The newly elected mayor of Hartford, Arunan Arulampalam, announced his picks to lead his transition into office at his first press conference held at City Hall the morning after his victory.
“We need our Latino community, we need our African American, West Indian community, we need every piece of the city to see greater opportunity,” Arulampalam said. “Great opportunity to start small businesses, to have homes and quality housing, to have a quality education system.”
He said he will reach out to community leaders who represent the diversity of the city to help address their needs.
“We are too small to be divided because we will rise or fall together,” he said.
Arulampalam tapped for his transition team Connecticut Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, as well as Jay Williams, president and CEO of the Hartford Foundation, and Andrea Comer, chief of staff at the state treasurer's office. He also announced the launch of a website to inform the public about the new administration's transition.
Ritter said he will help "get things up and running" for Jan. 1. The other candidates who ran for Mayor could be involved too, he said, even though they lost the election.
"That doesn't mean that they don't have a role. I think the most important thing is it's a four-year government now,” Ritter said. “If you are gonna spend your entire four years fighting, then we're not moving forward as a team. Unfortunately for Hartford, we don't have the luxury to fight about yesterday. We have to think about tomorrow."
The 38-year-old Arulampalam faced criticism from his opponents in the mayoral race for his relative lack of experience in government, and background leading the Hartford Land Bank.
But throughout his campaign, Arulampalam said he engaged in conversations with residents and plans to continue doing it for the next four years. He emphasized his focus on addressing issues such as affordable housing and creating safe spaces for the youth with the help of his team.
Outgoing mayor Luke Bronin, who decided not to run for re-election this year, congratulated Arulampalam and offered to assist the new team for a smooth transition.
“And over the next, I think it's 52 days, we're going to do everything we can to make sure that this transition is as smooth as possible and that the partnership is as full as possible,” Bronin said. “We [want to] make sure that when the clock strikes midnight on January 1 the new team comes in, in as strong a position as possible to keep the work going and move this forward.”
Arulampalam promised to announce additional team members in the following days.
Note: Arunan Arulampalam's father-in-law is Gregory B. Butler, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of Connecticut Public.
Correction: An earlier version of a photo caption listed an incorrect first name of a member of the Arulampalam transition team. It is Matt Ritter, not John Ritter.
