Seniors Get Walking
by | Sep 12, 2012 1:04 pm | Comments (0)
Nonagenarian Beryl Buschay led the way as seniors hit the basketball court to warm up with a local basketball hero before setting off on an eight-week fitness mission.
Dixwell
Boxers' Teeth Get
A Fighting Chance
by | Sep 10, 2012 11:03 am | Comments (2)
Tyler Peters placed in his new mouth guard, customized with the red and black colors of Elephant in a Room boxing gym, embossed with his name. It was a perfect fit.
Nation Victorious, Again
by | Aug 7, 2012 12:17 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Nation victorious.
When Dixwell’s Nation Drill Squad and Drum Corps hit a national competition in Houston, Texas, last week, the other teams started whispering, “Oh God, they’re here.”
Yale Begins Laying “Pipeline”
by | Jul 31, 2012 3:11 pm | Comments (32)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Yale’s Lauren Zucker speaks with Dwight Alderman Frank Douglass.
In a discussion about improving town/gown relations with Yale, city lawmakers offered several suggestions: help set up the “jobs pipeline,” expand the university’s homebuyer program, and extend Yale shuttle service to all New Haveners.
In Science Park’s Shadow, City Tackles Blight
by | Jul 13, 2012 2:03 pm | Comments (12)
Paul Bass Photo
Neighbor Kelly: No sign of life “except the raccoons.”
Breakthrough may be in works for 235 Winchester (above).
Less than a block from where millions of dollars are pouring into high-tech offices and new homes, New Haven seeks to untangle a legal mess that has kept empty a trashed three-story wreck — and to convince a 74-year-old carpenter to paint his house.
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Sisters Claim Racial Profiling In Traffic Stop
by | Jul 13, 2012 8:29 am | Comments (9)
When two city cops pulled over two sisters who made a midnight visit to Hudson Street, the cops did so because of the color of their skin — and because of a systemic failure to address racial profiling in the police department, a new federal suit charges.
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Blight Rx: Sell To Alejandro & Virginia? Or St. Luke’s?
by | Jul 9, 2012 12:07 pm | Comments (7)
Paul Bass Photo
55 Dickerman St.
As potential buyers tramped through the rubble of an abandoned Dixwell house Monday, a Mexican-born couple hoped to move from an apartment across the street into their own renovated home. Leaders of a nearby church envisioned creating a home for returning war vets.
And the city had a good problem on its hands: figuring out how best to turn blight into neighborhood renewal.
Continue reading ‘Blight Rx: Sell To Alejandro & Virginia? Or St. Luke’s?’
Dixwell Goes “Off-Broadway”
by | Jul 5, 2012 8:29 am | Comments (8)
Paul Bass Photo
Yale Chief Higgins outside a future community outpost.
The cops are coming to Lake Place and Dixwell Avenue — and setting up shop.
Urban Renewal Revisited—& Taunted
by | Jul 2, 2012 3:03 pm | Comments (28)
Nicolás Medina Mora Pérez Photo
Ed Cherry, modernist architect, strolled his old neighborhood, gazing at the once-new urban renewal era buildings.
“Dixwell could have been saved,” he reflected on the time the “Model City” sacrificed history for a promise of prosperity that never materialized — a promise he helped design.
Q House Backers Question Armory Plan
by | Jun 27, 2012 9:11 am | Comments (1)
Nicolás Medina Mora Pérez Photo
Joseph Montgomery seemed agitated when he took the microphone.
“I don’t understand all this talk about the armory,” he said. “I thought the fight was about the Q House!”
Tense Standoff Traps Children In The Middle
by | Jun 26, 2012 6:31 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
(Updated) An allegedly armed man fleeing police burst into an Orchard Street house Tuesday afternoon and into a second-floor apartment — where he grabbed a 9‑year-old girl who was speaking on a cell phone with her grandmother.
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City Seeks $2.8M To Fix Up Armory
by | Jun 8, 2012 8:11 am | Comments (12)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Eidelson, Smuts, Robinson-Thorpe.
As the city asks the state for millions of dollars to fix up the abandoned Goffe Street Armory, officials vowed to get cracking on an alderwoman’s years-long dream to turn the space into a community center.
Turnaround Teacher Finds The Rhythm
by | May 24, 2012 3:00 pm | Comments (1)
Melissa Bailey Photo
“Is Ganesh an elephant or a man?” Jason Schneider asked his 7th graders.
As they delved into discussion, a new teacher at a turnaround school heard “music” in their words — and a sign that his own year is turning around.
“Everyone Was Screaming”
by | May 13, 2012 5:24 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Returning from a late-night pizza delivery, Tara Abraham was pulling up to the parking lot behind Dixwell Plaza when she heard the shots.
Sergeant Snuffs Tobacco Shop’s 2 A.M. Plan
by | May 9, 2012 8:43 am | Comments (11)
Sure, there were two shootings outside the convenience store. And yes, the owners have been cited for selling “loosies.” But the Dixwell Plaza Smoker’s Stop should nevertheless be allowed to stay open every night until 2 a.m., a lawyer argued.
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Prison Guard’s Help Needed Back At School
by | May 7, 2012 11:14 am | Comments (6)
Melissa Bailey Photo
“Mr. LeSane, Bill needs you!” the assistant principal called out across the cafeteria.
Hours after finishing his graveyard prison shift, Floyd LeSane was on the daytime schoolyard shift. He walked over to where a 3rd-grader was circling the tables, refusing to sit down.
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3 Stories, 3 Alarms
by | Apr 29, 2012 8:07 pm | Comments (5)
Keith McDonald Photos
Keith McDonald sent in these photos of the dramatic fire that engulfed the beautiful 12-apartment building at at the corner of Tilton Street in the Dixwell neighborhood Saturday evening.
Firefighters Come
To Seniors' Rescue
by | Apr 23, 2012 8:08 am | Comments (1)
Allan Appel Photo
Firefighters Dawud Amin and Palmer.Gaines.
The pumper and ladder truck of Engine 6 on Goffe Street arrived at the scene at 10:10 a.m. Firefighters Dawud Amin and Palmer Gaines brought the hoses and axe into the lobby at 10:12. Then the chief arrived to coordinate.
Bank Of America
Closing DIxwell Branch
by | Apr 18, 2012 12:02 pm | Comments (2)
Michelle Turner Photo
Most of the customers coming in the lobby of the Dixwell Avenue branch of the Bank of America didn’t know the branch is closing in June. But a customer named Karen did.
“Yes, I got the letter,” she said as she pulled up in her car. “I wish they didn’t, but [I] can’t change it.”
Esserman To Dixwell:
Reach Out & Touch Us
by | Mar 6, 2012 9:04 am | Comments (4)
Caitlin Emma Photo
When a problem arises, the first person New Haveners should call is their local neighborhood police officer — unless an emergency warrants calling 9 – 1‑1, of course.
Police Chief Dean Esserman (pictured) made that pitch Monday night to 30 people gathered in Dixwell. And when anti-brutality activist Jewu Richardson asked about contacting the chief directly, Esserman fired off his office phone number.
Continue reading
‘Esserman To Dixwell:
Reach Out & Touch Us’
Pressure’s On As “CMT Olympics” Begin
by | Mar 5, 2012 8:51 am | Comments (8)
Melissa Bailey Photo
As anxiety rippled through the hallways in anticipation of the high-stakes Connecticut Mastery Test, Principal Sabrina Breland popped into an 8th grade classroom and delivered a dose of confidence and laughter to nervous students.
Divas Dish
by | Feb 26, 2012 1:34 pm | Comments (0)
Caitlin Emma Photo
Zania Collier argues her point.
The Divas Club came to the consensus that this wasn’t Terry McMillan’s best book. But the group divided on another issue: is Savannah Jackson a “ho”?
“I have a problem with Savannah Jackson,” said Zania Collier. “I just thought she was very shallow.”
“No, she wasn’t!” replied Sharon Brooks.
TFA Teacher Hits Stride—& May Leave Town
by | Feb 20, 2012 12:08 pm | Comments (8)
Melissa Bailey Photo
A year and a half after students welcomed the Teach For America recruit with a flash flood in her classroom, Kaitlyn Shorrock is emerging as a model teacher — and weighing whether to continue her job at one of the city’s most challenging schools.
Walking Cops Check In On The Champ
by | Feb 17, 2012 3:01 pm | Comments (3)
Caitlin Emma Photo
Officer Todd Kelley spotted an older man in glasses walking down Henry Street, hunched over, his busy hand fishing inside an extra-large bag of Doritos.
“Hey! D.C. Walker!” Kelley yelled.
Excited to see Kelley, he stopped, pulled his hand out of the bag and threw a couple fake punches at the air.
A K-8 “Turnaround” Enlists Hillhouse Seniors
by | Feb 13, 2012 4:31 pm | Comments (0)
“You got this. Just relax,” Hillhouse’s valedictorian coaxed a timid 4th-grader who had just kicked a second foul ball.
Continue reading ‘A K-8 “Turnaround” Enlists Hillhouse Seniors’