by | Jun 8, 2017 12:26 pm | Comments (7)
Robyn Porter on state House floor Wednesday night.
Headed our way: City inspector Jeff Moreno at overgrown, trash-filled state-owned Rosette St. lot.
As the state legislature’s adjournment clock approached midnight:
• Lawmakers voted to turn over 15 neglected state-owned properties to the city.
• Robyn Porter’s police-misconduct bill didn’t make the cut.
by | Jun 8, 2017 12:05 pm | Comments (12)
Rendering of city’s “100-year” plan for Union Station
New Haven won’t take over ownership of Union Station, but it will gain more control of its destiny and gain millions of new dollars for bike lanes and pedestrian access, under a deal with the state announced Wednesday.
by | Jun 6, 2017 12:56 pm | Comments (13)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Anna Festa, who limited open-ended new Tennis Open money.
The Board of Alders gave final passage to a new city budget that shaves another $2.4 million off Mayor Toni Harp’s original proposal — and acknowledged that what happens in Hartford might force more cuts mid-year.
by | Jun 5, 2017 3:32 pm | Comments (15)
Lucy Gellman Photo
Wyman Monday at Women’s Campaign School’s opening session.
Connecticut’s lieutenant governor hasn’t ruled out a gubernatorial run — but she’s waiting for a tough budget season to play out before declaring her final decision.
Continue reading ‘Wyman: 1st The Budget, Then Maybe I’ll Run’
by | Jun 1, 2017 12:17 pm | Comments (1)
An act requiring emergency generators for certain elderly housing made it out of the Senate Wednesday.
Continue reading ‘Looney Leads Passage of Emergency Generator Bill’
by | Jun 1, 2017 7:29 am | Comments (11)
Winfield: Fighting until June 7…and likely after that.
Hartford — A local lawmaker told supporters of bills that would significantly restrict the use of solitary confinement and establish stronger penalties for police officers who use excessive force to be prepared to continue the fight in the next legislative session.
by | May 18, 2017 4:19 pm | Comments (4)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Robyn Porter: Not an attack on cops.
New Haven state legislators’ late-session push for a police accountability law picked up support from a former top cop.
Continue reading ‘Velleca: Cops Should Embrace Accountability Bill’
by | May 9, 2017 7:59 am | Comments (10)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Robyn Porter and Josh Elliott, State Sen. Gary Winfield at forum.
State Rep. Josh Elliott had a question for the crowd of progressive activists: Would they rather see legislators stand their ground on a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and risk no movement on minimum wage should it fail? Or should legislators support a compromise bill to raise the wage incrementally to, say, $11.25?
by | May 9, 2017 7:38 am | Comments (4)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Harp: Prepare, but don’t tip hand.
The state’s latest budget crisis has New Haven Mayor Toni Harp preparing for a local hit — but she’s determined not to tip the city’s hand.
by | Apr 26, 2017 8:10 am | Comments (8)
Christopher Peak Photos
Vered Brandman (left), a member of Keep the Promise Coalition, and the Southwest Regional Mental Health Board, protest Tuesday against lifting nonprofits’ longstanding exemption from sales tax.
New Haven’s Joe Clerkin addresses state Finance Committee.
Hartford—A small bump in the statewide sales tax and other reforms could deliver up to $55 million into New Haven’s coffers — bringing the city a step closer to locating missing revenue it needs from the state government.
Continue reading ‘Cities, Nonprofits Push State On Revenues’
by | Apr 26, 2017 7:55 am | Comments (4)
Markeshia Ricks Photos
State Rep. Toni Walker: Republican negotiations “disingenuous.”
GOP leaders: Dems “talking out of both sides” of their mouths.
Hartford—New Haven is counting on the state to send it an extra $31 million this year, but those funds could be in danger, especially now that a compromise budget between Democrats and Republicans has stalled at the 11th hour.
by | Apr 5, 2017 7:57 am | Comments (0)
LCI’s Jeff Moreno at a state-owned lot on Rosette Street.
New Haven might have to pay more than $1 to gain control of 15 neglected state-owned lots around town. But it’s closer to obtaining them.
by | Mar 29, 2017 10:09 am | Comments (2)
James Redeker brought a check and a smile to New Haven Tuesday, but he wasn’t budging in his opposition to the city’s efforts to gain control of Union Station from the state — an idea that advanced this week.
Continue reading ‘Redeker Holds Firm As Union Station Bill Advances’
by | Mar 28, 2017 1:46 pm | Comments (3)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Smith-Holness.
One of the heartbreaks of Karaine Smith-Holness’s 20-plus career as a hair stylist, business owner, mentor and teacher was to tell a young woman that she couldn’t take the test to become a licensed cosmetologist — because the state only allows it on a case-by-case basis.
A new bill aimed at providing more employment opportunities for the formerly incarcerated could change that.
by | Mar 28, 2017 8:03 am | Comments (1)
Markeshia Ricks Photos
eople testifying in favor of city control of Union Station at March 20 hearing. Top: Hugh Manke, Susan Godshall, Jeff Klaus; Center: Ron Hurt, Dolores Colon, Anthony Rescigno; Bottom: Patrick Pinnell, Peter Standish, Juan Candelaria, Robert Orr.
The city’s quest to win control over Union Station will live to see another day.
by | Mar 24, 2017 1:52 pm | Comments (1)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Moreno at overgrown, trash-filled state-owned Rosette St. lot.
When Jeff Moreno became a Livable City Initiative neighborhood specialist for the Hill, he tried to get someone to clean up a fenced lot near the end of Rosette Street. At first he didn’t know the identity of the nuisance landlord; it turned out to be the state Department of Transportation.
by | Mar 24, 2017 1:04 pm | Comments (0)
Sponsored by Government Administration and Elections Committee
Continue reading ‘HB 7278 - An Act Concerning the Conveyance of Certain Parcels of State Land’
by | Mar 23, 2017 7:49 am | Comments (19)
Markeshia Ricks Photos
Walker presses D’Souza on which studies to trust.
D’Souza: Teens will become addicted.
Hartford — A Yale expert on the health impacts of marijuana spent more than two hours cautioning legislators against legalizing the drug, saying a safe system might theoretically exist — but he hasn’t seen one.
Continue reading ‘Yale Psych Prof Warns Against Legalization’
by | Mar 21, 2017 7:57 am | Comments (14)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
People testifying Monday. Top: Hugh Manke, Susan Godshall, Jeff Klaus; Center: Ron Hurt, Dolores Colon, Anthony Rescigno; Bottom: Patrick Pinnell, Peter Standish, Juan Candelaria, Robert Orr.
Hartford — The state has a backward vision for the train station, so it needs to hand it over to New Haven to run it right.
The city can barely shovel out the station after 10 inches of snow or protect workers from falling ice, let alone develop it for the future.
State and city officials, along with a chorus of community activists, offered those starkly competing visions Monday at a state legislative hearing room here and in press interviews, as a dispute over the future of Union Station burst into public view.
by | Mar 21, 2017 7:52 am | Comments (0)
In an appearance before a legislative committee, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy lobbied legislators Monday to support bail reforms that he says would minimize the number of defendants jailed before trial over their inability to afford bail.
Continue reading ‘Malloy Makes A Personal Appeal For Bond Reform’
by | Mar 17, 2017 4:48 pm | Comments (1)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Candelaria at the Capitol.
Juan Candelaria is bringing New Haven’s quest to control Union Station to the state’s capitol.
Continue reading ‘Candelaria Calls On State To Transfer Train Station Ownership To City’
by | Mar 16, 2017 7:45 am | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photo
Looney: Still on the table.
A proposal to tax the real estate of not-for-profit hospitals like Yale-New Haven might be getting new life at the state Capitol.
Continue reading ‘With Guarantee, Harp Open To Hospital Tax’
by | Mar 13, 2017 12:05 pm | Comments (9)
Lucy Gellman Photo
Rose shopping on Chapel: Open to another 25 cents.
Tracey Rose said she wouldn’t mind paying an extra 25 cents in a proposed new city tax for $50 worth of art supplies — if she knows that it’ll go towards fixing municipal problems.
by | Mar 8, 2017 1:10 pm | Comments (51)
Markeshia Ricks Photos
Walker: Legalize, regulate, tax it.
Elliott: Time for change.
Hartford — State Rep. Josh Elliott is a lawmaker, successful business owner and law school graduate. He is also, he said Tuesday, a casual marijuana user pushing to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana in the state.
by | Mar 7, 2017 3:05 pm | Comments (4)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Merrill testifying Monday.
Hartford — Secretary of the State Denise Merrill invoked the two to three-hour waits at the polls in New Haven in the last election to press for a long-term solution: allowing everybody to vote on other days if they choose.
Paul Bass Photo
Ward 7 voting line.