| Introduction to my Webpage
Some of the Issues Facing the 9th Ward
Writing Samples
My Resume and Work History
Understanding the Importance of Environmental Awareness
Favorite Links Page related to Previous Issues and Articles
Our Neighborhoods. Under Construction.
New Haven Photo Page. Under Construction.
Contact Page. Under Construction
Guest Book Page. Under Construction
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Dear Fellow Neighbors:
I have established this website in order to present myself to the 9th Ward and to Greater New Haven. Included in this site are several items:
1) There are positions on topics that you have discussed with me on the streets and feel are important.
2) There are some brief tidbits about my personal history including my resume and work history.
3) There is a brief overview of Ward 9, including a Ward Map, so that citizens can better understand the gerrymandered nature of the ward and some of its recent history.
4) I have included some letters that I have written in the past, in order to give you an understanding of things that I feel are important to speak up about, including some links to other sites so that you are not completely in the dark.
I hope that this site will allow you to better understand me as a candidate and person. If I am fortunate enough to win on November 6th, I would like to upgrade this site thereafter, so that I can include more information about the operation of City government (The New Haven Charter and Zoning Code reprinted within as examples) so that citizens have as much access to and understanding of government as they do to other commercial businesses here on the web. Permitting citizens more access to government can only make government more transparent and ultimately more efficient and accountable to its citizenry.
Thank you for you interest and feel free to email me at anytime at amarathas@hotmail.com which is linked below.
If you wish to call on my cell phone 203 464 2233, please do so before 10 pm Monday - Friday or before 6 pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Sincerely yours,
Alex Marathas
Democratic Candidate for 9th Ward Alderman
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ABOUT MY FAMILY HISTORY...
My family history is very similar to that of other immigrant families in America. As a second generation Greek-American I grew up hearing about how we ended up in this great nation and it says alot about why, at an early age, I decided that I was a Democrat. As my friend Tom Hareas likes to say often,"thank God our grandparents made the boat."
Both sides of my Grandparents (except for my paternal grandmother) were born in Greece, or what was former Greece. My father's father was born in Andros, an island off of Athens, and my father's mother in Ansonia (her mother was from Tripoli, Greece) and emigrated to the US in the early 1900's. My grandfather first came to the Big Apple and then to New Haven where he owned and ran Olympia Bakery on Congress Avenue, until it closed in the early 60's. 138 Davenport Avenue (now Yale's Lead Free House) is where my family grew up until crime in the area got so bad in the 80's that the property was sold. My mother's parents both came from eastern Turkey (Asia Minor) from a town outside of the historic city of Smyrna (now Ismir) called Bermata. My grandmother was forced to emigrate to Greece in 1922 when her city was burned to the ground by the national forces of Kemal Mustafa Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey (In this same period, in the aftermath and political vacuum created by the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the genocide of over 2 million Armenians occurred). My mother's father had already emigrated to the US and went back to Greece at age 30 to marry my grandmother and bring her back to the States. They owned a restaurant called Jordan's Restaurant on Court Street, near State Street until they lost their lease in the 30's. My mother's family grew up on Edgewood Avenue and Starr Street.
With the spread of communism after WWII, there became a need to stop the spread of communism and to aid countries devastated by the war. Democratic President Harry Truman gave $ 400,000,000 in economic and military aid to Greece in order to prevent the Soviets from affecting the political vacuum created by the removal of British troops. This became know politically as the Truman Doctrine, and as a result, Greece became the only Balkan nation to remain free and democratic and my extended family was saved from the yolk of communism.
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...AND WHY I'M A DEMOCRAT.
Democrats should be proud that they come from a line of presidents that understood the importance in American involvement in world affairs. Presidents Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter and Clinton understood that American involvement and infuence are needed internationally, in order to ensure that democratic governance is allowed to survive and thrive. 'In order to play the game one must be seated at the table.'
The classical positions supported and promulgated by Democrats are why I wish to be associated with this party; protection of the environment, universal suffrage, the freedom to form unions, health care, a woman's right to choose, the international financial system created by Roosevelt Democrats, international involvement and not isolationism (e.g. Bush's Missile Defense).
However, I am not a blind adherent to the Democratic party. I don't give up on my friends when I think that they are wrong and I won't give up on the Democratic Party when I think that it has lost its way. Can Democratic politics in New Haven be improved? Absolutely! Will I try to work with the Mayor and others in city politics, including the Board of Alderman, to create a more open and transparent government that is more responsive to the wishes of the constituency. Abslutely! Will I bang heads with those in City government that resist change and are content with the status quo? Absolutely! And will I do this in a way that does not pontificate, but rather tries to formulate the correct arguments so that people see the benefit of change because of its own merits? Absolutely!
I shall endeavor to work from within, until I can no longer do so, so that the Democratic Party evolves into a new party for the 21st Century; a party that understands its role in the future because it understands what it stood for in the past.
I would like to be part of creating a new Democratic Party for the 21st Century and need your support and feedback in order to do so.
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Send me an email regarding issues or concerns that you feel are important.
Send Alex Marathas an email
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT
BY MAKING GOVERNMENT MORE TRANSPARENT and ACCESSIBLE, GOVERNMENT IS FORCED TO BE MORE RESPONSIVE.
The expansion of the Worthington Hooker Elementary School has been an important and controversial subject for residents of both the 9th and 10th Wards. There are several potential sites for that expansion that are currently being reviewed by the City. I will work with the 10th Ward Alderman in order to ensure that the process of site determination is not only public, but also transparent and fair.
At some point in the development of this site, I would like to include, both the New Haven Charter, the New Haven Zoning Ordinance, Programs that the City has to offer such as the Sidewalk Repair Program, information about Public Schools, The New Haven Parks Program, etc. so that the general public will have access to these documents without a trip to City Hall. Knowledge is power and knowing how our laws and ordinances affect us can only make us a stronger, more effective society now and in the future.
In his book "The Lexus and The Olive Tree", Thomas Friedman talks about the benefits of transparency in government involving Foreign Governments and capital markets. When government is transparent, open and understands it relationship to honest and fair governing, the capital markets are better able to determine the value of the work that governments do.Therefore, governments are held more accountable and ultimately the quality of governing should improve. The same can be said of municipal government and I will make an effort to demonstrate this by creating a website that does just that.
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LISTENING TO LYNN VIRTUE DISCUSS SIDEWALK PROBLEMS ON BISHOP STREET
The City of New Haven has a new and improved sidewalk repair program. In Ward 9 over 20 people have signed up for this program. In order to participate in the program the house adjacent to the sidewalk must be owner occupied and the program works in two ways. 1) If the sidewalk is damaged due to the growth of roots from a tree the city will replace the sidewalk free. 2) If the sidewalk damage is not due to tree roots than the city will pay for half of the sidewalk and the homeowner can pay the other half over the course of one year (included in property tax bill). As alderman I would like to promote programs like this that serve to improve the aesthetic of the neighborhoods and prevent accidents to residents. By including programs like this on my website I can demonstrate that transparency and access can work to make leaders more accountable and educate the citizenry about issues and programs that affect them.
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