Eddie Perez (politician)

Eddie Alberto Pérez (born 1957, in Corozal, Puerto Rico) became the first Latino mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, United States.

Youth

Pérez arrived in Hartford in 1969 with his family. He graduated from Hartford Public High School in 1976.

Career

In the 1970s, Perez was a founding member of the Ghetto Brothers street gang, which he formed with his brother and two friends. They wore bright yellow and purple jackets and staked the North End as their turf. And though he was younger than the rest of his crew, they followed him. In those days, he was known on the street as "The Professor." Dealing exclusively in violence and drugs, the gang terrorized the North End of Hartford. The group was affiliated with the original Ghetto Brothers from the Bronx, New York, with close ties to neighboring Puerto Rican gangs.

In the 1980s, Perez's Ghetto Brothers closely affiliated themselves with the more known Latin Kings street gang, a group that terrorized the city of Hartford for more than three decades. Turf wars, drive-by shootings, robberies, and countless murders. Drug dealing was the key ingredient that fueled this gang.

In 1978, Pérez took a job as a VISTA volunteer to address tenant issues in Hartford's North End. That position led to his role as the founder of O.N.E./C.H.A.N.E. He earned an Associates Degree from Capital Community Technical College. In 1986, he became the Director of MASH (Make Something Happen), a welfare-to-work effort for families in public housing.

In 1989, Trinity College chose him as its first Director of Community Relations. While working full time in that position, Pérez completed a degree in economics at Trinity, and became the college's Associate Vice President of Community and Government Relations in 1994.

In June of 1999, he became President and Executive Director of the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA), an organization initiated by Trinity and Hartford Hospital. Under his tenure, it completed its $112 million Learning Corridor and undertook its $220 million Neighborhood Initiative. These programs have been described as national models for comprehensive community revitalization.

Mayor

Pérez was elected as the first Latino mayor of Hartford in 2001. Under 2002 changes to the city charter, he became the CEO of Hartford. He was re-elected in 2003.

Perez has also put into place a municipal WiFi network, known as the Wireless Hartford initiative. The WiFi effort has the goal of closing the digital divide in one of the poorest cities in the country.

His tenure as mayor included his becoming a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.

As mayor, Pérez has focused on reducing violence, increasing homeownership, improving the quality of life of Hartford, and raising the standards and expectations of the Hartford public school system.

Since his tenure as mayor Perez has come under fire for possible corruption. Land deals, and no-bid contracts to friends, employing city contractors for personal use are just some of the allegations pending. The city has seen a large increase in street violence

In August 2007, Perez announced that his home had been searched by investigators probing work done on his home by a contractor who had received city business. . He was re-elected despite the controversy with 49% of the vote.

In November 2007, Perez, who is chairman of the Hartford city school board, proposed abolishing local suburban school districts in Hartford County and consolidating them with the city school district.[4]

On September 11, 2007 he won the Democratic primary for nomination for a third term by an overwhelming margin. In October, he was named one of the top 100 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business Magazine.

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

• Hartford's Mayor
• Mayors Against Illegal Guns homepage