by | Feb 20, 2025 9:28 am | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen photo
Squint and you can almost see the green.
One idea for a future Gibbs Street Park, which received support from neighborhood kids.
A new public park may someday take shape where Gibbs Street meets the Farmington Canal Trail — perhaps with a playground, exercise equipment, and a park for neighborhood dogs.
by | Jan 31, 2025 3:14 pm | Comments (13)
Friday's blaze, as documented by @NewHavenFire on X.
Thomas Breen photos
Property manager David Kone: No comment.
Displaced tenant Anthony Bruton: "The smell was so strong."
Another apartment building owned by Bethany-based landlord Jianchao Xu burst into flames Friday morning — displacing a half-dozen tenants, including Anthony Bruton, who rushed to safety after an overwhelming smell of smoke wafted up into his second-floor apartment.
by | Jan 23, 2025 3:33 pm | Comments (5)
A photo of Raviteja Koyyada included in the family's GoFundMe.
The killing of 26-year-old restaurant delivery driver Raviteja Koyyada has sparked an outcry both locally and in his home country of India.
Continue reading ‘Sacred Heart Grad, Delivery Driver Mourned’
by | Jan 17, 2025 1:09 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photo
Chief Jacobson hugs Daily's grandmother at a recent presser about the arrest of Daily's alleged killer.
(Updated) The conflict that led to the killing of Daily Jackson may have stemmed, in part, from a gun allegedly stolen from the murder suspect by Uzziah Shell, a friend of Jackson’s who was killed in a separate shooting two weeks earlier.
Continue reading ‘Warrant: Gun Dispute Preceded Teen Homicide’
by | Jan 10, 2025 3:19 pm | Comments (18)
Laura Glesby Photo
W. Matthew Harp, right, and his attorney Kirt Westfall.
LCI Photo
The since-cleaned-up backyard of 75 Brewster.
One man’s trash is another man’s tenant’s loose tires, copper pipes, and splintering wooden cart of debris and furniture.
Local landlord W. Matthew Harp floated that idea at a series of back-to-back civil citation hearings involving some of his properties, which saddled him with nearly $20,000 in fines.
by | Dec 19, 2024 5:40 pm | Comments (11)
Nathaniel Rosenberg file photo
Daily Jackson, loved for his heart and his humor.
Tiny footprints in concrete and a “Daily knock” at the door helped bring Daily Jackson’s memory to life Thursday morning at a crowded funeral service for the 17-year-old Riverside student who was shot and killed in Newhallville earlier this month.
Continue reading ‘Teen Homicide Victim Mourned As "Beautiful Spirit"’
by | Dec 6, 2024 4:13 pm | Comments (8)
Maya McFadden Photos
Daily Jackson's sister Curnijah Howard (left), best friend Corey (middle) and other sister Dalonna (right) at Thursday's memorial ...
... where friends and family celebrated the life and mourned the death of 17-year-old Daily Jackson.
Daily Jackson’s sister Dalonna called for young New Haveners who are mourning her late brother’s homicide to not retaliate, because all city teens “have a lot to live for.”
by | Dec 4, 2024 11:27 am | Comments (35)
Photo contributed by Colin Ryan
The late Daily Jackson, whose godfather described him as "an adorable kid who was bustling with energy."
Thomas Breen file photo
NHPS Supt. Negrón (right) on Wednesday: "Please know that these days are very hard for the school community."
(Updated) Seventeen-year-old New Havener Daily Jackson was walking on Shelton Avenue Tuesday evening when someone in a “suspect vehicle” shot and killed him and drove away — making him the second Riverside Academy student to die by gunfire in the past two weeks.
“These are connected,” Police Chief Karl Jacobson said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference, at which he described the two Riverside homicide victims as friends who belonged to the same “group” that has been feuding with another youth crew in town.
Continue reading ‘2 Riverside Teens, Friends, Killed In 2 Weeks’
by | Dec 2, 2024 3:06 pm | Comments (21)
Thomas Breen photo
Future homeowners Melvin Poindexter (center) and Sylvia Cooper (right), shoveling dirt alongside state housing commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno.
Melvin Poindexter and Sylvia Cooper dug their shovels into a pile of dirt on an empty Hazel Street lot — and helped move the ground that they, and future generations of their respective families, will some day soon call home.
by | Nov 22, 2024 3:47 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed photos
Two sides of a Civil War token, and the envelope that connects it to New Haven ...
Dear W.C. Sanders, secretary of the New Haven Numismatic Society circa 1939, resident of 5 Harding Place, or maybe 608 Dixwell Ave.
The New Haven Independent historical research team has an important message for you from the future: We found your Civil War token.
Continue reading ‘An Open Letter To A Civil War Coin Dealer’
by | Nov 15, 2024 11:12 am | Comments (6)
Nathaniel Rosenberg photo
Church Trustee Lee and Pastor Hardy talk up elevator benefits.
A second-floor meeting room at City Hall was temporarily transformed into a standing-room-only celebration of a religious community — as parishioners of St. Matthew’s Unison Free Will Baptist Church turned out in force to support adding an elevator to make their sanctuary more accessible for the elderly and disabled.
by , and | Nov 5, 2024 6:58 pm | Comments (19)
Laura Glesby photo
Memori votes for Kamala Harris.
As dozens of children lined up to drop “ballots” into a “ballot box” in a Newhallville-based kid election, 9‑year-old Memori cast a vote for Kamala Harris, while 11-year-old Syair cast a vote for Donald Trump.
The issue most on their minds? Tax policy.
Continue reading ‘Scenes From The Polls: Kids Cast "Ballots" For ... Tax Relief?’
by | Nov 4, 2024 12:00 pm | Comments (2)
Police arrested three Wolcott residents caught in a stolen Crown Vic — as cops worked to thwart two street takeovers, one in Newhallville and another in Westville, this weekend.
by | Oct 24, 2024 4:06 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
188 Bassett, all cleared for Adult Ed renovations.
The Elicker administration won a key city approval for the planned relocation of Adult Ed from the Hill to Newhallville, as the City Plan Commission signed off on “gut” renovations of a long-vacant Bassett Street building.
by | Sep 23, 2024 11:46 am | Comments (16)
Glendower Group renderings
63 new apartments approved for 201 Hazel ...
... and 50 senior dwellings approved for 34 Level.
The City Plan Commission signed off on 162 new mostly affordable apartments to be built in Newhallville, West Rock, and Whalley — as part of three more new-construction projects involving the housing authority’s nonprofit development affiliate, the Glendower Group.
by | Aug 26, 2024 4:59 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
New educators learn about Newhallville's learning corridor from Doreen Abubakar and Kim Harris.
While bussing around Newhallville, newly-hired Hillhouse, Nathan Hale, and Riverside psychologist Debbie Hull took note of hair braiding shops, faith centers, delis, green spaces, and transitional housing resources to share with her students this coming school year.
Continue reading ‘Newhallville Tour Bridges Teacher-Student Gap’
by , and | Aug 13, 2024 9:08 pm | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen photo
Winter hugs Newhallville Alder Brittiany Mabery-Niblack at Chazmo's.
Jabez Choi Photo
Osmanu with current State Rep. Robyn Porter after polls closed.
(Updated) Steve Winter emerged on top of a three-way Democratic primary for the open 94th state General Assembly seat, after winning the race with 61 percent of the vote.
by and | Aug 13, 2024 6:12 pm | Comments (1)
Laura Glesby Photo
Civically-engaged students at Harris & Tucker meet Osmanu-supporting Shafiq Abdussabur and Winter-supporting Barbara Vereen.
After finishing up her shift at a Yale dining hall, Pamela Dear headed straight to Lincoln-Bassett School to vote.
by | Aug 13, 2024 2:35 pm | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen photo
Signs of the times, outside of Wexler Grant's polling place.
Ponytails and pairs of glasses have been popping up all over parts of Dixwell and Newhallville, in a show of support for candidates in a race not many might typically pay close attention to — a summer primary for state representative.
by | Aug 9, 2024 4:28 pm | Comments (13)
Thomas Breen file photo
A 69-unit "mass timber" affordable housing complex on the rise at Dixwell-Munson-Orchard.
As the three Democratic candidates for Newhallville-Hamden state representative discussed key issues like teacher pay and income inequality, one issue rang especially important at Thursday’s political debate: affordable housing.
Continue reading ‘Candidates Pressed For Affordable Housing Answers’
by | Aug 9, 2024 2:30 pm | Comments (6)
Laura Glesby Photo
Abdul Osmanu, Steve Winter, and Tarolyn Moore after the debate.
“Like Abdul just said…”
“I do kind of agree with Steve…”
“Tarolyn’s exactly right…”
“My answer was what he said!”
Phrases like these were heard frequently at a political debate on Thursday evening, where three state representative candidates agreed more than they disagreed on issues such as tenants’ rights, income inequality, teacher pay, and the role of deep listening in politics.
Continue reading ‘State Rep Candidates Debate ... & Largely Agree’
by | Jul 24, 2024 5:25 pm | Comments (5)
Jabez Choi Photos
Nappésoul's Gregory Smith, José Gragirene, Laquaya Smith, and Madison Foster tend to a baby chicken.
It's pond time, on Butler Street.
Last week, the pond in Nappésoul’s Newhallville backyard was just a hole in the ground.
By Wednesday morning, with the help of a federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant, the hole had turned into a filtered, aquaponic pond system, with koi fish and minnows on the way.
by | Jul 9, 2024 2:26 pm | Comments (1)
Lisa Reisman photo
Marcus Harvin at Saturday's doc premiere, with Bill and Kathy Carbone.
In the trunk of his car, Marcus Harvin has a rock from the parking lot of a vacant building on Bassett Street. So does his friend Babatunde Akinjobi. The two met when they were incarcerated at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.
“Each of us carries it around, believing that one day soon we will cut a ribbon for that property,” Harvin told a spirited audience of 60 family, friends, and supporters at Peterson Auditorium at the University of New Haven (UNH) on Saturday night.
The occasion was the premiere of “Fresh Start: A Marcus Harvin Story.” The short documentary, which was produced and directed by UNH film students Elisa Broche, Jay Sanders, and Gabe Nelson, chronicles Harvin’s journey from incarceration to Yale Prison Education Initiative (YPEI) graduate to UNH presidential fellow to founder and president of the nonprofit Newhallville Fresh Starts, Inc., an enterprise to feed people’s dreams.
Continue reading ‘Documentary Spotlights Newhallville Community Activist’
by | Jul 5, 2024 9:34 am | Comments (2)
Contributed photo
UNH film student Elisa Broche (second from right) with her family in Honduras.
Elisa Broche won’t be at Saturday’s premiere of her new documentary about Newhallville community activist Marcus Harvin at the University of New Haven.
That’s because the 19-year-old student filmmaker is back in her home city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras — doing everything she can to raise enough money to return to West Haven to complete her studies.
Continue reading ‘Movie To Premiere In Student Filmmaker's Absence’
by | Jul 3, 2024 9:25 am | Comments (9)
Lisa Reisman photo
Sykes brainstorming with Asst. Chief Bhagtana.
Back in 2019, then-NHPD Lt. Manmeet Bhagtana and then-Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn drove around the neighborhood identifying the light posts that were either out or low. At night Bhagtana had her officers check the same. Bhagtana wrote up a list for UI, and gave them the crime stats from CompStat. Then she learned UI would replace the light posts.
“After that, residents felt safer and they started talking to us because that’s what they wanted, to know that we see them and we respect them and we care,” Bhagtana, now assistant police chief, said at Saturday’s lively “I Love Newhallville” symposium at Albertus Magnus College’s Behan Community Room.
Continue reading ‘Symposium Shows The Love For Newhallville’