Nicolás Medina Mora Pérez Photo
Kim Walton, Sandy Stewart checked out the new Brookside.
As he welcomed new occupants of the rebuilt Brookside housing project, New Haven’s mayor looked out into the distance to a longstanding wall barring access to Hamden and declared: It must come down.
Not yet, Hamden Mayor Scott Jackson replied later. But maybe in the future.
The exchange came after a ribbon-cutting event Tuesday, when city officials, contractors, and community members inaugurated the first phase of the redeveloped Brookside Estate and Belden Brook public-housing projects in the shadow of West Rock. The celebration took place at the half-finished site, where new houses painted in bright colors stand next to still-under-construction buildings covered in scaffolding.
Up to this date, 101 rental and 6 reisdent-owned homes have been finished. Phase two will consist of 101 more rental units and another 14 homeownership units.
The new neighborhood looks nothing like the old housing project it replaced, yet remains isolated from both downtown New Haven and neighboring Hamden. Mayor DeStefano made that issue central to his public remarks at the event. He alluded to an infamous Hamden-erected fence that has separated Brookside that community for decades, isolating people in the projects and assuming the symbolism of a Berlin Wall. (Read about that here and here).
“I rode my bike here the other day,” said DeStefano, “and the streets looked pretty empty. Dead ends are not good for anyone. We need open streets, and the streets need to be opened in Hamden.”
Street Sweeteners
Karen DuBois-Walton (pictured), executive director of New Haven’s housing authority, echoed the ‚ayor’s comments.
“We’ve been in conversation with [Hamden] Mayor Jackson, and we are hoping to bring an item before their city council,” she said. “We’ve toured them through the new development, so that they can see how much everything has changed.”
DuBois-Walton added that the New Haven government is ready to offer some incentives to Hamden in exchange for open streets.
“We’ve also offered them to make some improvements to the streets on their side,” she said. “We think [opening the streets between Hamden and Brookside] is good for this side and good for the other side.”
When reached by phone after the event, Mayor Jackson said that although he supports eventually tearing down the wall, he is not quite ready to agree. (Click on the play arrow to hear him speak about the Hamden wall at an event with U.S. Rep Rosa DeLauro two years ago.) Hamden neighbors on the other side of the fence complained about Brookside tenants coming to their streets to commit crimes.
“I think my record has been supportive for that,” he said about the opening of Hamden streets. “The question is how we get from A to B. Those fences are there for a reason.”
He added that although he personally has been to the redeveloped Brookside “many, many times,” the city of New Haven has to do a better job communicating the improvements to Hamden’s residents.
“There needs to be an open house, an open invitation for residents to come see the construction, because they’ve seen a lot of bad stuff in that area,” he said. “I know the New Haven housing authority has done a lot of great work, but the neighbors need to see it.”
As for the incentives offered by New Haven, Mayor Jackson called them unnecessary.
“There is no ransom here,” he said. “It’s a generous offer, but you do something because it’s right, not because someone offers you something.”
Proud Homeowners And Renters
Beyond all the talk about open streets, Tuesday afternoon was a day of celebration for some of the renters and first-time homeowners who just moved into Brookside Estate and Belden Brook.
Vera Williams (pictured in her new home with housing authority officials) said that she is “proud” of having gone through “all that paperwork” to buy the very first house at the new Brookside.
Alicia Moorer and her children were one of the last families to move out of the old, “dark, scary” Brookside. She told an emotional story about their return to the improved version of their old neighborhood.
“To comfort my boys [after they moved out of Brookside], I bought a doorbell,” she said. “I told them we wouldn’t use it until we moved home, wherever that may be, because where we were wasn’t home. Now I’m happy to say that I’ll get to use my doorbell.”
Community activist Honda Smith (pictured) offered some words of advice to the new neighbors.
“To those that have moved back and are moving in here,” she said, “nobody ever thought that Brookside would come to this, but look at what you have now! You have a second chance. Be proud of where you came, and be proud of where you’ve come. And make sure that this place stays the way it is now.”