Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam’s state of the city speech on Monday opened with sympathy over two residents’ deaths at the hands of police but was halted by an emotional confrontation with family members and advocates demanding the officers involved be fired.

The cacophony of shouting, curses and demands for accountability over a “police killing spree” interrupted the address at the Hartford Stage.

“Before I begin tonight, I need to take a minute to talk about Everard Walker and Stephen Jones and the tragic events that cost them their lives,” Arulampalam said as he opened his speech. “Let me start by saying something that shouldn’t be divisive: Their lives mattered. Mr. Walker and Mr. Jones were each somebody’s son, somebody’s brother. They were each children of God.  We mourn their loss. We search for answers. And we commit ourselves to doing better.”

He promised accountability, transparency and justice following the men’s deaths, both of which started with mental health episodes and ended in their fatal shootings.

“The only way forward is through this pain. But we must rise to meet this challenge and every challenge our city faces together, as one Hartford,” he said.

Police protocol under fire after two CT fatal officer-involved shootings renew need for mental help

Arulampalam then moved on to a celebration of immigrants, referencing his mother’s 70th birthday that day and his own family’s immigration story from Sri Lanka to Zimbabwe and finally Hartford. He touched on a few residents’ triumphs and struggles in the face of ICE enforcement and “Donald Trump’s cruelty.”

Noting that “public safety is about more than fighting crime, it’s about making sure we prioritize prevention,” he segued into violence prevention gains, a raise for firefighters after a decade and getting fire alarms into the hands of residents to help stop deadly fires.

He plowed ahead, touting small businesses and neighborhood investments before the shouting began.

“Mayor Arulampalam, what are you doing right now to support the family of Everard Walker, the family of Stevie Jones, the family of Will Bowen, these men that your police have gunned down on your watch? And all you’ve given us is empty words. All you’ve given these families is a directive to be silent, to be patient, to wait.”

For a lengthy period, Arulampalam stood silently at the microphone on stage as a handful of advocates shouted their frustrations.

“Are you going to fire the officers … he refuses to do anything … how (expletive) shameful is that, how embarrassing that you are the mayor of this city and you refuse to so much as call for these officers to be jailed, to be fired …” a pair of advocates yelled.

Over the shouting, a man repeated, “I would like to hear the rest of the mayor’s speech.”

Menen Walker, the daughter of Everard Walker, broke in quietly: “My father was an immigrant who walked hard for his family … the fact that he was killed during a mental health crisis after having a mental breakdown after my sister passed away from cancer, I implore all of you to really hear what’s being said. My father came to this country, he worked hard … he just needed help and instead of help what he got was assassination. We called 211 to try to set up a nurse to come and bring his medication because we weren’t able to access it from the pharmacy … police officers came instead of a nurse,” she said.

As she finished, the shouting resumed for several minutes. “Are you going to fire the officers?” one said, and another “We are all hurting.”

As the shouting abated, Arulampalam affirmed their grief, pain, anger and promised “we’re not going to sweep anything under the rug.” Then he got back to his speech, back to celebrating the arrival of a new restaurant in the North End, “a beautiful new sit-down restaurant serving wood fired soul cuisine — 29 Markle.”

Arulampalam recognized the chef and pressed on, heralding work by the City of Hartford Department of Sports and Recreation to engage children and disconnected youth.

Then he unveiled big news.

“I am proud to announce today, for the first time, that we are working with our partners in the state to make Hartford the very first city in Connecticut to provide universal child care for our families,” Arulampalam said, noting that the initiative would be coming in the next few years.

Arulampalam went on to address Hartford Public School’s $74.5 million deficit. Friction between Arulampalam and Superintendent Dr. Andraé Townsel has been evident in the past week over the deficit, with Townsel blaming the funding structure that drains the district’s school budget when students chose to attend magnet schools and Open Choice schools in suburban towns, leaving Hartford schools underfunded. Arulampalam has called for restructuring and consolidating schools but said he had a good call with Townsel over the weekend.

Hartford schools chief, mayor at sharp odds on how to address $70M school deficit. Accusations fly.

“The city can’t pay for this out of our rainy day fund that we’ve saved for 10 years, cut salaries, positions, seen firefighters, public works go without raises, failed to invest in roads and infrastructure the way we’d like to in the city. You know that we can’t pay for it with taxes. A 20.6% increase on our residents would be unsustainable. And so we’ve got to work together to find a solution … but the superintendent and I committed to each other that we would try to do that collaboratively in the days and weeks ahead.”

He went on to herald what he called incredible success on reforming “problem landlords,” starting first with a task force, then a public list and targeted enforcement.

“Within just one year, 92% of the units owned by the landlords we named had either transferred ownership or were in the process of being fixed up,” he said.

He recounted one story, “Within three hours, one of the biggest landlords on that list called up our staff. He was panicked. He asked ‘What can I do to make sure I’m off that list next time’ and started to get to work fixing up his properties.

“It shows what we can do when we refuse to accept the status quo, when we go to battle for the most vulnerable of our residents each and every day.”

Still, affordable housing is a dire need, he said, and the city will work to turn vacant lots into sources of generational wealth and homeownership. His administration is working on a rent-to-own model for housing, he said, and at allowing Section 8 vouchers for mortgages.

His administration’s goals, he said, are “to build quality housing for all; to create brighter futures for all of our children; and to make all of our neighborhoods stronger and safe” and said despite the challenges, the city is “full of promise and hope … that can do the impossible when we work together.

“Because if we can fight together and we can heal together. We can walk together. We can dream together. We can soar together. And if we can do all that, then Hartford, there is nothing we can’t do.”