by | Apr 14, 2022 9:37 am | Comments (3)
As one of Hamden’s local Goodwill stores will be moving out of its 2369 Dixwell Ave. home, the chain’s officials have told the Independent the nonprofit is officially searching for a spot to reopen elsewhere in town.
Continue reading ‘Update: Hamden Goodwill Hunting For New Home’
by | Apr 13, 2022 2:03 pm | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen photo
New Orange Street intersection, slated to open on Monday.
Thomas Breen file photo
Donna Hall and Development Commissioner David Valentino on Sept. 2021 walking tour.
Goodbye, flashing lights and detours. Hello, new protected and signalized intersection: Starting next week, a long-in-the-works Orange Street crossroads connecting the Hill and downtown will finally open — and officials will begin pursuing the next step of “Downtown Crossing.”
Continue reading ‘Orange Intersection Ready; Temple Bridge Next’
by | Apr 12, 2022 6:14 pm | Comments (13)
Paul Bass photo
State economic development deputy chief Alexandra Daum surrounded by Alders Carmen Rodriguez, Eli Sabin, and Richard Furlow, and city economic development deputy Carlos Eyzaguirre, at Tuesday's presser.
New Haven will get it right, down to the details.
So promised city leaders Tuesday as they celebrated a $5.3 million grant aimed at helping them redo something New Haven got very wrong a half century ago.
Continue reading ‘State Street Promise: $5.3M Will Bring "Livability"’
by | Apr 12, 2022 11:48 am | Comments (8)
Proposed new Dixwell Ave. home for Hill Health in New Haven.
A New Haven-based nonprofit is looking to bring goodwill to Hamden — in the form of community health care.
by | Apr 11, 2022 5:03 pm | Comments (4)
Nora Grace-Flood Photos
From partial demolition ...
... to delivery. Developers finally get Pinto House into right position Monday.
New Haven’s 200-year-old William Pinto House inched closer Monday to its new destination: A plot of now-torn-up asphalt and dirt roughly 90 feet away from where it was originally built circa 1810.
by | Apr 8, 2022 4:08 pm | Comments (9)
Contributed Photo
Researchers at work in Alexion's current labs.
Instead of leaving town, one of the city’s major biomedical employers plans to move into new space and create new jobs.
Continue reading ‘Alexion Crosses The Street To Create New Jobs’
by | Apr 7, 2022 5:22 pm | Comments (29)
Adam Weber Photo
Painted street-crossings, above, started the process of restitching the borders of Wooster Square and downtown.
State Street is poised to recover some of the street life it lost to urban renewal — albeit in an update form — thanks to $5 million in economic development cash heading our way from the State of Connecticut.
Continue reading ‘With State Help, Lower State To Rise Again’
by | Apr 7, 2022 3:52 pm | Comments (2)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Back in person, Morrow and Flowers connect.
Torrance Flowers was hard to miss. His laugh was booming — you could hear it across the room, even over the clanging silverware and raucous chatter that filled the back bar room of the smokehouse restaurant.
Richlin Morrow was everywhere. Somehow, in the background of every photo from that night, you can see her warm smile and listening eyes, as she greeted and acquainted herself with the many faces who showed up.
She’s a nurse. He works in media consulting for an audio entertainment company. They’ve been friends for years. Until bumping into each other Thursday, they never thought their business would overlap.
Where she works, at the New Haven Job Corps Center, Morrow said, she has high schoolers who need jobs. At his place, Audacy Inc., Flowers said, they have jobs for high schoolers.
Flowers and Morrow started making plans. And after a two-year pandemic pause, Business After Hours was back, swinging.
Continue reading ‘Live, From James Street: Networking's Back!’
by | Apr 7, 2022 2:55 pm | Comments (5)
Next year, these a capella ladies will likely be able to buy alcoholic drinks at Hamden Fest ...
... but other town events, like this dance for disabled children, will probably still not include liquor.
It’s June 11, 2022. You’re getting ready for a day of purchasing homemade postcards, sampling the products of local potrepreneurs, and either encountering or evading politicians campaigning at Town Center Park during the annual Hamden Fest.
How much would buying an ice cold Corona on-scene contribute to the experience?
This year’s attendees of Hamden Fest may get to find out for themselves, thanks to a proposed amendment put forward by Hamden’s mayor to allow for the sale and distribution of alcohol at town celebrations on a case-by-case review basis.
Continue reading ‘Hamden Looks To Lift Spirits By Allowing Booze Sales At Town Events’
by | Apr 7, 2022 1:22 pm | Comments (1)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Sewell-Poole, at center, with officials at "More Amour" ribbon-cutting.
Kimberly Sewell-Poole watched stylishly dressed pedestrians pass by her new storefront window — and thought back to SoHo. Her new building’s exposed-brick interior recalled boutiques she loved while growing up in Baltimore.
She knew she was in the right spot.
Continue reading ‘Pandemic-Hatched Biz Perseveres, Moves Up’
by | Apr 6, 2022 1:05 pm | Comments (15)
Cannabis zoning map proposal; legal sales districts shaded in purple.
Should the city allow for the legal sale of cannabis on Long Wharf? Or is recreational pot not a good part of the plan for that to-be-developed waterfront district?
Local legislators grappled with those questions — among many others — as they worked through a first draft of the city’s proposed zoning regulations for where marijuana sales may and may not take place in town.
Continue reading ‘Cannabis Zoning Q: What About Long Wharf?’
by | Apr 5, 2022 9:00 am | Comments (2)
Michael Piscitelli remembers a time when in order to save Union Station, a tree had to be cut down.
by | Apr 1, 2022 4:44 pm | Comments (3)
Jennifer Lopez sports a mask of her own design.
For more than 20 years, while she worked day jobs in nursing and security, Jennifer Lopez held onto her love of fashion.
“Something always told me to follow it,” she said.
Lopez, a New Haven-based single parent with four kids, is now starting an accessories line and fashion education business. She said she was rejected from the first few loans for which she applied. Then, last October, she obtained a microloan from Grameen America. With the $2,000, she purchased supplies and registered her business under the name Jenna Line Customs LLC.
Continue reading ‘Microloan Program Expands For Women Below Poverty Line’
by | Mar 31, 2022 1:37 pm | Comments (13)
Cannabis could be sold within the purple areas of this map.
Planners passed forward a map of suggested places to allow cannabis sales in town — while recommending that alders mellow out rather than rush to finalize rules, and that they redo the math calculating distances from dispensaries to public schools.
The City Plan Commission offered those recommendations after an hours-long debate Wednesday night.
by | Mar 30, 2022 1:06 pm | Comments (0)
As the sun set, the playlist of mid-2000s slow emotional pop inside B Natural Kitchen made the experience of eating a “Warm Market Bowl” by the College Street window feel like a moment straight out of a rom-com — while the bowl itself offered respite from the chilly wind outside.
Continue reading ‘Vegan Flavor Riot Put Down During Restaurant Week’
by | Mar 29, 2022 4:58 pm | Comments (32)
Pina Dattilo plans her exit -- from budget hearing, maybe from town.
Another $700 tax hike? So long, Hamden.
Pina Dattilo may just be ready to take that step, she said, echoing other seniors at a public hearing who expressed outrage over a proposed 7 percent mill rate hike.
by | Mar 29, 2022 8:58 am | Comments (1)
From left to right, top to bottom: Nicole Smith, Natural Resources Analyst, South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority; Tracy Bruno, Marketing and Communications Manager, BHcare; Emma Lopez-Mastropietro, Coordinator, Marketing & Development, Parents’ Foundation for Transitional Living; Kassandra Hernandez, Donor Relations Officer, New Reach, Inc.; Shana Schneider, Founder, Fitstyle by Shana/Consultant, Russell Reynolds Associates/LGNH Program Coordinator, Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce; Nikelle Carter, Clinical Program Manager, New Reach, Inc.; Kristen Welton, Development Manager, Alzheimer’s Association; Jorgieliz Casanova, Program Manager (K-12), New Haven Promise; Kentha Heng, Acting Coordinator of Wrap Around Services FESP & Equity Programs/Achievement Coach, Family Economic Security Program (FESP)/Case Manager, Center for Students and Families, Gateway Community College Counseling and Wellness Center; Juan M. Salas-Romer, Founder & Executive Director, Known Coworking & Growth Lab; Devon O’Nalty, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Avangrid; Terri Rioux, Director of Philanthropy, Whitney Center; Jim Hill, Director of Operations, South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority; Tameika G. Miller, Vice President of Marketing & Program Development; Terri Alford Mosley, Director of DMHAS Young Adult Services & Mental Health Waiver, Marrakech, Inc.; Venetia Ndabian, Branch Manager, People’s United Bank; Larry Bingaman, President & CEO, South Central Regional Water Authority; Earl McCoy, Jr., Assistant Director of Career and Professional Development, Albertus Magnus College; Deena Nicol-Blifford, Digital Strategist & Graphic Designer, Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce
From left to right, top to bottom: Anthony McDonald, Vice President & Executive Director, Shubert Theater; Sunny Lakshminarayanan, Vice President, Engineering & Environmental Services, South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority; Nicholas LoCoco, Audit Manager, Marcum LLP; Bruni Pizarro, Executive Director, Junta for Progressive Action; Larry Bingaman, President & CEO, South Central Regional Water Authority; Lutishia Pershad, Interim Director of Finance & Admin Services, Gateway Community College; Tameika G. Miller, Vice President of Marketing & Program Development.
Shubert Theatre chief Anthony McDonald, developer and coworking entrepreneur Juan Salas-Romer, Junta for Progressive Action Executive Director Bruni Pizarro, New Haven Promise’s Jorgieliz Casanova, and and community green-dream organizer Doreen Abubakar were among the rising New Haven leaders to complete this year’s Chamber of Commerce Leadership Center training.
by | Mar 26, 2022 9:25 pm | Comments (3)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Ricky D. Evans, owner of Ricky D's Rib Shack, at a press conference for "New Haven Restaurant Week(s): Remixed" on Friday afternoon.
Restaurant week will return to New Haven Sunday for an extended two-week run, featuring an expanded variety of deals at over 50 eateries.
by | Mar 23, 2022 5:58 pm | Comments (29)
Seniors turn out Wednesday to hear from town officials and Hamden Plaza's owner about shopping-center safety.
Miller Memorial Library employee Kathy Galasso wasn’t at work Wednesday — but she sent a public explanation to her boss and 100 fellow seniors from her “uncomfortable hospital bed” where she is currently recovering from two pelvic fractures sustained during a broad daylight carjacking at the Hamden Plaza.
Continue reading ‘After Plaza Attack, Seniors Press Officials’
by | Mar 22, 2022 5:23 pm | Comments (6)
Visual projection of Hamden's anticipated budget drivers.
Hamden lawmakers provisionally OK’d filling two new government positions early — but pressed for a broader discussion about whether the town should be funding new jobs while raising taxes by up to 3.68 mills.
Continue reading ‘Hamden Budget Q: Create New Jobs While Raising Taxes?’
by | Mar 21, 2022 5:22 pm | Comments (9)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Diane Brown at entrance to new Stetson Branch Library.
Diane Brown swung open the door Monday morning to a long-awaited new, enhanced neighborhood library and community anchor at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Foote Street, with lots more room, more books, and more to do.
by | Mar 21, 2022 12:30 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Dominiq Oti, left, helps Nylee Williams with her signature.
In careful penmanship, 8‑year-old Nylee Williams signed her name, title, and “company” at the bottom of a page outlining her responsibilities in the planning process for a new community center in Newhallville.
by | Mar 17, 2022 10:21 am | Comments (24)
Hamden's biggest expenses: Board of Education, fringe benefits, and public safety. Garrett proposed increasing the police budget by 3 percent.
A first draft of Hamden’s next annual operating budget includes a tax hike — as well as a strategy to reduce the town’s long-term liabilities and bolster efficiency within municipal government.
by | Mar 17, 2022 9:10 am | Comments (0)
Hartford has done a complete turnaround in the time that T.J. Clarke has been on the City Council, in Clarke’s view.
Continue reading ‘Hartford Council Leader Sees A Financially Strengthened Capital City’
by | Mar 16, 2022 4:53 pm | Comments (8)
Relied-upon newcomers: Moe Alshalpi and Ammar Chekhess at their year-old Howe St. bodega.
Griffin Rose burst into Andalouse Freshop at 7:15 p.m. hunting for a post-filming calorie boost. Soon her arms were full.