by | Apr 22, 2022 12:25 pm | Comments (22)
New Fair Rent ED Wildaliz Bermúdez running her first meeting.
The Fair Rent Commission slashed a $495 rent hike to $200 after finding the landlord’s initial proposed increase was too much for a tenant to swallow all at once — even if the original hike would have been in line with market rents.
by | Apr 20, 2022 3:56 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photos
Armada Brewing's John Kraszewski with the 4/20 special, "The Herbalist."
Lloyd Street entrance to Armada's River Street building.
The city’s newest brewery has opened its doors — and its taps — in a former Bigelow Boiler Factory building on River Street, with hopes that “danky” beers, dreamlike art, and spacious gathering spots will help spur an economic revival for Fair Haven’s derelict industrial waterfront.
by | Apr 19, 2022 2:04 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
Judge Harmon: "Arson endangers lives and terrifies people."
At virtual court hearing on March 28, clockwise from top left: Prosecutor Lisa D'Angelo, Angelo Reyes, defense attorney Alex Taubes, Judge Harmon.
A state judge turned down a convicted Fair Haven arsonist’s plea to get out of prison early, after finding that the “harm and devastation that resulted from his actions that seemed centered in greed and monetary gain” warranted his remaining behind bars.
by | Apr 18, 2022 3:45 pm | Comments (0)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Yaira Matyakubova and Lyala Stowe at gathering on Peck Street.
The room was hushed when Lyala Stowe began to speak. Her voice was soft. She is from Ukraine, and she was about to recite poems by Ukrainian poets.
Stowe apologized that most audience members would not comprehend the words, spoken in her native tongue. Regardless, the room held onto every syllable.
Continue reading ‘Violin Strings, Heartstrings, Pulled For Ukraine’
by | Apr 12, 2022 9:12 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
Jafferis.
Aaron, a White playwright, needs his new play to work out for the sake of his career. Tone, an Inca of the Latin Kings, is serving a prison sentence for conspiracy to sell drugs; he has a story to tell about his conversations with the man in the next cell over — Justin Volpe, the NYPD cop imprisoned for attacking and sexually assaulting Abner Louima in an station house bathroom in 1997. What follows is a power struggle that actually contains several power struggles.
by | Apr 11, 2022 5:14 pm | Comments (12)
Laura Glesby Photo
Lt. Michael Fumiatti opens door that doesn't lock.
Sarah Miller Photo
Mess discovered by inspectors.
Inspectors and police streamed in and out of a pale yellow apartment building at 101 – 103 Grand Ave., where non-residents have apparently been sleeping, defecating, and leaving needles and debris in common areas.
Afterwards, the place got cleaner. For now.
by | Apr 8, 2022 4:22 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Christine with her backpack of harm reduction supplies.
A few years ago, hospital workers tried to confiscate the purple-gray backpack that Christine carries with her everywhere, she said. At the time, the bag was her only possession; it doubled as a pillow when she slept on the streets.
Rather than sacrifice the bag, Christine refused health care. She has avoided medical centers ever since.
Now, as a volunteer with the Sex Workers and Allies Network (SWAN) who obtained housing, Christine uses that same backpack to carry a form of medical care that hospitals often fail to provide: “harm reduction” supplies like clean needles and condoms, which can mean the difference between life and death for those who use them.
Continue reading ‘SWAN Study Shows "Harm Reduction" Keeping People Safe On The Street’
by | Apr 7, 2022 3:52 pm | Comments (2)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Back in person, Morrow and Flowers connect.
Torrance Flowers was hard to miss. His laugh was booming — you could hear it across the room, even over the clanging silverware and raucous chatter that filled the back bar room of the smokehouse restaurant.
Richlin Morrow was everywhere. Somehow, in the background of every photo from that night, you can see her warm smile and listening eyes, as she greeted and acquainted herself with the many faces who showed up.
She’s a nurse. He works in media consulting for an audio entertainment company. They’ve been friends for years. Until bumping into each other Thursday, they never thought their business would overlap.
Where she works, at the New Haven Job Corps Center, Morrow said, she has high schoolers who need jobs. At his place, Audacy Inc., Flowers said, they have jobs for high schoolers.
Flowers and Morrow started making plans. And after a two-year pandemic pause, Business After Hours was back, swinging.
Continue reading ‘Live, From James Street: Networking's Back!’
by and | Mar 30, 2022 9:28 am | Comments (0)
Maya McFadden Photo
Zack Weingart gets to surveying work on Grand Avenue.
Zack Weingart layered up in long johns, cargo pants, a T‑shirt, thermal shirt, sweatshirt, coat, thick gloves, and a furry winter hat Tuesday morning and set up a tripod outside the parking lot by Fair Haven Community Health Care on Grand Avenue.
by | Mar 28, 2022 4:34 pm | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
New Haveners gathered to “Connect Da Love” through fashion and music Saturday night.
by | Mar 11, 2022 3:52 pm | Comments (1)
DeeDee DeStefano.
Laura Glesby Photo
The Power In A Shower van.
Two days after losing her housing, DeeDee DeStefano found a place to wash off right in the Fair Haven neighborhood where she spends most of her time — thanks to a mobile van newly contracted by the city to provide showers, along with wraparound services, to unsheltered New Haveners.
by | Mar 9, 2022 12:18 pm | Comments (7)
Jaigantic Studios image
Movie studio plans still in the works for River Street.
Natalie Kainz file photo
Jaigantic COO Mayne Berke and CEO Donovan De Boer lay out vision for soundstages at 46 to 56 River St. in August 2021.
The backers of a planned new movie studio in Fair Haven are pushing ahead with plans to transform the derelict industrial River Street waterfront into a revitalized creative arts district.
Continue reading ‘Moviemakers Press On With River St. Studio Plans’
by | Mar 7, 2022 6:33 pm | Comments (5)
NHFD
One of the burned-out cars.
(Updated) Someone lit four cars on fire in Fair Haven, on a night when a stolen car also ended up in the Edgewood Duck Pond.
Continue reading ‘Arsonist Torches 4 Vehicles; Stolen Car Pulled Out Of Duck Pond’
by | Mar 4, 2022 1:40 pm | Comments (6)
G-Mart owner Gazy Kaden: Problems not easy to fix.
Maya McFadden Photos
Inspection crew posts shutdown order Friday.
Two weeks ago after a shot man stumbled into Fair Haven’s G‑Mart corner store and collapsed in a pool of blood, a city government crew swarmed in — and shut the business down based on health, labor, and safety violations.
by | Mar 4, 2022 10:18 am | Comments (14)
Laura Glesby File Photo
Luis Ramos Cruz: "These people are supposed to be Christians."
Landlord Law Firm's Jeff Mastrianni: Free speech costs extra.
A Fair Haven church began evicting a tenant in a building it owns — then slapped the tenant with $2,260 in legal fees, in large part because he dared to speak publicly about the case.
by | Mar 3, 2022 4:24 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Governor Ned Lamont.
In a bright hallway of the recently abated Catholic Charities Child Development Center, Gov. Ned Lamont gathered with city leaders Thursday to urge the state legislature to bring statewide lead enforcement standards up to New Haven’s level.
Continue reading ‘Gov Urges State To Follow New Haven's Lead On Lead’
by | Feb 28, 2022 1:52 pm | Comments (10)
Gov. Ned Lamont bit into a lab-grown mini-chicken shawarma in Israel — and tasted future jobs back home in Connecticut.
by | Feb 17, 2022 8:54 pm | Comments (8)
On Scene Media NHC
At G-Mart after shooting.
A 31-year-old man was shot outside a Fair Haven convenience store Thursday morning, then collapsed inside in a pool of blood.
by | Feb 17, 2022 2:38 pm | Comments (8)
Laura Glesby File Photo
The Virgin Guadalupe watches over Luis Ramos Cruz.
Luis Ramos Cruz could depend on the church next door for a prayer service, an occasional bag of food pantry groceries, and — most recently — an eviction notice.
by | Feb 16, 2022 8:50 am | Comments (17)
Thomas Breen Photo
English Station: From eyesore to cultural draw?
The former English Station power plant, located in the middle of the Mill River on Ball Island in New Haven Harbor, occupies eight acres of abandoned land. Its unique location would make a perfect Museum of Contemporary Art.
by | Feb 10, 2022 11:36 am | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Marcia LaFemina: "I always wanted it to be in Fair Haven."
Marcia LaFemina is looking to transform a vacant Fair Haven industrial building into a community hub where manufacturing trainees can take bilingual classes, sign up for energy assistance, and receive diapers for their kids.
by | Feb 3, 2022 4:05 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen Photo
Kica Matos and Moviemiento Cultural lead bomba drum circle at protest outside Grand Café.
Fair Haven neighbors prevailed.
by and | Feb 2, 2022 4:55 pm | Comments (5)
Gladys Tavarez shares the Word on the Street at CTown.
The word on Ferry Street on Wednesday morning was “delinquency.”
Continue reading ‘Word on the Street: Where's There's Smoke ...’
by | Jan 24, 2022 2:33 pm | Comments (5)
Rafael Ramos, Martiza Bond, Richard Blumenthal, and Justin Elicker at Monday's event.
Two hundred low income households can expect to get assistance from the city to tackle causes of asthma, lead poisoning, and exposure to radon, thanks to the latest infusion of federal cash into New Haven.
by | Jan 18, 2022 2:38 pm | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photos
Ozyck and Curran cross the reopened bridge on Day One.
After waiting nearly two years, neighbors Rosie Ozyck and Donna Curran got to walk across the Grand Avenue bridge Tuesday — and meet up more efficiently for their daily stroll.
Continue reading ‘They Crossed That Bridge When They Came To It’