City Looks to Expand ID Card

by Liese Klein NEW HAVEN – New Haven’s controversial Elm City Resident Card is entering its second year with steady participation from the business community, city officials say. The New Haven Board of Aldermen’s finance committee approved a second year for the cards on October 7, voting to accept $150,000 in grants and $60,000 in fees to pay for the program. The grants consisted of $75,000 from the Atlantic Philanthropies, $50,000 from the Four Freedoms Fund and $25,000 from the J.M. Kaplan Fund. About 60 companies are honoring the card, ten of which are offering special discounts, says city spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga. That number has remained steady since the rollout of the card, which is offered to all city residents regardless of immigration status. Mayorga says the city will focus in the second year on expanding business participation and spreading the word about the card’s benefits as a promotional tool. “It’s working – we are getting the names of those businesses out there,” Mayorga says. Despite criticism by anti-immigration groups, business like C-Town supermarkets, Bob’s Dodge of Naugatuck and Universal Hotel Liquidators have partnered with the city to offer discounts to cardholders. Bob’s Dodge briefly withdrew from the program after becoming a target of criticism this spring, but then rejoined. Almost 7,000 of the cards were issued in the program’s first year.