Print

Two More Democrats Enter Council Race

Ramon, Diaz Are Latest Candidates

July 17, 2007
By DANIEL E. GOREN, Courant Staff Writer

Two more Democrats have thrown their names into Hartford's city council race, each saying they believe it is time for a change in leadership at city hall and calling for reform.

Beatriz Ramon and Maria Diaz announced their candidacies in a joint statement Monday.

"We have had a government that has been unresponsive to the needs of this community," Ramon said Monday. "I believe in Hartford. I pay taxes in Hartford. And this government doesn't answer to its constituents. I'm here to be an agent of change."

Diaz, too, called for change, saying she is troubled by how heavily the city's small businesses are being taxed and at how little improvement is seen in the city's school system despite substantial investment by taxpayers.

"We need reform," she said.

Ramon, who has lived in Hartford for more than two decades, graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a degree in business management. She has worked for the city for 19 years, first in the information technology department, then in the purchasing department and later in the grants management division. Today she works in public works as a project manager, she said.

Diaz moved to Hartford from Puerto Rico in 1972, when she was 16. She has a bachelor's degree from Springfield College and a degree in social work from the University of Connecticut. Diaz has worked for the state Department of Children and Families for 12 years, first as a social worker and now as a supervisor.

Ramon and Diaz join a large field of council candidates, with more than a dozen having registered with the city clerk's office. The field includes several newcomers and at least five incumbents: Democrats James Boucher, Kenneth Kennedy Jr., Pedro Segarra, Calixto Torres and rJo Winch; and Republican Veronica Airey-Wilson.