Fair Haven

Library Looks To The 5-Year Future

by | Sep 20, 2024 10:40 am | Comments (6)

Allan Appel Photos

Library lovers Dave Caron and Mary Newell at Thursday's planning session ...

... with City Librarian Maria Bernhey and Deputy Director Luis Chavez-Brumell.

Library leaders and patrons gathered on Grand Avenue to think through how to keep the city’s public libraries among the most welcoming, friendly, helpful, diverse places in town — as part of a planning process designed to make them even more effective at serving the New Haven community a half decade from now.

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"Malik Jones Corner" Up For Approval

by | Sep 18, 2024 12:09 pm | Comments (36)

Laura Glesby Photo

Two handmade signs, only one still legible, commemorate the Grand Avenue block where Malik Jones died.

Norm Clement joined a dozen public testifiers early in September to call for an official corner sign honoring Malik.

The words Justice For Malik” have nearly faded from one hand-painted wooden board nailed to a Grand Avenue post. 

A more durable sign bearing Malik Jones’s name may soon rise alongside it — inscribing the memory of a bright, adventurous 21-year-old whom an East Haven cop shot to death in 1997.

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Dinner & A Movie Served Up At Fair Haven Shelter

by | Sep 17, 2024 4:07 pm | Comments (4)

courtesy Marcus Carpenter

From left, servers Big Don McDaniel, Marcus Harvin, Greg Altieri, Adam Rawlings, Marcus Carpenter, Babatunde Akinjobi, and Bradley Woodworth.

One group brought a full-course dinner, complete with a choice of jerk chicken or fried chicken. Another brought a Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” DVD, a movie projector, and popcorn. Then a half-dozen smartly dressed servers showed up. 

And just like that, with the inaugural Dinner and a Movie” hosted by Best Video and the Newhallville nonprofit Fresh Starts, a dream, seven years in the making, saw its realization at Life Haven women’s shelter in Fair Haven.

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English Station Looms Over Fair Haven Walk

by | Sep 11, 2024 9:49 am | Comments (12)

Thomas Breen file photo

English Station: Oh the potential, oh the decay.

A derelict power plant. A neighborhood school. A vibrant community history of hardship and resilience. And the ticking clock of climate change.

All these elements came together in the first of a series of walking tours — a collaboration among several public and nonprofit entities put together by Anstress Farwell, president of the New Haven Urban Design League — focusing on the decommissioned and toxic English Station power plant and the Mill River District in Fair Haven. 

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Pizza Club Serves Up Slices Of Art

by | Sep 9, 2024 8:45 am | Comments (2)

Karen Ponzio Photo

Michael Pollack and his pizza monument.

The subject of pizza is always on the minds of New Haveners, whether it’s deciding what kind to order and where to order it from or what makes the perfect pie and slice. On Friday night, those pies and slices were unveiled as the theme of a world premiere art exhibit at District NHV. New Haven Pizza Club: Discover the Art of Pizza” showcased the four-year-long odyssey of artist Michal Pollack to commemorate everyone’s favorite meal as a contemporary symbol representing a local legacy. 

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Ride On! Bike Share Returns

by | Sep 3, 2024 3:35 pm | Comments (24)

Thomas Breen photos

Osvaldo Hernandez gets ready to ride to Wilbur Cross ...

... as parking authority's Norm Forrester and Doug Hausladen cut the ribbon on a revived bike share.

One hundred e‑bikes are now available to rent by the minute at 30 stations across the city — to help New Haveners like Osvaldo Fernandez make the active commute from a doctor’s appointment in Fair Haven to soccer practice at Wilbur Cross. 

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Bank Steps Up, & Stella Buys A Home

by | Aug 28, 2024 9:51 am | Comments (13)

contributed photo

Soon-to-be homeowner Stella Damoah. (courtesy Stella Damoah).

Soon after she moved into a rental in Fair Haven in the winter of 2022, Stella Damoah realized the heat didn’t work and the landlord couldn’t, or wouldn’t, fix it. She looked around for another place and found studio apartments starting at $1,800 and one-bedrooms for well beyond that. So she opted for space heaters, adding about $600 to her expenses. 

That was when I made up my mind to look for a place to own,” said Damoah in a recent Zoom interview. 

Following an almost two-year odyssey, Damoah, an accountant who came to Connecticut from her native Ghana in 2005 to pursue a master’s degree at the University of New Haven, will close on a home in Naugatuck next month. 

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New Teacher Tour Brings Grad Full Circle

by | Aug 23, 2024 3:30 pm | Comments (3)

Thomas Breen photo

Shaylah McQueen-Lee: "Never give up on kids."

Step by step on Grand Avenue Friday morning, Shaylah McQueen-Lee walked towards her near future as a K‑2 teacher at Benjamin Jepson School — marking her return to the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district after graduating from Hillhouse more than a decade ago as both valedictorian and a teen mom.

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1 Year Later, Warehouse Hums As Trade Skills Hub

by | Aug 21, 2024 11:19 am | Comments (3)

Maya McFadden Photo

Former student, current instructor Paul Nunez hosts drilling practice.

In a Fair Haven warehouse, Paul Nunez watched closely as his student drilled a hole into a soon-to-be light fixture — reminding Nunez that less than a month ago, he was the one learning those same manufacturing skills on the same machine at the Manufacturing and Community Technical Hub (MATCH).

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Mic At The Mill Showcases Fair Haven Melodies

by | Aug 20, 2024 1:29 pm | Comments (0)

Perez-Plocharczyk recites "ELEMENT."

A neighbor with a happy dog / A homeless man sleeping under the bridge / Poor houses with pretty flowers,” Vivian Perez-Plocharczyk intoned to an audience of 60 at Bregamos Community Theatre in Fair Haven. My hood, my element.” She took a deep breath and tilted her head back. Fair Haven!” she stage-whispered, drawing out the final consonant into rousing applause.

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In Jaigantic's Wake, Factory Plan Emerges

by | Aug 15, 2024 12:56 pm | Comments (13)

Paul Bass file photo

Builder Fowler: Manufacturing, not residential, this time.

Thomas Breen photo

Some of the empty River Street land and warehouses now owned by Spinnaker.

The site of a riverfront movie studio that never came to be is now slated to sprout a new housing-related manufacturer on a stretch of Fair Haven’s industrial waterfront.

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Warrant: Cameras Captured Midday Murder

by | Aug 9, 2024 9:21 am | Comments (2)

Thomas Breen photo

Isael Arroyo, Y'madelis Arroyo, Jay'na Estrada, and Yesenia Arroyo mourn their father's death, and commend police for arresting his alleged shooter.

Murder victim Peter "PJ" Arroyo.

A man dressed all in black walked west on Wolcott Street, pulled a gun out of his waistband, and fired shot after shot after shot — killing 42-year-old New Havener Peter Arroyo, whom police believe was not the shooter’s intended victim. 

That fatal gunfire took place in broad daylight in Fair Haven on a Monday afternoon in May, in full view of a number of witnesses and — crucially, for the police investigation to follow — in full view of surveillance cameras.

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Ashley The Creator's Art Bears Fruit

by | Aug 5, 2024 8:33 am | Comments (0)

Eleanor Polak photo

Ashley the Creator and her painting Emotional Orange.

According to legend — and poet Christina Rossetti — one should never eat fruit offered by fairies. It’s considered illicit, otherworldly, and so good that one taste will leave you hankering for more for the rest of your days. But in her new exhibition, Pomology,” artist Ashley the Creator makes fruit seem more tempting than it’s ever been before. The fae, inhuman faces in her paintings wear fruit as a part of their own bodies, and the effect is both eerie and mouth-wateringly good.

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"New Sheriff" Chris Alvarado Is In (Fair Haven) Town

by | Aug 2, 2024 1:06 pm | Comments (9)

Allan Appel Photo

The new neighborhood top cop Thursday evening with Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith.

Fifteen-year NHPD veteran Sgt. Chris Alvarado has already seen the estimated 5 percent or so percent of Fair Haven that is troubled by drug dealing and serious crime. As the newly arrived district manager, he’s excited to be discovering the rest.

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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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Cleanup Crew Sweeps Thru Fair Haven

by | Jul 31, 2024 2:34 pm | Comments (4)

Asher Joseph photo

Fair Haven's youth cleanup crew at work on Chapel St.

When her shovel failed to pick up a plastic zip-up bag, Fair Haven Livable City Initiative (LCI) Neighborhood Specialist Carmen Mendez stooped to grab the plastic trash with two fingers.

Be careful,” warned a teen member of Fair Haven’s Youth@Work Clean Team, those are the bags that people sell weed in.”

Even when you’re old, you learn something new everyday,” Mendez chuckled.

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All Aboard To Camp Farnam

by | Jul 31, 2024 1:00 pm | Comments (2)

Maya McFadden Photos

Kency’s first attempt at bird watching ...

... "I wanna play tag in the pool!" ...

... face painting, and so much more, at Camp Farnam on Tuesday.

Five-year-old Kency used binoculars for the first time and spotted an (inflatable) bald eagle, while fourth graders Nathan and Gabriel played one-on-one basketball — all at a 72-acre outdoor camp site a half hour away from their daily summer camp’s New Haven home.

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Summer School Successes Celebrated

by | Jul 30, 2024 9:12 am | Comments (2)

Jabez Choi photo

Josue Algea Castro with his mother Nellie and his baby brother: “I like gym too, but art is so cool. You get to paint.”

Homework assignments and paper crafts lined the hallways of Fair Haven School as part of the summer school’s Celebration of Learning” — an event that brought teachers, parents, and children together to recognize the students’ accomplishments over the course of the past month.

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Germany Mission Reveals Tariff Fears, Short-Term Opportunities

by | Jul 23, 2024 12:02 pm | Comments (3)

Paul Bass Photos

The scene at AdvanceCT on James Street Tuesday morning.

Lamont: We taught Stuttgart how to spell "Connecticut."

Fears of an international trade war might hurt Connecticut in the long run — but it may lead to new jobs in the short term.

So reported Gov. Ned Lamont at a press conference Tuesday at the headquarters of the state-connected economic development nonprofit AdvanceCT on James Street in New Haven.

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CitySeed Starts Pitching HQ/Commercial Kitchen Plan

by | Jul 22, 2024 5:09 pm | Comments (5)

CitySeed chief Sarah Miller (second from right) leads Sate Sen. Martin Looney, State Rep. Pat Dillon, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, city Health Director Maritza Bond, and state agriculture chief Bryan Hurlburt on tour of former factory.

The state’s top agriculture official walked into an empty Fair Haven factory Monday and reached for his wallet.

Well, metaphorically.

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