Derrick Draughn: "It's not about the money. I just choose not to pay it until I feel like it."
A highway-adjacent vacant lot on the northern edge of Wooster Square wasn’t sold at a foreclosure auction on Saturday.
It almost was. But for the third time in a decade, the property’s owner retained control after paying off years of back taxes just in time — and kept alive a dream of building on the site himself, or selling it to someone who will.
A TikTok-focused English project for High School in the Community (HSC) sophomore Diana Robles brought her to the realization that “when I read a news article, I sort of just believe what it says.”
Now she thinks twice — about where the story was published, and about its credibility and potential bias.
Time to call in the alders: City's Kathleen Krolak, sustainability intern Lewis Johnson III at the Ives CMT meeting.
Eating, drinking, shopping, and soon enough being ho-ho and merry are all roaring back post-Covid, which is good news for Downtown and Wooster Square and the city’s economy.
However, that also means parking woes and complaints from both merchants and residents are on the rise. And don’t forget about the dreaded 8,000-person bar crawl.
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Thomas Breen |
Nov 17, 2023 3:04 pm
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Thomas Breen photos
Luz Ayala (center) with friend Paula De La Cruz, and plenty of food ...
... at Friday's Thanksgiving giveaway at Loaves & Fishes.
Luz Ayala lifted up a frozen turkey wrapped in plastic and netting and talked through the culinary transformation that bird will go through on Thursday for Thanksgiving.
She’ll peel back the whole turkey’s skin and stuff it with a blended mix of green peppers, onions, olive oil, cilantro, and garlic. Then she’ll baste the bird in butter and pop it in the oven as she works on making a side of stuffing — also filled with meat, she said apologetically to this vegetarian reporter — for her visiting family members sitting down for dinner at her Columbus Avenue table.
She’s ready for that annual big cook. And, thanks to a bustling food pantry turkey giveaway in Wooster Square, she won’t have to worry about stretching her budget to buy the meal’s centerpiece.
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Nora Grace-Flood |
Nov 9, 2023 4:25 pm
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A rendering of the new apartment building at 873-897 Grand.
Prospective builders of 112 new apartments have gotten the go-ahead to help fill a blighted stretch of western Grand Avenue — despite opposition from neighbors convinced that a six-story complex would wreck the corridor’s character rather than revitalize it.
Mike P. doesn’t remember exactly when he last voted. It was probably a decade ago, likely for President Barack Obama.
As he pushed a shopping cart full of bicycle wheels and mattress frames and long metal poles to a Chapel Street scrapyard, he reflected on what would convince him to return to the polls: a candidate committed to making “a very, very, very noticeable difference for the homeless community.”
Tashi at work planting cherry blossoms in Wooster Sq.
Drenched in sweat, Tashi loaded up a wheelbarrow with nutrient-dense wood chips and mulch from a truck, ready to wheel it to his tree planting crew in Wooster Square. Although the work wasn’t glamorous or pretty, it would be worth it in the spring when the cherry tree’s blossoms come into bloom. Until then, the newly planted trees would have to rest and gain their energy under the autumn sun.
Two Wooster Square residents running for alder convened for a debate — and sketched out diverging visions for policing, addiction treatment, and the legitimacy of the Republican Party.
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Nora Grace-Flood |
Oct 20, 2023 5:17 pm
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Say Cheese...
... Gioia is open!
The long line outside Pepe’s pizzeria might soon extend across the street, now that Gioia — a new Italian restaurant, bar, gelateria, and market — has opened its doors at 150 Wooster St.
David Generoso by the ex-Columbus statue's plinth: "We think it was was something that was stolen from us unjustly."
A half-dozen members of a group called the Italian-American Defense League gathered in Wooster Square Park to celebrate Columbus Day — and to renew their call for a return of the long-gone statue depicting that federal holiday’s namesake.
The group charged with coming up with a new Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture for that same spot of Wooster Square Park, meanwhile, has now raised $320,000 out of its $400,000 goal.
Sophia Quinones, A’mya Foust, and Malaysia Bowden, coloring a “Conte Pride" poster.
At the Conte West back-to-school bash.
Seventh graders Malaysia Bowden, A’mya Foust, and Sophia Quinones were quick to agree that science was their favorite subject. Thanks to their teacher Mr. E, also known as Cecil Royal Estes III, they weren’t just learning about electrons at Conte West — but also about emotional regulation skills with his lessons, “Mindfulness with Mr. E.”
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Asher Joseph |
Jul 31, 2023 9:12 am
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ASHER JOSEPH PHOTOS
A newly minted graduate accepts her diploma from Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison.
Forty-two high school seniors from eight different New Haven public high schools were celebrated for their accomplishments and perseverance after working through summer school to attain the credits needed to receive their diplomas.
Tom Goldenberg, with Dave Agosta: "I believe that there is enough that holds together and that we share in common than what separates us."
Democratic mayoral challenger Tom Goldenberg will be listed on the Republican Party line on November’s general election ballot, now that he has accepted the local GOP’s endorsement for the city’s top elected office.
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Maya McFadden |
Jul 14, 2023 8:22 am
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Maya McFadden Photo
Rising third grader Machi codes a thunderstorm.
A digital thunderstorm rumbled into a Conte West School classroom of rising third graders who were in the middle of a computer-code-created camping trip.
Alder Cupo: "To know that there is a LGBTQ+-friendly affordable housing set of units [coming to] our city makes me believe that it is possible to win more."
Surrounded by elected officials and fellow Yale union organizers, Wooster Square Alder Ellen Cupo kicked off her reelection campaign by focusing on affordable housing initiatives the city has gained in the past few years — and the strip club her neighborhood pushed away.
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Kian Ahmadi |
Jun 23, 2023 5:03 pm
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Kian Ahmadi photo
Fran Calabrese stands by her "Amalfi" shirt tent
Dressed in a blue tee shirt with “Amalfi” printed across the chest, Fran Calabrese remembered walking hand in hand with her grandfather to a Wooster Square-hosted celebration of St. Andrew when she was just three years old.
Now 70, Calabrese returned on Thursday to that very same neighborhood Italian festa — which for her is about carrying on the traditions of Amalfi and honoring the miracle performed by New Haven’s patron saint.
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Mia Cortés Castro |
Jun 21, 2023 9:07 am
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Gregg Wies & Gardner design rendering
The proposed new apartment building at 873-897 Grand.
Thomas Breen photo
873-887 Grand as it looks today.
A New York-based landlord plans to knock down two vacant Grand Avenue commercial buildings and build 112 new apartments in their stead on the northern end of Wooster Square.
HSC Salutatorian Gian Rodriguez: "The future is ours to say."
Try to find a way to make the world a bit brighter than it is today.
Local artist Kwadwo Adae and High School in the Community Salutatorian Gian Rodriguez delivered that hope- and sorrow-filled challenge in separate graduation ceremony speeches Tuesday as they painted a path forward in Wooster Square Park.
Ward 8 alder challenger Andrea Zola and incumbent Ellen Cupo.
A bridal business owner with local political history roots has filed to run against Wooster Square’s two-term, union-affiliated incumbent alder in a Democratic race that sheds light on a neighborhood in flux.
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Thomas Breen |
May 9, 2023 11:02 am
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Marc Massaro design
The approved new Wooster Square monument.
A Wooster Square Park arts committee has raised $225,000 so far to help put up a new Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture in place of the long-gone Christopher Columbus statue — and is still looking for donations for a goal that now tops $300,000.
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Thomas Breen |
Apr 19, 2023 2:50 pm
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Thomas Breen photo
Outdoor fitness equipment slated for Wooster Memorial Park.
Wooster Street parkgoers should soon have a new climbing structure, pull up bars, and other outdoor fitness equipment to help them exercise in the public greenspace, thanks to a donation from the Dalio Foundation.
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Lisa Reisman |
Apr 17, 2023 3:33 pm
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Lisa Reisman photos
A shower of pink, for 50th straight year.
Valentina Simon doing her thing at Sunday's fest.
Amid a riot of pink blossoms, the scent of spring in the air, and the sounds of Airborne’s “Groovin’ on a Sunday Afternoon,” Valentina Simon leapt and spun and twirled in front of the bandstand, prompting others to join her.
