by | Dec 13, 2024 9:26 am | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen photo
Little kiddos coming soon.
A nonprofit cafe and job training program for immigrant and refugee women has won city permission to open a worker-owned childcare center in the basement of a downtown church.
by | Dec 12, 2024 2:22 pm | Comments (17)
Maya McFadden photos
Jasanea Hernandez (left): A fair contract will "send a powerful message to our children about the value of hard work and dedication."
Local 217 in the house: "You want order, we want to eat!"
Amid contract negotiations, dozens of New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) cafeteria staffers called on the school district to pay them livable wages so they can keep their own stomachs full as they work to feed students.
by | Dec 12, 2024 1:06 pm | Comments (4)
Jabez Choi photo
Morand with New Haven's original charter: "History is everywhere."
From “Dr. Ann E. Garrett Robinson Way” to the Blue Moon Chapel mural to the Q House centennial’s many celebrations, New Haven history is everywhere — and should be accessible to everyone.
For the past eight months, Mike Morand has been working to make that public history ideal a reality – in his official-but-unpaid role as city historian.
by | Dec 11, 2024 3:48 pm | Comments (27)
Thomas Breen photos
That's trash, behind row of vacant Ocean homes.
LCI attorney Williams and hearing officer Bernblum: You're fined.
(Updated) A Livable City Initiative (LCI) hearing officer approved more than $130,000 in anti-blight fines for six vacant Ocean Management properties that look like, well, trash.
by | Dec 11, 2024 1:01 pm | Comments (36)
Zachary Groz photo
Planning on Tuesday night for a new and improved Green.
An ice skating rink. An “interactive” fountain. A cafe. A new business plaza.
The New Haven Green could look pretty different soon.
by | Dec 10, 2024 2:41 pm | Comments (14)
Can the city help bring this vision to life?
Oh, that's an alameda. Cool!
Imagine an alameda — a long shady tree-lined walkway — running down the middle of Blatchley Avenue all the way from Grand Avenue to the Quinnipiac River.
And how about building up underused lots into lots more housing on East Street and on Wolcott?
Those were a few of the neighborhood-changing ideas that emerged Monday night at 162 James St., CitySeed’s new building, where city economic development officials convened a second public meeting for citizen input to envision a now-and-future identity for the Mill River District.
Continue reading ‘Alameda Animates Mill River District Visioning’
by | Dec 10, 2024 11:17 am | Comments (38)
Zachary Groz photo
Tory Sansing at Spruce Coffee meetup: "We simply want the city to recognize the value of the zoning rules."
Might the 15 Edwards old firehouse soon look like this?
An East Rock landlord’s plans to convert a vacant historic firehouse into a five-story apartment building has sparked a debate around preserving character vs. creating new places to live in a vibrant mixed-use stretch of Upper State Street.
by | Dec 9, 2024 5:26 pm | Comments (7)
Laura Glesby photos
Dolores Jeter at Monday’s ribbon cutting: “It’s like my prayers have been answered from 30 years ago.”
Hello laundry and shower and medical and more.
Dolores Jeter watched the blue ribbon whirl apart to celebrate Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen’s new all-in-one drop-in center.
She nearly teared up thinking back to her life 25 years ago, when she herself was homeless and had to zig-zag across the city each day in order to meet each of her needs.
“Do you know how many times I had to cancel out on an appointment because I didn’t have the fare to get the bus? Or I was too tired to walk?” Jeter said.
by | Dec 9, 2024 3:25 pm | Comments (6)
The late Uzziah Shell, as shown in a photo shared by family members at Saturday's funeral.
Friends wore shirts that read Forever 16 with a photo of Uzziah Shell. Ushers handed out tissues to grieving classmates. Mothers wrapped their arms tightly around their kids. A portrait of Uzziah holding a sign reading “I’m Thankful For” and adorned with colored Post-Its smiled from the altar.
That was the scene on Saturday at Life-Giving Water Church on Howard Avenue, where a packed house of friends, family, and city leaders gathered to celebrate the life of Shell, the 16-year-old Riverside Academy student who was shot and killed on Goffe Street late last month.
by | Dec 9, 2024 12:51 pm | Comments (23)
City Plan Department map
Under proposed zoning update, new smoke shops wouldn't be allowed to open within the orange circles, which describe a 3,000-foot radius for each existing licensed tobacco retailer.
Would barring new smoke shops from opening within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, and places of worship do enough to protect neighbors from those retailers’ harmful wares?
Would imposing a 3,000-foot buffer between new and existing tobacco sellers only serve to protect existing stores’ “monopolies” on their blocks?
And, taken together, would these two distance restrictions effectively impose a citywide ban — when the law’s sponsors simply want to limit, but not outlaw, new shops from popping up?
Continue reading ‘No Smoke Shops Here. No Smoke Shops There’
by | Dec 9, 2024 9:54 am | Comments (7)
Lisa Reisman photo
The Newhall Neighborhood Association team at Hamden Town Hall.
They talked about their homes sinking into contaminated soil, the walls cracking, their myriad of health issues.
They wore shirts the color of cement to dramatize their plea: Fix our foundations first.
Continue reading ‘Newhall To Hamden: Focus On "Foundations First"’
by | Dec 6, 2024 4:23 pm | Comments (41)
Thomas Breen file photo
Schools Supt. Madeline Negrón: “I am ready to stand and fight for the education that every child deserves … regardless of their immigration status.”
Retraining city employees on the “welcoming city” executive order. Confirming public school students’ emergency contact information. Securing federal grant money in contracts as soon as possible, before it can be revoked.
Those are some ways that New Haven officials are preparing — not panicking — ahead of an anticipated immigration crackdown promised by the incoming president.
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 6, 2024 12:33 pm | Comments (3)
Contributed photo
Snazzy threads? Yankees seats? Mid-century Enson's had you covered
It’s no small thing to stay in business for a hundred years, but Enson’s Gentlemen’s Fashions at 1050 Chapel St. has accomplished that feat of entrepreneurial longevity.
The reason? There’s a surprisingly old-fashioned thread — pun very much intended — that runs through the decades.
“Nice things, great customer relations, and all these years, we’ve had great tailors.”
by | Dec 6, 2024 10:46 am | Comments (9)
Jabez Choi photo
Robert Harris: “When we do bundle up, it’s tolerable."
The tiny shelters (right) behind 203 Rosette.
A group of unhoused neighbors have taken to sleeping two or even three to a room inside unheated pre-fabricated tiny shelters that are still standing in a Rosette Street backyard.
“When we do bundle up, it’s tolerable being in there,” said Robert Harris, as he pointed at a row of white Pallet shelters. “But sometimes it’s colder in these because it can be like an ice box.”
Continue reading ‘As Temps Drop, Tiny Shelter Residents Double Up’