by | Jul 21, 2023 11:45 am | Comments (47)
Travelers react to latest Tweed flood.
Laura Glesby Photo
Elicker, Abdussabur offer different takeaways at Jepsen mayoral forum.
Days after a rainstorm flooded Tweed airport and left passengers temporarily stranded, mayoral candidates conveyed varying takes on the airport’s economic value and environmental impact to its neighbors.
Continue reading ‘Sunday Storm Sparks Thursday Tweed Debate’
by | Jul 20, 2023 1:10 pm | Comments (13)
Uncle Lou: From farmer to radio host to -- coming soon -- green-lit New Haven "social equity" dispenser.
The stage is set for Long Wharf Theater’s conversion into the city’s second legal cannabis destination — and for New Haven to fill up to its legal brim with budding businesses by as soon as the end of the summer.
by | Jul 13, 2023 3:49 pm | Comments (4)
Kian Ahmadi photo
The Lacy family with Mayor Elicker and Development Deputy Cathy Graves on Thursday.
Trays of meatballs, mac ‘n’ cheese, wings, and more wings lined the countertop of Linwood “Woody” Lacy’s restaurant for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating Woody’s Wings’ new location in the heart of downtown.
by | Jul 13, 2023 9:28 am | Comments (11)
Mia Cortés Castro Photo
Attendees at Wednesday's Grand Avenue Special Services District board meeting.
The Grand Avenue Special Services District voted to partner with a sister business improvement organization downtown to try to raise funds to cover the costs of everything from cleaning graffiti off of buildings to power-washing sidewalks to improving the area’s trash collection, all with the goal of making Fair Haven a safer and cleaner place to shop.
Continue reading ‘Fair Haven, Downtown Biz Boosters Team Up’
by | Jul 12, 2023 5:46 pm | Comments (49)
Thomas Breen file photo
The abandoned Doyle's Cleaners. Housing, shop coming soon?
Could four apartments and a specialty foods shop turn Westville into another Dixwell, East Rock, or, worse … Manhattan?
by | Jul 11, 2023 8:36 am | Comments (3)
Joseph W. Williams Jr, Alisha Crutchfield, Paul Robertson, Will Ginsberg, and Mayor Justin Elicker on Monday.
With the help of a grant from a new program designed to help minority and women-owned businesses, Alisha Crutchfield hopes to hire more employees at her wellness-oriented Westville boutique — including those who may not have the perfect résumé, but are willing to learn.
Continue reading ‘New Grant Program Targets "Underserved Entrepreneurs"’
by | Jun 29, 2023 9:20 am | Comments (16)
Paul Bass Photo
Eddie Eckhaus: "I won't be bullied" out of the neighborhood.
It’s clear who didn’t break the window of Eddie Eckhaus’s soon-to-open Whalley Avenue felafel restaurant: A man named Larry.
by | Jun 26, 2023 8:57 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Paxx Headroom performs at the Black Box.
Drag kings, fairy hair, tarot readings, visual art, and a vivacious vibe that pulsed with community: these and more filled the event room, art gallery, and gathering area now known as the Black Box this past Saturday night at Witch Bitch Thrift. The Whitney Avenue thrift store has created a space within its space that can be used for anything from a contemplative sanctuary to a meeting area for clubs, classes, open mics, and more.
Continue reading ‘Witch Bitch Thrift Opens Black Box To Community’
by | Jun 23, 2023 11:05 am | Comments (7)
Long Wharf Responsible Growth Plan vision of city's waterfront to-be.
Brian Slattery photo
City Plan Director Laura Brown on Thursday.
Glass-fronted first-floor retail spaces to create walkable neighborhoods and protect upper-level housing from floods. Density bonuses that encourage residential builds similar to apartment developments downtown. Street designs that calm traffic and create enough space on sidewalks for pedestrians and, say, outdoor seating for restaurants.
Those are just a few of the goals and anticipated land-use standards to be included in the city’s proposed new zoning regulations for the Long Wharf district, which top city officials unveiled in the latest effort to encourage “responsible growth” in New Haven’s mostly industrial waterfront.
Continue reading ‘City Eyes "Responsible Growth" Rezoning For Long Wharf’
by | Jun 22, 2023 4:32 pm | Comments (11)
Dixwell Plaza's planned new ConnCAT Place redevelopment.
A demolition notice outside the Elks' former home at 87 Webster St.
Dixwell Plaza’s redevelopers plan to start knocking down vacant buildings in the mid-century shopping plaza as soon as September — as they move forward with a years-in-the-making effort to build up the heart of New Haven’s historic Black neighborhood.
Continue reading ‘Demolition Draws Near For Dixwell Plaza Redev’
by | Jun 22, 2023 3:56 pm | Comments (2)
Hill North CMT Secretary Maxine Harris-Branham & Hill South CMT Chair Sarah McIver at Wednesday's joint meeting.
City-planned improvements to Kimberly Square.
Energized by the summer solstice sunshine on the longest day of the year, Hill neighbors brought a bit of good-natured heat and opposition to a preliminary city proposal to close off a section of Greenwich Avenue to make a little plaza or “public realm” — as part of a broader street-scape redo of Kimberly Square.
by | Jun 22, 2023 1:28 pm | Comments (4)
FEMA Flood Hazard Information map; areas of 1 percent annual chance flood hazard shaded in blue.
Thomas Breen file photo
City Plan Director Laura Brown: "The closeness of water that makes the city vulnerable also makes it desirable."
Rising sea levels. More hurricanes. More intense rainstorms. As a coastal city, New Haven has had to think about all that water more than many other places in the country, especially when that water has ended up submerging its streets.
This has resulted, recently, in greater coordination with neighboring towns and state and federal agencies. It has also made waves in a few of the city’s development projects — most notably Long Wharf and Tweed — as the city balances its immediate economic needs against the coming climate challenges.
by | Jun 21, 2023 12:52 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Can those SSNs: AG Privacy Section Chief Lucan at Chamber session.
Companies have nine days left to stop collecting personal info they don’t need from us and to start giving us more access to it — or else they’ll have to answer to Michele Lucan.
by | Jun 19, 2023 8:40 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery photo
Myles Tripp and Elaine Roper — ConnCORP’s director of audience development and vice president of culture and community relations, respectively — were on the stage at ConnCORP Saturday evening hyping up the crowd. The immediate reason was a raffle; the larger reason was the celebration of two events: the holiday of Juneteenth and ConnCORP’s fifth anniversary as an organization.
Continue reading ‘ConnCORP Celebrates Juneteenth Anniversary’
by | Jun 16, 2023 10:56 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photo
Jamila Hokanson, Sasha Lehrer, Jordan Sloshower, Damian Paglia, Stephanie Kilpatrick, in West Rock Wellness's art gallery.
A team of clinicians and wellness instructors has opened a new mental health center in Westville, offering everything from psychotherapy to mind-body medicine to ketamine-assisted psychedelic therapies.
This panoply of offerings is unified by their greater aim to create connection and community.
Continue reading ‘Whalley Wellness Center Explores Therapy's Frontier’
by | Jun 12, 2023 9:10 am | Comments (19)
Thomas Breen photos
Abdussabur (right) passing Dope N Delicious lunch ...
... as campaign supporters pass Black-business-boosting business cards.
As takeout containers filled with fried rice, mac and cheese, chicken wings, and salad changed hands — along with business cards promoting the work of New Haven-raised Black entrepreneurs — Shafiq Abdussabur detailed his vision for bringing back the small-business glory days of the Dixwell Avenue of his youth.
Key ingredients to the revival he pitched include collaboration, public safety, local hiring, and making sure City Hall supports locally sourced ventures as soon as they get off the ground.
by | Jun 8, 2023 9:09 am | Comments (37)
Paul Bass photo
All aboard one of the many new flights leaving from Tweed.
Brian Slattery photo
Tweed Director Tom Rafter: "There's a number of different ways this could go."
It’s time to wait and see what the feds decide.
Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Tom Rafter urged that patience and provided other process updates as he told a crowd of roughly 100 people at a contentious annual meeting that federal regulators should weigh in later this summer on the potential environmental impacts of the Morris Cove airport’s planned expansion.
Continue reading ‘Neighbors Push Back As Tweed Waits For FAA's Enviro Decision’
by | Jun 1, 2023 5:13 pm | Comments (3)
Laura Glesby Photos
Laura Boccadoro hangs up symbols of pride and "peace."
Paper cranes await a place hanging along Olmo's walls.
A flock of hand-folded, rainbow-colored paper cranes took flight inside Olmo Bagelry on Thursday morning, carrying a message of queer pride and affirmation.
by | Jun 1, 2023 1:41 pm | Comments (46)
Laura Glesby file photo
Ice cream aplenty -- and alcohol verboten -- at Elena's on Orange.
A bustling East Rock ice cream shop won’t be offering wine on tap anytime soon — now that a legal agreement has reversed a prior approval permitting the storefront to sell booze in addition to soft serve.
by | Jun 1, 2023 9:12 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photo
Strange Ways' Val Ruby-Omen and Alex Dakoulas.
New Haven has a way to celebrate Pride Month for all of June, thanks to a series of events organized by Val Ruby-Omen and Alex Dakoulas of Strange Ways in Pitkin Plaza.
It begins with a vendor fair and queer beer unveiling this weekend at Armada Brewing in Fair Haven and continues at the 151 Orange St. shop all month, including mixers, a pop-up market, a chance to draw a drag queen, and an open mic night.
by | May 31, 2023 5:09 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Rashaan Boyd (shown above at center right), makes his new venture official, surrounded (from far left) by city Deputy Economic Developoment Director Cathy Graves, brother Tyson, Mayor Justin Elicker, mom Medria Givens, and partner Alonte.
Carlos Eyzaguirre hustled to squeeze in some family shopping while conducting city business Wednesday on Dwight Street.
Continue reading ‘Officials Hustle To Cut Streetwear Shop Ribbon’
by | May 31, 2023 11:21 am | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Elm City Open Air Market organizers Michelle Groom, Jacqueline James-Boyd, Janice Parker, and Valerie Brown at WNHH FM.
Start with an emerging home/cart/truck start-up culture. Add a pandemic brewing period. Throw in the emergence of pop-up culture. Find a lot the size of an arena right off I‑95 and I‑91.
Jacqueline James-Boyd and a group of fellow entrepreneurial-minded colleagues mixed together those ingredients. They cooked up what they hope will become a new tradition in New Haven: An “Elm City Open Air Market” where hundreds of vendors gather to promote their wares and build their businesses.
by | May 31, 2023 8:59 am | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen file photo
Ship ahoy in the Annex. More to come, with a to-be-deepened port?
A Massachusetts-based company has purchased a handful of waterfront storage properties in the Annex for over $17 million — in anticipation of a federally subsidized harbor-deepening project that promises to boost business in New Haven’s already bustling industrial port.
by | May 30, 2023 12:31 pm | Comments (3)
Abiba Biao photo
Jamie Dawn: “With a consignment store, depending on the store, you could be very choosy about what you select.”
Jamie Dawn saw an increasing appetite for secondhand clothing and kitchenware and all other kinds of goods, especially among sustainability-minded college-aged shoppers — and decided to meet that demand by opening a new consignment shop on Broadway.
by | May 25, 2023 5:01 pm | Comments (5)
Haseeb Mohammed whipped up an Indian take on chicken tacos Thursday to feed a crowd on Orange Street celebrating the enhanced rebirth of a popular fast-casual restaurant.