Hamden Candidate Profile: Curt Balzano Leng For Mayor

HAMDEN, CT — The 2019 municipal election is heating up in Hamden and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Hamden Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Incumbent Democratic Mayor Curt Balzano Leng is running for re-election to a third full-term in office. He was first elected mayor in May of 2015 in a special election to serve the remainder of former Mayor Scott Jackson's term after he resigned to take a position with the state. Leng went on to win the next two mayoral elections. He is facing a challenge from Republican Jay Kaye.

Leng has also served as Chief Administrative Officer for the town of Hamden, from 2009 to 2015, and as a member of the Legislative Council for eight years (1997 to 1999 and from 2003 to 2009).

Leng, who is married and has a son, has a master’s degree in education from the University of New Haven and a bachelor’s degree in political science from UConn.

Are you running for office in Hamden? Contact Vinnie Salzo at vincent.salzo@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Hamden Patch.

The single most pressing issue facing our town/district is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Stabilizing Hamden’s taxes and continuing successful pension and medical insurance reform that have saved the Town millions, ensuring our services (especially police and fire) are always ready to help our residents, investing in our neighborhoods through street paving, sidewalk repair, tree planting and beautification efforts, expanding Hamden’s taxable properties by expanding our commercial tax base and protecting our seniors and our youth every opportunity we can.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Experience. Serving as Mayor has been a great honor and privilege, and it’s a job I take very seriously. I had worked for two different Mayors and served 8 years on the Town Council, which I believe made me more prepared to serve as Mayor, but you never really fully understand the intensity and volume of complex issues you need to be able to tackle from day one and every day after. I can’t imagine trying to do this successfully for our residents if I hadn’t spent the time learning how government works and how municipal law and contractual obligations functions while working in two Mayor’s Offices and being Councilperson and Chair of our Finance, Education and School Building Committees.

I am committed to investing in our Town streets and sidewalks and to much needed repairs to several Town Fire Stations. My opponent had stated he wouldn’t do any borrowing and this means he won’t be able to keep the progress that we’ve been making going forward. I’m all for responsible and thoughtful capital borrowing and to maximizing the use of grant funding, but a blanket “no borrowing” means no streets and sidewalks and leaky roofs, which I don’t think is the right choice for Hamden.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

Continuing to increase our community police and violence prevention efforts; promise to work on expanding tax relief to more Hamden seniors and long-time homeowners, ensuring our essential services like police, fire, Public Works and emergency management are always prepared and ready to serve our residents.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Financial stability in the face of major state financial crisis that cut many million from Hamden, but we stayed on course and even strengthened our global financial picture.

Successful Storm management and key communication with residents.

Paved 45 miles of road in just over 4 years with another 10 miles planned for Spring.

Major expansion of programs that help our residents in need, including food insecurity, opening Hamden’s First Winter Warming Center, expansion of youth and senior programming.

Tangible efforts to improve our parks and open space.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

1) do your job; 2) if everyone is happy, you aren’t doing your job.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I ask for Hamden resident’s support and vote in the upcoming election because I know there’s a great deal more that we can accomplish and working together!

Campaign Website:

www.curtleng.com