensions have given away to tolerance and cultural rifts that once seemed insurmountable have been overcome through mutual respect.”

Maturo said: “I will speak at length in my upcoming budget presentation about the glowing news in our most recent audit, the string of surplus budgets that have restored our rainy day fund and allowed us to keep our taxes stable, the unprecedented success we’ve enjoyed reducing our long-term debt to an historic low, and the strides we’ve made putting the fiscal blunders of the past administration in our past.”

But the mayor added, “However, as I conclude my 16th State of the Town Address, I think it’s critically important that we all recognize that our community’s most valuable assets aren’t neatly listed and added up on any of the 108 pages of our yearly audit – or any audit for that matter.

“If these past six years have taught us anything, it is that our community’s vitality, strength, pride, and potential are all the products of our town’s greatest asset – our citizens,” Maturo said.

“We have value as a community because are a community of valuable people – people who are unafraid to dream big and work hard; people who, especially in the darkest of times, have a penchant for banding together and overcoming adversity.”

(Editor's Note: This story first ran previously but here it is again in case you missed it.)