Hamden Resident Tests Positive
by | Mar 23, 2020 2:39 pm | Comments (0)
A Hamden resident has tested positive for COVID-19, Hamden Fire Chief Gary Merwede confirmed on Monday.
Hamden
“Down Come The Nets”
by | Mar 21, 2020 9:04 pm | Comments (21)
Saturday afternoon, after Hamden residents had not quite gotten the message to not come in close contact with one another, a yellow Parks and Recreation Department pickup truck drove onto the basketball court at Bassett Park and took down the basketball hoop.
Seniors Stuck In Stop & Shop Traffic Jam
by | Mar 19, 2020 9:57 am | Comments (12)
The first day of seniors-only hours produced pre-dawn lines like this one outside Stop & Shop stores.
Sales boomed this morning as Stop & Shop began seniors-only hours. The results of the new policy for customers like me, there to take advantage of hours (6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.) set aside for those over 60 –- a Coronavirus version of the Early Bird Special –- were not so healthy.
The Hamden store was overrun with customers, the aisles were jammed with traffic, the register lines ran forever, the manager hustled from checkout clerk to checkout clerk trying to speed the cashiering process while seniors queued up as they did in the old days – say, a month ago – before we knew we were especially at risk for a pandemic.
Farmer Launches Candidate Committee; Cabrera Finishes Fundraising
by | Mar 17, 2020 5:27 pm | Comments (2)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Justin Farmer: Officially running. Jorge Cabrera: Done fundraising.
Though both are holed up inside, refraining from the person-to-person interactions that define their political lives, 17th State Senate District candidates Jorge Cabrera and Justin Farmer both announced that they had passed major campaign hurdles.
Continue reading ‘Farmer Launches Candidate Committee; Cabrera Finishes Fundraising’
Leng Declares State Of Emergency
by | Mar 16, 2020 9:11 pm | Comments (0)
As Hamden went about its first day on lockdown, with businesses directed to work at half capacity and schools and public buildings closed, Mayor Curt Leng declared a state of emergency Monday evening.
Day 1: 1,628 School Meals Distributed
by | Mar 16, 2020 4:26 pm | Comments (3)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
The hand-off in Hamden …
Allan Appel Photo
… and in Fair Haven.
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Khalilah Dann (with Uriel): Picking up learning materials, not meals.
The effort to feed needy children during indefinite COVID-19-sparked school closings got off to a slow but in some places steady start Monday in New Haven and Hamden.
Hamden Asks Businesses To Limit Gatherings; Announces Limited Government Plans
by | Mar 16, 2020 8:23 am | Comments (0)
Hamden Mayor Curt Leng announced a series of measures Sunday evening to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, including continuing the closure of all town buildings and asking businesses to limit the size of gatherings.
Continue reading ‘Hamden Asks Businesses To Limit Gatherings; Announces Limited Government Plans’
Hamden Pulls From Healthcare Account To Fund Public Safety
by | Mar 14, 2020 9:28 pm | Comments (2)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Council members keep a safe distance.
In a series of votes that showcased the tough decisions towns and cities will face as they enter a pandemic with limited resources, Hamden’s Legislative Council passed a budget transfer on Saturday to pay the firefighters who respond to health emergencies using funds that were budgeted to pay for health insurance.
Continue reading ‘Hamden Pulls From Healthcare Account To Fund Public Safety’
New Haven, Hamden Announce Free Meal Sites
by | Mar 14, 2020 5:57 pm | Comments (0)
Thirty-seven New Haven public schools and three Hamden public schools will be providing free breakfast and lunch pick-ups starting Monday in an effort to make sure kids don’t go hungry while both systems are closed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.
Continue reading ‘New Haven, Hamden Announce Free Meal Sites’
Hamden’s Pension Fund Is Down With Coronavirus
by | Mar 13, 2020 8:28 am | Comments (2)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
In one of the last public meetings before Hamden shut down its town buildings and public meetings, a consultant for Hamden’s pension board delivered some bad, though expected, news: Hamden’s pension fund has taken a hit from coronavirus.
Continue reading ‘Hamden’s Pension Fund Is Down With Coronavirus’
Sean Grace Elected Hamden DTC Chair
by | Mar 13, 2020 8:26 am | Comments (2)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
New DTC leadership: Sana Shah, Elaine Dove, Sean Grace, Karimah Mickens, Abdul Osmanu.
A week after voters ushered in a sea change to the leading body of Hamden’s Democrats, a new face took up his party’s helm for the next two years.
Hamden Closes Town Buildings & Schools
by | Mar 12, 2020 4:24 pm | Comments (1)
In two simultaneous releases, one from the mayor’s office and one from the Board of Education, Hamden officials announced that as of Friday, they are closing schools and non-essential town buildings as a preventative measure against coronavirus.
Statewide Science Fair Perseveres … Online
by | Mar 12, 2020 12:09 pm | Comments (0)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
The fairgrounds: Hey — where did everybody go?
COVID-19 didn’t kill Connecticut’s annual statewide school science fair — but it did push it online, with 200 judges “meeting” 120 high school and middle-school student competitors’ projects on computer screens and video-managers monitoring the action from a second-floor dance studio at Quinnipiac University.
Continue reading ‘Statewide Science Fair Perseveres … Online’
Hamden Suspends Group Gatherings
by | Mar 11, 2020 9:13 pm | Comments (0)
Hamden Mayor Curt Leng announced Wednesday evening that the town will suspend all group gatherings in town buildings until “further notice” starting on Thursday due to coronavirus.
Judge: Unseal Transcript Of Cop Interview
by | Mar 10, 2020 10:01 pm | Comments (3)
The public might get to read Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton’s own words describing his shooting at two unarmed people in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood.
Continue reading ‘Judge: Unseal Transcript Of Cop Interview’
Best Video Screens “Summer”
by | Mar 10, 2020 12:13 pm | Comments (0)
Two friends, Grace and Asta, are running through a summer house with a bundle of burning sage. It’s to drive the evil spirits from the house, says Asta’a mother Kate. Asta’s showing Grace how it’s done, as they bless walls and windows, doorways and floors. Then, in a hallway, Asta stops and screams. There’s a dead rabbit on the floor. How it got there, or what it means, is anyone’s guess. Kate brings the body outside. But the spirit seems to linger.
Hamden Brings “Paradise” To Court
by | Mar 9, 2020 7:52 am | Comments (4)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Workers on the 82-92 Crestway site in October.
After a landscaper defied a cease and desist order from Hamden’s zoning officer for almost six months, the town is taking the company to court to get it to stop the operation and come into compliance with town regulations.
Audit Framing Questioned
by | Mar 5, 2020 7:59 am | Comments (6)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Debbie Smith and Margaret Ariori: “Let’s get fi$cal responsibility!”
As he sat listening to a presentation on Hamden’s audit Monday night, a number struck Councilman Harry Gagliardi. The auditor said the pension had been underfunded by $2.9 million — not the $6.7 million Gagliardi remembered.
Empty Shelves, Worries In Aisle 15
by | Mar 4, 2020 9:03 am | Comments (0)
Emily Hays Photo
New Haven newcomer Siiri Luukkonen scours the CVS shelves.
Siiri Luukkonen sheepishly grabbed a few bottles of hand sanitizer from a nearly empty shelf at the CVS Pharmacy downtown.
She was one of the lucky ones, as fretful shoppers cleared store shelves citywide of products that may — or, according to experts, may not — help them avoid coming down with the virus now called COVID-19, aka coronavirus.
Progressive Dems Rout In Hamden
by | Mar 4, 2020 8:52 am | Comments (11)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Mayor Curt Leng (right) and Elaine Dove, Phil Nista, Megan Goslin, and Patrick Johnson of his opposition slate wait for results.
Updated 3/4 1 p.m. — After a highly contentious, record-breaking primary on Tuesday, Hamden’s Democrats handed the keys to the party’s leadership to the progressive wing of the party in a decisive victory for many of the newer voices in Hamden politics.
Fair Haven Church Moving To Hamden
by | Mar 2, 2020 5:55 pm | Comments (3)
2105 State Street.
The halls of the two-story brick building at 2105 State St. in Hamden will once again be filled with students and Christian congregants after the Christian academy that once occupied it closed its doors two years ago. “A Church for the City” is moving … to the suburbs.
Hamden Ed Boarders Seek More Money
by | Mar 2, 2020 1:20 pm | Comments (7)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Superintendent Jody Goeler.
With funds for equity among PTAs, curriculum rewrites, and a new academic summer camp, the Hamden Board of Education’s Finance Committee has advanced a budget that includes either a 2.27 or 3.6 percent increase over last year’s, depending on how you do the accounting.
Coordinated Campaign For Influence? Or Just Concerned Citizens
by | Feb 27, 2020 6:11 pm | Comments (6)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Hamden Mayor Curt Leng.
As Democrats in Hamden prepare for a contentious town committee primary next week, people on both sides of a political divide in the town said the other side has mounted a coordinated campaign for influence.
Their own? Not so much.
Continue reading ‘Coordinated Campaign For Influence? Or Just Concerned Citizens’
Disabilities Advocate Gives Guv Hiring Idea
by | Feb 26, 2020 5:19 pm | Comments (1)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Gov. Ned Lamont.
Gov. Ned Lamont had just finished stating that Connecticut has tens of thousands of jobs it can’t fill.
Herb Kolodny responded with a pitch for how to fill some of them: hire more people with disabilities to fill the state’s labor shortage.
Continue reading ‘Disabilities Advocate Gives Guv Hiring Idea’
What’s Right With Hamden
by | Feb 25, 2020 4:14 pm | Comments (15)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Walter Morton
Opinion A recent opinion letter asked “What has happened to Hamden?” — only to tell the tale of what is wrong with our town, and disparage our town’s fiscal health, our public schools and services, the competency of Hamden’s local leaders and their ability to responsibly and realistically confront the challenges facing our city’s residents.