New Haven Independent

Posted by: jeffreykerekes | May 14, 2008 8:30 AM

The City released a new budget document with the announced cuts.

No More Fair Rent Commission, Elimination of Small Business Initiative, $1M less in BOE, almost $6M in proposed layoffs and concessions while increasing employee benefits by a $1/4 Million, $679k from Community Services Administration, reduced soup kitchen aid, homeless funding, two people from the mayor's office, $150k less to Shubert, $150k Less to Market New Haven and $250k less to Tweed. $144k from Executive Management Concessions (No Reduction for the Mayor who is still at $131,000. In fact no one in his office got a salary reduction although two positions were eliminated all together.). Elimination of some senior centers (there was low attendance at a few of these), closing some police substations, eliminated 3 Librarians, and more.

They estimate $1M in new money from an unannounced source (sale of parking lots?), increased money from parking meters, vital stats, and $150 per bulk pick-up.

Check out www.nhcan.org for continued updates about the new budget. Come tonight, Wed 5/14/08 at 6pm at City Hall for the deliberations on the budget.

Posted by: on whalley | May 14, 2008 8:43 AM

I used to live in a neighborhood where every time a police substation was built it was burned down. It was like a semi-annual event. We'd watch it being built and see cops around then not one week after completion it would mysteriously burn down. I never understood why they kept building it the same way over and over.

I guess trying to keep it open is a slightly less difficult fight than trying to keep it from burning down. Should be a cakewalk by comparison.

Posted by: eastshoreguy | May 14, 2008 8:50 AM

Please, please, please don't take our substations! You can relocate them but don't eliminate them all. The savings by moving them to preexisting city owned buildings makes sense - like the schools.

Please do not eliminate them all.

Posted by: Cheri | May 14, 2008 9:01 AM

Last Saturday at around 11:30 A.M. as I was biking to the Wachovia Bank on Whalley I was chased by 5 young men, aged around 15. They started chasing me near the intersection of Norton and Elm (I was riding down Elm). 3 of them were on bikes, 2 on foot. They screamed at me as they chased me calling me a B**ch, and thought they'd scare me into giving up my bike, which I didn't do, as I sped up...got away.

Want to close the substation? Fine, look forward to more mayhem in that neighborhood, and more civilians carrying weapons to protect themselves.
Law enforcement in this city is a F'n joke.

Posted by: Amazed | May 14, 2008 9:33 AM

The rich folks in Westvillle are the people who complain most about taxes. When it comes to cuts they don't want any for them. Not paying there share, are they ??????

Posted by: Nan | May 14, 2008 9:52 AM

Whalley Avenue needs all the help it can get. The police substation is a zone of safety to the immediate neighborhood. The substation should stay where it is on Whalley Ave. rather than being swallowed up inside of cavernous Hillhouse High School where it will lose visibility. Leave the police substation on Whalley Avenue where it can be seen and where it serves the neighborhood well.

Posted by: Tired of it | May 14, 2008 10:08 AM

"Cheri" Law enforcement in this town is a joke.
Police can not be every where. Crime is a question of opportunity for the criminals.
Did you call the police to report it, so the next, poor unsuspecting person is not robbed. Or did you bury your head in the sand and ignore it and just to decide and blame the police. If you did not call the police, let me thank you for possibly being the next victim of these individuals.

Posted by: Exiled Italian Shill | May 14, 2008 11:01 AM

So my prediction was correct it is the Greers substaion!

If the Greer's are concerned enough about community policing and concerned about the substation closing on Whalley then they are concerned enough to not charge any rent and keep the substation were it is now.

They are concerned enough to form bike patrols and arm themselves, concerned enough to hold press conferences to protect their $20,000 in rent and they are concerned enough to call for the replacement of Chief Ortiz, but they are not so concerned to give up a few bucks.

Maybe the City should, as I used to advocate for during my time, drop their CDBG funding which is used to repair and remodel homes so they can rent to Yale students. They used to get around $50,000 in rehab monies but they argue about $20,000 in rent for a building they say the community needs.

I applaud the cut and severing the public dollars from this once sacred cow of New Haven politics.

You cannot have it both ways.

Posted by: on whalley | May 14, 2008 11:08 AM

I can't speak for Cher, Tired of It but at least once a week I get chased in a similar fashion, have bottles and rocks thrown at me, have people form a little human wall in front of me in an effort to get me to stop for god knows what and in the Summer months the frequency jumps to nearly daily.

I used to call the cops. Occasionally they would know me by voice. I can call them until I'm blue in the face. So can Cheri. We'll still get chased. We'll still have people throw rocks. We'll still have drunks jump out and reach and grab for the bike and our arms.

Oh I forgot the best part about calling the cops. Having them show up (eventually) to ask you for a report and successfully identify to the thugs in the neighborhood who you are and where you live and that you are indeed a whiner and complainer. A fun target for them.

An argument can be made that the cops are a much greater risk to your wellbeing than if there were none. For every thug they announce your location too they put up a block keeping you from defending yourself from said thugs.

The cops might scoop some of them up. Might send them to hangout with their buddies from the neighborhood for a few months or couple of years but they will always get out and they will always come home. Usually they will come home carrying some resentment for the whiny complainer that got them the free room and board and always much more brazen for having been there. Cops make things worse. At least cops coupled with a population that is so thoroughly convinced that "law enforcement" as it currently stands is in any way effective and that the woman at home with a shotgun leaning against the nightstand or the local on a bike with a pistol under his shirt are evil.

Posted by: Edward_H | May 14, 2008 11:08 AM

Looking for ways to save money is a great idea but how much more money will be spent in police resources investigating crimes that would not have occurred by leaving the sub station where it is? That area is teetering on the edge of a chasm and the sub station has been an anchor preventing it from falling into anarchy.

Posted by: Cheri | May 14, 2008 11:13 AM

Tired of it:

I Don't need to be reminded that "cops can't be everywhere."

I maintain that law enforcement in this town is a joke, not because all cops are lazy, unconcerned, etc...I don't think that, but when you live in that area of town, and see all the blatant crime happening almost every hour of every day...you start to wonder..."why are so many people getting away with this?" If I can see it in broad daylight...then cops can see it too...and something is very wrong because they're NOT enforcing the law nearly as much as they should.

Posted by: CDM | May 14, 2008 1:00 PM

Tired of it:

I was mugged by a group of approximately five or six 14 or 15 year olds on bikes a few years ago. One of them had a gun, so I decided to give up my wallet.

I did call the police, they got there within 10 minutes or so, drove around the neighborhood a few times but basically admitted that they couldn't do squat.

One of the cops told me that, being 14 or 15, even if the wee criminals were apprehended they would be back out on the street in no time anyway.

So it was pretty much a time waster for the cops and me.

Cheri's calling the police is highly unlikely to have accomplished anything at all.

And "Amazed", the area of Whalley that we are talking about hardly constitutes the domain of the "rich folks" in Westville.

Posted by: Charlie | May 14, 2008 1:53 PM

Hey Mr. Mayor: some leader you are! Cuts for everyone and everything AROUND ME, without TOUCHING ME! How about a salary reduction for you and your top cronies -- I mean administrators? Those happen when one voluntarily reduces their salary as a gesture of leadership and solidarity during difficult economic times. I'm sure this sounds like a foreign concept to you. Try it some time.

Posted by: Cheri | May 14, 2008 2:31 PM

CDM:
I too have been told by the police that juveniles will be out the next day...but wish that could change when it comes to assault. I think we can all agree that a 15 yr old can do some pretty horrific things if so inclined.

Also, in response to the idea that criminals wait for cops to pass before committing crimes, which is surely the case in many circumstances, my suggestion is more undercover cops in some of the sidestreets around Whalley, as well as other places that are getting high levels of crime. They should be discreet, and they should act with no mercy. And, arrest anyone who's committed the offense, no matter what age.

Uniformed cops are just so conspicuous, and the criminals, again, no matter what age, are very clever about the ways to escape being caught in the act.

Posted by: newbie | May 14, 2008 4:12 PM

Hey Charlie,

If your so concerned about the budget cuts in New Haven, why don't you go down to City Hall and hand over your tax return as a "gesture of solidarity" or otherwise donate some funding or services instead of complaining. These are people who work long hard hours, they don't want to make the cuts as much as people don't want to experience the repurcussions, but they have the duty of guiding the city through rough financial times. And they do it the best they can, despite all unconstructive whining people like you throw at them.

Or would you like to tell me how your doing your part to help the process? (and no, simply paying your taxes like the rest of us doesn't count)

Posted by: What? | May 14, 2008 5:06 PM

Newbie, Why does Charlie paying his taxes not constitute doing his part? Sure, many of these workers at city hall are good people, but so are all of us taxpayers trying to make ends meet. Gov't should be reduced by at least 10% this year, and another 10% next. I don't care who loses their jobs. If something isn't done soon, I'm going to lose my house. Then, maybe, they could put me on their payroll.

Posted by: joe | May 14, 2008 7:32 PM

no offense people, but i work on whalley ave a block or so away from the substation. they robbed my workplace at 1130 on a sunday morning at gunpoint. i happened to be home but heard the police dispatched there as i work and volunteer for ems yes, i have a radio that hears whats going on. first, while i am glad nothing happened to my boss or anyone else there, i can also say that new haven pd is functioning at or about 100 members short of full staffing which places more of a burden on them being able to respond and catch the bad guys. luckily the pd should be getting like close to 50 new cops soon, but the matter is still there. whalley avenue is a draw for the criminal element. there are foot patrols in the area as well as officers who park in their cars right there in the open as a deterent, but the fact of the matter is, they cant be everywhere all the time. they do get calls to respond to and when that happens, there's a moment of opportunity. that will always be there, but adding more cops as well as giving them a place where they have increased visibility, will and does lower the crime rate. should the substation get free rent. absolutely, especially when they sit next to the old mack miller taylor shop thats been closed for years, so it's not like the storefront is making a killing. just yesterday, some of the men and women of new haven pd chased down 6, yes 6, persons involved in a robbery on you guessed it, whalley avenue. the chase (foot chase as well as a couple of cars in the end) wound up ending on chapel and winthrop. so these guys and gals do,do their jobs and under pretty crappy conditions too. you would think that people would be happy to have them there, but no, these officers then had to deal with a rowdy group where the suspects were taken into custody on top of everything else. so maybe instead of people complaining about officers not being able to control their patrol areas, maybe next time you see a cop, you should say thank you for keeping your butt reasonably safe. as for the fine mayor, he just got a nice 13,000.00 pay INCREASE, maybe at the least, he should give that back, but i bet he won't. doing the math, that 13k could be like another 9 months the substation could be kept open. i'm not even gonna get started on the mayor as my post would be several pages longer than it already is. all i can say, is new haveners, you have the ability to force city hall to keep these substations open by fighting the city. stick to your guns and you can make it happen.
To thise working the streets; as well as those who live in the area, stay safe.

Joe

Posted by: Shill in City Hall | May 14, 2008 8:34 PM

Johnny D still has his moments of genius. Rabbi Greer gets in his own red coated militia and forces Johnny Boy to scapegoat Ortiz for lack of community policing. He can't replace Ortiz, even by offering the big bucks. So, time for the cuts, and Greers police station goes. Hits Greer in the pocket. How sad. A great act in political retaliation. What goes around comes around.

Posted by: nfjanette | May 14, 2008 10:43 PM

Johnny D still has his moments of genius. Rabbi Greer gets in his own red coated militia and forces Johnny Boy to scapegoat Ortiz for lack of community policing. He can't replace Ortiz, even by offering the big bucks. So, time for the cuts, and Greers police station goes. Hits Greer in the pocket. How sad. A great act in political retaliation. What goes around comes around.

It sure does smell like classic vengeful behavior from the mayor. Of course, the embarrassing problems were caused by was his office and the chief's incompetence in failed to recruit new officers, even when budgeted, as well as the retreat from community policing over the years.

Taking on WEB is like shaking a hornet's nest. We're not taking this one lying down, just like we didn't last time.

Posted by: JackNH | May 15, 2008 6:12 AM

Is law enforcement a joke in New Haven? Let's see. Last summer I filled my gas tank at the Hess station at the corner of State and Ferry, and saw 1) two drug deals take place and, at the same time 2) two police cruisers cruise by. Needless to say, I now buy my gas elsewhere.

Posted by: Ned | May 15, 2008 8:15 AM

Cheri, you need to accessorize: Smith and Wesson "Ladysmith"

Posted by: robn | May 15, 2008 1:07 PM

When a pack of 15 year olds are harassing and mugging people, that means that theres a pack of parents who aren't doing their job...making sure they know where their kids are. Also a pack of neighbors who are seeing whats happening and keeping their mouths shut. When will those people be held accountable?

Posted by: Esbe | May 15, 2008 8:23 PM

Packs of screaming 15 olds chasing down women and men on bikes, in broad daylight, sounds like a scene out of an apocalyptic novel. We have do to what it takes to make people feel safe on the streets and in their homes.

Greer can offer his storefront rent-free. The city needs to get those promised 100 officers on the streets and we have to get back to community policing where the police and the community cooperate. If we have to change the law to send 15 year olds who commit violent crimes (not minor drug offenses, etc.) away for a long time, then let's do it. To keep at least some at-risk kids out of prison, let's expand the street outreach program and make sure that the schools have more after-school and summer activities to keep kids busy.

This ought to be the city's number one priority.

Posted by: Edward_H | May 15, 2008 10:11 PM

NHI readers:

"I certainly appreciate people grew attached to where they're having meetings," City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts responded Tuesday. "People can grow attached to other locations."

Does anyone else think this is an incredibly arrogant statement or am I just becoming overly sensitive in my old age? Is he confident moving the substation will not embolden the criminal element in this area? Will he rent an apartment in this area and live there to show his faith in this plan?

Posted by: Yair | May 16, 2008 8:43 AM

I ride my bike on that part of Whalley a lot, and I never see marauding packs of 15-year-olds or anything else particularly awful. Granted it's a neighborhood with problems, but is there perhaps a note of hyperbole in some of the postings?

I've been here for about five years. Crime got somewhat worse during that time, but we are not in Mad Max land or anywhere near it. There were ups and downs. I think that two years ago there were more problems with large groups of kids than there are now. Some perspective please.

Posted by: @ El-Win-Wha | May 20, 2008 1:17 PM

Hey Bloggers I've lived in this hood my whole life and from my perspective you just don't want us here ... I used to be one of these lil guys and it's just a matter of them not realizing they're own potential who you pigs are I try to profess to them that this is Illumahaven and people of color, my people aren't wanted ... and if unification was possible amongst my people without gangs or religion we would have already crushed you all for you sins against humanity bcuz even though i have a piss poor new haven public school education it doesn't make me blind ... i've witnessed shootings,stabbings,gangs war... My younger brother is mentally incompetent(PTSD) from having watch his best friend murdered on X-mas... My friend was shot last night... My cousin was jumped on the Boulevard last week ...I have three friends DEAD with unsolved murders .... You devils shouldn't judge our babies you know you love what's happening ... this is your plan America

Posted by: tony | September 23, 2008 4:39 PM

I question what crime rate has been abated.
Since moving to Ellsworth Avenue in April of 2007, my family has endured numerous crimes. Our vehicles have been vandalized, broken into, and damaged, numerous times. I believe around 15 times now. Our lawn has been furniture stolen. The basement has been broken into. We've called the police, and all they want to do is take a report over the phone! There's a big deterrent to crime...
This morning (09/23/08) my wife awoke me to inform me that my car was open. I purchased the car on Friday, and haven't even driven it yet. Someone broke in overnight, removed the faceplate from the stereo, and made a mess of the driver wheel column trying to steal the car. I haven't even driven this car yet! I was waiting to go to the DMV today to register it. My wife and I have paid thousands of dollars to replace punctured tires, stolen stereos, broken windows, to clean sugar out of her gas tank and motor, and suffered other damages, scratches, loss of siphoned gas, stolen gas caps, damaged gas covers and window seals, etc. And it's not just us. We rent the first floor of a house, and the folks on the third floor have suffered the same damages to their cars. AND, the folks in the house next door have also suffered similar damages:
punctured tires, stolen stereos, broken windows...and, to top it all off, in July someone set one of their cars on fire. We awoke to see flames licking the trees in the yard. One of them was robbed at gun point in our driveway. Yet not once have I even seen patrols come through this neighborhood!

Additionally, I lay blame on Joe Levitin, who owns both our house and the house next door. We have asked repeatedly that they put a fence in the back yard (our yard is the only unfenced yard ont he whole street, and, thus, is used as a shortcut by thugs all night long. We find new drug baggies in the yard every morning). Of course, he does nothing. I suppose I shouldn't expect any more, either. Mr. Levitin and his management company don't mow the lawn, don't fix leaky plumbing that we've complained about multiple times,
don't repair lights they promised would be fixed before we moved in when they showed us the house in 2007...
They didn't even shovel the sidewalk last winter, until they were ticketed. Levitin apparently has no sense of responsibility and no respect for his tenants.

When we first moved here, I loved this city. My daughter is in a good school (St. Brendan's), we like the parks, museums, restaurants, international community, etc...But, I'm starting to think it's just a nice place to visit.
My family and our property are not safe here.
I can draw no other conclusion.

Anthony Baldwin