Elm City ID Cards

Well Folks:

The City of New Haven has been in the national news recently with regard to our new Elm City ID Card (please note that the card is a multi purpose resident card for ALL of the city's residents).

I posted about this earlier in one of my posts. Since then I have been getting some correspondence looking for clarification of the program. In reading & listening to the general media coverage I see where these questions are coming from.

The short of it is that we are providing a service to the general population as well as a chance for undocumented people to live a safer life here in the city. All of this is at no direct cost to the city.

We are doing this because the Federal Government is not able to come up with an effective and solid immigration policy. We are just dealing with the reality of this inaction.

Following please find an outline of what some of the more common questions are.

Question #1
Why are we issuing "citizenship papers" to undocumented people?

Answer
We are not issuing any citizen papers to any one. Only the Federal Government can do that. The only thing that we are doing for undocumented people is to give them a recognized id that will help them get a bank account.

Question #2
Why are we wasting city money to help these people?

Answer
The funding from this project is coming 100% from a grant from the 1st Community Bank Foundation (this is the community bank created when New Haven Savings Bank went public).

As a city we feel that putting this program in to effect is important because we have a reality that needs to be dealt with. We have a population of approximately 125,000 people. Of that anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 are undocumented. These people for the most part do not have bank accounts – they therefore carry large amounts of cash. This then makes them targets of criminals who know this and prey on them. In the past year we had 2 murders directly relegated to undocumented people being targeted for their cash. It is not good for any one documented or otherwise to have anyone targeted and attacked in the city.

In addition we hope to create a list of where these people are for in case of an epidemic or an emergency we will now have a way to reach out and control a large part of our population that we did not have in the past.

Our police back this because they never had a true idea of where a large part of the city really lived now we will have a firm idea where they live etc.

Question #3

What is the revenue to the City from:
New City debit card?
New immigrant ID card?

Answer
The cards are one in the same.

Everyone pays the $10 fee for adults and $5 for children.The $10 fee gets broken down as follows:$5 - to the city for the card (costs are staffing, equipment, etc.)$5 - on the card for the person to use as a debit card in New Haven and for the Parcsmart meters.

For the kids there is no debit component. In addition no money is given to the 1st Community Bank - the money they gave was 100% grant.
Question #4
I am not an undocumented person – what do I gain from the card?

Answer
Every Resident of New Haven will be able to use this card to:
Use our Public Libraries
Your child can have an ID that has emergency contact information along with the rest of the features.
Park for Free at the Public Beaches (now you need to show your car registration that shows you car is registered in New Haven and you will still be able to do it).
Not have to carry change when using a parking meter – you can use the debit feature.
Use your card at over 50 locations downtown. If you are a merchant and want to accept the card as well contact Kica Matos at 946-7909.

In addition to the above you can read the fact sheet from the city here.

Yours,

Moti

Municipal IDs

Hi All:

I just got an email from a constituent about the municipal id program. I want to share my thought and ideas on the program. Please leave a comment or send me an email to ward28@snet.net with you questions and/or comments.

With regard to the ID cards I see two issues that you bring up, firstly is the cost of the program and the second is the why are we doing this. I hope that I can shed some light on the issue.
The entire Municipal ID Card program is being funded by a grant from the First Community Bank (this was spun off from New Haven Savings when it went public). The Finance Committee voted to approve the acceptance of the grant with the caveat to end the program if it was unable to be funded 100% from sources other then the general fund. I would like to point out that the BOA was not asked if we should implement the plan or not – only if we should accept the funds.


That being said the reality was that the Finance Committee deliberations became the public hearing for the card program. The committee met from 6pm until 10pm. While the overwhelming majority of those testifying were for the program we also had a few (4 or 5) against it out of 70 or 80 people testifying. Those against the ID program were against it mostly with regard to the financing of the program not about the program in itself.

We took testimony from Yale Law School Professor Michael Wishnie, who did much of the leg work on this project. I asked the question as to what would happen if the US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez decided to make an example of us and under the Patriot Act to sweep in to New Haven take the list and arrest everyone on it. I was told that this was highly unlikely. The committee also asked and received prior to the full BOA vote for a letter that in the event that the City was sued due to the cards that the Yale Law Clinic under Bob Solomon & Michael Wishnie would represent the city Pro Bono.

Check out the New Haven Independent story about this http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/05/municipal_id_ga.php my quote is about half way down the page.

Also it is important to note that this program is NOT giving anyone citizenship. The program will make it easier for the City to function because undocumented people will be held more responsible for their actions and our police will have an idea of who some one is rather then just a shot in the dark if they don't have as is the case today. The City is not trying to change immigration laws or stick it to anyone we just are trying to enhance the quality of life for all in the City.

I remain yours in service,

Rally Tonight at St. Rose of Lima Church about the raids

Dear All:

Our neighbor Barney Bate informed me that in response to the ICE raids that took place yesterday there will be a protest meeting this evening at St. Rose of Lima Church, 115 Blatchley Ave, in Fair Haven, 7:30PM.

I will post more about the Municipal IDs soon.

Yours,