East Rock

Landlord Standoff Stops Short Inspections

by | Oct 16, 2024 3:51 pm | Comments (39)

Thomas Breen file photo

Xu (in the background) arguing with Brennan, and shouting at this reporter: "Don't take a picture!"

A fatal-fire-inspired inspection of another one of Jianchao Xu’s potential rooming houses came to an abrupt end when the landlord confronted the city crew on his building’s front porch.

Why did you come here? Because I’m a colored person? Why did you single me out?” Xu asked, his phone’s camera pointing at Livable City Initiative (LCI) Executive Director Liam Brennan. This is not a communist country.”

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Cross Cumbias For Hispanic Heritage Month

by | Oct 14, 2024 12:18 pm | Comments (1)

Jabez Choi photo

Shayel Rodriguez (center) with her parents at Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.

On the lookout, at Cross.

Wilbur Cross tenth grader Shayel Rodriguez gathered with 12 other student dancers in the school’s gymnasium to perform Puerto Rican bomba, Colombian cumbia, and Brazilian samba – to help celebrate the cultural heritage of the school’s diverse and growing Hispanic population.

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$2M Sought For Undoing Highway Harms

by | Oct 9, 2024 2:47 pm | Comments (31)

Thomas Breen file photo

More like Underpass Haven: By Exit 6 ...

... near State and James ...

It doesn’t have to be like this.

The Elicker administration and East Rock / Fair Haven Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith have asserted as much — well, not in those exact words — about the current state of neighborhood-slicing highways, as they seek $2 million in federal funds to help plan a brighter future for underused underpasses.

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CT Folk Festival Bridges The Generations

by | Sep 9, 2024 8:38 am | Comments (1)

Brian Slattery Photos

Leyla McCalla.

A flurry of rainstorms throughout the afternoon on Saturday didn’t keep the CT Folk Festival and Green Expo out of Edgerton Park — nor did it keep stalwart listeners away, to hear from some of the finest voices of two different generations of artists upholding traditions and carrying them ably through the present and into the future.

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Cross Library Closed For Mold Clean-Up

by | Sep 4, 2024 5:33 pm | Comments (29)

Maya McFadden file photo

Vent trouble at Cross, the day before the start of school.

Wilbur Cross’s library will be closed for at least a week as the city’s public school district gets rid of air-borne mold spores — as part of its response to unkempt building conditions at the city’s largest high school at the start of the school year. 

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Classroom Prep Spotlights Building Decay

by | Aug 29, 2024 9:26 am | Comments (38)

Water-damaged tiles in Kim Anderson's English classroom.

Special education staffers Melissa Pellino and Lauren Pollio: "This is what we do for the kids."

Wilbur Cross teachers rushed to prepare their classrooms for Thursday’s first day of school by hanging up posters of Angela Davis, signs reading be brave,” and world maps — and by cleaning mold from walls, covering broken floor tiles with rugs, and mopping the floors of classrooms and bathrooms alike.

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Elm Shakespeare Kicks Off “Glorious Summer”

by | Aug 19, 2024 9:17 am | Comments (2)

Elm Shakespeare Company photo

Elm Shakespeare Company's Richard III.

Elm Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard III — running in Edgerton Park now through Sept. 1 — opens on a scene of warfare, complete with smoke, red lighting, and clashing swords. Then it transitions into a party, with swirling ribbons and joyful dancing. The titular Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Lisa Wolpe) feels much more at home in the former scene than in the latter. Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace / Have no delight to pass away the time,” Richard proclaims bitterly. This is the key to his entire character, and in some senses, the play itself.

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State Rep Candidates Debate ... & Largely Agree

by | Aug 9, 2024 2:30 pm | Comments (6)

Laura Glesby Photo

Abdul Osmanu, Steve Winter, and Tarolyn Moore after the debate.

Like Abdul just said…”

I do kind of agree with Steve…”

Tarolyn’s exactly right…”

My answer was what he said!”

Phrases like these were heard frequently at a political debate on Thursday evening, where three state representative candidates agreed more than they disagreed on issues such as tenants’ rights, income inequality, teacher pay, and the role of deep listening in politics.

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Ozzy's Apizza Brings It All Back Home

by | Aug 9, 2024 1:39 pm | Comments (1)

Karen Ponzio Photos

KP's serving of Ozzy's Apizza.

New Haven-style apizza arrived in East Rock Market last weekend as the East Coast outpost of a super successful Glendale, Ca. location. Wait — New Haven apizza from L.A.? Yes, indeed.

Ozzy’s Apizza, which started in the West Coast kitchen of CT native Chris Wallace and made its way from pop up to mainstay in Los Angeles is now a part of Goatville. Pies with names like The Liotta, The Swanson, and The Bada Bing are already hits on the other side of the U.S. Now co-owners Wallace and Craig Taylor are hoping to become an integral part of their home state’s scene.

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2 New "Alders" Make The Rounds

by | Aug 2, 2024 10:46 am | Comments (2)

Laura Glesby Photo

Alders-For-A-Day Ada Akdağ and Melissa Rodriguez at work learning about Keiry Pena and Joseph Jenkins' deli dreams.

Two alders” checked in on a couple’s revived East Street deli, talked street improvements with a development official, blasted the news to constituents — and dreamed about what they want to be when they grow up.

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Science Hill Build-Up Cleared For Takeoff

by | Jul 18, 2024 3:19 pm | Comments (7)

Ballinger and TenBerke, courtesy of Yale Office of Facilities

New lab building, new greenspace, OK'd for Science Hill.

A green, landscaped, public-welcoming entry point to Yale’s northeastern campus is coming to Science Hill — as part of a Yale Bowl-sized redevelopment project, including a massive new lab and classroom building, newly approved by the City Plan Commission.

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Who's To Blame For $7.99 Eggs?

by | Jul 15, 2024 3:52 pm | Comments (33)

Thomas Breen photo

Joe Sabino and Rosa DeLauro: Good friends - pointing the finger in different places for high food prices.

Greedy corporations are to blame for high grocery prices.

Or maybe global supply chain disruptors like avian flu, drought in West Africa, and the war in Ukraine are most at fault.

Or maybe we should point the finger at too few workers willing to put in an honest day on the job.

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Fireworks Light Up A 4th Of Many Firsts

by | Jul 5, 2024 8:35 am | Comments (8)

Chris Randall photos

Explosions in the sky ...

... as viewed thru the miraculous camera eye of Chris Randall ...

... thanks, Chris!

Jasmine Gormley, Melissa Tamarkin, and Madison Sanders arrived at Wilbur Cross High School around 7 p.m. on Thursday — not to stake out the seats closest to the fireworks, but to set up a hammock at the furthest corner of the field near the school’s athletic complex.

The trio graduated from Yale last month, but had never before stuck around long enough after classes ended to see the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks. Back in New Haven together for one last time this summer, the three headed to East Rock for a holiday spectacle.

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Bill Dispute Leaves Tenants In Dark

by | Jul 2, 2024 12:44 pm | Comments (40)

Jabez Choi file photo

Krystopher Linderman, Zach Postle, and Jesse Goldblum at 1455 State.

An alarm blared through a Cedar Hill apartment building at 1 p.m. sharp on Monday — as United Illuminating (UI) turned off the power in the common areas because of an overdue electricity bill.

Tenants union members and city, state, and federal politicians were already on site for an open house” to showcase how poorly the Ocean Management complex is maintained. The sudden onset of afternoon darkness only fueled their frustration with what they alleged to be landlord malpractice.

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Science Hill Reconstruction Moves Ahead

by | Jun 28, 2024 12:32 pm | Comments (20)

Jabez Choi photo

Bye-bye berms, at Yale construction site on Whitney.

Yale won permission to demolish a handful of Science Hill buildings, including a 661-space parking garage, and then construct a new 406-space parking garage — in the latest set of approvals designed to tee up the future development of a major new laboratory and classroom building.

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Water Treatment Tour Goes With The Flow

by | Jun 24, 2024 12:15 pm | Comments (3)

Brian Slattery Photos

Thank you, water, on Whitney Ave.

Part architectural stunner, part essential public utility, the silver and glass structure of the Regional Water Authority’s water treatment plant was even more impressive up close than seen from Whitney Avenue across the street from the Lake Whitney Dam. 

Just as impressive, as it turned out, were the inner workings of that plant and how it provides water to the city and elsewhere — as a group of 30 participants learned on a tour of the facility, guided by Jesse Culbertson, RWA water treatment team lead, as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

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East Rock Apartments Sell For $11.5M

by | Jun 20, 2024 12:06 pm | Comments (47)

Thomas Breen photo

516 Orange St., sold for $11.5M

MOD Equities photo

Eitan Hochster: Sale changes only "where the profits go."

A 37-unit East Rock apartment complex changed hands for $11.5 million — because a Long Island City lighting company’s land value kept rising while its manufacturing business kept slowing down. 

How are those two real estate phenomena two states apart connected?

Through a federal tax deferral provision called Section 1031.

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Dam! It's Time To Tend To Whitney Dam

by | Jun 11, 2024 9:11 am | Comments (4)

RWA photo

Lake Whitney Dam: Ready to be improved for “the next 160 years.”

The Lake Whitney Dam on the border of New Haven and Hamden has been going strong since 1860, when Eli Whitney and the city built it. But it’s in need of rehabilitation — a major construction project — to prepare it for the climate challenges of the next century and beyond. That can be done while also keeping an eye on the community and environmental concerns of the present.

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Surprise! Teacher Honored For "Life Changing" Work

by | Jun 7, 2024 3:30 pm | Comments (4)

Maya McFadden Photo

Hilarie Alden: Now, officially, a "life changing" teacher.

She pushes you to be your best self.” She’s always positive.” She makes school fun.” Her good mood in the classroom influenced me to do better things outside class.”

Those words of praise and so much more were offered by Worthington Hooker parents and students on Friday as they shared testimony about this year’s Life Changing Teaching” awardee and Hooker second grade teacher, Hilarie Alden.

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Underpass Park Envisioned

by | Jun 6, 2024 11:04 am | Comments (15)

Abiba Biao photos

Madison Mcgregor and Karriema Peters: "A natural beauty" to the Mill River underpass (pictured below).

Among the weeds and overgrown vegetation of a highway underpass off of State Street, Achievement First Amistad High School juniors Madison Mcgregor and Karriema Peters couldn’t help but see potential. 

The soil, still damp and moist from a recent downpour, could make fertile land for a community garden in the future. What type of foods they would grow is still up for debate.

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