by | Jan 12, 2023 12:42 pm | Comments (18)
Laura Glesby file photo
The view from the soon-to-be-replaced Mid Bridge.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn at Tuesday’s Zoom meeting.
A dance venue. A community garden. A set of lights for the skate park. A … West Rock-bound gondola?
Those were a few of the ideas that made it onto a community-built wish list for $800,000 worth of improvements for Edgewood Park, as put together by roughly 100 parkgoers.
by | Jan 10, 2023 4:20 pm | Comments (37)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
Tony Negron -- who used to go to 1351 Whalley to work at Tommy K's video -- returns as a customer to wait for a dispensary's official opening there.
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Rick Woods lights up on the ride home to North Haven.
As Tony Negron stood in line to become New Haven’s first customer of fully legal recreational weed, the 40-year-old recalled sharing a first joint with his boys at 12 years old and then eating boxed mac n’ cheese.
How did he plan to celebrate his more grown-up purchase of adult-use marijuana on Tuesday? By taking his dispensary flower home and smoking it from the comfort of his jacuzzi on a paid day off from work.
by | Jan 4, 2023 12:57 pm | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photo
Officer Ashley McKernan was two hours into her second consecutive shift Wednesday morning when she finally found a moment to fuel back up for the next hours on the beat.
by | Dec 22, 2022 2:00 pm | Comments (0)
Paul Bass photo
Fred White Thursday outside the Whalley Wells Fargo.
A retired tool-and-die maker named Fred White kept moving Thursday, hopping on his music-amplified Kent Cruiser two-wheeler to navigate the busy Norton-Whalley intersection.
by | Dec 19, 2022 11:00 am | Comments (7)
Commercial kitchen El Amigo Felix to get new neighbors.
A plan to build six new apartments atop the former El Amigo Felix restaurant on Whalley Avenue won its final needed city approval — marking the first new development OK’d for that recently rezoned “commercial gateway” corridor.
by | Dec 14, 2022 4:03 pm | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
First in line: Terry Barrett at American Muffler.
AAA flatbed tech Terry Barrett was behind AAA Pizza Wednesday watching someone else complete a task he has done himself thousands of times — replace brakes on a vehicle.
Continue reading ‘Word On The Street: Terry Hands Over The Brakes’
by | Nov 23, 2022 12:10 pm | Comments (3)
Paul Bass Photo
Groom at work in the Whalley Stop & Shop lot.
Bruce Groom plans to divide his Thanksgiving Day between Stop & Shop and the Veterans Administration hospital.
Continue reading ‘Word On The Street: Groom Plans Hectic Holiday, Needs Car Back’
by | Nov 7, 2022 10:37 am | Comments (18)
A 27-year-old New Havener named Shanice Reyes was struck and killed by a car Friday evening on a deadly stretch of Whalley Avenue.
by | Nov 1, 2022 9:23 am | Comments (2)
Paul Bass photo
Alfonse Purcell on the Chevy hunt.
Alfonse Purcell took a bus from Farren Avenue across town to Whalley Avenue early Monday in search of independence, in the form of four wheels he could call his own.
by | Oct 25, 2022 3:22 pm | Comments (21)
Thomas Breen Photo
WEB CMT Chair Rebecca Cramer (left), MCCA's Scott Nelson (right) at Monday evening's meeting.
Thomas Breen photo
Former pharmacy at 215 Whalley.
The leaders of a Danbury-based addiction-treatment nonprofit promised to keep preaching abstinence — and not to branch out into prescribing methadone — as they prepare to move their local outpatient clinic into the former CVS site at Whalley Avenue and Orchard Street.
Continue reading ‘"Abstinence," Not Methadone, Set For CVS Site’
by | Oct 12, 2022 12:30 pm | Comments (4)
Someone stabbed 29-year-old Southern Connecticut State University student Nico Saraceni to death on Whalley Avenue Monday night.
by | Oct 3, 2022 12:18 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photos
Marc Criscio: Application submitted for heating help.
Approps Chair DeLauro: "As long as I have the gavel and pen, we're going to increase funding in this area."
Low-income Connecticut residents like Marc Criscio who need help covering their heating bills this winter can now tap into a state energy assistance program newly infused with an extra $20 million.
by | Sep 14, 2022 4:09 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen photo
The former CVS site at 215 Whalley. Future home of MCCA outpatient clinic.
CFO Connan: Will "better serve" community.
A Danbury-based addiction-treatment nonprofit plans to move its local outpatient clinic to the former CVS site at Whalley Avenue and Orchard Street, after purchasing that recently shuttered ex-pharmacy property for $2.5 million.
by | Aug 16, 2022 1:55 pm | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden Photos
Ma's House owner Cherisa Lloyd at new restaurant at former Lena's spot.
Ma's Favorite.
When Cherisa Lloyd enjoys the “Margie Special” at her new Westville soul food restaurant, she’s reminded of the love, strength, strong family values, and passion for cooking of her late mother, and best friend.
by | Jun 8, 2022 5:11 pm | Comments (22)
Maya McFadden Photo
Hasmukh “Harry” Patel outside his shuttered store: Not giving up.
The state has shut down a problem liquor store on Whalley Avenue, but its owner has hopes of reopening — and winning over his neighbors.
by | May 19, 2022 3:34 pm | Comments (1)
Courtney Luciana Photo
Timmy Turner.
Timothy Turner was walking across the Stop & Shop on Whalley Avenue in the pouring rain sporting a Chicago Bulls Bucket hat, a sweatshirt, and jeans. He didn’t have an umbrella, but he still wore a bright smile across his face.
by | May 6, 2022 4:40 pm | Comments (15)
Paul Bass Photo
The rotting metal drum lay on the grass near the curb. How did it get there?
Cynthia Rivera vowed to find out — and get it removed.
by | Apr 15, 2022 11:01 am | Comments (11)
Still from video presented at liquor control hearing, capturing customers entering employee counter area.
The owner of a trouble-spot liquor store made a pitch about the challenges he faces with sometimes violent customers — and some promises to improve his operation — in hopes of keeping his liquor permit in the face of neighborhood opposition.
Continue reading ‘Liquor Proprietor Details Threats, Challenges’
by | Apr 15, 2022 10:34 am | Comments (0)
Anthony Chapman at work on Whalley.
Anthony Chapman was setting up his shop at the corner of Ellsworth Avenue and Whalley Avenue — a spot he didn’t always expect to feel like home.
Continue reading ‘Former Downtown Vendor Finds Sea Moss Sells Just Fine In The Neighborhood’
by | Mar 24, 2022 3:41 pm | Comments (4)
Jay Jordan.
Jay Jordan arrived two hours early for his first day working at McDonald’s, hoping to make a good first impression — and create new opportunities.
Continue reading ‘Jay Jordan Shows Up Early For First Day At Mickey D's’
by and | Mar 10, 2022 3:43 pm | Comments (0)
Maya McFadden Photo
Majesty Whitaker talks Ukraine and barbershop talk Thursday morning.
The word at Transformerz barber shop Thursday was Ukraine — along with some other topics that had to stay in the shop.
Continue reading ‘Word At The Barber Shop: Ukraine Needs Our Help’
by | Dec 21, 2021 11:55 am | Comments (3)
Jake Dressler Photos
Anita Mclean and Cedric Emery at this dream donut emporium.
Anita Mclean and Cedric Emery will ring in the new year celebrating the six-month anniversary of Many Donuts, their mom and pop donut shop nestled between Fitch and Jewell streets at the Whalley Exxon.
by | Dec 17, 2021 9:07 am | Comments (3)
After an outpouring of community resistance and a denial of a request for approval of a parking plan, the final kibosh was put on a proposal for a BYO nightclub or “assembly hall” on upper Whalley Avenue.
Google Maps
Shopping strip at 1330 Whalley Ave. where Kenneth Redding had pitched opening an “assembly hall” (in the right corner commercial space above).
The kibosh came in the form a vote against a special exception for Kenneth Redding’s proposed “assembly hall” at 1331 Whalley Ave. at Tuesday night’s Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
Redding was not present at the gathering. He attended a zoning hearing a month earlier when neighbors came out in force with concerns not only about parking, but about late-night carousing and drinking, and vagrancy in neighbors’ yards.
“I recall an overwhelming negative community presence based on very late hours, bad behavior,” BZA Acting Chair Alexandra Daum said. “I would concur and move to deny, based on community pushback and the City Plan recommendation.
The vote was unanimous. (Read a previous story on the subject here.)
by | Nov 18, 2021 11:06 am | Comments (3)
Google Maps photo
The shopping strip at 1330 Whalley Ave. where Kenneth Redding has pitched opening an “assembly hall” (in the right corner commercial space above).
A proposed BYOB nightclub on Upper Whalley hit another administrative roadblock Wednesday, as City Plan Commissioners unanimously recommended rejecting the venue’s request to share parking with its shopping strip neighbors.
Continue reading ‘City Plan Rejects Upper Whalley Nightclub Proposal’
by | Nov 14, 2021 2:58 pm | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photo
Downed wire at Whalley and Winthrop.
A balloon flew into electrical wires on Whalley Avenue Sunday — and caused a power outage that temporarily closed blocks worth of businesses.