by | May 6, 2024 9:35 am | Comments (2)
More music. More vendors. More sunshine.
Grand Avenue in front of Fair Haven School closed on Saturday to accommodate a bigger and more boisterous Fair Haven Day, as the neighborhood celebration — part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas and a product of a broad, neighborhood-wide coalition — marked its second year post-pandemic shutdown and hearkened back to Fair Haven festivals of a generation ago.
by | Apr 26, 2024 1:54 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
Class of 2024 tree planted by John Martinez student council.
John Martinez School eighth grader Roselyn Sampedro’s dream to stay rooted to her middle school forever came to fruition Friday as she helped plant a crabapple tree — in honor of the Class of 2024, and to celebrate Arbor Day.
Continue reading ‘Class-Honoring Trees Take Root At Martinez’
by | Apr 24, 2024 8:34 am | Comments (7)
Contributed photo
Hossna Samadi.
“Twenty years of women’s hopes and dreams collapsed in one day.”
That’s how New Havener and Afghan refugee Hossna Samadi described the 2021 fall of Kabul.
She wasn’t in her home country at the time, having left Afghanistan with her family five years earlier. But the shock of seeing the Taliban return to power reverberated thousands of miles away — and sticks with Samadi as she gets to know her New Haven neighbors and explains what it’s like to be Afghan today.
by | Apr 19, 2024 2:16 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photos
Raj Kumar winds up.
Hitesh Redy, with improvised "cricket bat."
Raj Kumar lifted his right arm like a windmill against the backdrop of the former English Station power plant as he “bowled” a tennis ball towards Hitesh Redy — who didn’t need a proper cricket bat to enjoy some time in the park in Fair Haven.
A plank of wood salvaged from their Woolsey Street home would do just fine.
by | Apr 18, 2024 9:30 am | Comments (49)
Thomas Breen photos
162 James St., now owned by CitySeed.
Food truck owner Clementine Johnson (second from right) checking out the space Wednesday.
A factory building that once churned out button-down shirts and laminated credit cards could soon grow local food businesses.
by | Apr 17, 2024 2:07 pm | Comments (7)
Edgar Becerra and Josue Mauricio Arana in court.
Laura Glesby Photo
Edgar Becerra protests his former employer, MDF Painting and Power Washing, before the eviction proceedings.
A judge has ruled that Edgar Becerra and Josue Mauricio Arana must find a new place to live, ending an eviction case that sparked protests over alleged exploitation of migrant workers.
by | Apr 15, 2024 9:51 am | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Future pilot and current kindergartener Harmonie Santaella with sister Dhaniellie and mom Dagmar.
Making good choices, being polite, working hard, building community, and becoming student council leaders earned students and staff at John S. Martinez School recognition as “Rising Stars.”
Continue reading ‘Martinez School's Rising Stars Recognized’
by | Apr 10, 2024 8:51 pm | Comments (4)
Chief Jacobson (right) alongside Rodriguez's family.
Contributed photo
The late José Rodríguez.
Amidst a “cloud of smoke” and doubled-parked cars, a 19-year-old driver named Dajon Marques Morris struck and fatally injured a 41-year-old motorcyclist named José Rodríguez in Fair Haven.
Morris then “panicked” and, “fearing for his life,” fled the scene — only to be arrested by city cops roughly 10 months later.
by | Apr 8, 2024 9:27 am | Comments (12)
Maya McFadden Photo
Question: "Who's been shot at or knows someone who's been shot at?"
When nearly 80 students at Clinton Avenue School were asked who had heard gunshots outside their home before, almost every hand in the room went up.
Continue reading ‘School Reminder: It's OK To Not Be OK With Gun Violence’
by | Apr 5, 2024 9:33 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Pedro Torres & Gladys Genovez on Thursday.
Giggling while coloring between the lines — and doing a really excellent job of it — is much more than it seems for Gladys Genovez and Pedro Torres.
by | Apr 1, 2024 12:00 pm | Comments (2)
Volunteer Coach Gervacio Ortiz with a team of soccer stars — who now have a private training space.
A Fair Haven soccer troupe got the final green light to practice their sport in a vacant River Street warehouse, after playing several rounds chasing after city approvals.
by | Mar 20, 2024 9:36 am | Comments (8)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Grand Avenue business owners Carolina Vergara and Yolanda Guzman: Customers are getting assaulted.
Grand Avenue business owners left their shops and rallied on the side of the road — in hopes the city would hear their call to clean up crime across the streets of Fair Haven.
by | Mar 11, 2024 1:33 pm | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photo
RWA crew fixing a broken valve on West Elm Street.
If Fair Haveners see streaks of blue paint on the sidewalk or in front of their homes in coming weeks, it likely means that artificial intelligence has tracked them down.
Sounds ominous, but not to worry.
Continue reading ‘Water Authority Readies Citywide Pipe Survey’
by | Mar 11, 2024 12:32 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photo
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and New Reach CEO Kellyann Day on Monday.
Twenty-six Greater New Haveners at risk of sleeping on the street will have a new permanent “supportive” place to stay — thanks to part of a recent federal funding award targeted to combat homelessness.
Continue reading ‘Nonprofits Welcome Fed $ For Supportive Housing’
by | Feb 27, 2024 4:13 pm | Comments (4)
Public Works' Mike Dorsey enjoys a view of the Quinnipiac River while overseeing bridge repairs Tuesday afternoon.
The Grand Avenue bridge got a new gear — and is gearing up to reopen not just to car travel, but to boat traffic as well.
by | Feb 23, 2024 9:43 am | Comments (6)
Laura Glesby Photo
Edgar Becerra protests with ULA outside MDF Painting and Power Washing.
“We have human rights,” Edgar Becerra called into a bullhorn, speaking in Spanish. “We have a heart.”
He was surrounded by over 25 immigrant rights activists outside the Branford headquarters of his Fair Haven landlord and former employer — who brought him to the U.S. as a temporary worker, allegedly fired him for work-related injuries, and is now trying to evict him a second time.
by | Feb 16, 2024 2:04 pm | Comments (7)
Allan Appel Photo
George Carranzo packing up what's now the 2nd pizzeria purchased by Fair Haven Health.
A storied pizzeria that fed Fair Haven for generations will soon transform into a pharmacy providing health care to low-income and uninsured residents.
by | Feb 6, 2024 2:06 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Becerra and Arana: They beat the landlord in court.
A landlord has to start all over again if he still wants to evict two of the Guatemalan temporary workers he brought to Fair Haven to work at his painting company.
Continue reading ‘Migrant Workers' Eviction Stopped, For Now’
by | Jan 29, 2024 4:03 pm | Comments (42)
"Just look at this place": State Attorney General Tong, Mayor Elicker, State Sen. Looney, and DEEP Commissioner Dykes on Monday.
State officials stumbled across the littered grounds leading up to English Station to announce a lawsuit filed on the same grounds as other failed threats against United Illuminating — seeking to re-energize the company’s long-delayed remediation of the site.
by | Jan 29, 2024 1:42 pm | Comments (8)
Paul Bass Photo
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona at Fair Haven School: "We don’t have all the answers in D.C."
Fair Haven got to work Monday on creating “community schools” — by first deciding what that means in 2024.
Continue reading ‘Work Begins On Creating Next-Gen "Community Schools"’
by | Jan 22, 2024 12:14 pm | Comments (3)
Contributed Photo
PLTI Class of 2018.
Vimary Parra needed help. Her two young kids were already behind. They had to learn English. She didn’t know how to teach them. Having grown up in Venezuela, she was learning the language herself. Then she saw a flyer at her local library for the Parents Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) — an initiative that’s returning to New Haven.
by | Jan 12, 2024 2:54 pm | Comments (24)
Edgar Becerra in court: "I just want everyone to know the name of this company and all the injustices they did."
Construction boss-landlord Mark DeFrancesco, right, in court with lawyer Josh Brown.
Edgar Becerra fell off a 30-foot ladder — then landed in court this week fighting to stay in the country against a boss who first fired him then moved to evict him.
Continue reading ‘Landlord-Boss Boots Injured Migrant Worker’
by | Jan 11, 2024 1:39 pm | Comments (3)
An armed robber in a black leather Harley Davidson jacket held up Chico’s Fruits and Groceries on Ferry Street.
Continue reading ‘Robbery/Shooting Video Told A Different Story’
by | Jan 11, 2024 9:01 am | Comments (4)
There was no talk of controlling traffic, limiting crowd sizes, or banning soccer games.
by | Jan 8, 2024 1:37 pm | Comments (5)
Allan Appel Photo
Make way for greens: Neighbors have begun planning new planting at Grand Acres (pictured).
While the harshest months of winter may be just upon us, spring planting is already on the minds of those optimistic Fair Haveners who gathered for the first Fair Haven Community Management Team (FHCMT) meeting of 2024.