Tim Tai, Senior Photographer

With his term ending in January, the News sat down with Alex Guzhnay ’24 to reflect on his experiences on the Board of Alders over the past two years. 

As the alder for Ward 1, Guzhnay represents Trumbull, Grace Hopper, Davenport, Branford, Saybrook, Pierson and Berkeley Residential Colleges, as well as buildings on the central Yale campus and several blocks of Elm, Chapel and Crown streets. On Jan. 1, Guzhnay’s position will be turned over to Kiana Flores ’25.

A New Haven native, Guzhnay is a Political Science major interested in economic and community development. He has cited growing up in Fair Haven as a reason for getting involved in politics. During his term on the Board of Alders, Guzhnay was Vice Chair, then Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, and a member of both the Aldermanic Affairs and Community Development Committees.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How was your experience being both the alder from Yale and also the youngest member of the Board? 

Alex Guzhnay: I came in with a lot of energy and [previous Ward 1 and current Ward 7 alder] Eli Sabin ’22 was a big help to me before I ran. I talked with him a little bit about what it was like to be an alder. He helped a lot with understanding what the processes are and the structure of the committees. My first term was a lot of learning and really paying attention. Not really taking too many big actions. It definitely helped a lot; some older folks on the Board of Alders kind of appreciated it that I took the time to sit back and listen. 

In terms of being the youngest, there’s always generational divides. It would come up with issues like education. I would try to offer my perspective as someone who just a couple years ago was in the shoes of the students we were talking about. Also, because I grew up here, we were on the same page about the issues that were important. I don’t come from the wealthiest background either, so I think that helped alleviate what is usually the relationship between the Ward 1 Alder and the rest of the Board.

What drew you to the Health and Human Services Committee, and what was your experience on it?

Guzhnay: Health and Human Services is probably one of my favorite committees in general, just because you’re able to work on so many different topics that overlap. I am interested in the health aspect of the city, with issues like lead poisoning. Seeing all of these grants come into the city being able to ask questions of city staff and decide what to do with them, the CDBG — Community Development Block Grant for community and economic development in small cities — process which is a couple million dollars the city receives every year from the federal government for funding nonprofits. It was a process I saw as a committee member and got to jump into with Alder Frank Douglass. It was pretty priceless to be able to hear from nonprofits and, you know, make some amendments to things that I believe we can shift around to help some additional nonprofits get more money. 

Given that you shifted positions on committees, how did your first and second years on the Board differ?

Guzhnay: First year was really like learning and listening to the folks on the Board, building these relationships. They’re really, really lovely people and I’m glad I took the time to just get to know them and joke around with them. My second year was a lot more figuring out things like, ‘Okay, these are things that I’m assigned to, these are some issues I’m interested in. Let’s see what I can do to push the forum up.’  

My second year I had the immigration workshops, the charter revision and the homeless plan. The city received 4.5 million dollars specifically for homelessness. I wouldn’t have been able to make an amendment to move millions of dollars if it wasn’t for that first year. That was one of the one of my bigger highlights: being able to convince the alders to shore up money for more city shelter beds. We’ve been down like one hundred since the pandemic, so we were able to respond to community feedback. 

Would you talk a little bit more about the immigration workshops? 

Guzhnay: We held one in June and another just recently, at the end of November. The first workshop was mainly focused around the wage ordinance, working with the New Haven Law Clinic. They came to present on how the city can work on adjusting labor violations, particularly around wage theft because that’s a big issue for people who are undocumented. 

One of the things I regret most about my time as an alder is [the way I handled one hearing about wage theft.] I had never seen people calling out restaurants and specific businesses around the city for stealing wages and abusing workers, so I didn’t know what we were allowed to hear. Unfortunately, after a couple testimonies, I made a decision to ask folks to not mention the names of the businesses. I regret that because these forums are public spaces and I later found out that they were allowed to speak on it. It was a mistake that I definitely thought about after the meeting. 

The second workshop was much more nonprofit-focused. We heard ideas about what the city can do to improve the framework for helping immigrants. Right now, we’re a sanctuary city, but only through executive orders. Theoretically, and I don’t think this will happen, but in the future the mayor could come in and revoke the order, leaving immigrants exposed. An ordinance would help stamp this into city hall. I hope the city can continue to explore this.

What are your thoughts on Yale’s continuing expansion into New Haven and the increase in their monetary contributions to the city?

Guzhnay: It’s a tricky game to say that you want more development, that you want to support local businesses, you want to give them opportunity, more housing. But, you know that, with that come many more businesses that are a lot more expensive, housing is a lot more expensive and not accessible to everyone. So it’s a tricky balance to plan and Alder Morrison in Dixwell has been especially on top of it, calling on developers to actually make affordable housing. Obviously, that takes a lot more like the support from the city in terms of funding and coming up with the resources to build support that but it’s tricky. 

In regards to Yale, increasing contribution to New Haven is definitely a step in the right direction. Yale just bought a building for 180 million dollars. They said for the meantime, they will keep it on the tax rolls, so that’s encouraging. It’s also scary because down the road, they can take it off the tax rolls and we lose a couple million dollars in taxes. This doesn’t seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things but every penny really does count in this city.

Given the current political climate, what are your opinions of the way the Board of Alders has handled the Israel-Hamas war and the protests in the city? Do you support a ceasefire?

Guzhnay: At the general Board of Alders meeting yesterday, we talked to a lot of focus groups and campus groups that are advocating for a ceasefire and asking for volunteers to endorse or pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire. It was great that they got to speak to many of us about the issue. I’m in favor of a ceasefire, and obviously that means from both sides. I condemn the attacks from both sides. That’s probably not anyone’s favorite answer, but I definitely condemn hostage-taking on both sides, killings on both sides. At the same time, we must acknowledge that Israel has cut off water, food and supplies to folks in Gaza, which we all should not be in favor of. 

When it comes to the resolutions… I think this one should be amended to include a lot of conversations happening in New Haven right now, to account for all of the city’s diversity. I think we’d be doing people a disservice if we didn’t adequately include all different groups involved in the conflict — anti-Muslim and antisemitic movements happening here in New Haven and across the country. I’d be in favor of a ceasefire resolution, but I don’t think it’s ready as it’s currently being presented to the Board.

Do you have any big pieces of advice for Kiana Flores as she enters the Board of Alders?

Guzhnay: My biggest piece of advice to her is just to listen and learn, especially at first. I couldn’t have done anything if I hadn’t taken the time to do that. Listening doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t really do anything or that you have to stay back on the sidelines. It’s just about really being in touch with what you’re working on because it’s a lot. There’s a lot of items that we take action on, so as much as you may want to, you won’t have the bandwidth to work on every single thing that passes through. That’s when you rely on your colleagues who are on these committees whose items are being discussed. I think Kiana understands the Board better than I did coming in.

Do you have any final reflections on your time as an alder? What were your biggest accomplishments, failures and struggles?

Guzhnay: I regret not being more involved in the Cultural Affairs Committee. They’ve shifted the department in a way that I think is more representative, especially of marginalized communities. I want to tell the committee that I was there in spirit supporting them. I regret not doing as much because, unfortunately, I came in with the intention to get involved in that and make change and I fell into the pattern of not going [to meetings] that many before me have fallen into. 

It’s tricky balancing being a student, having fun and politics. I don’t consider myself the most outgoing type of guy, so it definitely would’ve been nicer to be more involved in politics [at Yale], but then again, I also wanted to keep a separate canvas here. I wish I would’ve had more time. On the other hand, I had the privilege of meeting some great people and helping bridge the gap between Yale and New Haven. It was cool to be a part of two once-in-a-decade processes — charter revision and redistricting — and chair a committee as a first-term alder.