by | Aug 2, 2021 2:57 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
The current Valley Street Townhomes.
City planners advanced a proposed 39-year tax break to help with the housing authority’s redevelopment of the mold-wracked, 40-unit Valley Street Townhomes.
by | Jul 26, 2021 9:07 am | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Elder Felicia McLaurin prays with community member at Saturday event.
West Hills residents were embraced and prayed over for a day of healing from the city’s violence, lack of accessibility to resources, and the mental effects of the Covid pandemic.
by | Jun 21, 2021 3:35 pm | Comments (43)
Ex-Principal Roblee: Reading “White Fragility.”
Releasing a previously withheld investigatory report, school officials revealed that the principal of a majority-minority school had used the “n‑word” at least four times on two occasions with staffers, in addition to incidents involving “hysterical shouting” and “slamming on the desk.”
Continue reading ‘“N-Word” Report Released; Principal Apologizes For “Disgusting” Remarks’
by | Jun 17, 2021 10:09 pm | Comments (25)
Emily Hays Photos
Board member Darnell Goldson: Mayor should return to donors any funds raised on this incident.
Paul Bass Photo
Elicker: My opponent started it.
Two Board of Education members blasted Mayor Justin Elicker for sending a campaign fundraising email claiming a slur-uttering principal’s demotion as a victory for “accountability” and “transparency” — while withholding information about what really happened in the incident behind it.
Elicker responded that he is pushing behind the scenes for public release of the full investigatory report leading to the demotion.
Continue reading ‘Mayor Blasted For “N-Word” Flap $-Raising’
by | Jun 12, 2021 11:22 pm | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden Photo
Moms cut ribbon Saturday for New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence.
More than 100 community members who have lost loved ones to gun homicides celebrated the opening Saturday of a new healing space that brings awareness to 45 years worth of city firearms victims.
Continue reading ‘Homicide Memorial Opens; City “Will Heal”’
by | Jun 9, 2021 4:44 pm | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden Photo
Marlene Miller-Pratt, Pamela Jaynez, and Celeste Fulcher prepare to welcome public to the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence.
Three moms who lost children to New Haven’s gun violence have put the finishing touches on a four-year quest to shine light on the painfully difficult journey of healing with a stunning new memorial park.
by | Jun 4, 2021 11:50 am | Comments (0)
NBC30
Shooting scene on Lilac Street Thursday night.
During a night when two more New Haveners got shot, two mayoral candidates invoked different years to criticize each other’s handling of violent crime.
Continue reading ‘2020 vs. 2006: Mayoral Candidates Year-Check Each Other On Crime’
by | May 24, 2021 1:08 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Karen DuBois-Walton, Justin Elicker, Macye Torres at Sunday’s Ward 30 gathering.
West Rock and West Hills Democrats voted Sunday to endorse mayoral candidate Karen DuBois-Walton, Alder Honda Smith, and Town Clerk Michael Smart for the approaching municipal primary elections after a spirited conversation with the candidates about the future of the ward’s parks and the city budget.
by | May 12, 2021 1:29 pm | Comments (14)
Paul Bass Photo
Fire Chief John Alston Jr. hugs Fire Commission President Rev. Steven Cousin at fire HQ Wednesday.
Contributed Photo
Fire scene on Valley Street.
Contributed Photos
“Hero” Firefighter Ricardo Torres Jr. (left). Lt Samod Rankins (at right): Clinging to life.
New Haven Wednesday mourned the loss of Firefighter Ricardo Torres Jr. and prayed for the recovery of Fire Lt. Samod Rankins in the wake of a fire on Valley Street.
by | Apr 26, 2021 1:40 pm | Comments (2)
Lisa Reisman Photo
Keith Urquhart at the clean-up.
Under a sunny April day, Keith Urquhart struggled to wrest free a gnarled weed by a chain link fence in the grounds behind 333 Valley St. in West Hills.
“Redroot weed,” he said, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. “It’s stubborn.”
by | Apr 7, 2021 9:48 am | Comments (1)
At Tuesday’s giveaway: From right to left: Rodney Williams, Darren Smith, Robert Carter, Booker Washington, Karen DuBois-Walton.
Four minority contractors gave back to their community Tuesday by handing out thousands of masks and hundreds of hand sanitizers to people in West Hills,
Continue reading ‘Minority Contractors Give Back With West Hills Mask Giveaway’
by | Apr 5, 2021 11:20 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photos
Leading moms Pamela Jaynez, Celeste Robinson Fulcher, Marlene Miller Pratt at Saturday’s gathering.
City leaders and residents pray over garden.
Rev. Cicely Little: “I’m asking now, dear God, that you would allow the laws of the land to change.”
A near-complete Valley Street healing garden dedicated to victims of gun violence was prayed over and declared as sacred ground of “peace and justice” for families to heal.
by | Apr 1, 2021 1:36 pm | Comments (2)
Elm City Montessori School
The One Book, One School books this year.
Every month over the past school year, each pre‑K through sixth grade student at Elm City Montessori School (ECMS) has read the same book. One month the book may teach how to navigate being the odd one out at school; the next month it might guide students to question gender stereotypes.
The reading is part of an initiative at the school called One Book, One School, the only one of its kind in New Haven’s public school system.
by | Mar 22, 2021 12:26 pm | Comments (6)
Courtney Luciana photo
WRWC walking West River Greenway.
“Nature is a work in progress. Nothing is complete,” Frank Cochran said. “Stop thinking, ‘I’m going to complete this task.’ You’re not, and that’s good.”
Continue reading ‘West River Walk Reveals Work To Do, & Why’
by | Mar 19, 2021 5:58 pm | Comments (10)
Emily Hays Photos
Pet store co-owner Reinaldo Capetillo with one of the puppies that didn’t get stolen during the recent burglary wave.
Rosa displays the grate he’s pitching to storeowners.
Amid a spike of overnight burglaries, top west side cop Elliot Rosa is trying to convince wary business owners like Reinaldo Capetillo to install roll-up metal grates — and he’s touting a friendlier new model.
by | Mar 3, 2021 11:29 am | Comments (20)
Maya McFadden Photo
Among the intersections where neighbors seek safer crossings.
West Hills residents sometimes take their lives into their hands crossing Valley Street. The city and neighbors are hoping that raised intersections and crosswalks may change that by slowing down speeders on the busy winding, narrow cut-through.
by | Feb 1, 2021 10:32 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
Honda Smith and Andrea Daniels-Singleton in the kitchen before hitting the road to deliver meals in West Hills.
As temperatures swooped below freezing, New Haveners delivered sustenance to their neighbors: bags of prepared beef and potatoes for seniors in West Hills, groceries for hungry families in the Hill, Mystic cheese and locally produced honey for farmers market shoppers in Wooster Square.
Continue reading ‘1 Day, 3 Pivots: Neighbors Feed Neighbors’
by | Jan 24, 2021 12:03 pm | Comments (9)
Maya McFadden Photos
Alder Honda Smith enlists neighbors, Hindu Temple in pandemic quest.
Continue reading ‘West Hills Pulls Together To Feed Families’
by | Dec 10, 2020 4:48 pm | Comments (2)
A pandemic. Then mass protests. Violent crime shoots up. Other crimes plummet.
Continue reading ‘Top West Side Cop Reflects On “Wild” 2020’
by | Nov 11, 2020 11:16 am | Comments (2)
RABHYA MEHROTRA PHOTO
Miller-Pratt speaking at Tuesday’s event.
Marlene Miller-Pratt is asking New Haveners for help in finding the families of victims of fatal gun violence.
Standing in the shadow of West Rock on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, Miller-Pratt spoke at a press conference with Mayor Justin Elicker, announcing the near completion of the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing she created and led to construction.
“Our goal is to get out the word to moms,” she said.
Continue reading ‘Call Goes Out To Families Of Victims As Homicide Memorial Opening Nears’
by | Nov 6, 2020 1:21 pm | Comments (1)
Lisa Reisman Photo
Lilla Mae Holness at 100 years old.
Over the course of a century, Lilla Mae Holness — “Miss Holness” to family, “Aunt Mae” or “Lilla Mae” to friends — has been a sister and a mother figure, a legendary strawberry shortcake baker and a staple at the monthly Pokeno games.
These friends and family came by foot and SUV to wish the New Haven native a happy 100th birthday.
by | Oct 15, 2020 5:23 pm | Comments (8)
City of New Haven
You can’t throw a rock in New Haven without hitting a nonprofit organization, quipped one neighbor.
Yale-New Haven Hospital services are all over the place. And there already are mobile units out there from a range of state and local mental health services.
So why does the city need for yet a new agency, however worthy, especially when government budgets are so tight?
Continue reading ‘Non-Cop Crisis Team Pitched To West Siders’
by | Oct 7, 2020 1:40 pm | Comments (5)
RABHYA MEHROTRA PHOTO
The full group.
A Tree of Life was planted in the shadow of West Rock to honor New Haveners killed by gun violence.
Continue reading ‘Tree of Life Planted At Homicide Memorial’
by | Sep 24, 2020 1:01 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photos
The undeveloped development site at 1155 Whalley Ave.
A Maryland-based developer has requested a five-year extension for plans to build 124 senior apartments in West Hills — a project, and an underlying property, that he now hopes to sell to some other builder who may have better luck getting it done.
Continue reading ‘Senior-Housing Builder Seeks 5 More Years’
by | Sep 23, 2020 9:17 am | Comments (9)
Pre-eviction scene.
A household of West Hills fowl was evicted after complaints from the neighbors.