East Rock

Yale Chemical Safety Building Plan Advances

by | Feb 23, 2023 9:51 am | Comments (0)

Thomas Breen photo

Yale's current Chemical Safety Building at 350 Edwards: To be demolished, according to Yale's Science Hill development plans.

Alders granted a needed parking-related approval for Yale’s proposal to knock down and construct a new chemical safety building off of Prospect and Edwards Streets — as the university moves ahead in the early stages of a broader plan for building up Science Hill. 

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Album Club Goes Back To Black

by | Feb 21, 2023 8:41 am | Comments (0)

Album Club flyer for February

Nearly everyone is familiar with the set up of a book club: a group agrees on a book to read and then gathers a month later to discuss that book after reading it. Apply that same dynamic to a classic record and you have Album Club, one of many monthly programs at Volume Two, the State Street linchpin of both literary and lyrical offerings. 

Since August 2022 the queer and feminist-centric group has been gathering once a month to discuss a classic album chosen by the participants. This Monday evening, the platter being served up was Amy Winehouse’s already-classic Back to Black.

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Albertus Charts Path To Black Catholic Sainthood

by | Feb 17, 2023 1:46 pm | Comments (13)

The 6 Black Catholics under consideration for sainthood.

Featured speaker and guide Shingai Chigwedere.

There are 11 white Americans — and 0 African Americans — among the 10,000 saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Zero Black American saints. Zero Americans-of-African-descent saints,” Shingai Chigwedere told a 20-person audience at Albertus Magnus College. However you want to word it, there are zero.”

That number may soon change, as the local Catholic university shined a light on the six Black Catholics currently being considered for sainthood.

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Compost Crusader Keeps Pedaling

by | Feb 13, 2023 11:02 am | Comments (10)

Thomas Breen photo

9 years going strong: Peelin' & wheelin' on Mechanic Street.

Thomas Breen file photo

Domingo Medina picked up a green plastic bucket waiting for him on a Mechanic Street front porch, measured its weight, and dumped its wealth of food scraps into one of his four bike-towed containers.

Piled before him was so much more than just a colorful array of eggshells, lemon peels, onion skins, and hunks of bread. In that same pile lay the ingredients for a cleaner environment, healthier soils, and greener” jobs.

It’s a wonderful sight to see,” Medina said.

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East Rockers Back Reading, Nursing $ Plans

by | Jan 24, 2023 12:53 pm | Comments (1)

Maya McFadden photo

New Haven Reads Executive Director Kirsten Levinsohn practices word making with third grader Maliah at Bishop Woods at a recent tutoring session.

East Rock neighbors threw their support behind helping some of the most fragile people at the end of life to live in dignity, and rescuing some of the city’s youngest from a lifetime of illiteracy, in their latest management-team votes on how city government should allocate this year’s round of federal block-grant funds.

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Streater Campaign Hits Dixwell Streets

by | Jan 18, 2023 5:37 pm | Comments (4)

Laura Glesby photo

Maceo Troy Streater knocks on Ann Garrett Robinson's door Wednesday.

A team of formerly-incarcerated campaigners rally behind Streater.

Door after door, Maceo Troy Streater set out in the neighborhood where he’s lived his whole life to campaign for a newly vacant alder seat — and to convince neighbors that personal and political change is possible.

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Turf Tops Grass After Field Repair Debate

by | Dec 21, 2022 6:27 pm | Comments (9)

Nora Grace-Flood file photo

Wilbur Cross's athletic complex: Ready for plastic repairs.

Synthetic turf prevailed over goose poop-laden grass — as high school athletes won not a football or soccer game but a civic debate against environmental advocates concerning the harms and benefits of replacing Wilbur Cross’s chronically muddy sports area with a field of plastic fibers.

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Disability Advocate Pounds Pavement For Safer Sidewalks

by | Dec 9, 2022 2:21 pm | Comments (48)

Laura Glesby Photos

Tripping hazards on Audubon St.

Dave Agosta: "It is not possible for people with disabilities to 'travel' in New Haven. They can only 'navigate hazards.'"

Spotting a loose brick on the Audubon Street walkway, David Agosta nudged it with the tip of his toe — then reached down and handily uprooted the cube.

That block could have caused a twisted ankle or worse, the downtown disability rights advocate said, especially for pedestrians who get around using walkers or crutches or canes. 

Mobility hazards like these have led him to ramp up his broader critique of New Haven’s accessibility by filing a formal complaint with the federal Department of Justice.

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Four Musicians Get Cozy

by | Dec 5, 2022 1:49 pm | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photos.

Sarah Dunn and Kelly Kancyr.

On Saturday evening, four singer-songwriters — Sarah Dunn, Kelly Kancyr, Lisa Roberts, and Lys Guillorn — made Gather, the cozy coffee shop on State Street where just about anything and everything can happen, even cozier. They filled the eclectic space with their songs, stories, and a heavy dose of camaraderie and joy, each bringing their own unique sound and occasionally getting a little help from a friend.

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1 Month In, Crisis Team Has Responded To 60 Calls So Far

by | Nov 29, 2022 1:58 pm | Comments (7)

Paul Bass photo

COMPASS crew members Yichu Xu and Nanette Campbell help out Ollie Cooper at crisis team's launch on Nov. 1.

New Haven’s new COMPASS team of social workers and peer recovery specialists” has responded to 60 calls so far in its nascent effort to provide non-police help for people in crisis — and the city should know by this spring just how successful this intervention initiative has been. 

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Ice Cream Newbie Sweetens Autumn Chill

by | Nov 22, 2022 11:58 am | Comments (2)

Laura Glesby file photo

Alex Depavloff swirls Nan Rosa's oat milk chocolate cone.

Nan, Lux, Ben, and Gus Rosa with their dad, Evan, digging in on some Sunday afternoon East Rock ice cream.

As New Haven’s first wintery weekend settled over Orange Street, the sign outside Elena’s On Orange lit up — and welcomed a steady stream of families seeking solace from the acerbic wind in a sweeter kind of cold. 

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Book Club, Bathrooms Beckon At Reopened Park Center

by | Nov 18, 2022 10:49 am | Comments (2)

Allan Appel photo

Volunteer Kevin McCarthy and Tusker Pickett at the Trowbridge Environmental Center Thursday.

Years ago when Anna Pickett was potty-training her boys, taking them walking outside could be a challenge because she was always on the look-out for a bathroom. 

Back then if she was in the College Woods area of East Rock Park, she often could not find one. 

No longer — thanks to a city effort to reopen long-shuttered public parks buildings and turn them into active community centers. With working bathrooms. 

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Student-Athlete Pleas Power Field Repairs

by | Nov 9, 2022 3:07 pm | Comments (18)

Laura Glesby photos

A contingent of Wilbur Cross community members, including Board of Ed Student Representative Dave John Cruz-Bustamante, art teacher Melody Gallagher, and soccer captain Matteo Festa.

Laura Glesby photo

A lightly muddy Blake Field on Friday afternoon.

Broken ankles. Used syringes. Mud-induced match cancellations. Low morale.

Those were just a few of the high school sports-related obstacles that Wilbur Cross coaches and students spoke out about having to surmount time and again, as they successfully urged alders to move forward with long-awaited upgrades to the East Rock Athletic Complex.

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Artists Let The Art Speak

by | Nov 1, 2022 9:13 am | Comments (0)

Graham Honaker

Wren 1842.

The repeated image of a women’s face, in what could be a space helmet. A school of fish. Household objects. A spiraling line of red, moving across it all. It feels like graffiti, like Andy Warhol a little. It has some pop art in it, but there’s texture and grit to it, too, a sense of dirt. What does it mean? What do we want it to mean?

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Seeking Stability, Cross Principal Hits The Halls

by | Oct 28, 2022 3:33 pm | Comments (21)

Maya McFadden photo

Chemistry teacher/professional arm wrestler Mike Selearis gives Principal Carolina some tips as he faces off against student champ Jordin during Wilbur Cross's weekly "Wellness Wednesday" programming.

Wilbur Cross High School Interim Principal Kermit Carolina announced over the PA that students had 30 more seconds to get to class.” Less than a minute later, he had his arm draped around a student’s shoulders. 

Mr. Carolina, this is the first time I got caught in the sweep today,” the student said. It doesn’t have to be like this.” 

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East Rock Athletic Fields Upgrades Advance

by | Oct 28, 2022 9:29 am | Comments (9)

Maya McFadden file photo

John Geanakoplos on Wilbur Cross' existing running track.

New fencing for Rice Field. New soccer equipment for Blake Field. A multi-sport field and track” at Wilbur Cross.

Those upgrades and others might soon come to three East Rock sports fields if the Board of Alders approves accepting state and possible federal funding.

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Blue State Replacer Revives Cafe Plan

by | Oct 17, 2022 2:35 pm | Comments (18)

Noel Sims photo

Former pharmacy site: New cafe still on tap.

Allan Appel file photo

Common Grounds co-owner Dena Jara and attorney James Perito with cafe photos at a November 2018 East Rock management team meeting.

A Common Grounds” cafe duo still plans on opening up a long-delayed new coffee shop at the former East Rock Pharmacy site on Orange Street — even as their growing company takes over three now-shuttered Blue State Coffee locations downtown and in the Hill.

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